Witness Describes Brother’s Abduction at Jovan Popovic Trial

Jovan Popovic has been charged with abducting civilians in Rodica Brdo in the Visegrad area in mid-June 1992 and taking them to a police station. The civilians have remained missing since. He has also been charged with pillaging houses in Rodica Brdo and other villages.

Popovic allegedly acted in collaboration with a group of soldiers led by Milan Lukic, a Bosnian Serb paramilitary leader sentenced to life imprisonment by the Hague Tribunal for war crimes in Visegrad.

A protected state prosecution witness known as S-7 testified at today’s hearing.

“I know that they took my younger brother away on May 29 and my older brother on June 17,” S-7 said.

She said she lived in the other part of Visegrad at the time. She said her father told her what happened when her younger brother was taken away. She said he found his body in the Drina river later on.

S-7 said her father told her that two soldiers and a woman came by car in front of their house. Huso Delilbasic was with them. S-7 said she was told that Popovic was in front of the house as well.

After the two soldiers and the woman took her brother and Huso Delilbasic away, S-7 said Popovic stayed in front of the house. She said Popovic asked for keys of her brother’s car, a Zastava 101, so he could go and look for him.

S-7 said when they were leaving Visegrad with a convoy later on, her brother’s son spotted the car and shouted, “There is my dad!”

“A white ‘Zastava 101’ is parked in front of Jovan’s house,” S-7 said.

S-7 said that prior to leaving Visegrad with the convoy, she saw Popovic taking furniture away from one of the houses.

Defense attorney Nenad Rubez asked her why she failed to mention this to the State Investigation and Protection Agency during the investigation phase of the case. S-7 said investigators told her she couldn’t appear as a witness, because she didn’t see anything, so she didn’t tell them everything.

The trial will continue on December 23.