Institutionalisation of Genocide

♦What is Visegrad Genocide?

The Višegrad genocide was an act of ethnic cleansing and mass murder of Bosniak civilians that occurred in the town of Višegrad in eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina, committed by Bosnian Serb Army and Police forces at the start of the Bosnian War during the spring of 1992. Over a period of four months, Bosniaks were murdered, tortured, raped and publicly humiliated on a daily basis in Visegrad’s streets, in the victim homes and in concentration camps.

Here are several confirmation notes given by Visegrad Municipality authorities to Bosniaks in 1992. This include: confiscating legally own weapons, travel permits and a signed oath of loyalty.

Image: A confirmation note issued to a Bosniak by Sluzba Javne Bezbjednosti – Public Security Station; a official security authority in Bosnian towns.  This note signed by war criminal Zeljko Lelek confirms that on 21.04.1992, Zeljko Lelek “temporary” confiscated a legally own weapon(a hunting rifle) from this Bosniak.

Image: A travel permit issued to a Bosniak by the Sluzba Javne Bezbjednosti(SJB) and signed by its Chief Risto Perisic. Permit was issued for business reasons on 22.05.1992. Bosniaks could not enter or leave without Visegrad authorities permission.

Image: A signed oath of loyalty to the “Serb Municipality of Visegrad” whereas the undersigned shall respect all decisions and orders from the “Serb Municipality of Visegrad”; the “War Presidency of the Serb Municipality of Visegrad” and all other organs. The oath of loyalty was given purpose of security of the undersigned and his/her family. This statement was signed by a Bosniak civilian and by Miladin Milicevic, a member of the Visegrad War Presidency. Several dozen Bosniak families were forced or tricked into signing this “oath of loyalty”. In this family specifically, only one person managed to survive.

Read more on Visegrad Genocide:

+ Visegrad SDS Crisis Committee

+ What is Visegrad Genocide?

+ Mehmed-pasa Sokolovic Bridge: A Monument to Genocide

+ Eliticide in Visegrad

+ Destruction of Mosques in Visegrad Municipality

Exhumation at mass grave in Visegrad

We earlier wrote about a new mass grave in Visegrad. The new mass grave was located in Straziste cemetery.The site was covered with garbage. Among the remains of Bosniak victims were roof tiles, rubbish and especially lime.Information about this mass grave was given by local Serbs: a dying Serb who was witness to the disposal of these bodies.

Image: Exhumation at a mass grave in Visegrad, where bodies of Bosniak civilians were dumped. This mass grave was found thanks to information given by a dying Serb.

Image: Exhumation at a mass grave in Visegrad, where bodies of Bosniak civilians were dumped. This mass grave was found thanks to information given by a dying Serb.

Image: Exhumation at a mass grave in Visegrad, where bodies of Bosniak civilians were dumped. This mass grave was found thanks to information given by a dying Serb.

Image: Exhumation at a mass grave in Visegrad, where bodies of Bosniak civilians were dumped. This mass grave was found thanks to information given by a dying Serb.

Image: Exhumation at a mass grave in Visegrad, where bodies of Bosniak civilians were dumped. This mass grave was found thanks to information given by a dying Serb.

Image: Exhumation at a mass grave in Visegrad, where bodies of Bosniak civilians were dumped. This mass grave was found thanks to information given by a dying Serb.

Image: Exhumation at a mass grave in Visegrad, where bodies of Bosniak civilians were dumped. This mass grave was found thanks to information given by a dying Serb.

Image: Exhumation at a mass grave in Visegrad, where bodies of Bosniak civilians were dumped. This mass grave was found thanks to information given by a dying Serb.

“Then they set the house on fire and everyone inside was screaming – I was the only one who got out”.

The Guardian
20 August 1992

“Then they set the house on fire and everyone inside was screaming – I was the only one who got out”.

Maggie O’Kane’s 36-hour trek out of besieged Gorazde brought her to Visegrad with its burned houses along the Drina river valley, a small haven for eastern Bosnia’s Muslims driven from home by conquering Serbs. In the valley, the survivors told their story.

Her ears are melted away. All that is left are two waxy, twisted beige blobs like burned out candles. Her forehead is covered in a huge scab that is still healing and her nose is a maze of burst blood vessels.

She holds out her bandaged burnt arms delicately in front, like a Hindu woman at prayer. She says she is the only one who survived. Her name is Zehra Turjacanin. She is aged 31, a textile worker from Visegrad with a Muslim name. This is her story.

“It happened on June 27. Milan Lukic, a policeman in Visegrad, knocked on our door. He had six Serbs with him from Obrenovac. He said we were to go with him.

“There were eight people in my house: my mother, Djulka, my sisters, Dzehva and Aida and their children, Elma who was four, Ensar who was two, Sada who was five, and Selmir who was seven.

“After about 100 metres we went into another house on Bratislav Street. We were told to go in by the balcony. When we got to the balcony door, I saw that there was a wardrobe against the front door and all the windows had been blocked with furniture.

“There were Serbs all around the house and they were drinking. We tried to stay on the balcony but they started to throw stones at us to make us go inside, then they threw hand grenades. We went inside and it was full of people. They were crying.

“We were the last ones in and then the Serbs took a garage door from another house and put it up against the balcony, so we couldn’t get out. It was just after eight, when the curfew starts in Visegrad, and we were all in a sort of kitchen-dining room. I saw about 10 babies and some old people, but it was mostly families.

“I think there were about 70 people in that room. They weren’t screaming or banging on the doors, just crying because they knew what was going to happen.

“I said to my mother, ‘Don’t worry, they won’t kill us’. Then they set the house on fire and everyone inside was screaming, but nobody could get out. I saw the window in the garage door and I pulled myself through it.

“I was the only one who got out. I was wearing trousers, a jumper and a cardigan, and I pulled off my burning clothes. Outside the Chetniks were standing around watching the house burning. They were drunk and playing music very, very loud, so no one could hear the sound of the burning people screaming inside.

“One of the Chetniks saw me and shouted at me to stop, but they were far away from the house because of the big blaze. Then he just shrugged his shoulders and I ran and hid. I was the only one that survived.

“At one in the morning, I knocked on Ismeta Kurspahic’s door with my foot, and then I went to the Chetnik’s headquarters and I said to the commander: ‘Kill me, just kill me.’ But he said he wouldn’t and he brought Dr Vasiljevic to me and then took me to an old woman’s house.

“I stayed there for a day and then the old woman said Milan Lukic was looking for me, because I was the only one that survived and I knew. So I hid in the cemetery. Then I walked for 18 days and the territorial defence found me and they brought me here.”

Here is the mountain village of Medjedja, in a place the Muslims call the Valley of Freedom. It is a stretch of beautiful Bosnian countryside along the rivers Praca and Drina that wind their way below pine forests and through villages. A 50-mile stretch of the valley that is a last sanctuary for people like Zehra Turjacanin.

Thousands of Muslims have fled here, driven out from towns like Visegrad, Foca and Rogatica, to find peace in this valley. But once inside they are trapped – surrounded by the Serbs. “A bird cannot pass from here,” said one refugee.

But last Friday afternoon, in the driving thunderstorm, the Serbian checkpoint that guards the western entry to the valley was unmanned.

There is no petrol in the valley, so the mountain road along the Praca river is deserted. The Serbs had been through here in April and May. Burnt-out Muslim homes bear testimony to their coming. The people fled into the mountains while their homes were being looted and then moved back to their burnt-out villages, and the Serbs moved on to richer pastures.

