Massacre and ethnic cleansing of Serbs in the municipality of Konjic

[Bradina]

According to the official results of the 1991 census, the Konjic district had 43,636 residents:

23,791 Moslems (54,5%)
11,354 Croats (26,0%)
6,645 Serbs (15,2%)
1,846 others (4,3%)

Towards the end of 1991 the Croats in the Municipality of Konjic set up the Croatian Defence Council (HVO). They formed two battalions and the HVO commander for Konjic was Ivica Azinović. The Croats armed themselves in an organized fashion through Croatia and the HVO also participated in the arming of Muslims.
The SDS, in co-operation with the JNA, had been active in arming the Serb population of the municipality and in training militias.

Following the Bosniak and Bosnian Croat supported declaration of an independent Bosnian state and the subsequent walk-out of Bosnian Serb representatives from the Municipal Assembly the remaining Bosniak and Bosnian Croat politicians formed a special "War Assembly" to organize militas. Between 20 April and early May 1992 Bosnian government forces seized control over most of the strategic assets of the Municipality and some armaments. However, Serb forces controlled the main access points to the municipality, effectively cutting it off from outside supply.

On 4 May 1992, with each sides armed, the fighting began and the first shells landed in Konjic town. With the town swollen from the influx of refugees, there was a great shortage of accommodation as well as food and other basic necessities. Charitable organisations attempted to supply the local people with enough food but all systems of production foundered or were destroyed. It was not until August or September of that year that convoys from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) managed to reach the town, and all communications links were cut off with the rest of the State. A clear priority for the Konjic authorities was the de-blocking of the routes to Sarajevo and Mostar. This objective required that the Serbian forces holding Bradina and Donje Selo, as well as those at Borci and other strategic points, be disarmed.

A particularly brutal killing campaign of Serbs took place in May 1992. The first area to be targeted was the village of Donje Selo. On 20 May 1992 forces of the TO and HVO entered the village. Bosnian government soldiers moved through Viniste towards the villages of Cerići and Bjelovcina. Cerići, which was the first shelled, was attacked around 22 May and some of its inhabitants surrendered. The village of Bjelovcina was also attacked around that time. The Serb-populated village of Bradina was shelled in the late afternoon and evening of 25 May and then soldiers in both camouflage and black uniforms appeared, firing their weapons, setting fire to buildings, houses and killing civilians in their houses. During attacks on Serb villages (Bradina, Donje Selo, Blace and others), members of Muslim and Croat army units killed Serbs who had not managed to escape. Throughout the area of the municipality Serbs were killed where they were found or were led away from their homes and killed or locked up in camps (Čelebići prison camp and Musala) in which they were also killed or subjected to humiliation and severe mental and physical torture often with a lethal outcome. Old men, women, children, the sick, the infirm, all were killed.

Following is a list with specific data about the mass killing of Serbs (WARNING: GRAPHIC DESCRIPTION!):

1. AVRAMOVIĆ ČEDO, teacher of mathematics, from Čelebići, born on May 21, 1945 in Čelebići, father Ratko and mother Ikonija nee Lazarević, father of two children. Arrested on May 9, 1992 at his home. He was first held in custody at the Ministry of the Interior in Konjic and then at the end of May transferred to the Čelebići camp which is 200 metres away from his house. In the camp he was maltreated and beaten. Hazim Delić and Esad Landžo would take him out in front of “No.6” and beat him. The actual cause of his death is unknown, possibly it was an electric shock. A Witness stated that in the morning when he woke up he saw that one of the cables that hung under the ceiling was loose and that Čedo was lying on the ground. He was naked to the waist and had a black spot in the region of the heart.

2. BABIĆ BRANKO, pensioner, from Bjelovčina near Konjic, born on May 24, 1926 in Bjelovčina, father Boža and mother Marija nee Savić, married, father of five children. He lived in his house in the village which was controlled by the Croato-Muslim army. He was taken to the Čelebići camp on May 31, 1992 and the following day assigned to a work detail and was never seen again. His brother found out that Branko and Milenko Vukalo had been taken away by Drago Soldo and another man and killed at a spot called Paprica by Salko and Šabo Mušić.

3. BABIĆ PERO, pensioner, Vrdolje, Konjic, born on July 24, 1936 in the village of Vrdolje, Konjic Municipality, father Đura, married, father of four children. Killed on June 2, 1992 in the village of Vrdolje in his home by members of the Muslim army. His body was found fifteen days later.

