Oliver Krsmanovic sentenced to 18 years!

Former Bosnian Serb Army serviceman Oliver Krsmanovic was sentenced to 18 years in prison for crimes against humanity including the killings and forced disappearances of Bosniaks in Visegrad in 1992.

Justice Report – BIRN
The state court in Sarajevo on Monday found Krsmanovic guilty on eight counts for taking part in the killings and forced disappearances of Bosniak civilians, as well as other inhumane acts in the eastern Bosnian town of Visegrad during wartime.

The court ruled that Krsmanovic took part in the hijacking and killing of 16 Bosniak civilians travelling from Sjeverin in Serbia on October 22, 1992, and in the killings of eight Bosniak men at the Varda factory in Visegrad earlier that year.

According to the verdict, Krsmanovic, a member of the Second Podrinje Light Infantry Brigade of the Bosnian Serb Army, committed the crimes with Milan Lukic, the leader of a Serb paramilitary unit called the White Eagles, who was sentenced by the Hague Tribunal to life in prison for crimes in Visegrad.

Krsmanovic was also convicted of being responsible for the forced disappearance of a number of civilians, the torture of one Bosniak in Visegrad and beating up a prisoner in the Rasadnik detention camp in 1995.

The court however cleared him of taking part in rapes and torture.

It also said that the prosecution failed to prove that Krsmanovic took part in the burning alive of 80 Bosniak civilians in Bikavac in June 1992.

“The role of the defendant [in the Bikavac killings] was unclear to the chamber,” said presiding judge Darko Samardzic.

The court further acquitted Krsmanovic of two incidents of rape and sexual abuse at the Vilina Vlas Hotel in Visegrad because the witnesses were unsure whether the defendant was the person who assaulted them.

“We believe that the punishment fits the crime and the role of the defendant,” said Samardzic.

“The chamber finds no mitigating circumstances. The fact that the defendant is a family man has no bearing on the crimes. He offered no remorse, but continued to commit crimes,” the judge added.

This verdict can be appealed, while the two-and-a-half years that Krsmanovic spent in custody from 2011 to 2013 will count toward his sentence.

Later this month, he will also stand trial in a separate case in which he is charged alongside nine other Bosnian Serbs with the abduction and killings of 20 passengers seized from a train at a station in Strpci in Bosnia in 1993.

Visegrad Genocide Quotes – 2

Visegrad Genocide Quotes – 1

VISEGRAD FIRE MASSACRES

Image: Pionirska Street Fire Massacre Infographics

Image: Bikavac Fire Massacre Infographics

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.

Bikavac live pyre 27.06.1992-27.06.2009

On 27.06.1992, one day before the famous Serb Holiday “Vidovdan” around 70 Bosniak civilians mostly women and children were forced into the house of Meho and Dervisa Aljic in Bikavac settlement, stripped of their jewelry, barricaded and set on fire by Bosnian Serb soldiers gathered around the unit “Avengers” commanded by Milan Lukic . The only person who survived was Zehra Turjacanin. This year for the first time, this massacre was marked by victim families.

The site were Meho Aljic's house used to stand.Copyright by Dnevni Avaz.

This piece of fence is the only thing left which remainds people of Meho and Dervisa Aljic’s house.

Esad Tufekcic's wife and two underaged children were burnt alive that night on Bikavac by Bosnian Serb soldiers.

Esad Tufekcic’s wife Dzehva(28 years old), daughter Elma (5 years old) and son Ensar (1.5 years old) were burnt alive that night on Bikavac hill.

The site were Meho Aljic's house used to stand and Mujesira Memisevic, a person who witnessed the crime from nearby.Video footage by FTV.

After the crime was committed the house was destroyed by Bosnian Serb soldiers. One piece of fence is the only thing that today remains of Meho Aljic’s house. Mujesira Memisevic, like many others, watched the house in flames, listened to the cries of women and children. She later on visited the crime scene and witnessed burnt body parts.

Meho and Dervisa Aljic, the owners of the house were the crime was committed.Video footage by TVSA.

The owners of the house were not in Visegrad when the crime was committed, they were shocked to hear their house mentioned on the news. It is still very hard for them to visit their property.

Serb neighbours nearby claim that they do not know anything about what happened on Bikavac that 27 June 1992. They refuse to tell victim families where the remains of the victims are.

NEVER FORGET BIKAVAC!

Read more on this case:  Milan&Sredoje Lukic Indicment ; Lukic’s laywers try to bribe victims ; Prosecution Accuses Lukic Witness of Perjury

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