Committee for the Collection of Data
on Crimes Committed against Humanity
and International Law
No.471/95
Date: August 23,1995
Belgrade, 10, Vlajkovićeva st.
Telephones: 3230-369, 3241-107
Fax: 3234-133
DECAPITATION AS A MEANS OF GENOCIDE OVER THE SERBS
IN THE FORMER BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA
The magazine "Novi voks" published in Sarajevo promoted the most extreme Moslem stances and openly called for genocide of the Serbian people.
Thus in its October 1991 issue No.3, on page 40, in a regular feature called "Documents", "Novi voks" published an article entitled "What (is to be done) with the Serbs in the Moslem Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina", which, inter alia, states the following:
"1. Every individual Serb must be aware of the responsibility of the entire nation for his own uncontrolled acts. The punishment for evildoings committed will be collective - for one Moslem house torn down ten Serbian houses will be demolished, for one dead Moslem 100 Serbs will be liquidated. For a wounded Moslem, depending on the severity of the wound - 10 to 50 Serbs.
2. All Serbs will have 12-hour working days, the salaries of all employees will reflect the degree of their loyalty and will as a rule be by 30% below the salaries Moslems occupying the same posts receive.
...
9. A good Serb is a live and obedient Serb; or a dead disobedient Serb....".
The front page of the No.3 issue of this magazine which came out half a year before the so-called Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina was proclaimed in April 1992, carried the message "Khanjar division readying" illustrated with a drawing of an armed Moslem soldier beneath whom were the cut off heads of the Serb leaders Karadžić, Koljević, Milošević and Šešelj with the Moslem soldier trampling Karadžić’s head underfoot.
The khanjar division was a military unit composed of Moslems from Bosnia and Herzegovina, which, having previously been specially trained in France and Germany, fought on the side of fascist Germany in World War II and is remembered for the war crimes committed against the Serbian people by its members.
This cover page presaged what would start happening to the Serbs a year afterwards, when civil war broke out in the territory of the former Bosnia and Herzegovina as well.
There ensued a massive genocide of the Serbian people which involved the killing of Serbs by decapitation, as was characteristic of the period of Turkish rule in these lands, when the beheading of Serbs was common practice also. Ivo Andrić, who wa
s born here and is the only Yugoslav Nobel laureate for literature, also describes this in his books.Following are some examples of this practice of killing Serbs by decapitation:
1. On May 26, 1992 Zvonko Zovko, from Podorašac near Konjic, a member of Croat-Moslem armed formations, chopped off the head of the Serb Sretko Kuljanin from Bradina near Konjic, who was captured in Bradina, took it to Konjic as a trophy, kicked it around the streets and in the end impaled it on a stake.
When Sretko’s wife Branka, seven months pregnant, heard of this on May 28, she went into labour. However, the Moslem gynecologist in Konjic, Dr. Jusufbegović, refused to attend to her although her waters had broken and he returned her to the Musala camp in Konjic where on June 14 1992 she gave birth to a child which, according to the findings of the Mother and Child Care Institute in Belgrade, was born with brain and optical nerve atrophy (in his second year a pronounced retardation in the development of the motor functions was established manifested as incomplete control of the head, inability to sit, stand on his legs and impaired vision with oculogyration and the inability to fixate the source of light). In the view of the physicians of this renowned child care establishment this is the consequence of premature birth and of adverse influences before birth and the prognosis is that the child will remain severely handicapped for life.
Proof: Documentation of the Committee 106/94.
2. After June 8, 1992, there remained only 13 Serbs, elderly men and women in the village of Ledići, the commune of Trnovo, most of whom met their death at the hands of Moslem-Croat military formations commanded by Ethem Godinjak, Head of the Secretariat of Internal Affairs in Trnovo before the war.
In this way was killed Rade Mijovčić (f. Aleksa), 70 years old. His body was found on August 7 with the head severed from the rest of the body.
The body of Savka Vasić (f. Nikola), a woman 78 years old, who was butchered on her doorstep, was also found without the head.
