Local Justice – Guso and Suljagic: Hit with Hand or Stick

Prosecution witness Fadil Zilic said he guarded prisoner of war Branko Radenkovic, former member of the Republika Srpska Army, VRS, in a weekend house in Maoca on August 3, 1994. He said that shortly after Radenkovic had been brought to the house, the two indictees came to question him.“Irritated by the fact that Radenkovic either did not want to answer their questions or did not know the answers, at some stage Guso attacked him. Suljagic intervened, trying to prevent Guso from hitting him. As they started to scuffle, Guso probably managed to hit Radenkovic with his hand once or twice,” Zilic said, adding that he separated them and took Radenkovic to detention.Nusret Guso and Mirsad Suljagic are charged with having participated, several times, in the examination, humiliation and physical abuse of prisoner of war Branko Radenkovic in Maoca village in August 1994.The Brcko District Prosecution alleges that Guso and Suljagic “figured prominently” in the abuse and examination of the injured party, whom they hit with “police sticks, hands and feet”. The indictment further alleges that Radenkovic was transferred to the District Military Prison in Tuzla at the beginning of December 1994.The Prosecution considers that Guso was Assistant Commander for Morale with the Military Police Company of the 108th Motorized Brigade and Suljagic was Security Officer at the time.During the hearing, the Court heard that witness Zilic said in his statement for the Brcko District police four years ago that Guso had hit the prisoner with a stick during the mentioned incident.“I remember that indictee Guso attacked prisoner Radenkovic. He may have hit him with his hand, but I know for sure that he did not hit him with a police stick,” said Zilic, former member of the Military Police Company with the 108th Motorized Brigade of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina.Due to illness of one of the Defence attorneys, the trial of Guso and Suljagic will continue on March 31, 2011. M.A.———————————————————————————————–This article is made possible by the support of the American People through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID.) The contents of this article are the sole responsibility of Balkan investigative reporting network (BIRN) and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.