At the trial of Jovan Novakovic in the High Court in Belgrade for war crimes committed in the area of Bratunac, the witness of the Public Prosecution for War Crimes said that he had information that in May 1992 the Bosniak population of Suha, as well as other places in the municipality of Bratunac, was expelled.
Witness Dzemail Becirovic said at the beginning of his testimony via video from the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) that he had no personal knowledge, but that he heard about the events in May 1992 in Suha, as well as other places, from people who escaped from this area.
Becirovic emphasized that in the spring of 1992, he was in Hrncici in the Konjevic-Polje area and that at the end of May, a person with the surname Mahmutovic came to his house, who escaped from the town of Rakovac via Suha, and stayed with him until the end of the year as a refugee.
“He said that he barely managed to escape from Bratunac, that there was very little Muslim population left there, that they were all expelled, said the witness and added that he heard that in the first half of May, people from various places in the area of Bratunac municipality were brought to the playground in Bratunac.
“According to my knowledge, all the Muslim population from Bratunac was expelled during May, and many were killed,” Becirovic stated, adding that he heard that Bosniaks were expelled from Suha in the period from May 10th to 12th, 1992.
Becirovic added that he did not know the accused and that he had never heard of him. Novakovic said that he could not accept Becirovic as a witness because his testimony was hearsay.
In 2015, the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH filed an indictment against Novakovic for persecution in the Bratunac area, and in the meantime, the High Court in Belgrade took over his criminal prosecution.
Novakovic is accused of commanding members of the Territorial Defense (TO) in an attack on the village of Suha in May 1992, from where they took around 300 villagers to the football stadium in Bratunac. The Prosecution alleges that after that the men were imprisoned in the “Vuk Karadzic” Primary School, while the women, children, and elderly were deported by bus to Kladanj.