A Bosnian soldier came up from the river bank to say we were in Free Bosnia. “Come to the commander,” he said. But the commander came along the river path to us. He and his men melting out of the trees, dressed in teeshirts, jeans and running shoes and carrying rifles. They were young, most in their early twenties and wearing green headbands. They wanted cigarettes; none had come through to their isolated valley for four months.

This Robin Hood band were going “up” – up in to the hills behind Gorazde to attack Serbian artillery positions. The scout who led the way carried a sack on his back, and the noses of a dozen rockets peeped from behind his right shoulder.

The commander, who had a walkie-talkie, was a electrical engineer before he went to war. He wore a green chiffon headscarf with silver spangles around his head. He paused to write our note of passage into his valley.

In the village of Ustipraca, Nehad Devlic said the Serbs had come in April. Then he was a rich man, owned three restaurants and two cars and a lorry. He fled into the forest and when he came out the Serbs had taken his Alfa-Romeo, his Volkswagen Golf and his lorry and burned down his three roadside cafes.

He now lives from the land, on eggs, wild plums and sacks of wheat that come down from the fields high in the mountain. We go to visit the ruin of his roadside restaurant, built in the days when tourists passed on the road to Sarajevo and Dubrovnik. But now the roads have been blocked.

They defend the valley by causing landslides from the hill on to the road to prevent the Serbs from coming back up along the river. The balconies of the modern apartment blocks in Ustipraca are filled with chopped wood. There are no cars, no electricity, and the telephones have been cut off.

There is a tranquillity in Ustipraca, peace among the charred houses in the shade of the mosque, which has a single shell hole left by passing Serbs making their point as they went through. Old men sit in the sun, surrounded by scrawny dogs looking for food and love, with hunting rifles ready for the Serbs if they come back.

In the village of Kopaci it is not so quiet. In Mehmed Mehovic’s back garden, under trees heavy with apples and plums, broken branches cover an 8ft long cluster bomb, designed to open in the air as it falls and send baby bombs scattering over his village. The cluster bomb did not explode and has been embedded in his back garden since June.

The sound of mortars boom outside. The Serbs are still mortaring the village from the distant hills. “It’s okay, they are only 105mm; they could be 155mm, they’ve used them before – takes the house away,” says the commander.

There is no cover, no cellar. The sound of the mortars landing is like the continuous sound of a door being slammed. An unemployed English-language enthusiast, aged 28, says: “Are you British, will you help us? Do you know that song from Black Sabbath – In the Ashes the Bodies Are Burning?”

Every day someone is injured or killed in Kopaci, but they have to hang on. There is nowhere to run to.

“Wait and listen for the whistle of the mortar, then you know it’s close” says Mehmed.

On Saturday afternoon Senad Niakonja, aged 10, was wheeled in his father’s barrow to see the doctor on the hill, to take out the mortar shrapnel in his back.

Among the refugees in Kopaci is Aldijana Hasecic, who tells us of Zehra Turjacanin’s ordeal. He will take us to see her, but first he wants to say that he has come from the woods near Visegrad and has seen the camp where Serbian men are taking Muslim women.

“It’s called Zamnica and it used to be an army barracks. It’s about 10 kilometres from Visegrad to the east. I went there early in the morning of August 9. It was 5am. The people that had escaped from the Chetniks told us there was a camp for Muslim women there. We went to see if we could save them, but it was too difficult. There were too many Chetniks. I didn’t see any of them being raped, but we know it’s happening. I saw them from the trees taking the young women out from the trucks and into the barracks.”

On the hill above the village of Medjedja the next day, a weeping woman in an orange polka-dot scarf says: “They took my daughter. They took all the girls from the village. We don’t know where they are. I haven’t seen her for four months”. Standing with her in the ruins of her house, where the only identifiable object is a scorched fridge freezer, are Hamed Sulejman and his wife, Kahriman. They have come to live in the woman’s woodshed. Kahriman says they were burnt out of their village and now her home is the woodshed where she lays out her jars of pickled fruit on a shelf above the mattress.

All along the mountain top are small burnt-out villages, clumps of houses where the people who have come out from the forests to live again among the ruins tell the same story, of how the Serbs came, looted their homes, burned them down and moved on.

In the lower hill, near Visegrad, a family of Muslims who fled from the town three months ago keep their bags packed in the sitting room. “We are ready to run if they come for us again,” says their son, Milos, who says he knows of the man called Milan Lukic. He says he watched him execute his friend, Hasan Veletovac, aged 16, on the bridge over the river Drina. “I was hiding in the attic of my house which looks over the bridge. They do the killing at night. They drink first in the Visegrad hotel. When the Chetniks go in ac tion they must drink. They bulldozed the two mosques in the main street in Visegrad so we wouldn’t come back.”

We came out through the trees and walked the last couple of miles into Visegrad, in the open along the road. At first no one seemed to notice two strangers in a town that had a population of 20,000 before all Muslims were driven out and into the valley – 10,000 people.

“All the Muslims have gone,” a journalist at the Visegrad radio station would say later, when he came to translate for us in the police headquarters. “Muslim extremists were responsible, they are on the hills around us. They attacked our church and now there is no mosque in this town.”

But first there is a little time to pass quietly to the main street, where on the corner with Bratislav Street rust coloured earth marks the spot where the first bulldozed mosque stood. Further down the street another mound marks the site of the second mosque.

Behind the supermarket on Bratislav Street, looking out on the cemetery, are the tired remains of a burnt-out house. A house that may have been the one where Zehra Turjacanin’s family and 60 others were burnt to death. We asked casually about a man called Milan Lukic.

“Yes,” said the Visegrad radio journalist. “He’s a policeman here. Not the chief, just an ordinary policeman.”

Papers checked. The English journalists are allowed to pass out of town in a police car with a kind Serb driver who offers cigarettes. A truck piled with furniture is parked outside the burnt-out shell of a two-storey house.

“Muslimanis,” he says, and drives us on through another 20 miles of charred Muslim homes and villages, through an apocalyptic rural wasteland that is the new Serbian republic of Bosnia.

Biljana Plavsic to be freed!

A former citizen of  Sarajevo. Professor of Biology at the University of Sarajevo, Biljana Plavsic, rose up the Serb political ladder quiet fast. During the Bosnian Genocide she took part in the  dehumanization of  Bosniaks.

After making a deal with the prosecution, she pleaded guilty to one count in the indictment: crimes against humanity. Genocide charges were dropped due to the guilty plea.

*Note: Read this interesting article at Daniel’s Srebrenica Genocide Blog.

In Memoriam: Behija&Dzemo Zukic

Image: The tombstone of Behija Zukic in Visegrad.

Image: Behija Zukic, famous businesswomen from Visegrad.

Behija and her husband Dzemo Zukic lived in Germany before returning to Visegrad where they opened up a few stores. They were well-known  and respected by everyone in Visegrad. They owned a brand new red Volkswagen Passat passenger vehicle. Witness VG-042 testified at the Hague:

“One day I went to the MUP building in town to get a pass  to leave town just to make sure we were safe.  I was on my way back to Dusce.  There were two roads.  One was next to the Drina River; it was an asphalt road, surfaced.  And then there was a macadam road parallel to the rail line, so we took that road in order not to meet any Chetniks on our way back.  As soon as I reached the Varda furniture factory, there’s a house there belonging to a man named Sevko Hodzic.  Dzemo Zukic and his Behija passed us, and then there was a white Fico driving behind us and it pulled over right outside Sevko Hodzic’s house.  Milan Lukic got out of that Fico vehicle and walked up to Vico [as interpreted] Zukic and his wife Behija.  He seized their car.  We walked on past the Varda factory to our homes.  I said, Dzemo, my dear, what was that?  And Behija told me one thing, Don’t ask a question.  Milan Lukic just took my car away.  And that was that.  We talked no more.”

