Victims of Trnovo Attack Burned Alive, State Prosecution Witnesses Say

Defendants Edhem Godinjak, Medaris Saric and Mirko Bunoza have been charged with participating in a joint criminal enterprise with the aim of killing and detaining Serbs in villages in the Trnovo area.

According to the charges, Godinjak was the chief of the public safety station in Trnovo, Saric was the commander of the Territorial Defense Headquarters in Trnovo, while Bunoza was the commander of Croatian Defense Forces units.

A protected witness known as O testified at today’s hearing. O said he and his friend Branislav Staka went to Kijevo after the Bosnian Serb Army entered the village. O said his father wasn’t in the village, and that in 1993 his teacher told him his father and Arandjija Staka had been taken away from the village and burned alive.

O said he and Staka investigated the house of a family friend, where they saw a stain on the bed and two holes. Upon leaving the house, they found Dana Staka’s body, covered with soil.

O said his grandmother’s body was found next to his family’s house, but he hadn’t seen it at the time.

Branislav Staka also testified at today’s hearing. He said he cleared away some sand next to O’s house and discovered the body of O’s grandmother.

“I saw her forehead and grey hair,” Staka said. He said he didn’t say anything about discovering the body, because he didn’t want to upset O.

Describing the murder of his grandmother and O’s father, Staka said they were taken away from Kijevo. Their bones were found in an underground silo next to one of the houses in the area.

New prosecution witnesses will be examined on January 26.