Vuk Karadžić Elementary School

ICTY

On April 17, 1992, Bosnian Serb forces took control of the Bratunac Municipality and systematic efforts were made to disarm Bosniaks in the municipality. This was completed by the end of April 1992. (para. 67. Deronjić, p. 20.), (paras. 714., 717. Karadžić, vol. I, pp. 279, 280.), (para. 311. Krajišnik, pp. 117-118.)

On May 9, 1992, members of the Territorial Defence (TO) killed eight Bosniaks and two days later approximately 250 villagers from Hranča were brought to the Bratunac Municipal Hall. From there approximately 60 people were taken to the Vuk Karadžić school. (para. 313. Krajišnik, p. 117.), (para. 735. Karadžić, vol. I, p. 286.)

On May 9, 1992, Serb forces set fire to houses in the Bosniak villages of Cerivac and Polje and the following day they attacked the Bosniak villages of Suha and Mihaljevići. There, the male inhabitants were captured and taken to the Vuk Karadžić school, while the women and children were taken to the football stadium in Bratunac. (para. 314. Krajišnik, pp. 118–119.), (para. 730. Karadžić, vol. I, p. 285.)

The detainees in Bratunac were held by Serb forces in several detention centres (the Vuk Karadžić school, the stadium, the police station, a warehouse, and the basement of an Ekspres restaurant). (paras. 313-315., 317., 319. Krajišnik, pp. 118-120.)

Several hundred men from villages around Bratunac were detained in the Vuk Karadžić school, where they were severely abused and repeatedly beaten. The armed local Serb population and members of paramilitary groups killed at least 50 detainees. (para. 315. Krajišnik, p. 119.), (para. 780. Karadžić, vol. I, p. 303.)

At least seven Bosniaks detained in the Vuk Karadžić school suffocated in May 1992 when guards forced them to huddle together. (para. 315., 718. Krajišnik, pp. 119, 263.), (para. 772-773. Karadžić, vol. I, p. 300.)

Several hundred residents of villages around Bratunac were also brought to the school on May 11, 1992. (para. 767. Karadžić, vol. I, pp. 297–298.)

The detainees were told to crowd into the school, and approximately 10 to 20 people were taken outside. Screams and gunshots were then heard. (para. 772. Karadžić, vol. I, p. 300.), (para. 315. Krajišnik, p. 119.)

In the school, the detainees were severely beaten, including with iron pipes, wooden sticks, and rifle butts, and some were stabbed. (para. 780. Karadžić, vol. I, p. 303.), (para. 315. Krajišnik, p. 119.)

A few days later, approximately 400 Bosniak detainees from the school were loaded onto trucks and buses and transported to Pale, escorted by military and civilian police, from where they were transferred to Bosniak-controlled territory. (para. 779. Karadžić, vol. I, p. 303.), (para. 315. Krajišnik, p. 119.)

District Court in Bijeljina

Non-Serbs were detained in the gymnasium of the Vuk Karadžić Elementary School in the first half of May 1992, and one of the detainees was shot dead after being beaten. (Milomir Vasić, pp. 2-4.)

Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina

The Bosniak civilian population was gathered at the stadium in Bratunac in the first half of May 1992, after which several hundred men were transferred and imprisoned in the hall of the Vuk Karadžić Elementary School. (paras. 57., 64. Savo Babić Appeal Judgment, pp. 25, 27.), (paras. 184., 249. Milan Trišić, pp. 43, 55.)

Those detained at the school were crammed into a gymnasium, too small for so many people, lacking basic living conditions and necessities, and were subjected to systematic interrogation, beatings, and torture by members of the Serb forces on a daily basis, which resulted in the death of a number of prisoners. (para. 81. Savo Babić Appeal Judgment, pp. 32-33.), (para. 250., 252. Milan Trišić, pp. 55, 56.)

Civilians were severely beaten while being taken from the stadium to the school, and the remains of some of them were exhumed from the Blječevo mass grave. (paras. 287-289., 296-309., 311. Milan Trišić, pp. 3, 62-63, 64-67.)

Several civilians were taken from the school and nothing was known about them until their remains were found in Blječevo. (paras. 416-426. Milan Trišić, pp. 4, 85-87.)

The surviving men from the Vuk Karadžić Elementary School were forcibly deported to Pale. (para. 188. Milan Trišić, p. 44.)

During the deportation to Pale, one prisoner was called to get off the truck and from then on all trace of him was lost until his body was later exhumed. (para. 444. Milan Trišić, p. 90.)