Behija was shot and killed by Milan Lukic at her doorstep on 21 May 1992. Her husband Dzemo and son were taken away by Lukic and other members of Bosnian Serb Army’s Special Unit “Avengers” (“Osvetnici”). Behija was later buried in Straziste cemetery by her neighbors.

Her funeral would also be remembered by Visegrad’s Bosniaks. Zukic family’s TAM Truck which was seized by the Special Unit “Avengers”, drove up to the cemetery entrance and armed camouflaged Serb soldiers, members of the “Avengers”, got off the truck and started apprehending Bosniak men and shoving them onto the truck.  The other people present at the funeral started running in panic across the cemetery into the woods. Around 15 Bosniaks men were shoved onto the truck that day and have not been seen since.

U.S. Congress remembers Zepa and Avdo Palic

[Congressional Record: July 24, 2009 (Extensions)]

[Page E2004-E2005]

From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

[DOCID:cr24jy09-254]

JULY 25, 1995 MASSACRE IN ZEPA, BOSNIA

______

HON. ANDRE CARSON

of indiana

in the house of representatives

Friday, July 24, 2009

Mr. CARSON. Madam Speaker, tomorrow, the international community will

remember a tragic day in the genocide that ravaged Bosnia and

Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995. For over three years, the town of

Zepa, Bosnia remained under siege by the Republika Srpska, despite

being named a safe haven for

[[Page E2005]]

Bosnians by the United Nations Security Council.

Over this period, innocent Zepa residents lived under constant

threat, both of the near constant artillery fire and from the rampant

starvation and disease that arose from squalid living conditions.

Thousands lost their lives and countless others were injured during the

three year siege until finally, on July 25, 1995, the town fell to

paramilitary forces and the remaining residents were killed or

forcefully expelled from their homes.

On this heartbreaking anniversary, it is clear that atrocities and

genocide should never be permitted to continue unfettered. In

remembering the innocent victims of Zepa, I believe that the United

States, together with the United Nations and our allies around the

world, must reaffirm its commitment to ceaselessly pursue the

perpetrators of these terrible war crimes. The international community

must come together to not only remember the innocent victims of this

massacre, but to also redouble its pursuit of lasting peace and

security in some of the world’s most volatile regions.

[Congressional Record: July 29, 2009 (Extensions)]

[Page E2060]

From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

[DOCID:cr29jy09-17]

THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE FALL OF ZEPA

______

HON. RUSS CARNAHAN

of missouri

in the house of representatives

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Mr. CARNAHAN. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize the

anniversary of the fall of Zepa during the war in Bosnia in 1995. Just

a few weeks ago, I attended the Srebrenica genocide remembrance

ceremony in Bosnia and Herzegovina to commemorate the thousands of

innocent lives lost during the war. It is important to remember these

innocent people who lost their lives as Bosnians move forward.

This siege on Srebrenica, however, was not an isolated event. On July

25, 1995, Zepa, another U.N.-declared safe haven, also fell to the same

forces that took Srebrenica just weeks earlier. The thousands of

inhabitants and refugees in Zepa were forced to suffer, and die through

a constant downpour of shellfire.

In addition to the vast numbers who perished due to the barrage of

fire and starvation, an unknown number were taken away never to be seen

again, including the Colonel of the Bosnia and Herzegovina army, Avdo

Palic, who negotiated the evacuation of approximately 5,000 civilians.

Today, a little more than 14 years after the fall of Zepa, I urge us

all to remember not only the fall of Zepa, but also the destruction of

the other towns of Srebrenica, Zepa, Sarajevo, Gorazde, Bihac, Tuzla,

Prijedor, Bjeljina, Visegrad, Foca, and Kozarac, and many others, all

of which experienced significant loss. We must remind ourselves of the

innocent lives that were lost, and honor their memory.

Madam Speaker, while we cannot erase the pain of these losses, let us

support the efforts of the families of the missing to learn the fate of

their loved ones, and let us support the justice that is necessary for

the building of a stable, prosperous, and unified Bosnia and

Herzegovina.

[Congressional Record: July 27, 2009 (Extensions)]

[Page E2020-E2021]

From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

[DOCID:cr27jy09-37]

REMEMBERING THE FALL OF ZEPA

______

HON. CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH

of new jersey

in the house of representatives

Monday, July 27, 2009

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Madam Speaker, on Saturday July 25 Bosnians

commemorated the fourteenth anniversary of the tragic fall of Zepa. The

town of Zepa was one of the six United Nations-declared safe havens in

Bosnia during the war of aggression from 1992 to 1995. In May 1993, a

United Nations Security Council resolution held out to this town in

eastern Bosnia the promise of protection from the forces of Republika

Srpska. In Zepa the local residents, people from the surrounding area,

and refugees from other cities and towns gathered to be shielded from

Serbian aggression.

But, Madam Speaker, the men, women, and children seeking refuge in

Zepa were not shielded. The forces of Republika Srpska, who had laid

siege to Zepa in the summer of 1992, were not impressed by UN safe

havens, and neither the UN nor anyone else was committed to defending

the safe havens. On July 25, 1995, the forces of Republika Srpska

overpowered Zepa’s defenders and began to occupy the town.

In July Avdo Palic, colonel of the Bosnian government force defending

Zepa, performed a hero’s work in evacuating as many civilians as he

could, despite operating under constant shelling and the threat of

starvation from the forces of Republika Srpska. Palic participated in

negotiations which resulted in the safe evacuation of approximately

5,000 Bosnian civilians. On July 27 Palic traveled to the UN Protection

Force Compound, in order to secure the evacuation of Zepa’s remaining

inhabitants: he has not been seen since and his fate is still unknown.

Madam Speaker, looking back on the tragedy of Zepa, we remember the

loss of countless innocent lives. Our government cannot give back to

the survivors the precious lives of the family members and friends of

the people of Zepa, Srebrenica, Sarajevo, Bihac, Gorazde, and Tuzla,

but it can support their pursuit of justice. Our government must do

everything it can to discover the fate of Avdo

[[Page E2021]]

Palic and the other men and women who went missing in the genocide

committed against the Bosnian people. To be sure, we must continue to

look for Ratko Mladic and other criminals and genocideurs, but we must

not forget their victims and their need for closure.

Never Forget!

Colonel Avdo Palic

Milan and Sredoje Lukic Judgement

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

The Trial Chamber is sitting today to deliver its judgement in the trial of Milan Lukić and Sredoje Lukić. I will briefly summarise the Trial Chamber’s findings. The Trial Chamber emphasises that this is but a summary of its findings and that the only authoritative account is the written judgement, which will be made available after this hearing.

