LISTA ZA "LAĐENJE" UGLEDNIH PRIJEDORČANA

LISTA ZA "LAĐENJE" UGLEDNIH PRIJEDORČANA

Prema iskazu bivšeg logoraša ‘Omarske" Kerima Mešanovića spisku za likvidaciju koji su logorski stražari zvali "lista za laÄ‘enje", nalazili su se mahom pravnici, doktori, inžinjeri i drugi "viÄ‘eniji" Prijedorčani nesrpske nacionalnosti. Nakon Mešanovića počeo iskaz bivšeg zatočenika Kazneno-popravnog doma u Foči koji svjedoči pod pseudonimom KDZ-017

SuÄ‘enje Radovanu Karadžiću optuženom za genocid i druge zločine počinjene u BiH nastavljeno je iskazom bivšeg logoraša iz Omarske Kerima Mešanovića koji je do hapšenja i odvoÄ‘enja u logor radio kao

kompjuterski programer u Sekretarijatu za narodnu odbranu u Prijedoru.

Uprkos tome što je nastavio da radi u opštini i nakon preuzimanja vlasti od strane SDS Mešanović je uhapšen 24. juna 1992. godine i odveden u zgradu prijedorskog SUP, gdje su mu izbijena četiri zuba. Nakon toga je prebačen u Omarsku gdje je zatočen u zloglasnu "bijelu kuću", poznatoj po okrutnim prebijanjima zatočenika, često sa smrtnim ishodom.

Pošto je u dokaze uvedena konsolidovana pisana izjava sastavljena na osnovu Mešanovićevih prethodnih svjedočenja u predmetima "Kvočka i drugi", Slobodan Milošević i Radoslav BrÄ‘anin, tužiteljica mu je postavila samo nekoliko pitanja, nakon čega je svjedoka prepustila na unakrsno ispitivanje optuženom. Odgovarajući na Karadžićeva pitanja, Mešanović je iznio više detalja o vremenu provedenom u logoru rekavši, izmeÄ‘u ostalog, da se njegovo ime prvobitno nalazilo u prvoj kategoriji zatočenika, na takozvanoj "listi za ‘laÄ‘enje", odnosno za likvidaciju. Prema informaciji koju je dobio od tadašnjeg šofera komandanta logora, koji je imao nadimak "Brk", njegovo ime je sa te liste skinuto nakon ispitivanja u Omarskoj 2. jula 1992. godine. Nakon toga, prebačen je u takozvani "staklenik", u kojem se sa zatočenicima postupalo manje okrutno.

Karadžić je nastojao dokazati da su se u prvoj kategoriji zatočenika nalazili samo oni koji su "aktivno" učestvovali u borbama 30. maja 1992. godine u Prijedoru. Svjedok je, meÄ‘utim, naglasio da se osim njega - koji se "nikada nije borio" - na toj listi nalazio i Musliman iz Prijedora koji je bio optužen da je snajperista iako je bio slijep. Njegovo tijelo je kasnije pronaÄ‘eno u jednoj masovnoj grobnici s metkom u glavi. Na "listi za ‘laÄ‘enje" su se, kaže svjedok, nalazili mahom pravnici, doktori, inžinjeri i drugi "viÄ‘eniji" Prijedorčani nesrpske nacionalnosti.

Karadžić je nastojao da odgovornost za izbijanje sukoba u Prijedoru prebaci na Zelene beretke, Patriotsku ligu i jedinice Teritorijalne odbrane koje su, kako je naveo, pod komadnom Slavka Ećimovića 30. maja 1992. godine "iz sva četiri pravca" napale Prijedor. On je tvrdio da je masovno hapšenje koje je uslijedilo nakon "obračuna sa teroristima" bilo izvršeno po "sistemu vihora", odnosno da su srpske snage hapsile sve, uključujući i Srbe, a onda vršile "trijažu" i oslobaÄ‘ale one koji su uhapšeni greškom.

Mešanović je, meÄ‘utim, napomenuo da su srpske vlasti na dan izbijanja sukoba putem radija preporučile samo Muslimanima i Hrvatima da svoje kuće i stanove obilježe bijelim plahtama. Naknadno je shvatio da su to uradili zato da bi znali "na koga će pucati" i koga će kasnije hapsiti. Potvrdio da je meÄ‘u uhapšenima bila i nekolicina Srba, ali je naglasio da su oni odmah pušteni.

