by Maja BJELAJAC
"I wanted to tell the truth. About myself and the people who were there," Popovic starts his story. He was one of twelve individuals who in early February volunteered to testify as defense witnesses in the trial against Miroslav Kvocka. Their statements should clarify involvement of some participants in the events in the infamous camp.
"The rebellion started on June 10 or 12 1992, at about 9:30 pm. It was dark. There were frequent electrical outages. One of the prisoners got up and started calling for an uprising. His name was Nasic. I approached him and warned them to stop and go to sleep. He shouted 'why are you afraid of the guard!', and started cursing me; he asked if someone had a knife to slaughter the guard! He said: 'What are you afraid of, they do not have ammunition!' He picked up a chair and wanted to throw it on me. I got scared and shot a short burst of fire into the ceiling. One man died from the ricochet, and two were wounded," Popovic recalls with discomfort.
He remembers that on that night he was alone, because his colleague had gone home.
He also recalls panic and fear that overcame him when the rebellion started.
After the incident he was questioned in Prijedor.
"On that occasion two Muslims confirmed my story. One was named Dedo Crnalic. I would like it if Dedo, if he is still alive, could say what happened.
"That night still disturbs me. I am sorry that it happened," says this man, who until this day carries the burden of a manslaughter.
Guarantees: Popovic was on the public war crimes indictments list, but under the name of Milan Pavlic. The confusion ensued because Dragan was called Pavlic by everyone, after his grandfather.
The first relief came when his name was moved to the list of eighteen individuals acquitted of war crimes. That was, probably the first signal to the former guard to later appear in front of the Tribunal and testify about his case and Miroslav Kvocka.
"Lawyer Krstan Simic asked me whether I would testify. At first I had a hard time making a decision, but I wanted to tell the truth," says Dragan Popovic. Three days before his departure to the Hague, the lawyer handed him written guarantees from the Hague.
"I did not trust those guarantees. After all, Biljana Plavsic and [General] Talic also had guarantees," admits Popovic.
The trip to the Hague was an adventure for Popovic: "When we left, first to Vienna, we flew by plane and that was my first time on a plane. That was quite an experience for me. There we met a man who escorted us all the way to Rotterdam. At the airport, there was a van that took us to a hotel in the Hague. We did not notice any special security measures, although we had been told that someone would probably look after us."
At the hotel they met a translator, a Macedonian woman. She gave the witnesses keys to their rooms and money for their daily expenses, 65 Dutch Guilder per day. Popovic was very impressed: "Both the hotel and the service were really terrific. We only did not like the food. Everything they eat is sweet. They even eat fish with cherry jam."
Those first few days Dragan for the first time in his life enjoyed the convenience of a luxury hotel in the West. On Thursday, February 2, with fear he faced about fifty persons in the courtroom. The testimony went for about two hours.
"The hardest thing was to see there the people in whose innocence I believe. First lawyer Krstan Simic asked me about my incident, and then they did as well. They were probably surprised to see me there. The court president Rodrigues thanked me for finding courage to come and testify. I also thanked them and said that I was available for further cooperation," says Popovic. He claims that he was not scared. "I did not make any excesses, apart from that accident. That is why I went to the Hague. If they think that that was a war crime, let them try me."
No fear: The former guard claims that neither in Omarska nor in his village he had trouble because of his testimony. His acquaintances say that local troublemakers earlier used to make prank calls to his home, claiming that a SFOR vehicle was waiting for him.
"I do not fear people around me. I know what I said, and everyone should take responsibility for his misdeeds," the Hague witness sounds self-confident. He says that when on February 9 he returned to Omarska, several individuals even praised his courageous act. Popovic was only disturbed by an erroneous interpretation in the newspapers. "They claimed that I had said that Zeljko Meakic was the camp commander. That may have caused mistrust. But I denied that. I never stated something like that. I actually said that Meakic was the local Police Station chief."
Dragan Popovic (37) is spending his days in Gradina and Omarska. Before the war, he lived for twelve years in Zagreb, and returned to his birthplace Gradina in 1991. During all this time the only job he managed to find was as a seasonal construction worker for Belgrade "Mostogradnja" [bridge construction]. He left this company after nine months because the workers were not being paid. Today he lives in his family home in Gradina, where he was recently visited by IPTF members. They asked Popovic's mother on that occasion whether they had received any threats. Dragan persistently claims that he has no fear. Only sometimes, during the conversation, his hands start shaking.