This case concerns events that took place in the municipality of Višegrad, and the town of the same name, in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 7 June 1992 and 10 October 1994. The municipality is located in the south-eastern region of Bosnia close to the border of the Republic of Serbia on its eastern side. In April 1992, following acts of violence against the Muslim population in the municipality, the Yugoslav People’s Army, or JNA, entered Višegrad. It eventually withdrew on 19 May 1992, having established Serb control over the town and the municipality. Following the JNA’s departure, attacks on the non-Serb population, including murders, disappearances, rapes, beatings, and destruction of non-Serb property, increased. These attacks were carried out by paramilitary groups that operated in Višegrad with the complicity or acquiescence of the Serb authorities. The number of arbitrary killings and disappearances peaked in May and June 1992.

It was within this context that Milan Lukić and Sredoje Lukić both from the village of Rujište near Višegrad town, allegedly committed the crimes with which they are charged. Milan Lukić has been charged with committing or aiding and abetting persecution, murder, extermination, cruel treatment, and inhumane acts, as crimes against humanity and war crimes, in relation to six discrete incidents. The incidents are 1) the killing of five Muslim civilian men at the Drina river on or about 7 June 1992; 2) the killing of seven Muslim civilian men at the Varda factory in Višegrad town on or about 10 June 1992; 3) the events leading up to and including burning alive of approximately 70 Muslim civilians in Adem Omeragić’s house on Pionirska street in Višegrad town on or about 14 June 1992; 4) the burning alive of approximately 70 Muslim civilians in Meho Aljić’s house in Bikavac, also in Višegrad town, on or about 27 June 1992; 5) the killing of Hajra Korić, a Muslim civilian, in or about June 1992; and 6) the beating of Muslim detainees at the Uzamnica detention camp between August 1992 and October 1994.

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

Sredoje Lukić has been charged with committing or aiding and abetting the crimes of persecution, murder, extermination, cruel treatment, and inhumane acts, as crimes against humanity and war crimes, in relation to three of the above six incidents: 1) the burning alive of approximately 70 persons in Adem Omeragić’s house; 2) the burning alive of approximately 70 Muslim civilians in Meho Aljić’s house; and 3) the beating of Muslim detainees at the Uzamnica detention camp.

In relation to the Drina river incident, the evidence shows that Milan Lukić collected seven Muslim men on 7 June 1992, and eventually drove them to the Drina river near Sase where he lined them up at the river’s edge. Milan Lukić ignored the victims’ pleas for their lives and told the soldiers with him to shoot the men with single shots. He and the soldiers then shot the men in the back, killing some of them instantly and then returning to fire additional shots into those bodies they thought to still be alive. Five men perished. Only VG014 and VG032, both of whom testified before the Trial Chamber, survived by pretending they were dead.

With regard to the Varda factory incident, the evidence shows that on about 10 June 1992 Milan Lukić entered the Varda factory and collected seven Muslim men from their workstations. He thereafter took them down to the bank of the Drina river in front of thefactory, where he lined them up. Milan Lukić then shot the men in full view of a number of people watching, including the wife and daughter of one of the victims, Ibrišim Memišević. All seven men were killed.

Considerable evidence was received concerning the Pionirska street incident. The evidence shows that a group of 70 Muslim civilians, most of whom came from the village of Koritnik and included many members of the Kurspahić family, were taken by a group of armed Serbs to Jusuf Memić’s house on Pionirska street, where they were robbed at gunpoint. Women and some children were then strip-searched, after which a number of women were taken away, stating upon being brought back to the house that they had been raped. Later in the evening, the group of victims was transferred to the nearby house of Adem Omeragić, where they were locked into a ground-floor room. The evidence shows that the carpet of the room had been prepared with an accelerant. After a while, a lighted, explosive device was placed in the room which ignited an intense fire when it exploded. As the victims tried to escape the flames through the two windows of the room, they were shot at by the armed men outside the house. Other explosive devices were also thrown into the room. Witnesses VG078 and VG101, who had escaped and were hiding close by, could hear shots coming from Adem Omeragić’s house. VG101 said to VG078:

“These people are killing our mother, our mother-in-law, and our brother’s two children. They didn’t do anything wrong”.

Only a handful of people survived, and all of those who are still alive came to testify before the Trial Chamber. However, 59 people were burned alive.

The Milan Lukić Defence challenged the very occurrence of the fire in Adem Omeragić’s house through a number of experts who visited the site in January 2009. The Trial Chamber has endorsed the view of the experts that the longer a crime scene investigation is delayed, the less reliable the conclusions that can be drawn. Under crossexamination by the Prosecution, the experts qualified their conclusions to such an extent as to render their overall findings practically without foundation, including by agreeing that a fire could have taken place and that an incendiary device exploded in Adem Omeragić’s house. Therefore, the Trial Chamber has placed little weight on their evidence. On the basis of the acceptance by the Vasiljević Trial Chamber of Mitar Vasiljević’s alibi in relation to the Pionirska street incident, the Milan Lukić Defence also challenged the credibility of a number of Prosecution witnesses who recalled seeing Mitar Vasiljević there. On the evidence presented in this case, the Trial Chamber by majority, Judge Robinson dissenting, has found that Mitar Vasiljević was, in fact, present on Pionirska street during the robbery in Jusuf Memić’s house, and during the transfer to and burning of Adem Omeragić’s house.

The evidence shows that Milan Lukić was inside Jusuf Memić’s house and that he robbed the victims of their valuables. He was present and armed when the strip-searches were being carried out. He also participated in removing a number of women from the house who, reportedly, were raped. Milan Lukić participated in the transfer of the victims to Adem Omeragić’s house, and the evidence shows that it was he who closed the door once the group was inside the room. The Trial Chamber also has found that it was Milan Lukić who placed the explosive device into the room, thereby setting the house ablaze. Furthermore, the Trial Chamber has found that he shot at the windows of the house and that he shot at and wounded VG013 as she escaped.

The evidence shows that Sredoje Lukić, a police officer in Višegrad, was also present, and armed, at Jusuf Memić’s house, including while the robbery and strip-searches were taking place inside, and when the women were removed. The Trial Chamber has found that he was also present during the transfer to Adem Omeragić’s house. However, the Trial Chamber has concluded that there is no reliable evidence that Sredoje Lukić set Adem Omeragić’s house on fire or shot at the windows as people tried to escape. Nevertheless, the Trial Chamber has, Judge Robinson dissenting, found that by his presence and by being armed, Sredoje Lukić substantially contributed to the deaths of the 59 people trapped in the house. The Trial Chamber has further found that Sredoje Lukić aided and abetted in the cruel treatment and inhumane acts committed against all the members of the group.

The other incident charged in which Muslim civilians were burned alive occurred at Meho Aljić’s house in Bikavac. Zehra Turjačanin testified in relation to this incident. She presented a sad, tragic but heroic figure. Permanently disabled as a result of this event, and scarred for life, she has broken all ties with her former homeland. Her evidence, as well as the evidence of other witnesses, shows that Milan Lukić and other armed men forced a group of approximately 70 Muslim civilians into Meho Aljić’s house, locking them inside.

Milan Lukic at the Hague

All the exits had been blocked by heavy furniture and a garage door was also placed against a door to prevent escape. Gunshots were fired at the house and grenades were thrown inside, setting the house on fire. Witnesses VG058 and VG035 vividly remembered the terrible screams of the people in the house, “like the screams of cats”. The Trial Chamber has found that at least 60 Muslim civilians were burned alive.

