Verdict Expected Soon in Sekaric Trial

Bosnia’s state prosecution has requested that Sekaric be sentenced to a lengthy prison term of 25 years – Sekaric’s defense has argued that none of the four counts of his indictment have been proven and that he should be acquitted.

According to the indictment, as a member of the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS), Sekaric committed acts of murder, torture, and rape, and also participated in enforced disappearances in the Visegrad area from May 1992 until the end of 1993. He is also charged with the attack on the village of Kokino Selo in Gorazde, an attack in which four civilians were killed and six more were wounded.

The Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina has examined 23 witnesses throughout the course of the trial, some of whom are close relatives of the deceased victims.

Protected witness S-6 said that her parents were killed in Kokino Selo when she was less than two years old, on May 22, 1992. She said that her mother was pregnant at the time of her death.

“A cousin told me that my mother was killed by a man named Dragan Sekaric,” she said.

Witness Amra Bekric, who was 13 years old when the alleged crimes took place, said that her mother stayed in Kokino Selo. Bekric said that she still doesn’t know what happened to her mother. She said she was fleeing to Gorazde with her father, who was wounded twice on the way.

“A man in a Fico car came across and started shooting at us. Shots were fired at us and at the people who were standing near the store…Mensura [a neighbour] was shot. When she was shot, while she was falling, I had the feeling that she flew,” said Bekric.

Bekric claims she found a statement her father gave to the police in Gorazde, in which he mentioned Sekaric. She said she couldn’t remember whether her father had seen Sekaric during the attack on Kokino Selo or heard from someone else that he was there.

Protected Witness Speaks of Rape, Murders

Velimir Sekaric, a relative of the defendant, said that Dragan Sekaric was wounded in Obarak, a town 500-800 meters away from Kokino Selo, on May 25, 1992.

“Dragan was shot in the heel by a bullet. Dragan and I were together in the hospital. I left on July 21, and he stayed after I left,” said Velimir Sekaric.

The indictment against Sekaric claims that Sekaric raped a woman and killed another in Kosovo Polje, Visegrad, on June 3, 1992. The indictment alleges Sekaric pushed the second victim into a burning house and killed her by shooting her.

Protected witness S-1 said that she was raped in the municipality of Visegrad by a man who said that he was from Gorazde and that his name was Dragan.

“He pushed me on the bed and told me to take off my clothes. He took off my pants, pushed me into a lying position and raped me. He held my head so that I could look at his face and started to kiss me. I didn’t want that,” said S-1.

She said that she saw soldiers push Fatima Jamak into a house that was set on fire, and that the man she knew as Dragan shot Fatima while she was burned alive.

“They threw her into the fire. I never knew that a person could be burned so quickly. Fire was burning on her hands. That Dragan shot…He killed Fatima and she fell down into that fire,” said S-1.

During the investigation, S-1 was shown a photo album in which she recognized the person who raped her. That album was shown in the courtroom and S-1 identified her rapist as Dragan Sekaric.

Bakira Hasecic said that she saw how the witnesses S-1 and S-3 looked like when they came out from the house. According to her, they were raped and had traces of the attack on their bodies.

Hasecic claims that she saw how soldiers push Fatima Jamak into her house. She said she heard them say, “old woman, you are going to extinguish the house now.”

“I heard Tima [Fatima] praying. I saw the smoke, but I didn’t see the flame. Suddenly, the fire started. First I heard a cry like a cat’s when it’s howling. In that moment two shots were heard. Tima was burned alive in that house,” said Hasecic.

Robbery and Murder of Civilians in Visegrad

Sekaric was also charged of robbing a civilian of their money and valuables, with Bosnian Serb commander Milan Lukic and two other persons. The robbery took place in the Visegrad settlement of Dusce on May 20, 1992. The robbed civilian and his son were ordered to enter a vehicle, after which they disappeared without a trace. In the evening, the indictment alleges, they returned to Dusce and killed a woman.

The two men taken away by Lukic and his men were witness Dzenita Muhic’s father and brother. Later, Dzenita said, she saw Lukic came back with soldiers. She said that it was dark and that she doesn’t know what happened then, but that in the morning she found her mother dead. Lukic is serving a life sentence for crimes he committed in Visegrad.

Protected witness S-2 said that Dragan Sekaric told her that he participated in the attack on the Zukic household. He took their belongings, expelled them from their home and murdered Mrs. Zukic. S-1 said that she did not tell Sekaric that she saw the events that took place at the Zukic household.

The fourth count of Sekaric’s indictment charges him with beating detainees in 1992 and 1993 at the Uzamnica detention camp in Visegrad, along with Milan Lukic.

Witness Nurko Dervisevic said that he saw Lukic arrive at the camp with a group of people. Dervisevic was brought to the camp as a detainee in June 1992.

“Milan Lukic hits. He doesn’t take care at all. He was not alone,” he said.
Witness, Hajrudin Ahmetspahic, also a former detainee at Uzamnica, said he did not see anyone named Dragan Sekaric from Gorazde.

Six witnesses spoke in favour of the defense claiming that the indictee was wounded in the foot and was occasionally living in the town of Uzice in Serbia.

Branka Carapic said that the defendant visited refugees in Zlatibor, Serbia and brought them presents in 1992. She said that as far as she knew, Sekaric was staying in Uzice where his grandparents and uncle lived.

Mirko Topalovic, Sekaric’s uncle, said that the defendant occasionally stayed in Uzice during 1992 and 1993.

He recalled that the defendant had had surgery done on his heel at the Uzice hospital in November 1993.
Milos Neskovic, former chief of the military department of the Ministry of Defence of Republika Srpska confirmed that the Sekaric was a member of the Gorazde and Visegrad Brigades of the Army of Republika Srpska.

Neskovic said that the Sekaric was a member of the Gorazde Brigade from May 4-August 28 1992, and also a member of the Visegrad Brigade from September 23, 1992 to August 18, 1995.

Sekaric’s trial began on March 24, 2014. He has been in custody since October 6, 2014.