Elvir (Alija) Arnaut

Elvir Arnaut was 21 years old when he was murdered in Visegrad in 1992.

Ibro (Pasan) Sabanovic

Ibro Sabanovic was 65 years old when he was murdered in Visegrad on 10.06.1992.

Safet (Vejsil) Valjevcic

Safet Valjevcic was 46 years old when he was murdered on 15.05.1992 in Visegrad.

Mirsad (Bajro) Bahtovic

Mirsad Bahtovic was 43 years old when he was murdered on 01.05.1992.

Medo (Sabit) Menzilovic

Medo Menzilovic was 65 years old when he was murdered in June 1992.

Ibrahim (Nazif) Sulejmanovic

Ibrahim Sulejmanovic was 44 years old when he was murdered on 17.05.1992.

Samir (Nurko) Dervisevic

Image: Samir (Nurko) Dervisevic

Samir was born on 28.06.1977, he was abducted in front of his house on 14.06.1992 – just a few days before his 15th birthday. Samir was with two friends in the Lipa neighborhood when they were abducted; only one managed to survive and according to his testimony his friends were murdered on the new bridge in Visegrad.

Milan Lukic and two other Bosnian Serb soldiers drove the three boys to the new bridge in the infamous red passat. The car stopped on the bridge and Milan Lukic said :  “We’re out of petrol. We have to take the Drina River. It’s true it’s a bit cold, but never mind.”

VG-89 (Witness at the Lukic trial):

He [Milan Lukic] walked by me and grabbed Samir, who had a tracksuit on. He grabbed the top of his tracksuit. His rifle was on his shoulder, so he grabbed Samir and threw him over the side of the bridge. Samir tried to grab the side of the bridge, but it had been raining in Visegrad before the 14th. The railing was made of iron. It was slippery, so he slipped and fell into the water. (…) He took the sniper rifle off his shoulder. He — he took his rifle into his hands, stabilising it against the railing, and he hit Samir with one bullet.

 

Ismeta Kurspahic survived!

Image: Ismeta Kurspahic

Ismeta Kurspahic (1960) was one of the members of the Kurspahic family  who was burned alive in Pionirska street massacre on 14.06.1992. This was a fact established by the Trial Chamber in the first instance judgment in the Milan and Sredoje Lukic case. However, last year DNA analysis proved that Ismeta was exhumed from a mass grave in Straziste cemetery in 2009.  Lukic’s defence quickly reacted to this new fact:

In the January 24 motion, Milan Lukic’s lawyers allege that Ismeta Kurspahic, who was found to have died in a house burning on Visegrad’s Pionirska Street, did not in fact “die in the manner and the place as alleged in the indictment, and as stated in the trial judgement”.

They state that the defence team received information from the Bosnian authorities – the details of which remain confidential – that show that Kurspahic “was alive after the date of the alleged Pionirska incident”. In addition, they say that her body was not discovered with other victims of the incident, and was located some distance from Pionirska Street.

“…[This] is strong evidence that in fact she did not perish in the manner concluded by the judgement, and thus the conclusions of guilt and sentence as to Pionirska are thus [a] discernible error,” the lawyers state.

This information was not available during the trial, which took place during 2008 and the first part of 2009, because Kurspahic’s remains were not exhumed until late 2009 and not identified until December 2010, the motion states.

Numerous witnesses named Kurspahic as one of the victims of the fire, but the Lukic defence claims that if this new evidence had been available during the proceedings, the judges would have found that those witnesses “were not witnesses of truth” as regards this incident.

Source: IWPR

Lukic’s defense was right about one thing: Ismeta Kursphaic was alive after 14.06.1992.

New evidence discovered by VGM shows that Ismeta was injured and treated at the Visegrad Health Center on 18.06.1992:

Image: Protocol of patients from the Visegrad Health Center dating 18.06.1992. Ismeta Kurspahic is noted under number 5473.

Under diagnosis the patient Ismeta Kurspahic was given the following medicine:

– Novalgetol ampula

– Jugocilin 2ml

– Gentamicin 120 mg

– Ultracorten ampula

She was given a lot of painkillers in large dozes. In the last column it is written that Ismeta was given injections and bandaged. Also it should be noted that a splint was found in the mass grave in Straziste were Ismeta was buried.

Image: The victim’s remains and a splint found at the Straziste cemetery.

Image: The mass grave in Straziste cemetery were Fadil Uzicanin, Aziz Hreljic and Ismeta Kurspahic were found.