Eurasia Press & News
A witness told the war crimes trial of Bosnian Serb ex-fighter Dragan Sekaric how his wife was killed while trying to escape an attack on the village of Kokino Selo near Gorazde in May 1992.
Prosecution witness Alija Smajevic told Sekaric’s trial in Sarajevo on Monday that he was with his family at a neighbour’s house when the Bosnian Serb attack on their village started at 6am. He said that people started fleeing towards the nearby Drina river.
“I was holding my little girl, who was six years old. [Villager] Izet Dragolj was wounded in front of me while he was crossing the road. My wife Mensura was killed,” said Smajevic, adding that he managed to escape to the nearest town with his child.
He said that his wife’s remains are still missing.
Smajevic testified that he had seen Sekaric in the village for several months before that, but not on the day of his wife’s death.
“I have known Dragan Sekaric since I was a child. I did not see him on the day of the attack. I heard that he was not good,” he said.
Sekaric, a former member of the Territorial Defence forces and the ‘Osvetnik’ (‘Avenger’) paramilitary group, is charged with crimes against humanity within a wide-ranging and systematic attack by the Bosnian Serb Army on the civilian non-Serb population in the area of Gorazde and Visegrad.
He is charged with participating in the attack on Kokino Selo, the abuse of a family and children in Visegrad, the rape of a woman, the killings of a large number of non-Serbs, and the physical abuse of prisoners in the Uzanica camp in Visegrad.
Haris Duhovic, who was 16 years old when the attack happened, also testified at the court on Monday.
Duhovic said that saw several people shot while fleeing towards the Drina and that Mansura Smajevic was among them.
“I know Drago Sekaric. He was a bit older than me. He was police reservist and he had an automatic rifle,” Duhovic said, adding that they were good neighbours.
The trial continues on April 21.
