Korićanske rocks

ICTY

The Hague verdicts list the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA), the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS), and aligned police and paramilitary formations as perpetrators of crimes in Prijedor. The takeover of power by the Serbian Democratic Party (SDS) in Prijedor was carried out on the night of April 29, 1992 by JNA forces, including the Fifth Kozar Brigade, members of the Prijedor Public Security Station (SJB) and other Serb police functionaries working in secret. In this process the central authorities were replaced by people loyal to the SDS. (para. 74. Stakić, pp. 16-17.), (para. 1592. Karadžić, vol. II, p. 649.), (para. 137. Duško Tadić, pp. 51-52.)

In the days and months following the takeover of Prijedor, large numbers of non-Serbs were dismissed from their jobs, while only a small percentage of Bosniaks and Croats continued to work. (para. 307. Stakić, p. 91.)

Bosniaks were called upon to surrender their weapons and identify themselves by wearing a white armband and hanging white sheets from the windows of their homes as a sign of surrender. (para. 658. Stanišić and Župljanin, vol. I, p. 212.), (para. 128. Stakić, pp. 37-38.)

In 1992, in the municipality of Prijedor, the Serb authorities held civilians of predominantly Croat and Bosniak ethnicity in 58 detention and collection centres, five of which were considered long-term detention centres. These were Keraterm, Trnopolje, Omarska, the Prijedor police station, and a command post in Miska Glava. (para. 483. Krajišnik, p. 182.)

After overthrowing the Prijedor municipal authorities at the end of April 1992 and carrying out a series of attacks on villages and areas inhabited by non-Serbs, the new authorities opened three large camps. These were Omarska (on the site of a former open-pit iron ore mine near the village Omarska), Keraterm (a ceramic products factory), and Trnopolje (a building compound in a village of the same name). (para. 15. Kvočka et al., p. 6.), (paras. 21-22. Banović, p. 9.), (para. 562. Stanišić and Župljanin, vol. I, p. 182.)

The Trnopolje camp operated from at least May 26, 1992 until the end of September 1992, although some people remained there for longer. At one point, the camp held approximately 8,000 detainees, and by the end of August 1992, up to 4,000 people were being held. The detainees were civilians, Bosniaks, and Bosnian Croats, including women and children. (para. 1322. Mladić, vol. II, p. 700.), (paras. 1818., 1821. Karadžić, vol. II, pp. 729, 732.)

Following the Bosnian Serb attack on Kozarac in late May 1992, the inhabitants of the village, mainly women and children, with only a few military-aged men, were brought to Trnopolje. (para. 620. Stanišić and Župljanin, vol. I, p. 200.)

On August 21, 1992, Serb police officers from Prijedor killed around 200 men at Korićanske stijene on Mount Vlašić (the “Stanišić and Župljanin” case states “between 150 and 200”), who were ordered to get out of the bus and kneel on the edge of the cliff. (para. 1847. Karadžić, vol. II, p. 745), (para. 460. Brđanin, p. 171), (para. 494. Krajišnik, p. 187), (para. 674. Stanišić and Župljanin, vol. I, p. 217.)

Previously, on August 21, 1992, the buses had taken the detainees from the Trnopolje camp and they were joined by vehicles loaded with people from Tukovi. (para. 215. Stakić, pp. 64-65.), (para. 457. Brđanin, p. 170.), (para. 674. Stanišić and Župljanin, vol. I, p. 217.)

Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina

A convoy of several buses, trucks, and trailers carrying over 1,200 Bosniak and Croat civilians set out from Tukovi and the Trnopolje camp in August 1992. During the drive towards Travnik, money and valuables were taken from the civilians on several occasions using threats. (Damir Ivanković, pp. 1-3.), (Gordan Đurić, pp. 2-3.), (Ljubiša Četić, pp. 3-4.), (paras. 176., 464. Saša Zečević et al., pp. 5-7, 57-58, 120.), (paras. 201., 245-248. Zoran Babić et al. second instance verdict, pp. 7-9, 51, 61.)

When the convoy stopped near the Ilomska River, a tributary of the Ugar River coming down from Mount Vlašić, guards began separating 200 men from the other civilians. These 200 men were transported in two buses to the Korićanske stijene location where they were taken out of the vehicle, escorted to the edge of the cliff and killed. (Damir Ivanković, pp. 1-3, 11, 13.), (Gordan Đurić, pp. 2-3, 13-14.), (Ljubiša Četić, pp. 3-4, 14, 16.), (para. 237., 263., 266., 275., 297-304. Saša Zečević and others, pp. 5-7, 72, 77, 78, 79, 84-85.), (paras. 281., 306., 314., 326. second instance verdict Zoran Babić et al., pp. 7-9, 69, 74, 76, 78-79.)

Hand grenades were thrown from the top of the cliff onto the bodies of the killed and wounded, killing the men. (The verdict in the “Babić et al.” case states that at least 150 men were killed.) At least 12 survived the shooting, while the remains of most of the victims have not been found. (Damir Ivanković, pp. 1-3, 13.), (Gordan Đurić, pp. 2-3, 14-15.), (Ljubiša Četić, pp. 3-4, 16.), (paras. 280., 290-295., 336., 368-369. Saša Zečević et al., pp. 5-7, 80, 82-83, 94, 101.), (paras. 280., 328-335. Zoran Babić et al., second instance verdict, pp. 7-9, 68-69, 79-81.)

A few days later, there were attempts to extract and remove the bodies of the murdered, but it was not successful due to the inaccessible terrain on which the crime was committed. (para. 375. second-instance verdict Zoran Babić and others, p. 89.)