Local Justice – Doboj: Beating in Rabic

As they said, the indictee was among the men who used to beat detainees.

Witness Nedeljko Nikolic said that nobody abused him, but he saw the indictee beating detainees with his hands, legs and a stick in Rabic military hangar, near Derventa.

“He mostly beat detainees from Cardak, including Mile Kuzmanovic, Dr. Zeljko Stajcic and others. There were about twenty people whom they abused,” Nikolic said, adding that there was not enough water and food for detainees in Rabic.

Witness Ilija Cuk said that indictee Hamzic “would sometimes hit some of the detainees” in Rabic detention camp.

“He slapped me, but not so hard to make me fall down. He did not hit so hard as Almaz Nezirovic and the other guards,” Cuk said.

Responding to a Defence question, he confirmed that prior to being captured in Cardak, Derventa in late April 1992, he had been engaged in military forces and had weapons.

“All of us had weapons, including Serbs, Bosniaks and Croats. We were hiding them from each other,” Cuk said.

According to the charges, Hamzic, former Commander of guards in Rabic and Polje detention camp in the Derventa area, and Tulek detention camp in Bosanski Brod municipality, physically and mentally abused detained civilians.

Witness Veseljko Rasic said that the indictee neither approached nor hit him during his detention in Rabic from May 28 to June 27.

“Sometimes he hit the men from Cardak – Mile Kuzmanovic, Drago Knezevic and others,” Rasic said, adding that the indictee did not “let the detainees go hungry”, adding that he behaved in a correct manner in that sense.

Nedjo Blagojevic, who used to work with the indictee in the Demos shoe factory in Derventa, testified that Hamzic once slapped him following the death of “the guard Porobic”.

“When Porobic was killed, all the detainees cried because they were not abused during his shifts. Nihad hit me on that occasion,” Blagojevic said.

He described how detainees were abused in Cardak.

“They took our clothes off. We had to put three fingers on a table. After that they hit us on our fingers and backs using a stick. Fric was among them, but I did not see that he beat anybody,” Blagojevic said.

Blagojevic confirmed that he had weapons in Cardak village. Responding to the indictee’s questions, this witness and Veseljko Rasic confirmed that they knew a person nicknamed Tekila and that he “forced detainees to sing Ustasha songs and use Ustasha salutations”.

The trial is due to continue on October 11.
A.G.