Macic: Information about Abuse

Defence witness Dzevad Turak said that Serb prisoners were held in Celebici detention camp, adding that he found out about indictee Macic’s alleged participation in the abuse when he heard news about the indictment against him in the media.

“Eso was a guard, just like me. He spent most of the time with me at the reception desk. I did not know that he participated in the abuse of prisoners, but abuse did happen. Esad Landzo figured prominently in those cases,” Turak said.

The Hague Tribunal sentenced Landzo, former guard in Celebici detention camp, to 15 years in prison for crimes against prisoners.

Witness Turak said that he spent most of the time at the reception desk, which was placed at the detention camp entrance, adding that, when need be, he would go to hangar called “number six”. Turak said that he did not remember being in front of the hangar with the indictee.

The witness said that he was present in Celebici detention camp during June and July 1992, when he went to “Musala” sports hall, where he worked as a guard for about a month. He said that Macic was not a guard in the sports hall in the mentioned period of time.

Macic, former member of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina, is charged, among other things, with having killed a Serb civilian in Celebici detention camp in the first half of June 1992. The indictment alleges that, in mid-June 1992 Macic and other unidentified detention camp guards brutally beat an old Serb civilian. The civilian died due to the consequences of that beating.

Second Defence witness Safet Dzelmo said that he was a guard in the “Musala” sports hall from the end of 1992 to mid-1993, adding that prisoners were never mistreated. This witness said that the indictee had already been in the sports hall, when he arrived.

“Detainees could walk on the sports field during the day. They even played football with us. As far as I know, they did not go to other locations to perform civil duties,” Dzelmo said.

According to the charges, in March or April 1993 Macic treated Serb civilians and prisoners of war, who were held in “Musala” hall, in an inhumane manner, by beating them up.

A protected Defence witness also testified at this hearing.

The trial is due to continue on December 29 this year. A.J.