Members of Godinjak’s unit found and arrested the last five remaining Serbs from the village of Ledići on June 18 and 19. They drove them in the direction of Treskavica and killed them on a spot called “Ledička krivina”.
During the in situ inspection carried out after the Serbs liberated this territory the beheaded bodies of all these five Serbs were found: Tankosava Mijovčić (f. Jovica), a woman 70 years old; Ljubica Vasić (f. Djura), a woman 84 years old; Ikonija Vasić (f. Lazar) a 92-year old woman; Zoran Vasić (f. Jovan), 71 years old and Milka Vasić (f. Danilo) a 56-year old woman.
Three of the heads were not found and two heads were found away from the bodies.
Proof: 228/94-30.
3. On October 5, 1992, Moslem armed formations attacked the house of Sreten Djokić in the village of Divovići near Bratunac, and two days later the bodies of the people killed in Divovići were handed over to the Serbs.
The body of Sreten Djokić was given without the head and the right arm. On the neck hung a patch of skin with hair from the top of his head.
The head and the arm were never found and the body was buried without them.
Proof: 37/94-6.
4. Nedeljko Lukić, 52 years old, was killed in the orchard in front of his house in the village of Vujičić near Brčko on September 14, 1992. His head was then cut off and taken away. He was buried without the head.
Proof: 144/95-10 and 617/95-14.
5. The Moslem Ejub Dugalić, a member of the “intervention platoon” in Slavonski Brod, forced Mirko Djerić from the village of Donja Močila near Brod out of his house on July 12, St. Peter’s Day, 1992.
He maltreated and tortured him and then returned him to the house and killed him in the bathroom. Then he cut his head off and left it in the attic.
Proof: 227/95-15.
6. Sometime in July 1992 Ivko Soldan brought two amputated human heads to Sijekovac near Bosanski Brod and showed them around Sijekovac and in the restaurant of Hazim Ćutić saying that those were the
heads of Serbs whom he had slain.Proof: 227/95-15
7.The heads were also cut off of the Serbs Stojan Pudić and Perica Jovičić who had been taken prisoner by members of the 108
th Bosanska Posavina brigade when the village of Bodelište was attacked in March 1993.According to the findings of the post mortem examiners of the corpse of Stojan Pudić his head was cut off most probably in two stages. The edge of a mechanical instrument severed the soft tissue of the neck in the first stage and in the second the
body was cut through of the fourth cervical vertebra at a stroke with the edge of a heavy instrument. In the opinion of the examiners, he was probably first wounded by firearms in the lower limbs and then, as he lay there still alive, his head was cut off; the firearm wounds on the head and chest were inflicted only after the head had been cut off.The findings in respect of Perica Jovičič were similar. He first sustained lacerations and contusions on the left side of the face and a double fracture of the j
awbone and then while he was in lying position and still alive his head was cut off. The wound from a hand gun in the area of the left breast was inflicted after death i.e. after his head had been cut off.Proof: 144/95-9.
8. Marko Ivanović from Lisović n
ear Trnovo was killed by decapitation; his head was not found with his body on June 6, 1992 when the Serbs liberated this village, so that his body too was buried without it.Proof: 228/94-26.
9. Janko Popović was slaughtered in front of his house in Gorn
ja Presjenica near Trnovo on July 7 1992. After slitting his throat they cut off his head.Proof: 228/94-15.
Darko Parežanin, a captured Republic of Srpska soldier, taken prisoner on June 30, 1992 in Škoripov Gaj near Trnovo, was beheaded.
Spasoje Popović
was captured at the same time and his head was also cut off and it was never found so that his body too was buried without the head.Proof: 228/94-32.
11. Živko Marković, 61 years old, was killed in the village of Mirušić in the commune of Foča.
His head was cut off and then put on a tree. This happened on May 20, 1992. His head was cut off, his left arm was cut off, he was flayed, his stomach ripped and saturated with salt.
Proof: 36/95.
