The trial of Zoran Gašović, charged with a crime against humanity committed in Hadžići (Bosnia and Herzegovina) in 1992, continued today before the High Court in Podgorica with the examination of three witnesses.

As at the previous hearing, representatives of the injured families testified, speaking about what they had learned from others regarding the suffering of their loved ones. Injured parties are given priority in testifying so that they may later follow the trial from the public gallery and ask questions of other witnesses.

The Court has still not considered earlier requests by either the defendant’s counsel, Danilo Mićović, or the legal representative of the injured party Ferida Nišić, Dalibor Tomović, that the hearings be audio-visually recorded, nor other proposals by attorney Tomović that witnesses from Bosnia and Herzegovina be heard via video link and that substitute defense counsel be appointed in case Mićović is unable to attend the hearings.

Witness Nermin Musić stated that he was about 15 years old when the war began in 1992. Because of the attack on the village, his family left for Suhodol for several days, while his father Adil stayed behind to guard the house. He first learned of his father’s capture from his uncle Dž. M., who had been told by I. M. From prisoners later exchanged, he learned that around 260 to 280 people from Hadžići had been taken to Lukavica. According to them, a list of 46 persons was made, including his father. Serbian soldiers called out their names and took them into another room. During the night, screams could be heard, and in the morning blood-stained rooms and belts on the table were seen, accompanied by the words: “Feel free to take those belts, these people won’t need them anymore.” He said he had heard this from H. M. and M. M.

Witness Almin Bašić stated that he first received information about his father on 23 June 1992, when his uncle F. H. was released from captivity — “Gašović sold him for 3,000 German marks through peasants and Ustaša, who handed him over to us.” He then told him that his father, Alija Bašić, had been arrested by Zoran Gašović, who also indicated that he would be killed. His father had known Gašović from the company where they both worked before the war; his father was a lawyer, and Gašović a bulldozer operator. According to what he learned, 284 detainees were transferred to the “Slaviša Vajner Čiča” barracks, while his father remained in the Sports Center. The prisoners were transported by N. J. and Gašović, who had a list with 48 circled names, from which 46 persons were ultimately separated out. They were beaten and taken away, while the remaining detainees saw blood-stained walls and heard groans during the night. He further testified that he had tried in various ways both to exchange his father and to find out where he was and what was happening to him. “In August 1993, I heard from one female detainee, Dž. K., that on the night of 26 June 1992, a van arrived in front of the Garage, parked in front of it, the unlocking of the metal door was heard, and then my father said, ‘They’re coming for me.’ Then Gašović and D. or G. P. entered the building and took my father, Alija Kovačević, and Ramiz Hrgić outside, where they beat them with their feet, hands, batons, and weapons. This was also confirmed to me by Z. Š. as well as by two persons who have protected witness status. They also told me that my father pleaded, ‘Zoran, don’t, what have I done to you.’” During the exhumation, he said, it was established that his father’s skull, jaw, and ribs had been crushed.

Witness Selver Kahrica, son of Vezir Kahrica, stated that in May 1992 he fled to Igman, while his parents remained in Hadžići. There he learned that civilians were being arrested and taken to camps, including his father. In early July 1992, in Pazarić, he learned from exchanged prisoners that his father had first been taken to the Sports Hall in Hadžići and then to the “Garage” facility. His mother, who was present when he was taken away and was later exchanged, told him that Serbian soldiers came to their house, among them Zoran Gašović and V. P., demanded the keys to their Golf II vehicle, and set fire to the house, though she managed to extinguish the fire. They took his father away, briefly brought him back to get a jacket with money, and then took him away again, after which he was never seen again. From M. M. and Ć. R., he learned that detainees from Hadžići were transferred to Kula prison and then to the barracks in Lukavica, where names were called from a list with 48 circled names, including his father, who has been listed as missing ever since. In response to a question from Special Prosecutor Tanja Čolan Deretić, he also said that his mother had told him that Gašović had abused her and held a gun to her head, and that in Hadžići he was regarded as someone who inspired fear.

The defense objected to the witnesses’ testimony, claiming that these were “small-town stories,” that the witnesses had no direct knowledge, that they had been coached in order to worsen the defendant’s position, and that the fact one witness had prepared notes for his statement proved that someone had been preparing them.

Counsel for the injured parties Dalibor Tomović and Special Prosecutor Tanja Čolan Deretić stated that the testimony was in essence the same as before, and that it was natural for witnesses to speak in greater detail before the court than in earlier questioning by the police in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

According to the indictment, Gašović is charged with having participated, from May until the end of June 1992, in the killings, enslavement, forcible transfer, unlawful detention, torture, and interrogation of civilians in the “Garage” and Sports Hall facilities in Hadžići, as well as in the forcible transfer of about 280 civilians to the “Slaviša Vajner Čiča” barracks in Lukavica. He is also charged with having compiled a list of detainees on which 49 names were circled in red pencil, after which, on 23 June 1992, 48 persons were taken to an unknown location and have remained missing to this day.

The special prosecutor in the case is Tanja Čolan Deretić, and the panel is presided over by Judge Simo Rašović, with panel members Ana Delić and Dragan Babović.

The next hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, 18 March.

Human Rights Action is providing support to the injured parties in these proceedings in cooperation with the Association for Tracing Captured and Missing Persons from Hadžići, with the support of the National Endowment for Democracy.