Facts
On 22 October 1992, in Mioče (Bosnia and Herzegovina), members of the “Osvetnici” (Avengers) unit stopped a bus operated by the Užice-based company “Raketa”, which was running its regular route from Rudo (Bosnia and Herzegovina) to Priboj (Serbia). The “Osvetnici”, who operated within the Army of Republika Srpska, checked the identification documents of all passengers and then removed 16 Bosniak civilians from the bus. The abducted civilians were taken by military truck to the “Vilina Vlas” motel in Višegrad. There, members of the “Osvetnici” physically abused them and subsequently killed them on the bank of the Drina River.
Those killed were: Melvida Koldžić, Mehmed Šebo, Zafer Hadžić, Medo Hodžić, Medredin Hodžić, Ramiz Begović, Derviš Softić, Mithad Softić, Mujo Alihodžić, Alija Mandal, Sead Pecikoza, Mustafa Bajramović, Hajrudin Sajtarević, Esad Džihić, Idriz Gibović, and Ramahudin Ćatović.
On the evening before the abduction of the civilians from the bus, 21 October 1992, several unidentified persons abducted Sabahudin Ćatović in front of his home in Sjeverin. Several months later, on 6 April 1993, four armed persons wearing camouflage uniforms and masks attacked and abducted another Sjeverin resident, Hasan Mujović.
To date, the remains of Medredin Hodžić have been found and identified, while the others are still listed as missing persons.
Immediately after learning of the abduction, the Humanitarian Law Center launched an independent investigation. Between early 1993 and mid-1996, three Spotlight On reports containing information about the abduction were published.
Spotlight On No. 2, February 1993 – PRIBOJ – Discrimination, Abduction and Intimidation of Muslims in Serbia
The collective departure of Sjeverin residents was triggered by the abduction of 18 people of Muslim ethnicity. According to information published by the media and the statement of one witness interviewed by HLC representatives, on 22 October of the previous year the people from Sjeverin had taken their regular bus to work, while one child was travelling to school. On the road to Priboj, in the village of Mioče on Bosnian territory, an armed group of uniformed men calling themselves “Garavi sokak” stopped a bus operated by the Užice company “Raketa”. A certain Momir, Milan Lukić, and Dragutin Dragićević checked the passengers’ identity documents, then allegedly singled out the Muslims and forced them into a truck hidden beside the “Amfora” café. A twelve-year-old Muslim boy remained on the bus because the abductors believed he was the younger son of the Serb man next to whom he was standing.
The following day, the republic police arrested Lukić and Dragićević, who were found carrying weapons in Sjeverin. On the same day, at a session of the Serbian Assembly, the Minister of the Interior confirmed that “two armed persons had been detained on reasonable suspicion that they were connected with this abduction”.
At that time, the President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia appointed a special commission to establish the facts. To this day, the commission has not published a report on its work, nor has it denied information from military sources that the abducted men were executed near Višegrad on the same day.
The suspects in the abduction were released from detention after nine days, on the grounds that there was no basis for holding them because they were members of the Army of Republika Srpska who happened to be armed in Sjeverin because they were responsible for weapons in another state.
Although republic police are stationed at checkpoints towards Bosnia and Yugoslav Army reservists are present in the villages, since the abduction there have been no Muslims on buses operating between Sjeverin and Priboj, while those who travel to the village do so exclusively via forest paths located far from the border.
The most recent case involving the abduction of a Priboj resident demonstrates that even checkpoints are not equally safe for all inhabitants of the municipality. On 18 February, Senad Kadić, an employee of “Poliester”, disappeared at one such location. It soon became known that he had been taken to the police station in Rudo, located in another state. Negotiations began between the Priboj municipal authorities and the wartime administration in Rudo. After three days, Senad Kadić was returned to Serbian territory. Many believe that he survived thanks to the “Kukurović case” and an assessment by the Serbian authorities in Bosnia that the day’s activities had gone too far.
Spotlight On No. 4, May 1993 – MUSLIMS IN SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO – Abduction of Passengers from Train No. 671
Who is Milan Lukić, commander of the paramilitary group alleged to have carried out the abduction of passengers from train 671?
