77 )
ANNEX360:
WITNESS STATEMENT OF ANA BICANié
The council reaches
DECISION
evidence proceeding continues on 21 September 1992 at 9:00 a.m. with witness hearing
THE HEAD OF THE COUNCIL (Signature)
RECORDING SECRET ARY (Signature)
CONTINUES ON 21 SEPTEMBER 1992 AT 9:00A.M.
The same people are in attendance.
Witnesses: Ana Bicanié
lt is established thaf 'the following witnesses didn't come to the main hearing: Joso
Matovina- summons are not added to the record, Dane Matovina- summons are added to
the record, Nikola Sertié - summons are not added to the record, Zvonko Conjar -
summons are added to the record, and the witnesses in attendance state that he is
hospitalized.
The main hearirig is going to begin in absence of the witnesses who didn 't come, and the
necessity of their hearing is going to be decided on later, depending on the result of the
main hearing.
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The summoned witness is ANA BICANié, the daughter of Jure Spehar, 55 years old, born
in Saborsko, permanent address: .... Warned according to the article 325 of the Criminal
Proceedings Law (CPL), that is, she is obliged to inform the court about everything she
knows in connection with this case, and that the giving of false statement is a criminal
offence, and, according to the article 229 of the CPL she is not obliged to answer sorne
questions if there is probability that by answering them, she herself or sorne of ber close
relatives could face a risk of being criminally prosecuted, deprived of material goods, or
very disgraced, she
STATES
I know all of the acc1,1sed and they were ·the fir~t who did this to us, they are the chief
lèaders, Plaski and Jesenica were their main base from where they could attack Saborsko. I
have known the accused since they were school children, and at that time they used to come
to Saborsko, and besides we used to go to Plaski often and buy what we needed.
The main attack on Saborsko began on 12 November at 9:00 a.m .. First they attacked with
planes, and after that they bombarded the village and were shooting from machine guns.
Moreover, from 5 August we would ran away and hi de in the wood every day and .then we
would return, because every day they attacked us. On 10 or 11 November it was peaceful,
they weren't attacking, and on 12 November, at 9:00 a.m., they attacked with planes, and
we had to bide in the basements. At the time, I was together with the following people:
Milan Bièanié, Nikola Bièanié, Petar Bièanié, Ivan Vukovié, Jure Vukovié, and Jure Strk in
a basement, besides us there were also: Jeka Vukovié, Ana Bièanié, Bara Bièanié, Kata
Vukovié, Kata Strk, Marija Hodak and Jeka Vukovié. Ali together there were 11 or 12 of
us. There were sorne members of the National Guard with us, and they managed to escape.
Weil, when a woman came in and said that they were entering the village, members of the
National Guard ran away, and the rest of us stayed in the basement. We thought they would
pass by us if we kept quiet. However, at one moment we heard a vojce coming from the
outside and it said: "Give me the matches!" so, because I was aftaid that they could burn us,
1 stepped out of the basement and ran into two soldiers who weren't from our area. They
were in uniforms and had helmets on their heads. l joined my bands and told them not to
shoot. l also said that there weren't any soldiers in the basement, but only civilians. One of
them then told me to cali the others to get out of the basement, and I did as he said. The
people from the basement were distracted. After we got out of the basement one of them
threw a bomb in it.
On the road in front of the bouse they Iined us up in two tines. The men were on the one
si de and the women on the other. My husband was the first in the line. One of the sol di ers
asked him who put obstacles at the entrance to Saborsko. He answered that the Army did it,
and then the soldier slapped him on the face.
While sorne of the soldiers stayed in order to keep their eye on us, the others pointed
machine guns at the men and took them to a wall of a bouse approximately 20 meters
removed from us. l only saw the soldiers stepped back, and after that 1 heard two machineguo
bursts. I suppose they were fired at the people. At that moment 1 said that my poor
child would come home and won't find neither mother nor father, because I was afraid that
they were going to kill us too. One of them asked me where my child was and I said he was
serving his time in the army in Osijek. Then he asked me why he was in the Ustashas' army
and I answered him that he went to army in June. After I said it they were silent for a while
and th en they told us get )ost in half an hour. J'rn pointing out that my son was in the army
but he ran away and joined the National Guard.