The Milan Lukić Defence also challenged the occurrence of the Bikavac fire through its experts. For the reasons mentioned earlier, the Trial Chamber has placed little weight on this evidence as relates to the Bikavac fire. It has placed no weight on the evidence of the Defence psychological expert, George Hough, who provided views on the evidence of Zehra Turjačanin, the sole survivor of the incident, without having had any contact with her. The Defence also challenged the credibility of Zehra Turjačanin because in the period immediately following her escape from the fire she gave various accounts to Serb soldiers and a doctor of how she received her horrific burns. The Trial Chamber concludes that these differing accounts do not cast doubt on Zehra Turjačanin evidence, and that she is a witness of truth.

The Trial Chamber is satisfied that Milan Lukić was present and armed throughout the incident. He used the butt of his rifle to push people into the house, saying, “Come on, let’s get as many people inside as possible.” After the victims were locked inside, he shot at the house, threw grenades into it and subsequently set it on fire using petrol.

With respect to Sredoje Lukić’s presence during the incident, the Trial Chamber by majority, Judge David dissenting, has found that Zehra Turjačanin’s evidence is inconclusive. Therefore, the Trial Chamber by majority, Judge David dissenting, is not satisfied that Sredoje Lukić was present at the Bikavac incident.

Sredoje Lukic speaking to high-level Republika Srpska authorities before turning in to the Hague.

The Trial Chamber will now turn to the last two incidents in the indictment. In respect of the killing of Hajra Korić, the evidence shows that Milan Lukić searched for Hajra Korić among a group of women and children who were fleeing. Once Milan Lukić found her, he singled her out and shot her at point blank range. He was laughing when he turned her body over with his foot and shot her in the back.

In relation to the Uzamnica camp, the evidence shows that both Milan Lukić and Sredoje Lukić were opportunistic visitors to the camp, although Sredoje Lukić came to the camp less frequently than Milan Lukić. When at the camp, both Milan Lukić and Sredoje Lukić severely and repeatedly kicked and beat the detainees with their fists, truncheons, sticks and rifle butts. Several victims testified before the Trial Chamber about these brutal beatings and the grave injuries and permanent injuries they sustained and the suffering they endured.

Milan Lukić presented alibis for the Drina river, Varda factory, Pionirska street, Bikavac and the Uzamnica camp incidents. The Drina river and Varda factory alibi is that Milan Lukićwas in Belgrade and Novi Pazar in Serbia from 7 to 10 June 1992. The Trial Chamber has found that the purported alibi suffers from a number of glaring inconsistencies, and has held that the evidence of two key witnesses, MLD1 and MLD10, is lacking in credibility. MLD10 also testified in support of the alibi for the Bikavac incident, that at the end of June 1992 Milan Lukić was in Rujište for three or four days. Also in this respect has the Trial Chamber found MLD10’s evidence to be wholly unreliable. Particularly damaging to MLD10’s credibility overall was the credible and reliable evidence of Hamdija Vilić that MLD10 received payment in exchange for false testimony.

Milan Lukić’s alibi for the Pionirska street incident is that on 13 to 15 June 1992, he was deployed as a reserve policeman in Kopito. The Trial Chamber has found that the evidence of witnesses who are fundamental to the alibi as a whole, notably MLD4, MLD7 and Goran Ðeric, display discrepancies on matters that are central to the alibi. The Trial Chamber has also found MLD4’s and Goran Ðeric’s evidence to be unreliable. There was little evidence advanced in support of the alibi for the Uzamnica detention camp charges, according to which Milan Lukić was imprisoned for some of the relevant time. The Trial Chamber has found that Milan Lukić’s imprisonment for some time in spring 1993 and possibly 1994 has no bearing on the evidence showing that he beat the detainees because it does not correspond to the same time period.

Sredoje Lukić presented alibis for the Pionirska street and Bikavac incidents. In light of its majority finding that the Prosecution has not proved beyond reasonable doubt that Sredoje Lukić was present at the Bikavac incident, the Trial Chamber has not made any findings in relation to the alibi for the Bikavac incident. In relation to the alibi for the Pionirska street incident, which is that Sredoje Lukić met Veroljub Živković and Branimir Bugarski in Obrenovac, Serbia, in the evening of 14 June 1992, the Trial Chamber has found that aspects of the evidence presented are implausible and that the evidence of Veroljub Živković, a key witness, is neither credible nor reliable.

For each incident where an alibi has been presented, the Trial Chamber has considered the evidence as a whole, that is, the evidence led by the Prosecution and the evidence led by the Defence, and found that the alibi is not reasonably possibly true. In particular, the Trial Chamber has rejected the alibi for the Drina river and Varda factory incidents as a cynical and callously-orchestrated artifice. The Trial Chamber has concluded that the Prosecution has proved beyond reasonable doubt the relevant charges.

A very large amount of evidence was presented of other crimes that were committed in Višegrad during the indictment period, including specific instances of murders, rapes and beatings, some of which were allegedly committed by Milan Lukić and Sredoje Lukić. A significant proportion of this evidence, including several incidents of rape, was presented by the Prosecution for the purpose of rebutting the alibis presented. As Milan Lukić and Sredoje Lukić have not been charged with any crimes arising out of these incidents, the Trial Chamber has not made any determination of guilt in relation to them.

Sredoje and Milan Lukic at the Hague.

The perpetration by Milan Lukić and Sredoje Lukić of crimes in this case is characterised by a callous and vicious disregard for human life. The Trial Chamber has found that Milan Lukić personally killed at least 132 Muslim people. In early June 1992 and within a matter of days, Milan Lukić summarily executed 12 Muslim men at the Drina river with indifference and deliberateness. He carried out the cold-blooded murder of Hajra Korić in a flippant and cavalier manner. As opportunistic visitors to the Uzamnica camp, bothMilan Lukić and Sredoje Lukić came for no other reason than to inflict violence on the detainees. Although Sredoje Lukić came to the camp with less frequency than Milan Lukić, both accused beat the detainees with extraordinary brutality, causing them serious and permanent damage.

The Trial Chamber has found that Milan Lukić played a dominant role in both the Pionirska street and Bikavac incidents, in which, respectively, 59 people and at least 60 people burned alive. While Sredoje Lukić did not himself set Adem Omeragić’s house on fire himself, he knew what would happen to the victims that he helped herd to AdemOmeragić’s house.

The Pionirska street fire and the Bikavac fire exemplify the worst acts of inhumanity that a person may inflict upon others. In the all too long, sad and wretched history of man’s inhumanity to man, the Pionirska street and Bikavac fires must rank high. At the close of the twentieth century, a century marked by war and bloodshed on a colossal scale, these horrific events stand out for the viciousness of the incendiary attack, for the obvious premeditation and calculation that defined it, for the sheer callousness and brutality of herding, trapping and locking the victims in the two houses, thereby rendering them helpless in the ensuing inferno, and for the degree of pain and suffering inflicted on the victims as they were burnt alive. There is a unique cruelty in expunging all traces of the individual victims which must heighten the gravity ascribed to these crimes.

Lastly, Milan Lukić and Sredoje Lukić are alleged to have committed the crime of persecution through a number of underlying acts. The Trial Chamber has found that Milan Lukić acted with discriminatory intent when committing the underlying acts charged. It has also found that Sredoje Lukić acted with discriminatory intent when aiding and abetting the underlying acts charged. Judge Robinson dissents from this Trial Chamber’s finding insofar as the underlying acts pertain to the transfer of the approximately 70 Muslim civilians to Adem Omeragić’s house and their detention and murder in that house during the Pionirska street incident.

