On 28 November 2005, the trial of the so-called “Zvornik Group” commenced before the War Crimes Chamber in Belgrade. Branko Grujic, Branko Popovic, Dragan Slavkovic, Ivan Korac, Sinisa Filipovic, Dragutin Dragicevic, and Dusko Vuckovic, who died in prison last week, have been accused of murder of at least 22 and forceful deportation of 1822 Bosnian Muslim civilians from the Zvornik municipality.
The prosecutor was not able to find an adequate term in the Serbian dictionary for the Zvornik crimes.
– As a war crimes prosecutor, when writing this indictment, I could not find in the Serbian dictionary an adequate term for some of the things that had happened, but I hope that I have not offended the victims of these crimes by reading of this indictment – the deputy prosecutor from the Serbian War Crimes Prosecutor’s Office said after he had finished reading of the indictment against Branko Grujic and others accused of crimes of forceful deportation, murders, torture and other crimes committed in Zvornik in 1992.
The first-accused for the war crimes in the Zvornik municipality, Branko Grujic, the leader of the wartime headquarters in Zvornik in 1992, has pleaded not guilty of the charges against him before the panel of the Belgrade District Court for War Crimes, and not guilty of knowing but not preventing the murders and tortures of at least 22 Bosnian Muslim civilians and banishing of 1822 civilians committed by members of the Yellow Wasps (para-military troop) , Dragan Slavkovic, Ivan Korac, Sinisa Filipovic and Dragutin Dragicevic. The same charges have been brought against Branko Popovic, alias Marko Pavlovic. The third-accused Dusko Vuckovic died abruptly on 20 November of this year in a detention cell of the Belgrade District Prison.
In his statement, the first-accused Branko Grujic said that Zeljko RaZnatovic Arkan had dismissed him from the temporary duty of the leader of the crisis headquarters in April, in the eve of the battles, but that he was elected president of the wartime government several days after the conflict and remained the president until mid-July, when he was again dismissed. He claimed he had not heard of the Novi dom and Dom kulture [cultural centre] detention camps in Celopek. The indictment has charged the Yellow Wasps group of taking away 174 inhabitants of the Divici village from the Zvornik bus station, while two unknown men took away 11 persons who never came back alive. The so-called Yellow Wasps and their fellow warrior nicknamed Pufa have been charged with serious abuse and cutting of prisoners’ limbs. The indictment says that they had taken away detainees’ money and golden jewellery, cut their limbs and murdered them after torture, ordered the inmates to beat each other up, forced fathers and sons to have unnatural sexual intercourse, as stressed in the indictment read by the prosecutor Milan Petrovic. The hearing was attended by the victims’ relatives and witnesses.
The acts ascribed to the defendants were described in detail, especially the way and time of individual crimes committed in “Novi izvor”, the Cultural Centre in Celopek, Kozluk and other places, and no one who observed the process remained indifferent.
Although they have had various information about the suffering of their close ones, the family members of the killed Bosnian Muslims from Zvornik, who attended the beginning of the trial of the “Six”, had the opportunity for the first time to hear about the torture and murders of their closest relatives, while facing those they regard as responsible for the crimes.
This is the first war crimes trial transferred by The Hague Tribunal to the Serbian War Crimes Chamber.
