At the trial for crimes committed in Sarajevo, a prosecution witness said the accused, Goran Saric, saved him from being taken to a concentration camp in Vogsca.
Witness Nahid Kozljak said that in 1992, together with other Bosniak men, he was taken to the Jagomir hospital by Bosnian Serb forces, where he was put amongst people who should be taken to the concentration camp in Vogosca.
“When 28 of us remained in the room, a policeman came and told us to go out in front of the building and stand in column two by two. I was in the middle of the column. As I passed, Saric said: 'Nahid, stop, come out.' Someone asked him why I wasn’t going, and Saric replied: 'He is my friend',” recalled Kozljak.
After that, Saric drove Kozljak and another two men to a place where he explained them how to reach the city, which was under the control of the Bosniak forces.
“Saric told me we will see each other, wished me luck and we crossed into Sarajevo,” said Kozljak.
Saric is charged, as head of the police station in the Serb municipality Centre in Sarajevo, with taking part in the attack on Bosniak civilians in Nahorevo, Poljine and other Sarajevo settlements.
According to the indictment, Saric ordered all men from Nahorevo to come to the community centre on June 19, 1992, after which around 100 Bosniaks were led from there and imprisoned in the Jagomir hospital building.
On the same day, the indictment alleges, Saric ordered the rest of the non-Serb population to surrender, after which around 200 women, children and elderly were taken by force to the territory controlled by the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The second witness for the prosecution who testified at this hearing, Halid Muharemovic said that he too was taken to the Jagomir hospital, where he spent two days, after which he was freed to go to the city.
“One man read the list of men who will go to the city and those who will stay in Jagomir. We who were chosen to go to the city were lined up and Saric again read out our names. He told us not to feel sorry for our belongings and when we go to the city not to attack them,” said Muharemovic.
Describing the situation in Nahorevo before arriving to the hospital, Muharemovic said that Saric was giving out orders limiting movement and behaviour of non-Serb population.
“Goran was running the show. He was in charge of people who came to rob us or take us away,” said Muharemovic.
The trial will resume on July 2.
Timeline of events in the case against 13 former Serb fighters charged with committing war crimes in the villages of Cuska, Zahac, Ljubenic and Pavlac in Kosovo in 1999.