BERSERKISTAN

Berserkistan Navigator Childhood Friend Watched
as Dusan Tadic Slit
Muslim Police Throats

By David Evans

Dusan Tadic THE HAGUE, June 14 (Reuters) - A childhood friend of Bosnian Serb war crimes suspect Dusan Tadic said on Friday he had looked on in horror as Tadic slit the throats of two Muslim policemen in the town of Kozarec in May 1992. Tadic has been charged by the Yugoslavia war crimes tribunal of murdering, torturing and raping non-Serbs during an "ethnic cleansing" campaign in the Prijedor region of northwest Bosnia.

Tadic, 40, a former bar-owner and karate teacher, denies the charges, saying he is a victim of mistaken identity.

The childhood friend, Nihad Seferovic, 46, stared frostily at Tadic as he entered the U.N. tribunal's courtroom to give evidence at the end of the sixth week of the trial. Seferovic said Tadic and other Serb paramilitaries lined up a group of around six Muslim policemen in front of the Serbian Orthodox church in Kozarec.

"He (Tadic) grabbed the first man by the throat. I did not see the knife but just the blood gushing from all sides," he said in a steady and sombre voice. Tadic then slit the throat of a second man, he said, while some of the other Serb paramilitaries fired their guns in an apparent celebration. Fearing for his own life, Seferovic then fled to the hills outside the town.

Seferovic, speaking through an interpreter, said he grew up only a few houses away from the Tadic family in Kozarec and had played with Dusan as a child. A few days after the killings in Kozarec, Seferovic said he was picked up by Serbs, severely beaten and taken to the notorious Omarska detention camp.

"I remember rifle butts hitting from all sides...I was taken to a room for interrogation but I could not say anything, I was not conscious because of all the beatings," he said. Detainees were fed a single slice of bread a day and the evenings held the pro large.



To learn more...
Berserkistan, June 11 · First Eyewitness Testifies Against Dusan Tadic
Berserkistan, June 7 · Tadic Defense Won’t Challenge Serb-Yugoslavia Caused War
Berserkistan, May 9 · Historian Disclaims Civil War Defence in Tadic Trial
Berserkistan, May 8 · Historian Sets Context for Atrocities in Day 2 of Tadic Trial
Berserkistan, May 8 · Muslims in Sarajevo React to Tribunal Trial
Berserkistan, May 7 · Defense: Tadic Had No Role in Murder, Torture
Berserkistan, May 7 · On Trial's Eve, Tadic Claims Innocence
Berserkistan, May 7 · Childhood Friend Says Tadic was Cruel, Artistic
Key Facts about the War Crimes Tribunal
War Crimes Profile: Dusan Tadic
International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia from the United Nations
Coalition for International Justice
Reports concerning human rights abuses in Bosnia published by Intac Access
Major War Criminals/Suspects from CalTech's Bosnia Site
Reports on War Crimes in the Former Yugoslavia from CalTech's Bosnia Site


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