Local Justice – Markovic: Beaten up During Examinations

Witness Zijad Kutlovac said that two prisoners, who were taken out for examination, had visible injuries, when they came back to the room in which he was detained, along with 24 other persons, in the school building in Cavarine village.

“People were taken out. When they came back, they looked beaten up. I do not know who beat them up. I am one hundred percent sure that two of them, Ibrahimovic and another prisoner, were beaten up,” said Kutlovac, who was detained in the school buildings in Sokolac and Cavarine village for about four months.

Responding to Defence’s questions, the witness said that he did not know indictee Milan Markovic and that he did not hear about him, while he was held in detention from August to the end of November 1992.

The Eastern Sarajevo District Prosecution charges Markovic, former member of the Republika Srpska Army, VRS, with having beaten up and physically abused detained civilians in Sokolac municipality from June 1992 to March 1993.

The indictment alleges that Markovic physically abused Osmo Ibrahimovic in the “Petar Kocic” school building in Cavarine village, Sokolac municipality.

Kutlovac said that he was not beaten up during his detention in the school buildings.

Witness Elvir Misut told the Court that he too was detained in the school building in Cavarine village for about three months, adding that he was neither examined nor physically abused.

“I did not see any of the guards taking prisoners out. Other prisoners, who were held in Cavarine, told me that Milan Markovic was one of the guards. I never heard anything else about him,” Misut said.

The trial is due to continue on April 26 this year. A.S.