Kurtalici exhumation video

Bosnian mass grave found in riverbed

December 5, 2000
Web posted at: 5:04 PM EST (2204 GMT)

KURTALICI, Bosnia — A mass grave containing the bodies of at least 30 people, believed to be Muslims, has been discovered in an eastern Bosnian riverbed.

The victims are believed to have been killed by Serb separatists in 1992, a forensic expert said. Up to 40 bodies could be in the grave in the Drina river, near Visegrad.

Amor Masovic, head of the Muslim Commission for Missing Persons, told the Reuters Television news agency: “I can say for sure that there are at least 30 bodies here and doctors tell me that there could be as many as 40.”

Masovic said the grave was found only because the water level in the Drina had fallen five to six metres (16 to 19 feet) to rare lows and receded 20 metres (65 feet) along both banks.

“The water level was low in 1992 and they thought that this grave would never be found,” he said, referring to the executioners.

The commission has so far exhumed the remains of some 200 Muslims buried in the Visegrad area but it is looking for another 1,100.

More than 6,000 bodies from about 180 mass graves and 2,000 single graves across Bosnia have been retrieved.

But about 23,000 Bosnians remain missing from the 1992-95 war, in which killed about 200,000 people.

Clothes found with the remains indicated that all victims were civilians, Masovic said as more than a dozen forensic experts unearthed bones, skulls and clothing from the Visegrad river grave.

“We have found a lot of spent bullet cases and wire which means they were brought here, tied up, then executed,” Masovic said.

A person whose body was found several metres away from the grave might have been shot while trying to escape, he added.

Visegrad had a mixed population before the 1992-95 war but many Slav Muslim inhabitants were either expelled or killed early in the conflict by local Serb forces and the Uzice corps of the Serbian-led Yugoslav army.

Mehemed Kurtalic, a Muslim, said he stumbled upon the riverbed grave in October when he went fishing shortly after returning to the area from an eight-year exile.

“Most of these people were my relatives, neighbours and friends and I have already identified some of them. My wish is that they be buried in a dignified way,” the 36-year-old father of two said.

Source: CNN

Bosanska Jagodina Massacre

Above: Bosanska Jagodina is located towards the Serbian border.

On 26. maja 1992. a convoy of Bosniak civilians who were to be deported to Macedonia was organized by Bosnian Serb authorities in Visegrad. In the First Report on the War Crimes in the Former Yugoslavia( “Submission of Information to the United Nations Security Council in Accordance With Paragraph 5 of Resolution 771 (1992), September 22, 1992″ ) it is reported that near Bosanska Jagodina “an employee of the bus company that was transporting the refugees said that the group was stopped outside Bosanska Jagodina later that day by a group of armed men, and that he saw 17 male refugees taken from the buses and “liquidated.” The killers were members of two Serbian “volunteer” groups operating in a local Serb “territorial defense” formation, which had been systematically abducting and murdering Muslims in the region.”

In 2006. their remains were found in a mass grave in Crncicima. According to the Commission for missing persons in B&H the following were excecuted that day : Bajro Murtic, Smail Racic, Hidajet Račić, Mirsad Veletovac, Kemal Maluhić, Sead Šuško, Midhat Kasapović, Avdo Veletovac, Ahmo Kadrić, Esad Tabaković, Bajro Beširević, Mehmed Džagadurov, Hamed Zukić, and one person with the surname Kasapović from the village Žagre near Višegrada.

NEVER FORGET VISEGRAD GENOCIDE

Bratunac Genocide Remembered

Narcisa Salihovic, six months old when she was murdered by Serb soldiers

In solidarity with Bratunac.

Today the youngest victim to be laid to rest is 6 months old and the oldest 110 years old.

Bratunac Genocide victims murdered systematically in 1992 by the Republika Srpska Army.

Bosniak victims carried to their final resting place by family members and relatives.

The Vuk Karadzic School was a concentration camp in 1992.Bosniak civilians were beaten, humiliated and murdered.

Bratunac Genocide survivor, after months in Vuk Karadzic School concentration camp.