4. BABIĆ RUŽA, nee Zurovac, housewife, the village of Bjelovčina, Konjic Municipality, born in 1928 in the village of Prebilovci, Municipality of Čapljina, married, mother of three children, severely handicapped, lay bed-ridden in her house. She was found dead in her house ten days after the taking of Bjelovčina and the arrest of her son Slobodan who was killed in the camp.

5. BABIĆ SLOBODAN, doorman at the “Igman” enterprise, from Bjelovčina, Konjic Municipality, born on December 2, 1949 in Bjelovčina, Konjic municipality, to father Petko and mother Ruža nee Zurovac, married, father of one child. He was arrested on May 21, 1992 at his house by members of the Croato-Muslim army and with the other Serbs taken to the Čelebići camp. In the camp he was tortured in the most brutal way. Among other things a rifle barrel was rammed in his mouth. They placed him in hangar “No.6”. He was all black from the beating, that he had an open wound at the lower end of his spine, all of his teeth had been knocked out, the palate ruptured by a blow with a rifle barrel, arms and legs broken. He could neither speak nor eat nor drink. As he was in grave condition, five days later they transferred him to Konjic, to the “hospital for Chetniks” in the “3 maj” elementary school which also was a camp for Serbs. His wife stated that she had visited him and that her husband could not speak and was unconscious. His body was covered with bruises and his hands were full of blisters, obviously from burns, and his tongue and uvula were cut. He died on June 5, 1992 and the wife got the body on June 7, 1992 and buried him at the cemetery in Bjelovčina. According to the statements of camp inmates, he was beaten the most by Željko Mlikota from Seonica. A witness who readied him for burial said that there had been visible traces of blows with a blunt object on the chest, that the left arm was crushed, teeth knocked out and the palate ruptured.

6. VUJIČIĆ VASO, nicknamed “KISA”, bachelor of law, worked as a market inspector at the Assembly of the Municipality of Konjic, from Bradina, Municipality of Konjic, born in 1958 in Bradina, Municipality of Konjic, father Petar and mother Jovanka, nee Djordjić, married, father of two minor children. When members of the Croato-Muslim army took Bradina, Vaso and the rest of the Serbs surrendered on May 26 1992 to them. They were driven off to the Čelebići camp. On the way to the camp, near Pero Mrkajić’s restaurant, he was taken out of the column with the brothers Živak (Slobodan and Velimir). They were led a hundred meters away in the direction of the Serbian church in Bradina and executed. Three days later his brother Dragan was arrested near Kalinovik with a group of Serbs trying to escape to the Serbian side and was killed en route to the Čelebići camp. 

7. VUJIČIĆ DRAGAN, electrician, haulier, from Bradina, Konjic Municipality, born on July 30, 1961 in the village of Bradina, Konjic Municipality, to father Petar and mother Jovanka, nee Djordjić, married, father of three children. When members of the Croato-Muslim army took Bradina on May 26, 1992 Dragan and a group of Serbs tried to break through to Serb territory. The Muslim army captured them on May 30 in the village of Ljuta near Kalinovik. They were tied up and transported to Mt. Igman where they were tortured and beaten up. He was killed on May 31, 1992 on Mt. Bjelašnica while being taken to the Čelebići camp. Another four Serbs were wounded on the same truck on which Dragan was killed.

8. VUJIČIĆ MIROSLAV, student of mechanical engineering from Zukići near Konjic, born on June 26, 1962 in Zukići, father Jovan and mother Bosiljka nee Šaran, married, father of one child. Killed in the Čelebići camp on May 27, 1992. Upon being brought to the camp the inmates were immediately beaten up and had to stand against a wall for hours on end while Croat and Muslim soldiers beat them. They beat particularly hard Miroslav who was standing next to his brother Radoslav. To end his misery he jumped out of the line and had not made three steps before he was gunned down from the back with an automatic rifle. He fell into the grass and a soldier approached him and shot him three times in the head with a pistol. The next day the Muslims brought his body to Bradina and photographed it "manning" an anti-aircraft machine gun, in order to "prove" that he had been killed in combat. He was buried in a mass grave in the yard of the Orthodox church in Bradina.

9. VUKALO MILINKO, pensioner, from Bjelovčina near Konjic, born on February 25, 1929 in the same village, father Mirko, married, father of one child. Until the outbreak of war he lived in his village which was controlled by the Croato-Muslim army. He was loyal to the Croato-Muslim authorities. He was killed on September 13, 1992 as a civilian by members of the Muslim army led by Vejsil Salihović, SDA president in the village. He was incarcerated in the Čelebići camp and taken from there together with Branko Babić to haul some hay for the Croat Blažo Soldo. Five Serb children who were going to pick hazelnuts, went with them. They were ambushed at a spot called Paprica (between Barmiš and Ugošće). Branko was killed on the spot and Milinko, even though seriously wounded, managed to get to his home. He told who had ambushed them and shot at them. Then he was transferred to the hospital in Konjic where he died that same evening.