Milan Lukić was also arrested in connection with the abduction of the Muslims from Sjeverin. On that occasion, the Serbian Minister of the Interior first confirmed that Lukić had been arrested “in connection with the abduction of Sjeverin residents”, but about ten days later the Ministry of the Interior stated that there were no legal grounds for keeping him in detention because it had been established that “he was found carrying weapons on Serbian territory because he was responsible for weapons in the army of another state”.
According to information available to international human rights organisations and statements by certain witnesses, there are indications that Lukić’s group committed a number of crimes against civilians in Višegrad. It is alleged that Lukić, Jovan Planojević, and a certain Momir killed 22 Muslim civilians on 18 June 1992 on the bridge in Višegrad. The civilians had previously been subjected to brutal torture: men were tied to cars that were then driven through the streets, while several children were thrown from the bridge and shot at as their bodies fell. According to the same sources, Lukić allegedly also participated in the burning alive of 60 civilians in Pionirska Street after they had been promised safe passage to the village of Olovo.
SECOND ABDUCTION FROM SJEVERIN
On 6 April of that year, Hasan Mujović and Mustafa Polimac came from Priboj to Sjeverin to visit their homes, which they had left after the abduction of 17 neighbours. Mustafa was standing in front of his house when four armed men wearing camouflage uniforms and masks approached. They attacked him without cause. Hearing his cries for help, his neighbour Hasan came outside. The attackers turned towards Hasan. At that moment, Mustafa managed to escape into the house and climbed through a window onto the road leading towards the forest. He hid for some time and then reached a checkpoint, waited for a change of police shift, and travelled to Priboj in a police vehicle. Hasan Mujović has not been seen since. His family was torn apart. His wife was undergoing psychiatric treatment, while their seven children were staying with relatives and friends in Priboj.
In connection with this case, the Humanitarian Law Center contacted the police station in Rudo, which was under Bosnian Serb control, and was informed that they were aware of the incident but were not responsible for the safety of citizens on the territory of another state.
Spotlight On No. 22, May 1996 – DISAPPEARANCES – Abductions of Muslims from Serbia and Montenegro during the Armed Conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Disappearance of the Sjeverin Muslims
2.1. Official Investigation
The day after the abduction of these people, on 24 October 1992, the then President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Dobrica Ćosić, and Prime Minister Milan Panić sent a commission to Sjeverin consisting of Federal Minister for Human Rights Momčilo Grubač, Assistant Federal Minister for Human Rights Mahmut Memić, adviser to the President of the FR Yugoslavia Vladimir Matović, and Admiral Milosav Simić. According to the commission members themselves, they found the residents of Sjeverin deeply frightened and ready to leave collectively. They dissuaded people from abandoning their homes by promising that the state would secure the border with Bosnia and prevent Serbian paramilitary groups from Bosnia and Herzegovina from crossing it. According to members of the commission, their report to Presidents Ćosić and Panić recommended deploying special units of the Serbian Ministry of the Interior and the Yugoslav Army to the area. With this, the commission completed its task.
On 25 October, Serbian Minister of the Interior Zoran Sokolović informed the public that the police had arrested two armed persons in Sjeverin on reasonable suspicion that they were connected with the abduction of the Muslims from Sjeverin. Shortly afterwards, the then President of the FR Yugoslavia, Dobrica Ćosić, announced that he had appointed a special fact-finding commission concerning the abduction. He appointed his personal adviser, Vladimir Matović, as its chair. On 1 November, the Serbian Ministry of the Interior announced that those arrested in Sjeverin had been released because there were no grounds for their continued detention. The commission appointed by the then President of Yugoslavia never publicly reported on its work or findings.
2.2. Independent Investigation
Through its investigation, the HLC established that 16 Muslims from Sjeverin had been abducted on 22 October, while Sabahudin Ćatović had disappeared from the village the previous day. In Mioče, the following persons were forcibly removed from the bus: Medo Hodžić, his sister Mevlida Koldžić, Medredin Hodžić, Idriz Gibović, Alija Mandal, Ramahudin Ćatović, Mustafa Bajramović, Sead Pecikoza, Mehmed Šebo, Hajrudin Sajtarević, Ramiz Begović, Muzafer Hadžić, Esad Džihić, Derviš Softić, Mithad Softić, and Mujo Alihodžić.
