here - Humanitarian Law Center/Fond za humanitarno pravo

Course of proceedings
As alleged in the indictment filed against them by the TRZ on 5 June 2011, 97 the accused, as
members of a volunteer unit fighting for the Serb side in the conflict, on the evening of 14 June
1992 in Bijeljina (BiH), entered, together with Milorad Živković 98 and Danilo Spasojević 99 , the
house of the injured party Ramo Avdić seeking weapons from him. After he handed them
weapons, they searched his house and took his money and jewelry. After that, they forced at
Ramo’s daughter Nizama and Daughter-in-law Hajreta at gunpoint to undress, and then raped and
sexually abused them in the presence of Ramo’s wife Fata and son Kurem. Dragan Jović then
killed Ramo Avdić by placing a gun barrel into his mouth and pulling the trigger. Shortly
thereafter, the accused left the house taking with them the injured parties Nizama and Hajreta and
paraded them, naked and barefoot, through town until they reached the house of the injured party
Dosa Todorović. They took Dosa Todorović’s money, jewelry and a passenger car, got into the
car, together with Nizama and Hajreta, and drove towards Brčko. Upon reaching the village of
Ljeljenča, they stopped the car, took the injured parties out of the car and raped and sexually
abused them one further time, after which they left the scene, leaving the injured parties by the
side of the road.
Trial of this case commenced on 4 July 2011. 100 During the 11 trials days held so far, 10
witnesses have been heard.
Testifying in their own defense, the accused said they went to Bosnia as volunteers, under the
auspices of the the Serb Radical Party. Having arrived in Bosnia, the VRS supplied them with
uniforms and weapons. They admitted to having entered the house of Ramo Avdić, armed and
uniformed. When asked about the reason, the accused said that Danilo Spasojević had told them
that Ramo Avdić was a Muslim extremist possessing weapons and was “supplying weapons to
the Muslims”, so they wanted to take these weapons away from him. Dragan Jović admitted to
having killed Ramo, but claimed it was an accident. Hearing screams from another room, he says,
Ramo stepped towards him, and he got frightened and fired a shot from his rifle that “accidentally
hit Ramo in the head”. None of the accused admitted to raping and sexually abusing the injured
parties Nizama and Hajreta or looting money and valuables. Zoran Đurđević stated that he did
not see who had killed Ramo, but added that Jović told him that he had done it. At Ljeljenča he
97 Deputy War Crimes Prosecutor Dušan Knežević.
98 Defendant Milorad Živković is at large, and criminal proceedings against him were severed.
99 A non-final judgment of the District Court in Bijeljina found Danilo Spasojević guilty of the offence and
sentenced him to nine years in prison.
100 Members of the trial chamber: judge Vinka Beraha Nikićević (presiding), judge Snežana Nikolić Garotić and
judge Rastko Popović.
39