10. VUKALO MITRA, housewife, from Bjelovčina, Konjic Municipality, born in 1930 in Bjelovčina, father Mirko and mother Rista nee Babić, single. Severely handicapped from December 22, 1941 when as a girl the Ustashi threw her into the snow where she froze and sustained grave bodily damage. From the beginning of this war she lived in her house in the village which was under Croato-Muslim control. Being severely handicapped she could not leave the house. She was among the last Serbs who had remained in the village. Members of the Croato-Muslim army set her on fire in her house on July 10, 1992. Mitra was torched a month and a half after the village had been taken by the Croato-Muslim army. Her body was found charred.

11. VUKOSAV PAULA, housewife from Bradina, Konjic Municipality, born in 1908 on the island of Mljet. Croat by nationality, wife of Andjelko Vukosav. In this war her sons were combatants in the army of the Republic of Srpska. She was severely beaten up in Bradina. Her body was found in September 1992 near the road bridge in Bradina.

12. VUKOSAV PERO, pensioner, from Donje Selo, Municipality of Konjic, born on June 30, 1922 in the village of Blace, Konjic Municipality, father Trifko, married, father of five children. At the beginning of the armed conflict between the Croats and the Muslims in Konjic, on April 19, 1993, members of the Muslim army, with mujaheddin from Arabic countries among their ranks, arrested all the Serbs and Croats in Donje Selo and drove them off to Repovica above Konjic. After a ritual Muslim prayer - prostration, the mujaheddin, in the presence of the mayor Dr. Safet Ćibo, killed four Serb civilians who had until then been loyal to the Croato-Muslim authorities, among whom Pero. This happened on April 19, 1993 at a place called Berber-Repovica near Donje Selo.

13. GLIGOREVIĆ BORIVOJE, nicknamed “RODE”, pensioner from Bradina, Konjic Municipality, born on August 28, 1937 in the village of Bradina, Konjic Municipality, father Mirko, married, father of two children. Killed on May 27, 1992 in Bradina at home as a civilian, after the taking of Bradina by the Croato-Muslim army. Bradina had been taken the day before without any resistance having been put up. Borivoje was without arms and offered no resistance.

14. GLIGOREVIĆ JOVAN, pensioner, from Bradina, Konjic Municipality, born on June 4, 1908 in Bradina, Konjic Municipality, father Djoka, married, father of four children. He was an invalid without one leg. When the Croato-Muslim army took Bradina (May 27, 1992), Jovo was first driven up to the truck on which they were transporting Serbs to the Čelebići camp. However, as he was an old man they left him and he was soon thereafter found dead in his house. Jovan’s son Nikola was killed on May 26, 1992 when the Croato-Muslim army took Bradina.

15. GLIGOREVIĆ MALINA, nee ŽUŽA, housewife from Bradina, Konjic Municipality, born on April 5, 1912 in the village of Ostrožac, Municipality of Jablanica, father Lazar. Married, mother of eight children. During the attack on Bradina on May 26,1992 she was at home alone. At orders from members of the Croato-Muslim army she was taken into the house of Petar Gligorević in which two days later she was found dead.

16. GLIGOREVIĆ NIKOLA, bachelor of mechanical engineering, director of UNIS in Vogošća, from Sarajevo, the suburb of Dobrinja 3, born on January 1, 1948 in Bradina, Konjic Municipality, father Jovo (Jovan) and mother Mitra nee Mršić, married, father of two children. In April 1992 he came to Bradina from Vogošća to get his wife and children. He could not go back because of the barricades and remained in Bradina until May 26, 1992 when it was attacked by members of the Croato-Muslim army. He was killed on May 26, 1992 in Bradina by members of the Croato-Muslim army. Together with Nikola, the following were also killed: Vaso Žuža, Pero Kuljanin and Nedjo Draganić. Afterwards his family was in Hadžići where his son Siniša was killed by a shell fired from Muslim positions.

17. GLIGOREVIĆ PETKO, pensioner, from Bradina, born on October 24, 1934 in Bradina, Konjic Municipality, father Pavle, married, father of two children. Arrested on May 27, 1992 in front of his father’s house by members of the Croato-Muslim army, and, with a group of 84-88 captured Serbs, taken from Bradina to Čelebići and killed during a mass beating that day. From the blows Petko fainted, fell on the concrete and lay in a coma for three hours and then died.

