Lalovic and Skiljevic: Rumours on appointment of manager

Two Defence witnesses who were held in Kula in 1992 were not able to confirm what function Radoje Lalovic performed, but they said that “it was rumoured” that he would become manager.

A witness, who testified for the Defence of Radoje Lalovic, said that the detainees who were held in the Butmir Penal and Correctional Facility in Kula in 1992, were military personnel, “because the army took care of them”.  

“The Army took care of them. Soldiers would bring them and take them away… While they were inside the Kula prison, they were guarded by policemen. We did not have anything to do with them,” said Radomir Ljubljanovic, who used to work at the military agricultural farm.  

This witness was not able to say who paid him for his work in Kula or whether he was a soldier, policeman or worker. He recalled the Facility having been opened in August 1992. At the time “it was rumoured” that Radoje Lalovic was supposed to be appointed as the Facility Manager, but this witness did not know whether this actually happened.  

The Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina charges Lalovic and Soniboj Skiljevic with the happenings that took place in Kula, where the detainees, including men, women and children, were “held in inhumane conditions” and taken to other locations to perform forced labour. It is alleged that some of them lost their lives while performing the work. 

The indictment alleges that, by the end of 1992 Lalovic was the Kula Facility Manager and Skiljevic was his Deputy. From December 1992 to the end of 1995 Skiljevic performed the function of the Manager.  

“When needed, the detainees were brought to the farm to do some work. I would address a man called Jovanovic and tell him that we needed men to do some work for us. Jovanovic then addressed military authorities. Then detainees come to work,” the witness said, adding that Jovanovic did not perform any function in Kula “but he was older than me”. 

Ljubljanovic said that he remembered “two detainees having been wounded” while performing work at the farm. He said that one of them died “due to the injuries”.  

“They used to eat in the prison. There was a dining room for us and for them. We ate the same food. In the morning they would get eggs, cheese and sometimes some cream. There was plenty of bread. Whatever they ate, I ate as well. They had three meals,” the witness said, adding that he could “guarantee that no person lost any weight in Kula. One could rather say that they gained weight”.  

Branko Mandic was the second witness who testified for the first indictee’s defence. He was a former policeman, who “occasionally came to Kula”.

“I rarely visited Kula, but I know that non-Serbian detainees were held there. I used to see them at the farm. I did not go to the premises in which they were held, because they were located in another building, not in the one in which our office was placed,” Mandic said. 

He told the Court that he knew “soldiers used to bring prisoners and policemen guarded them”.  

Mandic said that he had known Lalovic “because our families originated from the same village”. However he did not know what his function in Kula was, adding that “it was rumoured” that he could become the Facility Manager.  

The trial is due to continue on August 27.