12. On November 13, 1994, four members of the Army of the Republic of Srpska were taken prisoner at the Herzegovina war theater. After capture they were taken to the cellar of the Museum of the Revolution in Jablanica which had been turned into a camp for Serbs. In December 1994 they were killed.
Mirko Simić was killed by beheading. Adnan Salčin, a member of the Moslem army cut off his head with a saber. His body was exchanged in Podveležje without the head, as was also noted in the post mortem examination carried out on March 18,1995.
Proof: 392/95 and 371/95.
13. Niko Maleš, born in 1931, was killed by decapitation on April 7, 1992 in the village of Rilić in the commune of Kupres.
Proof: 117/95-4.
14. In an attack on the Serb village of Brežani, the commune of Srebrenica, on June 30, 1992, members of Moslem armed forces killed 19 serb villagers. The body of Miloš Novaković from the hamlet of Ćićevac was found with the head cut off.
Proof: 493/94-9, 493/94-5, 493/94-6, 493/94-7, 493/94-8 and 635/94-9.
15. Slavko Mladjenović,(f. Ljubomir), born in 1965, was killed on August 8, 1992 during an attack on the village of Ježestice, the commune of Bratunac.
He was buried without the head which had been cut off and taken away.
Proof: 68/94 and 635/94-28.
16. In an attack launched on the village of Vrasalići, the commune of Rogatica, on November 20, 1992, Miloš Kovačević, about 65 years old, was shot dead in front of his house by Rusmir Balaš. When Miloš fell on the ground, Rusmir cut off his head and
right arm at the elbow and his penis and then threw the head and penis away from the body.Proof: 137/95-8.
17. Pero Ožić was killed in 1993 in Fojnica. He was first forced to dig his own grave and then killed and beheaded. Responsible for the killing is Omer Pobrić, a militia commander in Fojnica before the war.
Proof: 319/95.
18. In clashes between Moslem armed forces and those of the Army of the Republic of Srpska on November 5,1992 in the area of Kamenica, the commune of Zvornik, the Moslems captured and killed by beheading Vlado Grabovica, Savo Djokić, Dragomir Božić, Slavko Tijanić, Savo Kazanović and Radomir Pavlović.
Dragomir Božić was massacred and the head severed from the body.
The head of Slavko Tijanić was found without the eyes, ears and nose, a 6 mm diameter iron bar was found in his chest, while his neck, hands and feet were tied with wire.
The head of Savo Kazanović had also been cut off, his chest pierced with a large nail, and he himself nailed to an oak tree and crucified.
A head without the body was also found which is assumed to have belonged to Miloš Grabovica.
The following were also killed in Kamenica on November 5,1992: Miladin Ašćerić, 28 years old; Mićo Tešić, 24 years old and Nikola Milinović, 27 years old. They were also beheade
d.Proof: 184/94-5, 184/95-6, 184/95-7 and 184/95-8.
19. In an attack launched on May 29, 1992 on the village of Bavar, the commune of Jajce, members of the Croato-Moslem army killed Stana Trifunović, 68 years old. They slit her throat and then chopped he
r head off with an axe.Proof: 116/95-12 and 333/95-1.
20. Mirko Dejanović from Majevac was killed on May 6, 1992 in Ritešići by members of Croat armed formations from the villages of Ritešići and Brezak. They killed him by cutting his head off with a pic
kax. They cut off his penis and put it in his mouth.His body had over 100 stab wounds inflicted with a knife. Jela Titura (female) from Ritešići took part in the killing.
Proof: 30/94
21. In July and August 1992 Moslem youths aged 15-16 carried around Sarajevo the heads of killed Serbs, which they found in the cellars of the part of Sarajevo called Dobrinja 5.
They played with and kicked around the heads and threw them in garbage bins.
Proof: 234/95-1.
22. In an attack carried out on June 3,1992 on the village of Brežane, the commune of Srebrenica, Moslems killed Milivoje Mitrović and Stanoje Mitrović. When this village was liberated in April 1993 their headless bodies were found.
Stanoje Mitrović’s throat had been slit by one “Kemo” from Pale.
Proof: 635/94-9.
