Local Justice – Brcko: Examination and Beatings
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Kaurinovic said that Muslim and Croat units undertook an all-out attack on the Serb village of Bukvik, Brcko municipality on September 15, 1992.
They broke through our lines very quickly. I was captured, along with a neighbour of mine, on the following day. They took us to the school building in Brka village and then to the Co-operative in Gornji Rahic, the witness said.
As he said, upon their arrival, they saw a large group of soldiers. Indictees Hodzic and Hadzic were among them.
Some of them asked me where my Serb woman was and whether I had been shooting. Galib Hadzic questioned me about the positions held by our units. During the examination Nijaz Hodzic hit me on my head twice. I fell down because of one of those beatings. While I was lying on the ground, other soldiers began kicking me. One of my teeth fell out, Kaurinovic said.
He said that one of the soldiers helped him get up and washed his face. Then they took him to the Co-operative hall, where he saw many Serb detainees from Bukvik.
The indictment alleges that Hadzic and Hodzic participated in the torture and inhumane treatment of Serb civilians and prisoners of war from the Bukvik area in 1992 and 1993.
The indictment alleges that Hadzic was Crime Police Inspector with the Public Safety Station in Brcko and Hodzic was military policeman with the Croatian Defence Council, HVO, who worked on the guarding of detention camps collection centres at that time.
Witness Kaurinovic said that he was transferred from the Co-operative to a nearby school, where he was examined a few more times. He said that he used to see the indictees again, but nobody mistreated him.
He said that the conditions in the school building were bad, because prisoners lay on the floor and rarely received food.
The trial is due to continue on June 21.
M.A.
