1992 mass murder in Bosnia and Herzegovina
The Novoseoci massacre was the mass murder of 45 Bosniak civilians (44 male, one female) from the neighboring villages of Novoseoci and Pavičići on 22 September 1992 committed by the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS) in Novoseoci, Sokolac municipality, and Ivan Polje landfill on the way to Rogatica, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Members of the VRS killed a woman in the village, then transported 44 men and boys to the Ivan Polje landfill, where they shot them dead. Exhumation at the landfill revealed additional eight victims from Han Stjenica, Rogatica municipality. Other sources state that civilians were killed on a meadow in Novoseoci – on the spot, and later transported to Ivan polje. Serb authorities made a landfill over the bodies for local settlements to cover the crime.
Background.
At the start of the Bosnian War, the Serb Democratic Party established Serb Autonomous Regions (SAOs) in mostly Serb-inhabited territories, and the Sokolac region fell under the self-proclaimed SAO Romanija. The Bosniaks of the sub-Romanija village of Novoseoci had lived together with the Serbs relatively peacefully.
The residents of Novoseoci pledged to be loyal to the self-proclaimed SAO government, believing that this would save their lives. They surrendered their weapons and signed a pledge of allegiance on July 27, 1992.
Amor Mašović from the Institute for Missing Persons of Bosnia and Herzegovina found out that VRS colonel Aleksa Krsmanović ordered the killing of the entire male population of Novoseoci as revenge for his son Darko, a VRS soldier who died in the battle against the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (ARBiH) near Olovo.
Massacre.
On 22 September 1992, under the command of Momčilo Pajić, 300 members of the 2nd Romanija Motorized Brigade of Sarajevo-Romanija Corps of the Army of Republika Srpska entered the village of Novoseoci and ordered villagers to leave their homes and group themselves on the Metaljka elevation.
One VRS soldier killed a woman, Devla Karić, in front of everyone. Afterward, the VRS forces separated the men and boys under the pretext that they remained in forced labor, while they forcibly deported women and children to Sarajevo, stopping at Sokolac, where they raped many women.
The men and boys were then transported to the Ivan Polje landfill by two TAM-5000 ("Dajc") military trucks, and shot dead in two groups. Those who survived the initial shooting were subsequently finished off with pistol shots to the head.
Victims.
All the victims were captured in Novoseoci, where they found refuge, but not all were residents of Novoseoci. Apart from the one woman who was killed and buried in Novoseoci, it is found that of the victims killed at the landfill, 29 were from Novoseoci, 7 were from the village of Pavičići, 4 were from Kovanj, 2 from other places while two others are unknown. The youngest victim was 14, and the oldest was 85 years old.
Aftermath.
To conceal evidence of the murder, the perpetrators initially covered the bodies with sand and gravel. Subsequently, they destroyed the Novoseoci mosque by detonating explosives, using the debris to further obscure the scene. In addition, they transported refuse from nearby settlements to the site, transforming the area into a landfill, which was utilized as such. The victims' bodies remained intact, and only after 2–3 days were they buried in a mass grave dug in the same place. This source also states that the mosque was demolished, and thrown over the bodies on 30 September 1992.
On Radio Romanija, a local radio station loyal to Serb authorities, it was announced that "saboteurs in Novoseoci were successfully defeated and liquidated".
The perpetrators also called the female victims who were in exile in the months after, presenting themselves as their murdered members, saying that they were in foreign countries.
Exhumation and reburial.
On 8 September 2000, five years after the end of the war, an exhumation was performed on the Ivan Polje landfill, by the Bosnian Commission for Missing Persons. A local Serb who wished to remain anonymous marked the location of a mass grave containing victims, which led to the discovery of the bodies.
All the victims, except for the remains of one (Amir Selmanović), were discovered, exhumed, and identified, and as many as 178 gunshot wounds were found in the remains. Additional eight remains at the site were found to be from Han Stjenica village, Rogatica, killed in one of subsequent massacres.
The victims were reburied at the Martyrs' Cemetery in Novoseoci, opposite the mosque.
Trials.
The indictment was created by order of the Special Department for War Crimes and refers to suspects:
On 16 September 2020, on suspicion that they had committed a war crime, former SDS deputy Milan Tupajić, wartime commander of PS Sokolac Dragan Obradović, members of VRS Miladin Gašović, Jadranko Šuka, Željko Gašović, Momir Kezunović, and Branislav Kezunović were all arrested.
Milan Tupajić died in December 2021, during the trial.
Radislav Krstić was already serving a 35 year prison sentence for his role as a commander in the Army of Republika Srpska during the Srebrenica genocide, which occurred 3 years after the Novoseoci massacre.
On 4 April 2022, Nikola Koprivica was extradited from Canada, accused of directly shooting civilians in Novoseoci.
As of August 2023, trials are still in progress at the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
References.
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