23. The Moslems killed the Serb Sredoje Jovanović from Krniće by beheading him when they attacked this village on July 5, 1992.
Proof: 493/94-13.
24. Miloš Pepić from the village of Pepić, the commune of Kladanj, over 60 years of age, was killed on January 31, 1994 in the area of Banderka near Šehovići. They killed him by chopping his head off on a block with an axe.
Proof: 184/95-34
25. On September 24,1992 Moslem forces occupied the village of Podravanje in the commune of Milići, set it to fire, looted it and killed all the wounded whom they found in the village. They killed 19 persons on that occasion and massacred their bodies.
Zulfo Tursumović from Sućeska had the severely wounded Tomislav Perendić put his head in his (Tursumović’s) lap and then slaughtered him and cut his head off.
Svetozar Jovanović’s head was cut off and impaled on a stake and Gojko Tomić was beheaded and his head thrown some 20 metres away from the body.
Proof: 184/95-34.
26. During the Moslem attack on the village of Snagovo on February 19, 1992, four villagers were killed. The head and one arm of Dobrivoje (other particulars are being established) were cut off.
Proof: 184/95-1.
27. Andja Vukomanović was slaugh
tered early in August 1992 and her body was found towards the end of October 1992 in front of the house in the hamlet of Švaljak, the commune of Trnovo, with the head severed from the body.Proof: 228/94-31.
28. After Trnovo was taken in July 1992, Serb civilians found in Trnovo and the vicinity were killed.
Danilo Mišović, 78 years old, was killed in front of his house in the village of Tošići near Trnovo. His remains were found buried under a dump heap.
These burials were organized by the so-called "Land Sanitation Commission". During in situ inspection and exhumation on August 13, 1992 his body was found without the head.
Drago Golijanin, 86 years old, was killed on July 31, 1992 on Rogoj, in an area called Rankčev Do. His remains were found on September
22, 1993, when it was established that the head had been severed from the rest of the body.Proof: 228/94-23 and 228/94-25.
29. The Moslem Zijo Kubac slit the throat of the Serb Vasilije Lavljiv in mid-October 1993 in Sarajevo, on a spot called "Kazan", and then cut off his head with a knife and Mrs. Lavljiv was killed by Esad Tucaković who also cut her head off. Then their bodies were hurled into the abyss.
Proof: 432/95.
30. In mid-September 1993 the Serbs Duško Jovanović and Ervin Nikolić were brought
into the premises of the Headquarters of the tenth mountain brigade of the so-called Army of B&H in Bistrik, where they were beaten and then taken towards Boguševac to a spot called "Kazan". There they took them into the sniper platoon dugout where they were again beaten and then Samir Ljubović killed Jovanović with a knife and Samir Pajkić cut off Nikolić’s head.Proof: 432/95.
31. In mid-October 1993 Predrag Šalipur and his wife Katarina were arrested in their flat in Sarajevo, Borisa Kidriča street No. 3. On the orders of Mušan Topalović they were taken to the Headquarters of the 10
th mountain brigade of the so-called Army of B&H together with Branislav Radosavljević who happened to be in Šalipur’s flat. There they beat them.Afterwards they were taken to a spot called “Kazan” where Nihad Hodžić cut the throat of Branislav Radosavljević slashing it twice or thrice with a knife and then cut his head off. Then he gave the knife to Husein Hodžić who severed with it the head of Predrag Šalipur who had been previously killed by Sabahudin Živa and Omer Pendžo. Then they threw their bodies into the “Kazani” precipice.
Proof: 432/95.
32. According to the witness heard, a peasant woman 57 years old, while she had been held in prison at the Secondary Education Centre in Jajce in mid-1992, she had been made to listen to a tape describing the ordeals of Serbs at the hands of Croats and Moslems. Members of her family were also mentioned on the tape as having been slain by Croats and Moslems.
Specifically, she heard that her husband and son had been killed and that Moslems and Croats played soccer with their chopped off heads. She was made to listen to that tape every day.