18. GLIGOREVIĆ SAVA, nee ŠINIKOVIĆ, housewife from Bradina, Konjic Municipality, born in 1905 in the village of Borci, Konjic Municipality, wife of Djordje Gligorević. At the time of the attack on Bradina on May 26, 1992, she was alone at home and three days later she was found dead.

19. GLIGOREVIĆ TODOR, pensioner, from Bradina, Konjic Municipality, born on February 27, 1924 in Bradina, Konjic Municipality, father Djordje, married. Arrested on May 27, 1992 in Bradina and escorted to the Čelebići camp. Afterwards transferred to the camp at the sports hall in Konjic. He was cruelly tortured in the camp and held there until October 6, 1994 when the last inmates from this camp were exchanged at the Serbian Fighters’ Bridge at Grbavica in Sarajevo. Five days after leaving the camp he died in Hadžići.

20. GOLUBOVIĆ VASO, from Živašnica, Konjic Municipality, born in 1974 in Konjic, father Nedjo and mother Dragica, nee Kuljanin. At the beginning of the war he fled to the village of Blace to his grandparents Manojlo and Spasenija. With the remaining 12 Serbs from Blace he set out on June 16, 1992 in the direction of Serb territory but they were captured in the area of Bjelimići and escorted to Račica. He was killed on June 18, 1992 in Račica below Blace. He was killed by members of the Croato-Muslim army. His father, grandfather and grandmother were also killed in this war.

21. GOLUBOVIĆ VLASTA, nee UNKOVIĆ, professor from Konjic, No.2., Orašje St., born on February 19, 1958 in Postojna, Slovenija, to father Djordje and mother Albina nee Benčina, married, wife
of Djuro, mother of two minor sons Petar and Pavle. Arrested in her flat on July 10, 1992 at 2 a.m. together with her husband and sons. They were taken in the direction of the village of Spiljani and slaughtered, their throats slit, on the bank of the Neretva river.

22. GOLUBOVIĆ DJURO, professor of geography from Konjic, No.2., Orašje St., born on January 1, 1951 in the village of Blace, Konjic Municipality, father Pero, married, father of two minor sons, severely handicapped owing to a grave disease of the legs. He had not served the army. He was arrested in his flat on July 10, 1992 at 2 a.m. with his entire family - his wife Vlasta and his sons Petar and Pavle. They were taken in the direction of the village of Spiljani and their throats were slit on the bank of the Neretva river. A day later Fadil Macić, a notorious Muslim extremist who was the principal organizer and perpetrator of the killing of the four-member Golubović family, moved into their flat.

23. GOLUBOVIĆ JELKA, nee MAGAZIN, housewife, from Blace, Konjic Municipality, born in 1910 in the village of Džepi, Konjic Municipality, married, mother of four children. Killed with another four old women on May 16, 1992 in Milutin Kuljanin’s house. They were butchered by members of the Croato-Muslim army led
by Mitke Pirkić, with their Muslim neighbours as accomplices. A month later the bodies of the killed were set to fire in the house of Mišo Kuljanin.

24. GOLUBOVIĆ MANOJLO, farmer, from Blace, Konjic Municipality, born in 1919 in the same village, father Jovo, father of five children. Killed on May 15, 1992 in front of Mumin Maksumić’s house at Blace where he had taken refuge as his house had been burned down by members of the Croato-Muslim army. Manojlo was dead on the spot while his wife Spasenija was gravely wounded and died in excruciating pain a day later. A month later members of the Croato-Muslim army killed his grandson Vaso Golubović in Račica, while his son Nedjo was killed by members of the Muslim army on April 19, 1993 in Donje Selo near Konjic.

25. GOLUBOVIĆ NEDJO, driver, from Živašnica, Konjic Municipality, born in 1949 in the village of Blace, Konjic Municipality, to father Manojlo and mother Spasenija nee Todorović, married, father of three children. He was killed in Donje Selo on April 19, 1993 by members of the Muslim army which included Arabs - mujaheddin. This was at the beginning of the armed conflict between the Croats and the Muslims. Present during the killing of four Serbs among whom Golubović, was also Dr. Safet Ćibo, the mayor of Konjic. At Blace were killed Nedjo’s son Vaso, his father Manojlo and mother Spasenija.