Bosniak victim showing crosses drawn on his body with a knife by Republika Srpska Army soldiers.

NEVER FORGET BRATUNAC ’92

Preventiva in Visegrad?

*Preventiva – the network of guards and contacts protecting Karadzic.

On 26.01.2005. an anonymous email arrived at Nezavisne Novine ( a newspaper in Banja Luka) which claimed that Preventiva was planning assassinations in Republika Srpska. The author of the email distanced himself from the murder of Bosniaks in Visegrad and even called it “genocide“. He claimed that he was a member of the war Presidency in Visegrad municipality and that he “could not help the poor people who suffered in Visegrad” because the main people in charge were “Brane Savovic and Risto Perisic“.

Milan Lukic led away in a police car in Argentina after being arrested.

The author also named  a few Visegrad Serbs who were supposedly targeted for assassinations: Drazen Perendija, Stojan Papic, Mile Lukic and  Mile Peric.

The letter continues naming members of the “Preventiva“:

Milan Josipovic, former Police commander and  Drazen Knezevic, policeman as the leaders for Eastern Bosnia. Policemen Lelek, Goran Nedic, Srecko Nedic, Novak Poluga, Miro Moljevic and ex-policemen Rakovic and Milicevic.

For the Sarajevo-Romanija region Milovan – Cicko Bijelica. For the Banja Luka-Posavina region Radomir Njegus and for Hercegovina Zoran Mandic.

For financial support, the main persons in charge Brane Smiljic, aka Zika, from Visegrada; Pecikoza, former director of  a firm called “Terpentina”;former director of  Dam “Visegrad” Marjanovic.

According to the letter all important meeting were held in Zlatiboru, in the apartments of Branimir Savovic, Brane Smiljica and Riste Perisica. The core of the organization are Branimir Savovic, Radomir Njegus, Risto Perisic, Cicko Bijelica, Milan Josipovic and Momcilo Mandic,who was in charge for contact with the State Security of Serbia.

The letter also states who is in charge of supplying the organization with weapons: former commander of the  Visegrad brigade Luka Dragicevic and Milan Kosoric, who during war-time supplied Serb Democratic Party with weapons from Serbia. Persons in charge for logistics: Radoje Tasic, journalist from Visegrad, and lawyer Radomir Tanaskovic.

As for the author, at the end of the letter he claims that his role during the war was to gather material support mostly from outside of Bosnia. He mentions that he worked with Miroslav Kojic.

He also admits that he is writing this because he found out that Branimir Savovic and Risto Perisic are planing to plant him an indictment at the Hague so as to save themselves. He also notices that not a single member of the war Presidency has been indicted for war crimes.

War-time picture of Milan Lukic in a military uniform in Visegrad.

VGM Editor’s Note: On 8. April 2005 an email signed by Milan Lukic arrived at “Nezavisne Novine” in which he blames some leading Visegrad Serbs for killing his brother Novica. This letter where he calls Savovic and Perisic “communist scum”, is not important because of its content as it is for other reasons. Namely, thanks to this  email, Hague investigators were able to track down Lukic in Argentina. And also “Nezavisne Novine” published that this letter and the last letter giving details about “Preventiva” came from the same server. So most certainly Lukic is the author of the previous email.

*Read: How he slipped into hiding by Ed Vulliamy

*Read:Lukic set to face trial for Visegrad Terror by Nerma Jelacic

*Full letter in Bosnian here.

Paklenik Massacre

Hand-drawn map by Ferid Spahic explaining the Paklenik massacre during the Vasiljevic case.

The Paklenik Massacre is the massacre of at least 50 Bosniaks by Bosnian Serb Army in the Rogatica Municipality on 15 June 1992. One day earlier,local Serbs close to the Serb Democratic Party-led Visegrad Municipality organized the deportation of several hundred Bosniak civilians to Olovo(a town in Bosnian Government-controlled territory). However, on its way towards the Rogatica Municipality, Bosnian Serb Army members from Visegrad stopped the buses and took all the men off to another bus. They spent the night in Rogatica and the next day they were taken to Paklenik (Hell) to a ravine called Propast (Downfall) where they were systematically executed and their bodies thrown into the ravine. Only one man survived the massacre – Ferid Spahic. The men responsible for this massacre have not yet answered for their crimes. The only people who have been indicted were Mitar Vasiljevic, Nenad Tanaskovic, Sredoje and Milan Lukic. The Bosniak civilians who were deported and who were massacred came from the following villages in Visegrad: Gornji and Donji Dubovik, Velatovo, Zagre, Smijece, Zupa and Dobrun.