Milan Lukić, please rise.

The Trial Chamber finds you, Milan Lukić, GUILTY pursuant to Article 7(1) of the Statute of committing:

Persecutions, a crime against humanity, count 1
Murder, a crime against humanity, count 2
Murder, a violation of the laws and customs of war, count 3
Inhumane acts, a crime against humanity, count 4
Cruel treatment, a violation of the laws and customs of war, count 5
Murder, a crime against humanity, count 6
Murder, a violation of the laws and customs of war, count 7
Murder, a violation of the laws and customs of war, count 10
Inhumane acts, a crime against humanity, count 11
Cruel treatment, a violation of the laws and customs of war, count 12
Murder, a violation of the laws and customs of war, count 15
Inhumane acts, a crime against humanity, count 16
Cruel treatment, a violation of the laws and customs of war, count 17
Murder, a crime against humanity, count 18
Murder, a violation of the laws and customs of war, count 19
Inhumane acts, a crime against humanity, count 20, and
Cruel treatment, a violation of the laws and customs of war, count 21

The Trial Chamber by majority, Judge Van den Wyngaert dissenting, finds you, Milan Lukić, GUILTY pursuant to Article 7(1) of the Statute of committing:

Extermination, a crime against humanity, count 8, and
Extermination, a crime against humanity, count 13

The Trial Chamber sentences you to a term of imprisonment for the remainder of your life.

Pursuant to Rule 101(C), you are entitled to credit for time spent in detention, which as of the date of this judgement amounts to 1443 days, and for such additional time you may serve pending the determination of any appeal. This information is provided in the event that it becomes necessary in any subsequent proceedings. Pursuant to Rule 103(C), you shall remain in the custody of the Tribunal pending finalisation of arrangements for your transfer to the State where you shall serve your sentence.

Milan Lukić, you may sit.

Sredoje Lukić, please rise.

The Trial Chamber by majority, Judge David dissenting, finds you, Sredoje Lukić, NOT GUILTY on the following counts:

Count 8: Extermination, a crime against humanity
Count 13: Extermination, a crime against humanity
Count 14: Murder, a crime against humanity
Count 15: Murder, a violation of the laws and customs of war
Count 16: Inhumane acts, a crime against humanity
Count 17: Cruel treatment, a violation of the laws and customs of war

The Trial Chamber finds you, Sredoje Lukić, GUILTY pursuant to Article 7(1) of the Statute of committing:

Inhumane acts, a crime against humanity, count 20 and
Cruel treatment, a violation of the laws and customs of war, count 21

The Trial Chamber finds you, Sredoje Lukić, GUILTY pursuant to Article 7(1) of the Statute of aiding and abetting:

Persecutions, a crime against humanity, count 1,
Inhumane acts, a crime against humanity, count 11,
Cruel treatment, a violation of the laws and customs of war, count 12
The Trial Chamber by majority, Judge Robinson dissenting, finds you, Sredoje Lukić,
GUILTY pursuant to Article 7(1) of the Statute of aiding and abetting:
Murder, a crime against humanity, count 9
Murder, a violation of the laws and customs of war, count 10

The Trial Chamber sentences you, Sredoje Lukić, to a sentence of 30 years of imprisonment.

Pursuant to Rule 101(C), you are entitled to credit for time spent in detention, which as of the date of this judgement amounts to 1404 days, and for such additional time you may serve pending the determination of any appeal. Pursuant to Rule 103(C), you shall remain in the custody of the Tribunal pending finalisation of arrangements for your transfer to the State where you shall serve your sentence.

Sredoje Lukić, please sit.

The hearing is adjourned.

Momir Savic sentenced to 18 years for war crimes.

REUTERS – Bosnia’s war crimes court jailed a Bosnian Serb wartime army commander on Friday for 18 years for the killing, rape and torture of Muslims in eastern Bosnia early in the 1992-95 war.

“Momir Savic was found guilty of persecution, murder, imprisonment, rape, torture and other inhuman acts against Bosnian Muslim civilians in and around the eastern town of Visegrad from April to September 1992,” it said in a statement.

Savic, 58, was a member of a paramilitary unit formed when the Uzice Corps of the former Yugoslav Peoples Army (JNA) launched its operations in Bosnia, and then became a company commander of the Bosnian Serb army’s Visegrad Brigade.

According to the indictment Savic and several other Serb soldiers had taken 10 Muslim civilians from their homes in a Visegrad neighbourhood in May 1992, beaten and then executed them.

He took part in other, similar incidents and once, “when one civilian tried to run away, shot at him … and deprived him of his life,” it said.

He was also found guilty of having repeatedly raped a Muslim woman in her house from June to September 1992, threatening her to stop her telling anyone, as well as of taking part in the interrogation and beating of Muslims from villages around Visegrad, and of plundering and burning their houses.

Bosnian Serb forces, helped by the Serb-dominated JNA and Serbian paramilitaries, committed the worst atrocities against Muslims in eastern Bosnia early in the conflict as part of their bid to create exclusively Serb territories.

The Bosnian war crimes court was set up in 2005 to allow the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague to focus on the most serious abuses of the conflict in which over 100,000 people were killed.

Prison camps in Visegrad region

Prisoners at Trnopolje concentration camp in Prijedor Municipality 1992.

Final report of the United Nations Commission of Experts
established pursuant to
security council resolution 780 (1992)

Annex VIII – part 1/10
Prison camps

The full report can be found here.

(…)

There are reports of 21 Serb-run camps established in the Visegrad region as part of this «ethnic cleansing» campaign. They were first created in April and May 1992 and appear to have run throughout July and August, although most of their precise dates of existence are unspecified. These camps are as follows: Banja Suse, Bikavac Hotel, a building above a tunnel, a factory in Visegrad, the fire station at Visegrad, the former police station in Visegrad, Hasan Beretovac Primary School, Hasan Veletovic Primary School at Gucine, Pozarnica Barracks, Prelovo Camp, stable of Guso Salko, Varda Sawmill or Plant, Vardiste Barracks, Vilina Vlas Hotel, Visegrad Electric Plant, Visegrad High School Centre, Visegrad Sports Centre, Uzemnica or Uramnica Barracks, the Zelimir Djuric Zeljo Primary School in Prelevo, and Zamjenica Garrison. There are also reports that prisoners were held in private homes and apartments.

These camps held Muslim inhabitants from Visegrad and the surrounding villages. Several of them were specifically established to detain women for the purposes of rape. Members of Serbian military and paramilitary forces as well as local civilians would regularly visit these camps. Rape was apparently so common in the region that one nurse at a refugee shelter in Zenica stated, «Virtually every young woman who fled (Donji Vakuf, Foca, or) Visegrad after Serb extremists began what they call »ethnic cleansing« was raped.» *4238

(…)

Annex VIII : Prison camps (part 8/10)

Banja Suse: (The existence of this detention facility has not been corroborated by multiple sources.) There is one report that during the initial attack on Visegrad in April, a man and his two sons were taken to a camp at Banja Suse. *4243 Apparently, this camp was near the River Drina. All the report describes is that a unit of the Serbian Territorial Defence stationed on the other side of the river suddenly opened fire on the camp. The man and children detained there escaped by swimming along the river. *4244

Bikavac Hotel: (The existence of this detention facility has been corroborated by multiple sources however none among them are neutral.) Bikavac was a detention camp where Muslim women were held for the purposes of rape and sexual abuse. *4245 There are alleged to have been girls under the age of 14 at this camp. *4246

This hotel was also the headquarters of the Serbian Territorial Defence and the White Eagles. It appears the hotel may have been the combined headquarters of the two armed forces. *4247 An identified man was the manager of the hotel and was alleged to be involved in activities there. *4248

Building above tunnel in Visegrad: (The existence of this detention facility has not been corroborated by multiple sources.) There is one report that girls were taken by «Cetniks» and detained in «a building above the tunnel» in Visegrad. *4249 There is no further information about this camp.

