When Will Serb Crimes be punished?
by Andrija Tunjic
Vjesnik, December 17, 1996
Immediately after Serbs committed the Bijeljina massacre on a Muslim holiday in 1992, they continued with atrocities in other parts of Bosnia-Herzegovina: Prijedor, Omarska, Keraterm, Ljubija, Foca, Brcko. Thanks to Roy Gutman, these crimes have been described in many articles, and with the release of the book, "Bosanski Samac-Prison Camp town" that was written by former prisoner, Dragan Lukac, all the evidence for the crimes committed against the Croats of Bosnian Posavina region became public. Bosanska Posavina region (Bosnian Sava Valley region) had Croatian majority, and it always presented a thorn in the eye of the Yugo-Communist regime. At the end of W.W.II, between May and October of 1945, partisans killed thousands of Croats. Remnants of hatred were multiplied through the years of the socialist regime and reached a peak during the beginning of the Serbian aggression on the Republic of Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. In the initial stages of the war, under protection of the Yugoslav Poples Army, Serbs were systematically killing Croats and Muslims, in their efforts to create Greater Serbia. With the help of the international community they turned Bosnian Posavina into a region with majority Serb population. There are testimonies about first days of the war which offer undeniable evidence of Serb crimes. One of the people that witnessed the crimes is Jozo Katvic from the village of Donja Vrela:
The crimes were planned ahead
"At the end of March, Serbs travelled to Podnovlje and according to my neighbor, Goran Vukman, they were planning to kill everybody so that no one could find out about that. I managed to escape into the woods, but the ones that didn't were killed. They killed Ante Jurilj on May 5 or 8. They cut his head of and then they killed his wife, Anda and his son, Ante. My cousin Ante Katavic was stripped naked, tied up and then thrown into a brook. Nikica Katavic, Ana Vukovic, her mother Marija, Mirko Vukovic, Jozo Blatanic, Ivica Jerkovic, Niko Duspara, an invalid, Marijan Pavic, Ana Cosina, and many others were killed."Proof that these were not random crimes but planned actions and that they were committed systematically is the example of the village of Kolibe near the town of Bosanski Brod. Former Yugoslav Poples Army soldier and one of the "liberators" of Vukovar, Elvir Masic testified about the crimes:
"In February of 1992, the YPA unit in which I served went to the village of Vinsko, next to Kolibe. Chetnik Duke, Miro Sekula gave me a message from my former lieutenant and captain to report to Kolibe. Miroslav Radic was the commander. I was in Kolibe when the massacre occurred. I was maybe two meters away from the tank on which the Chetnik Duke, Aco Vidic, one of the locals, was sitting. I saw him and Stanko Petkovic killing two of the Muslim villagers, Mehmed Mujcin and Ejup Masic. Chetnik Bogdanovic, I don't know his first name, killed Ibrahim Masic. He cut Masic's throat. Mirko Saric and his mother Cvita were killed in front of their house by Aco Vidic and another one from Brusnica. Granny Saric was over 90 years old and Mirko was in his sixties. I was present when 'White Eagles' killed Rizo Karlic," recalls Masic. It is obvious that the perpetrators knew their victims. Ana Jurilj, whose husband was killed by their acquaintances, confirms that: "Goran Vukman, son of Slobodan, Djordje and Vid Sljuka, sons of Zarko. Then Goran, Zoran and Slobodan Jakovljevic, Josip and Zoran Vujic, and Zoran Celar. They were our neighbors."
About the events that occurred in Bosanski Samac, a book has been written and it is named "Bosanski Samac - Prison Camp town" whose author , Dragan Lukac, witnessed horrible massacres.
Referring to the crimes that occurred in Bosanski Samac, Lukac writes: "There were five prison camps in Bosanski Samac. The prisoners were Croats, Muslims, Albanians and other people who were not of Serbian nationality. The prisoners were not captured in fighting but they were arrested in their homes. Some of the camp prisoners were forced to eat sand. One of the prisoners was forced to eat the flash that was ripped from his own face. Some of them were forced into sexual acts with other prisoners." For the crimes that were committed in Bosanski Samac, International War Crimes Tribunal in Hague has indicted six persons: Blagoja Simic, Stevan Todorovic, Simo Zaric, Milan Simic, Miroslav Tadic and Slobodan Miljkovic Lugar. Slobodan Miljkovic came to Bosanski Samac from Serbia and was the commander of the paramilitary unit called "Grey Wolves". All six of them are accused for grave violations of the Geneva Convention, war regulations and for the crimes against humanity. Serbs committed crimes in other municipalities of the Bosnian Sava Valley region. However, since these areas are still under their control, very little is known about these crimes. So far only the crimes that the Serbs committed in the town of Odzak are being investigated, now that the town has been returned to Croats and the Federation according to the Dayton Accords. Victims from Odzak disappeared when the town was captured by YPA and Serbs. According to the information in possession of the Police in Odzak, 68 Croats and Muslims were killed or missing. Like in the village of Gornji Svilaj, the crimes in Odzak were also committed by the local Serbs, neighbors of the victims.
Will the Criminals be Punished?
"My uncle was killed at the start of the war. He was killed in front of his house by three Serbs from Krajina [Croatia]. That's what we were told in Vienna by Miso Djakovic, a Serb from Gornji Svilaj. He said:' I was sorry for Ivo. He was killed and then his throat was cut. His corpse was attacked by dogs until it was buried in the orchard, behind a cherry tree'," Mr. Radman tells us what he heard about the death of his uncle. In the overgrown orchard he points at a cherry tree besides which three skeletons were found, one of which was that of Ivo Radman. Besides these three victims, Serbs killed another 8 citizens in Gornji Svilaj, seven in Donji Svilaj, six in Novo Selo, 14 in Odzak... In the village of Vrbovac, Serbs killed in the summer of 1992 twelve civilians. The oldest victim, Jela Maric, was born in 1909.Marko Kovacevic managed to escape, but his wife was murdered. He recalls: " I managed to reach the forest but my wife, Jela didn't. The bullets cut her in two. I saw from the forest how they killed Jozo Pejicic. He left the forest to check his cattle, but they waited for him. He was massacred. They kicked his head." Marko saw for himself that the Serbs had been preparing for the war, and that nothing happened by accident: "When I was captured, one of the YPA officers opened a book and told me that I was fine, that my family behaved well in W.W.II. I was a prisoner in Podnovlje."
Will the Serb crimes ever be punished? Although this seems to be a hypothetical question, with every day it becomes more and more logical. Especially since the main criminals and organizers of the crime are still out of the reach of the Hague Tribunal.
