Accused war criminal apologizes to victim

Accused war criminal apologizes to victim

When faced with the witness whose parents were executed in 1992, he said, “I apologize for having shot you, your mother and your father”.

The witness, Zoran Damjanović, who survived the June 20, 1992 shooting of civilians in the village of Hlapševići near Visoko, for which Ramić stands trial, was taken from his family home together with his parents.

According to the indictment, members of the demolition unit of Visoko’s Territorial Defense took the Damjanovićs, along with Sretko Masal and Željko and Dušanka Ristić to a location in the village where Ramić shot them. Four persons were killed, while two were wounded.

Ramić declared himself guilty of the crime during the investigation, but pleaded not guilty after the indictment was issued. 

Damnjanović told the court that the prisoners were taken to a house in the village, where they were lined up against the wall, and then shot at.

“Minđuša killed Željko first, and then sprayed bullets on us”, the witness described the moment he and another person were wounded, while four others, including his parents, died.