Ristanić said 300 Brčko residents were killed, but that the mass graves in Prijedor are far larger

Everything that happened in Brčko from '92 to '95, during the ethnic cleansing and occupation of the city by the Army of Republika Srpska, was the most brutal killing of the civilian population and a rampage of hatred and evil. We have already written about the biased and nationally discriminatory judiciary in the Brčko District. People are punished for an alleged slap just as much as mass murderers. In all of this, it is tragic that the Brčko prosecutors and judges do not respect even the decisions from the trials of the worst criminals at the Hague Tribunal, Goran Jelisić and Ranko Češić, whose misdeeds horrified both the staff and the journalists covering the proceedings.

The attempt to equalize guilt for the crimes in Brčko through biased verdicts is a new crime. It is an impossible task, because the whole world clearly knows what bloody terror was carried out from '92 to '95 in dozens of Brčko death camps.

„Robberies, rapes and murders without reason“

Patria is in possession of a document confirming that the political and military authorities in the city were well aware of the crimes being committed against the Bosniaks and Croats of this city. It is a strictly confidential report by the Chief of the Intelligence Unit, Captain Simeun Čuturić, to the Command of the East Bosnian Corps. This report describes in detail the horrific crimes committed against non-Serb citizens of Brčko. Unfortunately, this secret correspondence would not exist if the world's most famous journalists had not written about the terrible crimes in the Brčko camps. The intelligence officers of the RS Army admit this in these documents.

The report begins: „Due to the exceptionally increased pressure from the world public „on the alleged events“ in the period May-June at the facility called Luka Brčko, the following intelligence data were collected“:

„After the destruction of both bridges over the Sava in Brčko, events began to spiral out of control... Various „patriotically“ oriented individuals poured into the city, who, under the pretext of „loyal Serbianhood“, actually carried out robberies, rapes and, as a consequence, murders without justified reason. Apart from these groups that incidentally came with detailed plans for looting before departure, we also believe that there were groups that came on assignment, that is, which had the support of the then military and civilian authorities. In this regard, we refer to the leadership of Bijeljina, which brought at the very beginning of the war (in Brčko, editor's note) about 550 gathered „fighters“. In all of this, Mauzer and Major Gavrilović, along with
Arkan's followers, were at the forefront. In the first days, as well as in the month of June, the activities of the radical Chetniks, Duke Mirko Blagojević, who, together with his like-minded associate from Brčko, Mile Gatarević Bolero, were active in parts of Burića brdo, Ciganluk and the city center. Documentation about the actions exists, prepared and processed by Žika Ivanović Crnogorac, and we believe that part of the documentation is in the security station in Brčko“, writes the intelligence unit of the IB Corps of the RS Army, and then continues with a detailed description of mass crimes:

„Bodies lay on the streets for several days“

„Murders occurred not only in Luka but also in Srpska Varoš, where, according to the testimony of priest Slavko (Maksimović, editor's note), Muslim and Croatian residents were taken out and executed in front of their houses and in the presence of witnesses. Such executions were carried out unprofessionally and publicly and were accessible to everyone“, the intelligence officers write to their command, and the most terrifying part of the description follows: „Bodies were left standing for several days, until the municipal service would find them and take them to pits that had been dug. One pit is located on the right side of the road towards the duty-free zone, and for others the exact details are not fully known. According to the statement of the Mayor of the Municipality, Đorđe Ristanić, 300 people were killed. He is not personally disturbed by this. When certain authorities warned that something should be done to prevent information leakage, he replied that it did not interest him and that the mass graves in Prijedor are far larger. The bodies were buried and construction material from demolished mosques was poured over them“, writes in one document, in which the intelligence officers inform their commanders about the horrific executions of civilians in Brčko.

This document by Captain Čuturić was used in the proceedings before the Tribunal against Jovica Stanišić and Franko Simatović. The Hague is full of evidence about the crimes of the RS Army, including in Brčko.                                               

(continuation of the report to the Command of the RS Army: „Who were bothered by American journalists, while they sought the truth about the liquidations in Brčko“)