Local Justice – Brcko: Shaking with Fear

Almir Kartal said that he was captured on May 8, 1992 and taken to the Police Station in Brcko, where the indictee verbally mistreated him in one of the offices, while Goran Jelisic hit him on his head with a stick and punched him.

“I was 16 years old at the time. I was shaking with fear. I remember that Monika had a revolver in her hand. I kept my head low, but she told me to lift it and look at Goran, who then hit me on my head with a stick. She told me to lift my head again. He then hit me in my face. They repeated this a few times. Monika did not beat me on this occasion, but she took my wristwatch and said that she would kill me in the morning,” the witness said.

Kartal said that, while he was held at the Police Station, he heard his “father and uncle scream in one of the neighbouring offices”.
“Branko Gajic, one of the prewar policemen from Brcko, helped me leave the Police Station later than night. I was hiding at my grandmother’s place for a few days before leaving Brcko,” Kartal said.

Monika Karan-Ilic is charged in eight counts with having participated in the torture and inhumane treatment of detained civilians in Luka detention camp and Public Safety Station premises in 1992.

In 2001 the Hague Tribunal sentenced Goran Jelisic, who admitted guilt for crimes in Brcko, to 40 years in prison.

Testifying for the Prosecution at this hearing, Branko Gajic confirmed that he helped Almir Kartal leave the police building in Brcko. Gajic explained that he came to work on May 8, 1992 and saw some “unknown soldiers and individuals, who were bringing and apprehending some people”.

“Our cook told me that there a child was held in one of the offices and that the child wanted to see me. I went to that room and saw a boy, who gave me a piece of paper with my name on it. He told me that his mother told me to speak to me in case he was danger. I knew his parents. I told him to jump through the toilet window at night. I waited for him outside and drove him to his grandmother’s house,” Gajic said.

Witness Gajic said that Kartal did not have any “visible injuries”, but he was scared.

Third Prosecution witness Dzafer Deronjic said that he was taken from the hospital in Brcko to Luka detention camp at the beginning of May 1992.

“Upon my arrival in Luka, I saw many Bosniaks and Croats. By looking at them, one could see that they had been brought to the detention camp forcibly. I frequently saw Monika in Luka. When she entered the hangar, all newly-arrived detainees had to stand up, so she could search us and confiscate our belongings. I did not see that the indictee mistreated anybody inside the hangar, but other prisoners told me that she mistreated them in co-operation with some other soldiers,” Deronjic said.

The trial is due to continue on September 17.