Witness Describes Abduction of Husband from Zecovi

Defendants Dusan Milunic, Radomir Stojnic, Radovan Cetic, Dusko Zoric, Zoran Stojnic, Zeljko Grbic, Ilija Zoric, Zoran Milunic, Bosko Grujicic, Ljubisa Cetic, Rade Grujcic, Uros Grujcic, Zdravko Antonic and Rajko Gnjatovic have been charged with committing acts of murder, torture, sexual violence, as well as destructing and confiscating property from the local residents of Zecovi.

According to the charges, they participated in a joint criminal enterprise with the civil and military authorities of the municipality of Prijedor, which involved a widespread and systematic attack on the village, conducted by the Bosnian Serb military and police from July 23-28, 1992. The indictment states 29 women and children were also killed in the nearby hamlet of Gradina.

Milunic was the commander of the Rasavacka Company of the Sixth Battalion of the 43rd Brigade of the Bosnian Serb Army. Stojnic was the commander of the reserve police station in Rasavci. Cetic was the president of the Serbian Democratic Party and crisis committee in the village of Rasavci. The other defendants were members of the Bosnian Serb military, police and other formations.

State prosecution witness Sehiza Kazic testified at today’s hearing. She said Serb soldiers showed up in the hamlet of Gradina in Zecovi on July 23, 1992. She said the men in the village were ordered to gather in front of the local butcher.

She said her husband, Fuad Burnic, and a man she recognized, Elvedin Tatarevic, went to the butcher. She never saw her husband again.

Two days later, Kazic said she heard gunshots and saw fire near the houses of the Bacici family. She said she later learned that some people had been killed there.

She said she saw Rade Grujicic at some point and asked him about her husband. She said he told her that her husband was with the Sijecic family in Trnopolje.

Dragan Bogunovic, a former member of the Territorial Defense, testified at today’s hearing. He said at the beginning of the war he was transferred to a military unit under the command of Dusko Milunic.

He said he participated in a search operation in Carakovo. He said it was possible that Milunic had been there, but he wasn’t sure.

The state prosecution showed Bogunovic a previous statement he had given. In his previous statement he said that Milunic was in Carakovo and that he personally saw human bodies. Bogunovic said he didn’t remember seeing bodies, and that he may have been careless while giving his statement.

The trial continues on November 6.