Bukovica engleski.qxd - Fond za humanitarno pravo

Bukovica engleski.qxd 15.3.2003 13:54 Page 76
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Bukovica
8.1 The death of Hilmo Drkenda
Zlatija Stovrag of Vukšići believes that Hilmo Drkenda
was beaten to death on 27 March 1993.
I saw a large group of soldiers going from Kovačevići to
the border with Bosnia at about four o’clock in the afternoon.
I went out to drive the sheep in and met Zlatija,
Hilmo Drkenda’s wife, who told me there were soldiers
all over the place. After that I saw Hilmo Drkenda staggering
along with the help of two sticks.
Drkenda told Zlatija he was taking a sack of hay to his
sheep when he was stopped by soldiers and beaten.
One of the reservists accused him of carrying food to
the Green Berets, and started kicking and beating him
with a rifle butt, and was soon joined by another. A third
reservist swore at his colleagues and shouted, ”Leave
the man alone!“ Hilmo also told Zlatija that the two
bursts of shots heard earlier had been fired by these soldiers.
Hilmo’s wife Zlatija arrived then and, when she saw
the state Hilmo was in, began crying out loud, ‘They’ve
killed my husband,’ and things like that. I saw blood
coming from Hilmo’s mouth and he couldn’t walk. Me,
my daughter Šahza, and Zlatija carried him into the
house in a blanket. I think he died that same night.
Besides having been badly beaten, he was an old man,
75 years old. His body lay in the house for about 10
days because we couldn’t bury him. The graveyard is
about one kilometer from the house and there were
only a few old people left in the village. We - me, his wife
and neighbors Emin Drkenda and Latif Stovrag, both
over 75 who dug the grave - buried him in Sulejman
Drkenda’s yard.