here - Humanitarian Law Center/Fond za humanitarno pravo

Tenja TO, the accused took Ivan Valentić, Marija Cerenko, Ana Horvat, Katica Kiš, Pera Mamić,
Josip Medved, Stipe and Evica Penić, Josip Prodanović, Vladimir Valentić and Franjo Burč from
a makeshift prison in Tenja, after which he ordered Ličina and Jovanović to tie the civilians’
hands, ordered the civilians to get on a truck with their hands tied and drove them to a livestock
burial site, close to the neighboring village of Bobota. Upon arrival, it is alleged that he ordered
Ličina and Jovanović to open the tarpaulin covering the truck and then ordered the civilians out
of the truck, shooting them one by one in the head as they got out of the truck. 54
The trial of the accused commenced on 29 September 2012. 55
The accused denied committing the offences for which they were charged. 56
In the course of the proceedings so far, eight witnesses have been heard, the most important being
Milan Macakanja, who, at the time of the events, was a member of the Tenja TO. His testimony
fully supported all the allegations in the indictment relating to Žarko Čubrilo. The witness said
that he knew the civilians detained in the movie theater in Tenja, among whom was Ana Horvat,
the mother-in-law of his child. On 13 July 1991 he came to the TO HQ to ask if someone was
going to Silaš, because he wanted to visit his wounded son who was in Bobota at the time. There
he saw Čubrilo, (now deceased), Savo Jovanović and Jovo Ličina, who asked him if he had a
rope. He told them to go to the janitor for a rope. Outside the movie theater he saw the civilians
whose hands were tied, being loaded on a truck owned by Branimir Knežević. He then brought a
chair to help them onto the truck. With a rubber baton he happened to have with him, he then hit
his child’s mother-in-law Ana Horvat and Marija Cerenko, allegedly in jest. There were 13
civilians in the truck, said the witness, five of whom were men. He believed they were being
taken in order to be exchanged. He then set out on foot for Bobota. In Silaš he again saw the
truck carrying the civilians and joined them to get to Bobota. They stopped in Silaš for about two
hours before continuing the trip towards Bobota. When they got to Bobota, Čubrilo got out of the
truck, went to a nearby house and returned carrying a different weapon – he replaced his usual
weapon with a ‘Heckler’ with a silencer. Savo drove the truck, following Čubrilo’s instructions.
They headed towards Pačetin, and then turned into a field of tall corn, passed through the field
and stopped in the middle of a forest. Čubrilo, Savo and the witness got out of the truck cabin.
The witness turned around and saw Savo pushing the civilians out of the truck and Čubrilo
shooting them as soon as they hit the ground. After that, they returned to Bobota where the
witness visited his son and Čubrilo picked up his weapon again and left the ‘Heckler’ behind. The
witness told Čubrilo that he should at least bury the bodies. The next day the witness informed
54 This was the first indictment brought under the new CPC.
55 Members of the trial chamber: judge Dragan Mirković (presiding), judge Olivera Anđelković and judge Tatjana
Vuković.
56 For more details regarding the defense case of Vidaković and Čubrilo, see HLC daily reports on war crimes trials
at www.hlc-rdc.org.
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