Factory in Visegrad: (The existence of this detention facility has been corroborated by a neutral source, namely the Defence Debriefing Team.) The Defence Debriefing Team reported the existence of a camp at a factory in Visegrad in December 1992. *4250 No other details are included.

Fire Station in Visegrad: (The existence of this detention facility has been corroborated by multiple sources however none among them are neutral.) The fire station at Visegrad was one of the main detention facilities in the area. There are no indications of exactly where in Visegrad this fire station is located; it is only described as having a «big open area» below it. *4251 Most prisoners at the station came from Zlijeb and Visegrad although there is a report that a group of young girls came from Kuke. *4252 Those from Zlijeb arrived sometime in June after the attack of their village by Arkan’s units. *4253 The exact dates of the other groups’ detention are unknown.

The fire station was a holding facility from where prisoners were often taken and returned. During detention, prisoners were temporarily taken to the police station, Vilina Vlas Hotel, and private homes for the purposes of interrogation and rape. While at the station, prisoners were also raped, beaten, killed, and made to do hard labour. *4254

The most detailed description of the station comes from an ex-prisoner who was held there for five days in late May 1992. *4255 In her testimony, the witness refers to the camp as the «Fireman’s Society». She was a particular target for rape and interrogation by the «Cetniks» because she was originally from Zepa, and they wanted information about Muslim military activities there. *4256

While she was at the station, 130 people were also detained, 20 of them men. Upon her arrival, the «Cetniks» lined up 15 kids and told everyone, «If anyone does anything against us, all 15 will be killed, and we will line up another 15.» *4257 Thereafter, the prisoners were separated by gender and taken in groups of five to a «receiving area» where they were stripped naked and searched by guards. They were told that if they withheld any valuables, they would be killed. *4258

She reports that on the first night, an unknown number of «Cetniks» came and took away two young girls to be raped. The mother of the children tried to give them some previously hidden money, but this did not stop them. Instead, they simply took the mother and forced her to watch the rapes. *4259

On the second day, another female detainee was taken away. Apparently, she was brought to the police station for questioning and returned later that day. On this same day, the witness was also taken from the station and brought to a house in the Bikavac quarter of Visegrad by a named man. There, 20 men awaited her. They gang raped her and then the man drove her back to the station. *4260

That evening, two men came to the camp with eight other men. They took away the male prisoners in groups of five and six. Approximately, 21 men were taken in all, their destination unknown. This left about 100 to 110 women and children remaining at the station. *4261

Sometime after the men were taken, the others went to sleep, but were later awakened when about seven or eight «Cetniks» showed up again with socks over their heads and «with colours and dirt on their faces». *4262 They wore plastic gloves and were shouting that they wanted to test something in the building. First, they took two girls to be raped. Then, they chose from the other women using a flashlight in the dark room to see their faces. *4263

The witness was one of the women chosen. She was taken upstairs with two others. Upstairs in the hallway, they were grabbed at and kissed by several men. Then, they were brought into a small office with four men and forced to strip naked. First, the other two women were raped. Then, they were sent into the hallway and she was left alone with the men. *4264

One of them told her to sit down «in the Turkish way» in front of him. He made her kiss the cross he wore around his neck three times and cross herself. When she told him she did not know how, another of them showed her and made her do it. He then told her that she had changed religion and that she was now a Serb. *4265

After this time, the three other men left the room. She had to perform fellatio on the perpetrator while he held a knife to her throat. He ejaculated inside her. Then, the second man came in, and she was forced to do the same thing to him, then the third, and the fourth. *4266

While upstairs, the witness noted that there were three rooms: two smaller offices and a big room where a lot of folders and paperwork were stored. The two smaller rooms were empty. She reports that only one of these rooms, the one in which she was raped, was used for rape. *4267

On the third day, she was again taken away from the station at around 2:00 p.m. The «Cetniks» took her to the «New Bridge» where they interrogated and kissed her in front of the Muslim men being killed there. *4268 She was met by a named man and brought to the Vilina Vlas Hotel. Though she had never met this man, she knew him to be one of the main perpetrators of crimes in the area. He raped her at Vilina Vlas all that day and night and brought her back to the fire station at 12:00 a.m. *4269

Only five minutes after she was returned, the «Cetniks» came for her again. This time there were three of them. They took her to an empty house not far from the station, interrogated her about Zepa, and raped her. *4270

After five days of detention, the witness was transferred with her two children to Kalina near Olovo. During her transport, the convoy was stopped three times as various «Cetniks» continued to look for her. She successfully evaded them by hiding underneath other prisoners during their searches of the convoy trucks. *4271

Among the perpetrators she reports were involved in activities at the fire station were three identified man, one man identified by nickname, and many of Arkan’s and Seselj’s men. *4272 She states, «They all had beards, black dresses, all in black with hats and Serbian crosses, long hair.» She adds that she did not know any of them from before the war but learned that some were from Uzice, Bijolje, and Visegrad. *4273

Other reports indicate that two other men were also present at the station. In addition, a man identified by one name only from Visegrad was there. *4274 One witness specifically alleges that she and three other women were raped when they had no valuables to give him. *4275

Hasan Beretovac Primary School: (The existence of this detention facility has been corroborated by multiple sources however none among them are neutral.) There is a report that a Serb-run camp was established at this school. *4276 There is no further information.

* VGM Editor’s Note: The School’s correct name is Hasan Veletovac. *

Hasan Veletovic Primary School at Gucine: (The existence of this detention facility has not been corroborated by multiple sources.) There is also a report that a camp was established here. There are no details about it other than the fact that the entire population of Crna was brought here, stripped of their valuables, and detained. *4277 This may, in fact, be the same camp reported above as Hasan Beretovac School.

* VGM Editor’s Note: The School’s correct name is Hasan Veletovac. *

High School Centre at Visegrad: (The existence of this detention facility has been corroborated by multiple sources however none among them are neutral.) A camp was established at the high school in Visegrad. *4278 There is no indication exactly where the high school is located, and no other information is included.

Former JNA Garrisons at Vardiste: *4279 (The existence of this detention facility has been corroborated by multiple sources however none among them are neutral.) There are reports that a camp existed at the former Vardiste military garrisons. *4280 No additional information was provided regarding this facility.

Former Police Station at Visegrad: (The existence of this detention facility has been corroborated by multiple sources however none among them are neutral.) The police station is alleged to have been established as a holding centre for Muslims from Visegrad upon the Serbian occupation of the area. *4281 Inhabitants were initially arrested and interrogated at the station from 14 April to 18 April and continued to be brought there throughout the summer. *4282 Here, prisoners were interrogated, beaten, tortured, and starved. *4283 According to one report, at least five prisoners were taken out a day to be killed. *4284

Pozarnica Barracks: (The existence of this detention facility has not been corroborated by multiple sources.) There is a report of a camp at the Pozarnica Barracks. *4285 No information regarding operation or control, duration or existing conditions was provided about this facility.