After having been released from prison, she stated, she was so tormented and lost that she was unable to recognize her own son and husband when she was reunited with them.
Proof: 561/94-4.
33. Zekira Mulasmajić, an elementary school sixth grader from Novi Šeher near Maglaj, speaks about the beheading of Serbs in her
Diary.In her entry of September 29, 1992, she wrote that the Moslems had taken Glipova Glava, and stated, inter alia:
"... On that same day I saw something I never ever imagined I would see, a chopped off head of a Chetnik. Safet (Devletin) told Hido how some guys had brought a Chetnik head and were playing ball with it. I and Lalo immediately went downtown to see whether that was true. And indeed some guys downtown were really carrying a wrapped head. Down by Bahro’s shop they unwrapped it and I saw it... The face was black and the hair was horrible ... they say that the lad had been young, 22 at most. Nothing is surprising in this fratricidal war. There are lots of heads rolling about..."
Proof: 471/95.
34. In the area of Kružno Groblje near Crni Vrh the following Serbs were killed by decapitation in mid-September 1992: Branislav Djurić, 40 years old, from Gornji Teslić; Blagoje Blagojević, 46 years old and Nenad Ćetković, 22 years old, from Jasenava near Teslić.
A mercenary from Saudi Arabia had his photograph taken with their cut off heads.
Proof: Žarko Krstanović, By Genocide Against the Serbs, Belgrade, 1995.
35. In exchanges of bodies the Serb side is being given an increasing number of headless corpses, with it being established by post mortem examinations that the heads had been cut off. Thus the Moslem side handed over the headless bodies of the following persons, post mortem examinations of which were carried out on November 11, 1993 at the cemetery in Vlakovo in Sarajevo:
1. Slavko Rajčević (f. Milan),
born in 1957, from Sarajevo, and2. Boško Mizdrak (f.Steva), from Sarajevo.
In the vicinity of Trebinje such post mortem findings were established on March 7, August 17 and February 23, 1993 on the bodies of the following persons:
3. Slobodan Pejaković (f.
Ilija), born in 1960,4. Zoran Radović (f. Martin), born in 1966,
5. Petar Sekulović (f. Danilo), born in 1960,
6. Djordje Bulut, born in 1949, and
7. Saša Maraš, born in 1973.
In the vicinity of Bileća such post mortem findings were established on July 1
1, 1992 on the bodies of the following persons:8. Mile Tršić (f. Dragutin), born in 1946, from Mostar,
9. Milan Bojanić (f. Dragutin), born in 1956,
10. Luka Papić, born in 1954, and
11. Goran Mrković, born in 1960.
In the vicinity of Nevesinje, on March 18,1995, such post mortem findings were established on the body of:
12. Trifko Žuža (f. Dušan), born in 1947.
In the vicinity of Priboj, such post mortem findings were established on May 5,1994 on the bodies of the following:
13. Jovan Tomić (f. Steva), bo
rn in 1939, and14. Dragan Jurković, born in 1965.
In Bratunac such post mortem findings were established on March 21 and 22, 1993 on the bodies of the following:
15. Bora Blagojević, born in 1973,
16. Dragica Mastikosa, born in 1955, and
17. Miodrag Vorkapić, born in 1971.
In the village of Kravice such post mortem findings were established on March 18 and 19, 1993 on the bodies of the following:
18. Lazar Veselinović (f. Kostadin), born in 1935,
19. Mitar Nikolić (f. Cvijan), born in 1927,
20. Kristina Erić, born in 1921, and
21. Djordje Miladinović, born in 1936.
In Faković such post mortem findings were established on July 10 and 11, 1993 on the bodies of the following:
22. Ranko Rankić, born in 1933,
23. Zora Prodanović, born in 1941, and
24. Obren Bogićević, born in 1932.
In Zvornik such post mortem findings were established in October 1994 on the bodies of the following:
25. Cvija Kostić, born in 1927, and
26. Milorad Milić-Lazarević, born in 1918.
Proof: Forensic findings of Dr. Zoran Stanković, reg. under No. 471/95.