Vlahovic: Eyes Swollen Due to Beating

“Batko, who was wearing his military boots, used to kick me on my kidneys and eyes. He would frequently lift my head up in order to see if I had lost conscience,” Coho said.

The Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina charges Veselin Vlahovic, known as Batko, with having killed and participated in the murder of more than 30 persons in Grbavica, Vraca and Kovacici area from May to August 1992 and, acting on his own or in collaboration with other armed persons, abused, beat and confiscated money and other valuable things from Croat and Bosniak citizens.

Witness Coho provided the Trial Chamber with a detailed description of the events that took place in 1992, including the barricades set up in Sarajevo and the arrival of “armed and uniformed White Eagles”, who wore socks over their heads. He said that those men used to enter apartments in Grbavica, where he lived with his parents and sister, and told people that they must not leave their homes.

“They searched the apartments frequently, looking for weapons. Batko and a person known as Krompir came to my door once. Both of them were armed. They told me to come with them, adding that I had to take my documents with me,” the witness said.

Coho told the Court that, on that day, in May, they took him to “Digitron-Buje” building that was only about 50 metres away from his building, adding that, on their arrival a person named Aco asked him to show his documents. He said that he was then taken to some other room in that same building.

“I first gave my watch and wallet, containing KM 4,000, because we were ready to flee to the free territory, to Batko. Krompir then started hitting me with his fist to my head, neck and kidneys,” Coho recalled, adding that a young man then came and continued beating him as per the indictee’s order.

The witness said that they beat him for a couple of hours, adding that his eyes were swollen and he could not see anything.

As he said on the following day Batko and Krompir brought another man to the same room. The witness said that the indictee told him to move to the other side of the room.

“I told him I could not move, but he hit me with his leg on my kidneys and said: ‘If you don’t get up, I shall beat you again’. After that I carried out his order,” Coho said.

“The released me in the afternoon on that same day, but they threatened me and said that I must not tell anyone about having been beaten up or see a doctor. When my sister saw me, she fainted, because she thought that they had pulled my eyes out,” the witness said, identifying the indictee in the courtroom.

The indictee asked the witness if he knew who his superior was in the mentioned period of time and whether the person who took his personal documents looked like a superior officer.

“They came to get me, because you had a list, which had allegedly been given to you by my neighbor Dragan Petkovic, who was a commander at that time. The person who took my personal documents was dressed in civilian wear. I just gave my ID card to him,” the witness said in response to the indictee’s question

The trial is due to continue on September 26, 2011.