Witness Admir Džihić, the only Muslim who remained on the bus because the abductors mistakenly believed him to be the son of the Serb man next to whom he was standing, recognised among the abductors men whom he had seen in Priboj. In an interview with HLC representatives in November 1992, before leaving for a refugee camp in Turkey, the boy stated that among the abductors he had recognised Serbian soldiers Momir, Milan Lukić, and Dragićević, whom he had previously seen in Priboj.
Following information that the truck used to transport the abducted people had been towed by a vehicle with Priboj licence plates, the HLC discovered that the vehicle belonged to Miloje Udovičić, owner of the “Zlatibor” café in Priboj. In an interview with HLC representatives, he stated that in the village of Mioče, near the “Amfora” café, he had been stopped by soldiers with blackened faces who ordered him to tow a broken-down truck. According to his account, after several kilometres, on an elevation where the village of Bijelo Brdo is located, the truck’s engine started working again and the soldiers drove it towards Višegrad, while he continued towards Užice in Serbia. He saw that there were people inside the tarpaulin-covered truck but could not see their faces. He also claimed that he did not recognise any of the abductors.
Immediately after the abduction, there were reports in Priboj that Serb passengers from the bus had recognised the abductors but were afraid to speak about it. Among those mentioned as witnesses who could identify the abductors were Ilija Kitić, a driver from Sjeverin; the bus driver, a certain “Stojkan”; Beli Vilotić, whom the abductors had allegedly removed from the bus and then allowed to return after he proved with his identity card that he was a Serb; and Mira Javorac.
- Findings and Recommendations
Despite allegations that the abduction of the Sjeverin Muslims had been carried out by a particular unit of the Bosnian Serb army that had, for months before and after these events, crossed into and stayed on Serbian territory without hindrance, the competent authorities of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Serbia did not initiate proceedings to identify and bring to justice those responsible for this crime. Within a short period, two further group abductions of Muslims took place following the same pattern. The official investigation into the abduction of passengers from the train, which failed even to establish a list of victims, reinforced suspicions among the public and the victims’ relatives that the state authorities of the FR Yugoslavia, Serbia, and Montenegro were fully informed about these events and were concealing the truth. The obstruction of the work of the Montenegrin Parliamentary Commission and the government’s refusal to validate its investigative powers further confirmed that clarifying the cases of disappeared Muslims was a matter of political will—and that such political will was absent in Serbia and Montenegro.
Bearing in mind that the fate of the missing Muslims from Serbia and Montenegro remained unresolved, the Humanitarian Law Center called on the Government of the FR Yugoslavia to create the political conditions necessary for the implementation of international measures concerning missing persons in the territory of the former Yugoslavia. The HLC expected the Government of the FR Yugoslavia to invite Manfred Nowak, an expert and member of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, for an official visit and to ensure conditions for his communication with relatives and other relevant sources of information concerning the missing.
The HLC considered that, in parallel with addressing the humanitarian dimension of the issue of missing persons, the Government of the FR Yugoslavia should, in view of the ineffective work of the competent authorities, initiate the establishment of a special investigative commission tasked with determining the facts concerning the disappearance of Muslims from Sjeverin and Bukovica, as well as the passengers abducted from the train, and, on that basis, request the initiation of judicial proceedings against those responsible.
TRIAL
The trial of four members of the “Osvetnici” armed formation began on 20 January 2003 before the District Court in Belgrade. The Humanitarian Law Center represented the victims’ families and reported to the public on the course of the trial. After the first-instance conviction was quashed by the Supreme Court, the defendants Milan Lukić, Dragutin Dragičević, Oliver Krsmanović, and Đorđe Šević were convicted in the retrial. On 18 May 2006, the Supreme Court of Serbia upheld the judgment, thereby finally establishing criminal responsibility for this crime.
– Case: Sjeverin (Milan Lukić et al.) – indictment and judgments
– HLC-SJ-008 FOND – court records from the trial of members of the “Osvetnici” paramilitary unit for the abduction and killing of Muslims from Sjeverin, Serbia.
