Bosnian Serb Ex-Soldier Tried for Murder, Rape
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The trial of Sasa Cvetkovic for war crimes against the civilian population in the Srebrenica and Bratunac areas opened on Tuesday at the Bosnian state court in Sarajevo.
Prosecutor Ivan Matesic said Cvetkovic took Zoran Halilovic, son of Alaga Halilovic, from his family house in May 1992, holding him at gunpoint and hitting him with a baton all over his body.
According to the charges, Cvetkovic ordered Halilovic to go to a neighbouring village in the Sase area of the Srebrenica municipality and tell the local residents to surrender voluntarily.
The indictment alleges that Cvetkovic then went to Halilovic family house again and killed Zoran Halilovic’s mother Alaga Halilovic and a bedridden elderly woman by shooting them from close range.
The bodies of the two murdered Roma civilians have still not been found.
Cvetkovic is also charged with hitting and brutally raping a 15-year-old in an abandoned house in Bratunac at the beginning of June 1992.
The minor had been brought, along with two other girls, from the Sase zinc and lead mine, where Bosniak civilians were held in detention, earlier that day.
The indictment alleges that after Cvetkovic had raped the girl, other soldiers did the same.
The first witness is due to be examined on July 19.
