Witness recalls 1991 Krajina murders

A witness has recalled the murder of ten civilians by Krajina police in the village of Bruska in 1991, at the trial of Jovica Stanisic and Franko Simatovic. Stanisic, the former head of Serbian state security, and his former deputy Simatovic are accused of war crimes against non-Serbs in Croatia and Bosnia between 1991and 1995. Witness recalls 1991 Krajina murders Stanisic was not in court today, nor did he follow the trial from his cell, because he is very ill, according to a statement from the accused. Jasna Denona said that on December 21, 1991, she had been sitting in her family home with her mother and three neighbors. “Someone knocked on the door, I asked several times who it was, and the answer was: ‘The Krajina police, open up.’ And then I heard a gun shot at the other end of the house,” she said. Denona was 15 at the time. She said that while her mother, the three neighbors and she were fleeing over the fence behind the house, shots were fired and she was hit in the hip and hand. After managing to hide, said the witness, they went to the home of their neighbors, the Marinovices, where they found the lifeless bodies of three men and another neighbour, a Serb. They heard from other survivors in the village that six other members of the Marinovic family had been killed, four of them women. The witness added that all of the victims had been civilians. Denona said that she had not received medical treatment until the following night, after which she had been taken to a hospital in Knin and operated on. She confirmed that the Serb authorities had questioned her about the incident, but had failed to state in their report that the Krajina police had been responsible. Denona also testified about the same murders at the trial of late Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic, and in 2006, at the trial of Milan Martic, the Serb leader in the Knin Krajina. Martic, who is serving his sentence in Estonia, was sentenced to 35 years in prison. The trail of Stanisic and Simatovic will continue next week.

Witness recalls 1991 Krajina murders

Stanišić was not in court today, nor did he follow the trial from his cell, because he is very ill, according to a statement from the accused.

Jasna Denona said that on December 21, 1991, she had been sitting in her family home with her mother and three neighbors.

“Someone knocked on the door, I asked several times who it was, and the answer was: ‘The Krajina police, open up.’ And then I heard a gun shot at the other end of the house,” she said.

Denona was 15 at the time.

She said that while her mother, the three neighbors and she were fleeing over the fence behind the house, shots were fired and she was hit in the hip and hand.

After managing to hide, said the witness, they went to the home of their neighbors, the Marinovićes, where they found the lifeless bodies of three men and another neighbour, a Serb.

They heard from other survivors in the village that six other members of the Marinović family had been killed, four of them women.

The witness added that all of the victims had been civilians.

Denona said that she had not received medical treatment until the following night, after which she had been taken to a hospital in Knin and operated on.

She confirmed that the Serb authorities had questioned her about the incident, but had failed to state in their report that the Krajina police had been responsible.

Denona also testified about the same murders at the trial of late Serbian President Slobodan Milošević, and in 2006, at the trial of Milan Martić, the Serb leader in the Knin Krajina.

Martić, who is serving his sentence in Estonia, was sentenced to 35 years in prison.

The trail of Stanišić and Simatović will continue next week.