Personal testimony · Bijeljina · April 2, 1992 – April 3, 1992
"You caught Ćosa!" – Remembering Salko Nargalić, killed at the headquarters in Bijeljina
Salko Nargalić, known as Ćosa, a Bosniak from Bijeljina born in 1959, is listed among the Bosniaks killed in Bijeljina in the first days of April 1992. According to the testimony of the journalist Jusuf Trbić, who was held at the same headquarters, Nargalić was brought in with his hands tied, tortured and finally killed by a shot from a firearm.
Where and when
Bijeljina
- Date
- April 2, 1992 – April 3, 1992
- Coordinates
- 44.76° N · 19.22° E
Bijeljina in the first days of April 1992
In early April 1992, Serb forces took over Bijeljina, among them the paramilitary unit known as Arkan's Tigers, or the Srpska dobrovoljačka garda. Civilians were killed in the streets of the town. Among the Bosniaks who lost their lives in those days was Salko Nargalić, son of Omer, born in 1959. His name appears on the list of Bosniaks killed in Bijeljina in the first days of April 1992.
A man the town knew
According to the recollection of the Bijeljina journalist Jusuf Trbić, who had been dismissed from Radio Bijeljina before the war, Nargalić was a former boxer and champion of Bosnia, a man known in the town for his humour and kindness. Trbić states that Nargalić offered him help shortly before the shooting began.
At the headquarters
Trbić testifies that he himself ended up at the headquarters where the men of Ljubiša Savić "Mauzer" and Arkan's men were located; according to him, he was brought there by Mirko Blagojević. According to the same testimony, on the night of 2 to 3 April the captured Salko Nargalić was brought to the headquarters with his hands tied. Trbić states that Mauzer, who by his description directed events at the headquarters, greeted the news of Nargalić's capture with the words: "You caught Ćosa! Well done!"
According to Trbić's testimony, Nargalić was beaten at the headquarters. One of Arkan's officers initially ordered that he not be killed immediately. After that, as Trbić describes, many people beat him, put out cigarettes on him and kicked him in the head with boots, until finally someone killed him with a shot from a firearm. The testimony does not say who fired the shot.
None of the persons Trbić mentions in connection with this event has been convicted for Nargalić's death. Željko Ražnatović "Arkan", commander of the Srpska dobrovoljačka garda, was indicted before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), but died in 2000.
The exact date of death has not been reliably established: Trbić's account gives the night of 2 to 3 April, while the list of victims places Nargalić's death in the first days of April 1992.
Those he left behind
Salko Nargalić left behind a wife and two children. According to the website genocid.ba, his father Omer died of grief about six months after his son's death.
Jusuf Trbić described these events in his book "Majstori mraka".