Witness Describes Rape of Bosniak Women in Rogatica by Former Fighters

The witness, known as S4, testified at the trial of Milisav Ikonic, Dragan Lubarda and Zoran Ilic. The defendants have been charged with the rape of several Bosniak women in June and July 1992.
 
According to the charges, they forcibly took Bosniak women and girls from a secondary school center and church house to apartments in Rogatica, where they raped them. Ikonic has been charged with having raped protected witness S-1 on several occasions. Lubarda has been charged with raping protected witness N-1 multiple times. Ilic has been charged with having raped a minor known as S-3.
 
The indictment alleges that Ikonic was a member of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Republika Srpska, while Ilic and Lubarda were members of the Bosnian Serb Army.

Testifying at today’s hearing, protected witness S4 said a hand grenade was thrown into the basement of the house she shared with her family in Rogatica on June 19, 1992. She said she fled with her family because a fire started. She said four soldiers told them to go to the church house.
 
She said that she saw many people there. She said the men were blindfolded while the women were divided into several rooms.

S4 said uniformed men took away women that night. She said she was taken away with S3, who was 14 at the time, N1 and another woman she didn’t know. She said they were taken to a nearby building and separated.
 
S4 said she and S3 were taken to a room where she encountered two uniformed men. She said one of the men asked for coffee, which she made. She said when she returned, S3 was no longer there.
 
She said a man wearing hat entered the room and took her a to a different room. There, he raped and threatened her.
 
“He put a knife to my neck and a rifle on my chest. He asked about my husband…He started hitting me and ordered me to take my clothes off…I passed out from the shock and when I came to he already started raping me,” S4 said. She said the man’s nickname was Arkan.  

S4 said she was then taken to the first room she was brought to, where she saw S3. She said S3 looked upset. In the morning they were reunited with N1 and the other woman and returned to the church house.

S4 said she was afraid she would be raped again. She said she fled to the village of Podzeplje with S3, who told her she had been raped.
 
“She said Zoran Ilic from Rogatica raped her,” S4 said.

Lubarda’s defense attorney said S4 had never mentioned N1 in previous statements.
 
Suada Holuclic also testified at today’s hearing. She said she spent two days in the church house. She said N1 told her she was raped, and later learned that S3 and S4 had also been raped.
 
The trial continues on March 24.