Nakon Mešanovića počeo je iskaz zaštićenog svjedoka KDZ-017, Fočaka koji je po izbijanju sukoba potražio sklonište u Crnoj Gori. Tamo je, meÄ‘utim, uhapšen u maju 1992. godine i vraćen u Foču, a potom zatočen u Kazneno-popravni dom. Svjedok i drugi zatočeni civili nesrpske nacionalnosti, meÄ‘u kojima je bilo starih i bolesnih, su često bili izvoÄ‘eni iz ćelija i prebijani, a mnogi od njih su ubijeni.

Karadžić je na početku unakrsnog ispitivanja nastojao da pobije dio svjedokovog iskaza koji se odnosi na izvoÄ‘enje zatvorenika koji su, prema onome što su svjedok i drugi zatvorenici čuli i vidjeli, nakon prebijanja ubijani, a potom zagrtani kamenjem na obali rijeke Drine.

 

 

‘ICING LIST’ CONTAINED NAMES OF PROMINENT MEN FROM PRIJEDOR

According to the evidence of a former Omarska camp inmate Kerim Mesanovic, the lists of people to be killed, nicknamed ‘the icing lists’ by the guards, contained mostly the names of lawyers, physicians, engineers and other prominent non-Serbs from Prijedor. After Mesanovic completed his evidence, a former inmate of the Penitentiary and Correctional Facility in Foca took the stand. He is a protected witness, testifying under the pseudonym KDZ-017

The trial of Radovan Karadzic for genocide and other crimes in BH continued today with the evidence of an Omarska camp inmate, Kerim Mesanovic. Before he was arrested and taken to the camp, Mesanovic was a computer programmer in the Secretariat of National Defense in Prijedor.

Mesanovic continued doing his job in the municipality after the SDS took over Prijedor; he was nevertheless arrested on 24 June 1992 and taken to the Prijedor SUP building, where he had four of his teeth knocked out. He was then transferred to Omarska, where he was kept in the notorious ‘white house’: many prisoners were brutally beaten there, some to death.

The judges first admitted into evidence a consolidated statement based on Mesanovic’s previous testimony in the Kvocka et al. case, Slobodan Milosevic’s trial and the trial of Radoslav Brdjanin. The prosecutor then asked him just a few questions and handed the witness to the accused for cross-examination. In his answers to Karadzic’s questions, Mesanovic described in greater detail his detention in the camp, saying that initially his name was in the first category of prisoners, the so-called ‘icing list’: the people on it were to be killed. According to the information he got from the camp commander’s driver, a man nicknamed Brk, his name was taken off the list after he was interrogated in Omarska on 2 July 1992. Soon afterwards, he was transferred to the so-called glass house, where prisoners were treated less cruelly.

Karadzic tried to prove that only those who took ‘active’ part in the fighting on 30 May 1992 in Prijedor were put in the first category. The witness, on the other hand, insisted that the first category included him, and he ‘never fought’, and a Muslim from Prijedor who was accused of being a sniper, despite the fact that he was blind. His body was later found in a mass grave, with a bullet in his head. The ‘icing list’, the witness said, comprised mostly lawyers, physicians, engineers and other prominent Prijedor non-Serb residents.

Karadzic tried to shift the blame for the conflict in Prijedor on the Green Berets, the Patriotic League and the Territorial Defense units. As he put it to the witness, those units, under the command of Slavko Ecimovic, attacked Prijedor from ‘all four sides’ on 30 May 1992. As he argued, the mass arrests that followed after ‘the showdown with the terrorists’ was ‘a whirlwind affair’: the Serb forces arrested everyone, including the Serbs, and then did a ‘triage’, releasing those who had been arrested by mistake.

Mesanovic noted that on the day the conflict broke out, the Serb authorities issued a recommendation only to the Muslims and Croats to mark their houses by hanging out white sheets. It was only later that he realized they did it in order to know ‘what to shoot at’ and whom to arrest later. He confirmed that there was a handful of Serbs among those who were arrested, but he insisted they were immediately released.

A protected witness, testifying under the pseudonym KDZ-017 took the stand after Mesanovic completed his testimony. KDZ-017 is from Foca. After the war broke out, he sought shelter in Montenegro. He was arrested there in May 1992, brought back to Foca and detained in the Penitentiary and Correctional Facility. The witness and other non-Serb civilians detained there, including the elderly and infirm, were often taken out of the cells and beaten. Many were killed.

At the beginning of his cross-examination, Karadzic tried to contest the witness’s testimony about the prisoners being taken out, beaten, killed and finally covered in rocks on the Drina river bank, as the witness and other prisoners were able to see and hear.