Andrun: Detainee begged for death

Three prosecution witnesses have recognised indictee Nikola Andrun as deputy warden of the Gabela detention camp near Capljina, in which detainees were tortured and killed.

Former detainees Ahmet Cernica, Huso Maric and Mirsad Omanovic spoke of the tortures they and other detainees survived – and accused the indictee of some of the sufferings they survived.

Witness Omanovic, a former Croat defence council (HVO) soldier, was arrested on August 3, 1993 and taken to Gabela camp. He told trial chamber that Andrun took him and others for questioning and asked him for money he had allegedly hidden.

“When they let me go the first night, they said that I had to give the money over or that I would be killed,” Omanovic said, adding that Andrun had taken him to his office for questioning the next day.

“When I said that I had no money, they made me take my clothes off. Then they beat me with their fists, boots and nightsticks. Andrun shoved a gun into my mouth and [later fired a] shot above my head,” the witness remembered.

Omanovic added that the injuries inflicted upon him that night were so painful that he begged Andrun to kill him. The torture of this witness is the fifth count of the indictment filed against Andrun.

The witness also said that many detainees in Gabela camp begged to be sent to work as forced labour because, as he stressed, that was “the only opportunity for them to get a decent meal”.

Ahmet Cernica, also a former detainee, was arrested and brought to Gabela camp at the end of April 1993. During his four-month detention he lost almost 60 kg. He was also in the group of detainees who were twice moved to Silos camp, also located nearby Capljina, during the visits of International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

During his detention, Cernica tried to get in touch with his family, but he was not able to do so.

“When I came home, I found all the letters that said that Ahmet Cernica is not in any of the detainment camps of former Herceg-Bosna,” Cernica said.

Huso Maric, who was arrested beginning of July 1992 and taken to Gabela, claims that some high-ranking HVO officials had told him that Andrun was deputy warden of the camp.

Maric also survived torture in Gabela.

“A former neighbour took me and two other detainees from the storage shed. He beat me so much that I was unconscious for three days,” Maric testified.

Maric said that he spent two days in the part of the camp where the beaten detainee Selim Gagula was, and remembered that “Gagula was beaten so much that he didn’t show any signs of being alive”.

Continuation of the Andrun trial is scheduled for September 28.