The remains of these executed Bosniaks were found in 2000.

During the Mitar Vasiljevic case, Ferid Spahic testified about the Paklenik massacre. Above is a hand-drawn map by Spahic explaining the murder of about 50 Bosniak men civilians from villages in the Visegrad municipality.

Hand-drawn map showing the position of Bosnian Serb soldiers and Bosniak victims near the Paklenik ravine.

Spahic also drew an important map showing the location of Republika Srpska Army members and Bosniak civilians shoot and dumped in the Paklenik ravine. Spahic names 3 Bosnian Serb soldiers he recognized: Predrag Milisaljevic, Slavisa Vukojcic and Ceho Borisa.

Read more on this here.

Editor’s note: These drawings were used as evidence in the Vasiljevic case. They were obtained on the official ICTY website.

* Read Daniel McGrory’s “Britain forgets Bosnia’s nameless dead “ The Times (London), 28 August 2000:

(…)

At this cave in Paklenik, on an April morning in 1992, 53 men faced their execution. Their hands were tied behind their backs with barbed wire. In groups of five they were marched to the mouth of the cave and shot at point-blank range. One man – the only survivor – tried to run and tripped as automatic gunfire ricocheted around him. The Serbs were sure they had shot him. Until now this man has been too scared to lead inspectors to what could turn out to be one of the biggest mass graves in this country.

In ten days of digging, the scientists have already uncovered more than 50 bodies. Small yellow flags mark the position of each skull. Beneath them and in crevices they can see the remains of more victims.  Scrabbling on her hands and knees, Dr Eva Klonowski shows how one man, his elbow shattered by a bullet and his hands still tied, somehow managed to crawl 50 yards to a ledge where he must have bled to death in the darkness. ‘This is a slaughterhouse and whatever your politics or what you think of the Balkans, surely we have a duty in the name of humanity to find out who these people are,’ she says.

The investigators get no help locally. Farmers who live only a few hundred yards away express astonishment at the discovery of the cave.

(…)

Exclusive: Pictures from Visegrad during the Genocide

Serb soldier harrassing an elderly Bosniak man in Visegrad 1992. The Serb soldier is most probably a member of the "White Eagles" paramilitary formation.

Exclusive: Picture showing  an unknown Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) elder being harassed by a Serb Soldier in Visegrad in 1992. Hundreds of Bosniaks were arrested and taken to Police Stations for “informative interrogation”. This picture was published in Serbian nationalist  Duga magazine in September 1992. The picture is undated.

*We apologize to readers for the low picture quality*-VGM

Unidentified Serb soldiers taking a smoke in Visegrad at the height of the Bosnian Genocide.

Exclusive: Picture showing unidentified Serb soldiers in Visegrad in  1992. At least 1700 Bosniaks were murdered, several hundred raped and thousands deported by the Yugoslav Peoples’ Army/Army of Republika Srpska and local Serbs.  This picture was published in Serbian nationalist  Duga magazine in September 1992. The picture is undated.

*We apologize to readers for the low picture quality*-VGM

Two Serb soldiers searching an apartment owned by a Bosniak. The original caption in the picture reads:"The enemy is hiding somewhere out there."

Exclusive: Picture showing unidentified Serb soldiers in Visegrad in  1992 searching an apartment owned by a Bosniak. At least 1700 Bosniaks were murdered, several hundred raped and thousands deported by the Yugoslav Peoples’ Army/Army of Republika Srpska and local Serbs.  This picture was published in Serbian nationalist  Duga magazine in September 1992. The picture is undated.

*We apologize to readers for the low picture quality*- VGM