26. GOLUBOVIĆ PAVLE, a child, from Konjic, No.2. Orašje St., born on June 12, 1987 in Konjic, to father Djuro and mother Vlasta nee Unković. Arrested with his parents and brother in their flat on July 10, 1992 at 2 a.m. Taken in the direction of the village of Spiljani and slaughtered.

27. GOLUBOVIĆ PETAR, a child, from Konjic, No.2. Orašje St., born on February 14, 1985 in Konjic, to father Djuro and mother Vlasta nee Unković. Arrested with his parents and brother in their flat on July 10, 1992 at 2 a.m. Taken in the direction of the village of Spiljani and slaughtered on the bank of the Neretva river. As the Muslims were slitting the throats of his parents and his younger brother Pavle, Petar managed to escape a kilometer and a half from the scene of the crime and hid with some HOS members. However, the Muslims soon found him and slit his throat on the spot.

28. GOLUBOVIĆ RADOJKA nee KULJANIN, housewife, from the village of Blace, Konjic Municipality, born in 1913 in the village of Blace, Konjic Municipality, father Šćepo Kuljanin, married to Obren Golubović, mother of six children. Members of the Croato-Muslim army led by Mithad Pirkić - Mitke slaughtered old men and women in Blace on May 16, 1992. They also killed Radojka as she was trying to escape to Rakitnica. They killed her by a burst from an automatic rifle under the hill and Milutin Kuljanin’s house. She remained there unburied.

29. GOLUBOVIĆ SPASENIJA nee TODOROVIĆ, housewife from the village of Blace, Konjic Municipality, born in 1925 in the village of Čelebići, Konjic Municipality, married to Manojlo Golubović, mother of five children. Gravely wounded on May 15, 1992 at Blace in front of the house of Mumin Maksumić in which she and her husband had taken cover for their own house had been burned down. She lay there wounded by her dead husband and died a day later in torment in the burned and deserted village.

30. GOTOVAC JOVO, labourer from the village of Bjelovčina, Konjic Municipality, born in 1940 in Bjelovčina, father Sava, married, father of two children. He was killed by an artillery shell on May 21 1992 in the village of Cerići to which he had fled when the Croato-Muslim army attacked and took the Serb village of Bjelovčina.

31. GOTOVAC ŠĆEPO, pensioner from Konjic, No.56 b, Maršala Tita St., born on February 28, 1921 in Bjelovčina, Konjic Municipality, father Šćepo and mother Spasenija; married, father of six children. Arrested on June 16, 1992 at home and taken to the Čelebići camp. He was beaten up that very evening. The deputy camp commander Hazim Delić forced him to confess that during World War II he had killed two Muslims. Šćepo kept denying this saying that the men whose death he was accusing him of had survived the war. In the camp he was beaten up repeatedly by Delić, Esad Landžo, Kemo, Salko Hebibović, Adem Ćosić. After one such beating when he came back to the hangar he had wounds on his head inflicted by blunt objects. In front of everybody "Zenga" hammered an SDS badge into his forehead. Witness 234/95-4 states that the nail used to pin the badge was so long that it pierced his head and exited at the back of the head. "Zenga" forbade the camp inmates to touch the badge or extend him any aid. Soon he died. He lay dead in the hangar until 11 a.m. the next day. After that his body lay for two days behind the hangar.

32. DRAGANIĆ BILJANA nee JAKOVLJEVIĆ, housewife from Brdjani, Konjic Municipality, born on March 9, 1955 in the village of Bijela, Konjic Municipality, father Petko and mother Zagorka nee Vulić. Married, mother of three children, killed in her house in the night between 26 and 27 January 1993. Her father-in-law Boško and her sister-in-law Milica Draganić were killed with her. According to the statement of her husband Rajko, who was the first to find them with their throats slit, Biljana was holding a bloody knife in her hand. She had wounded one of the attackers for that same evening he showed up at the health centre for first aid.

Full list of victims and the perpatrators available at: http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/documents/reports/9-b.htm Note that the list does not include all of the Serbs killed in the Celebici camp and others set up around Konjic.

The list was compiled in 1998, so quite a while ago and so a lot of information has been left out. Do not be turned off by the fact that the site is Serbian and the language as the evidence compiled is real, though it may sound a bit nationalist, nothing has been fabricated.

Despite the existence of data on mass killings and crimes of genocide against the Serbs in the Municipality of Konjic, the proceedings before the Tribunal in The Hague have been reduced to only four perpetrators of crimes (Zejnil Delalić, Zdravko Mucić-Pavo, Hazim Delić and Esad Landžo called “Zenga”) and only for their beatings, treatment and killings of Serbs in 1 camp, the Celebici camp.