Local Justice – Boljak: Slapping in Front of School

“Mr. Bato used to slap Ismet Sehic and me in front of the Forestry School building. When we chopped wood, he slapped me on my face,” said Esad Sehic.

Sehic said that Bato, whom he recognised in the courtroom as the indictee, came to Planjina kuca and took him and ten other prisoners to Ilidza in order to dig trenches and chop wood for the Serbian Army.

“Mr. Bato came to Planjina kuca and took us away. He had a revolver and automatic rifle. Eleven of us got onto a bus. He then started mistreating us. He ordered us to sing nationalist songs. I did not want to sing, because my brother was killed at Zuc. He pointed his revolver to my head and ordered me to sing. He fired a bullet next to my head,” Sehic said.

The witness said that the prisoners, whom Bato took to Ilidza, stayed in the police building for about a month.

“Bato used to take us to other locations where we dug trenches for two, three days. Later on another soldier escorted us. When Bato took us to those places, we had to sing a Chetnik song,” Sehic said.

Responding to questions made by Milorad Rasevic, Defence attorney of the indictee, the witness said that the indictee fired a bullet next to him.

“I am not denying that I came to pick you up. I was given an order by my Command to bring you in order for you to dig trenches,” indictee Boljak said, addressing the witness.

The indictment charges Boljak with having come to the “Planjina kuca” detention camp, Vogosca municipality, where non-Serb civilians were held, in January or February 1993 and separated about ten persons from other prisoners. He then allegedly ordered them to get onto a bus, while insulting them and forcing them to sing nationalist songs.

Boljak, former member of Ilidza Brigade of VRS, is charged with having stopped a convoy of civilians in Ilidza municipality in May 1992, separated a few men from the other convoy passengers and locked them in a truck, where they were held in inhumane conditions.

Enver Durmo and Fuad Bajraktarevic testified at this hearing too. They confirmed that the indictee came to Planjina kuca in order to pick them up, that he ordered them to sing nationalist songs in the bus and that he took them to other locations, where they had to dig trenches, but he did not hit them.

“We were not allowed to raise our heads. Although we were exhausted, he forced us to sing. Suddenly we heard a gunshot. A bullet passed above Esad Sehic’s head. He cursed our Muslim mothers and threatened us by saying that he would kill us,” Durmo said.

Fuad Bajraktarevic said that Boljak did not physically abuse him, but he had to sing nationalist songs, because he knew that those who refused to do it were hit.

Bajraktarevic said that he was held in several detention camps in the Sarajevo area and that it had left permanent consequences on his mental and physical health.

The trial is due to continue on May 21, 2012.A.S.