Prelovo: (The existence of this detention facility has been corroborated by multiple sources however none among them are neutral.) The existence of a camp is reported in Prelovo. Apparently, it was created upon the initial attack of Visegrad by Uzice corps troops in April and run by an identified man. *4286 At the camp, prisoners are alleged to have been shot and burned. *4287

Sports Centre at Visegrad: (The existence of this detention facility has not been corroborated by multiple sources.) There is a report of a camp at the «sports centre» in Visegrad. As of October 1992, it was reported that 1,000 prisoners had been detained there and 1,630 killed. *4288

Local Stable: (The existence of this detention facility has not been corroborated by multiple sources.) Muslims are said to have been arrested by an identified man and held in the stable of a certain other identified man. *4289 They were arrested and brought to the stable on 24 June 1992, but there is no indication as to how many were there or how long they stayed.

Uramnica or Uzemnica Barracks: (The existence of this detention facility has been corroborated by multiple sources however none among them are neutral.) Upon the initial attack of Visegrad, Muslims were ordered to gather at the Uramnica Barracks where they were held for three days. *4290 The report does not give a precise date of their arrest, but it was near 17 April 1992. Their destination after Uramnica is unknown.

* VGM Editor’s Note: The Barracks correct name is Uzamnica. *

Varda Electric Plant: (The existence of this detention facility has been corroborated by multiple sources however none among them are neutral.) There was allegedly a camp at Varda, a place described both as a sawmill and a plant. *4291 Over 1,000 people are estimated to have been killed there. In specific, seven people were reported killed on 11 June and 22 killed several days thereafter. *4292

Apparently, this camp was run by an identified paramilitary group. This group reportedly took Muslims to the plant, locked them in rooms, killed them, and then threw their bodies in the River Drina. *4293 Two other men are also mentioned in connection with activities there. One was seen by a witness taking workers to the sawmill on 10 June 1992. *4294 The other was known to take prisoners from Varda and have them killed at the «Old Bridge.» *4295

Vilina Vlas Hotel: (The existence of this detention facility has been corroborated by multiple sources, including Amnesty International.) Vilina Vlas was one of the main detention facilities in Visegrad. It was located in a hotel/spa about seven kilometres south-east of Visegrad proper, on the way to Gorazde. *4296 This camp was established with the coming of the Uzice Corps in the end of April. *4297 It held Muslim women for the purposes of rape, serving as a camp «brothel». Apparently, women detained here were picked up by police officers, members of the White Eagles and Arkan’s and Seselj’s men. *4298 Many of them were not yet 14 years old. *4299

Vilina Vlas was well-known as a camp which detained only young, beautiful women. One witness was told that the women brought to Vilina Vlas were chosen to bear «Cetnik» children. Hence, they were «selected» carefully and brought only here. *4300 Another relates that Muslim women who had previously brought food or other supplies to the Green Berets paramilitary troops were also brought here. *4301

One detailed report outlines the arrests of several girls from Visegrad on 9 June 1992. These girls were arrested by an identified man active at many camps in this region and taken to the hotel. *4302 One of them describes being interrogated and raped by this man. While in the room where she was raped, members of the White Eagles tried to get in to rape her as well, but the man would not let them. *4303

When the mothers of these and other girls reported their arrests to the Serbian Secretariat of International Affairs, they were simply told «the Turks also do nasty things to Serbian kids» and sent away. *4304

One witness offers a detailed description of her 24- hour stay at the hotel. At the time she was brought to Vilina Vlas, she was being detained at the fire station in Visegrad, but was taken here to be raped by a «Cetnik» known only by nickname. *4305

She describes the hotel as big, with a basement and two floors. Upon their arrival, the reception area was dark. The «Cetnik» got a key from an unidentified man at the reception area and brought the witness to the second floor. The hallway was large and ran to the left and right from the top of the stairs. There were rooms everywhere with the doors open, so she could see that they were all occupied by women prisoners and «Cetniks». *4306

Once in a room, the witness was forced to take a cold shower as this man pointed a rifle at her. Then, he left her there to get a bottle of whiskey. He returned and raped her for two hours. *4307 Afterward, she was raped by eight other men. *4308

According to this witness, the women detained at the hotel had sufficient food and drink because they were the «selected women» meant to later give birth to «Cetnik» babies. *4309 She relates that during her stay, the women and men in the rooms were hugging and kissing. She suspects that the women behaved in this way because they had given up resisting the repeated rapes. *4310

Yet overall, reports of the treatment of women at the hotel are not good. The prisoners were raped repeatedly and beaten with batons. *4311 One report alleges that some were even killed by suffocation in a system of gas pipes at the hotel. *4312 Many sent there were never seen again. *4313 Apparently, certain soldiers at the camp were taking revenge for dead Serbs at Zepa. *4314

One report describes the fate of 200 girls brought to the camp. Of them, five committed suicide by jumping form a balcony at the hotel, six others escaped and the rest were killed after multiple rapes. *4315

Once this camp became well-known it was moved. *4316 There are no details as to when this move took place or to where the camp relocated.

Zamjenica Garrison: (The existence of this detention facility has been corroborated by multiple sources however none among them are neutral.) A camp at the former Zamjenica Garrison was established after the Uzice troops entered Visegrad. *4320

Zelimir Djuric Zeljo Primary School at Prelovo: (The existence of this detention facility has not been corroborated by multiple sources.) There is alleged to have been a camp at this primary school. *4321 This may be the same camp described above as Prelovo Camp.

Private homes in Visegrad: (The existence of these detention facilities have not been corroborated by multiple sources.) There are two reports that Muslims were also held in private homes and apartments in Visegrad for varying lengths of time, but there is no information about where these homes were located. *4322

The ICRC reports visiting one camp in the region, but it is not clear which of the above-mentioned camps it was. Representatives visited «Visegrad camp» on three occasions: 12 June, 15 June, and 2 July 1992. On 12 June, they reported the detention of 58 prisoners at this camp; on 12 June, they reported 20, and on 2 July, they also reported 20 prisoners. *4323

Exhumation of genocide victims in Slap, Zepa

It was the Drina river–which flows through Foca, Visegrad, Goradze, Zepa, and Slap on Zepa in the Podrinje region–that brought the first signs of the massacre in Visegrad to the neighboring villages. On a late spring day in 1992, 72-year-old Mehmed Tabakovic and some fellow villagers from Slap on Zepa found a dead body floating in the Drina river. “We took the body from the river and buried it in our village cemetery. Nobody knew who he was or what was happening,” Tabakovic said. But that was just the first body and hundreds more would follow. “The bodies stank badly. In 15 days, we took about 250 bodies from the river. But I’m sure there were many more that were sucked down to the floodgates where they remain trapped at the bottom of the river to this day.”

It was a clandestine operation that Tabakovic and the villagers conducted in the dark and quiet of night to avoid the Serbian snipers surrounding them on all sides from the hill tops. Together, some 50 villagers organized a secret volunteer brigade to haul the bodies out of the river and bury them unnoticed. A couple of the men were from Visegrad and could identify some of the bodies. “For me, the most terrible experience was when one 20-year-old boy recognized his mother’s body floating in the river,” he said.

Excerpt from “Has Anyone seen Milan Lukic? “, Anes Alic & Jen Tracy, 7.9.2001.