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We started runing each of us in a diferent direction and so we reached Jesenice at 3:00a.m.,
and afterwards we went to Ogulin.
This army stayed and set bouses on fire, I point out that there were a lot of civilians among
them and I remember an elderly taU man who had gray hair and was in civilian clothes. A
lot of them were in camouflage uniforms, with nothing on their heads, and they had white
rags in their bands. While we were still there one of the soldiers said to a woman that he
killed her son, and that young man was really killed, but the woman wasn't there at the
time.
So l don't know what happened to the following people: Milan Bicanié, born in 1927,
Nikola Bicanié, born in 1928, Petar Bicanié, born in 1935, Ivan Vukovié, born in 1932, Jure
Vukovié, born in 1930 or 1931, and Jure Strk, born in 1929 or 1930. I only know that I
heard two machine-gun bursts frred at them when they were taken behind the wall.
While we were still in Saborsko I recognized the accused: Nikola Medakovié, Miroslav
Milakovié, whose father was a forester, and Branko Supica. They were ail in camouflage
uniforms and went from one house to another, setting them on fire, taking the goods, and
they were also throwing away the uniforms of the National Guard when they would find
them.
When I saw Miroslav Milakovié, Branko Supica and Nikola Medakovié they were setting
the hamlet ofBicaniéi, placed between them and my house,.on fire.
While we were running away from Saborsko I didn't see any dead people, the villagers of
Saborsko, because there was shooting.
While we were running away Kata Vukovié said that her mother-in-law was shot
approximately 5 meters away from the house we were biding in, and on a field, Ana
Bicanié, born in 1924, was shot and her body stayed there. ·
W e knew before that Medakovié, Supica, and others were going to attack. Our neighbour
Nino Solaja and Bogdan Solaja, who had "SAO (Independent Autonomous Region)
Krajina" pass, would sometimes came to visit us in the basement, I point out that they had a
radio-station and informed the rest of them what was happening. Nino Sol aja said that we
civilians could run away and that the army would stay. I said that we couldn't run away
because we were surrounded and I asked who would stay with our sons, and he said tha:t we
should go to Jasenica. Anyway, Nino Solaja is the father of Anka Solaja and his son Zeljko
Solaja was with the Chetniks for a while and after that he went to Belgrade. Also Bogdan
Solaja's son whom we call Bocajoined Chetniks.
Chetniks, on the Borik hill, kept saying that Saborsko was going to be named Ravna Gora,
and people who were captured in Licka Jasenica told us, later on, that the sons of the
Solajas were Chetniks. When it cornes to Anka Solaja I don"t know whether she was with
them, but she was there aU the time.
My house was also destroyed. After the faU of Saborsko, sorne young men went there and
said that there were only some house walls Ieft. However, the members of the UNPROFOR
were there and they said that the village was completely destroyed and that there was
nothing Ïeft there. At the entrance to the village, Chetniks put the panel on which it was
written "Ravna Gora".
When asked by the deputy OTJ (public prosecutor of municipality) in Rijeka the witness
states:
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When Medakovié, Milakovié, and Supica were burning the village, there were many
people, both our local people and strangers. I don 't know who ordered the village to be
burnt, but they went from one house to another and set them on fire.
Wh~n asked by the council members the witness answers:
The members of the National Guard slid the hill down and made an obstacle at the entrance
to the village, in the direction of Jesenice, but tanks managed to pass. My house was·placed
at the entrance to the village, looking from the direction of Jesenice.
Next to my ho~se there were the Solajas' bouses which weren't burnt like ours, they were
onl;y damaged by shells. People are saying that their bouses are still there.
Ali ofthese Solajas were Serbs, on! y Anka Solaja's mother was a Cro11t woman.
Statement was given by: Anka Solaja
Written testimony of Witness Ana Bičanić *