Bojadzic: Witness Recalls Beatings in Jablanica

Miroslav Stipanovic, who was held prisoner in late July 1993 in the Battle of Neretva museum in Jablanica in southern Bosnia, said that on the first night of his imprisonment his name was called out and he was taken to the basement, where he was beaten during interrogation.

“I could not sit or lie down on the concrete floor for weeks. My back, lower back and legs were swollen,” said Stipanovic.

Stipanovic said that the abuse lasted for about an hour. Beside a man in civilian clothing who hit him, he said there was another, uniformed man present.

Both of them, the witness explained, spoke with a Sandzak-Montenegrin accent.

Later Stipanovic, said that he found out that the man who hit him was called Bojadzic adding that he had not seen him again during his imprisonment.

Bojadzic, former deputy commander of the Zulfikar special purposes detachment with the High Command of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina, is charged with beating, sexual abuse and rape of the Croat prisoners held in the Battle of Neretva museum.

He is also on trial in a separate case before the Bosnian court for crimes in the Trusina village.

Beside beatings, the witness said that he and the other prisoners were forced to do hard labour almost every day.

Stipanovic said that he was a member of the Croatian Defence Council but that at the time of capture he wore civilian clothes because in those days he was not deployed at his combat position.

He said he was captured by the Bosnian army soldiers and policemen from Jablanica, and that they immediately interrogated him and hit him with rifle butts, and that he passed out after one such blow.

The trial will resume on October 18, when the prosecution will examine a protected witness.