Silos: Abuse and Provocations

Petric, the witness for the Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, said that on June 26, 1992, he was taken to the gymnasium of the school in Parazic, where he found around 150 Serbs from the area.

“After several days, I was interrogated about the armament and radio station. I signed a deposition and that was all, but I know that other people were taken out, interrogated and beaten. Until you signed the deposition, they would crush your kidneys. No one beat me, though,” said Petric.

He said that Mirsad Sabic used to come to the school, but did not beat anyone.

Sabic is charged by the Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, together with Mustafa Djelilovic, Fadil Covic, Nezir Kazic, Becir Hujic, Halid Covic, Serif Mesanovic and Nermin Kalember, with committing crimes in the Silos camp, Krupa barracks and May 9th primary school.

According to the indictment, Mirsad Sabic was commander of the police station in Pazaric, Becir Hujic was both warden and deputy warden of the Silos camp, Halid Covic was taking the same positions. Serif Mesanovic, it is said, was one of the deputy wardens in Silos and warden in the warehouse of the Krupa barracks, while Nermin Kalember was a guard in the Silos.

Witness Petric said that together with other prisoners, he was transferred from the school to the Krupa barracks, where they were admitted by “warden Sera”. He emphasised that during his stay in Krupa, he was not beaten, but there was “abuse and provocation.”

“There was abuse. They would slap you, but that was more of an emotional pain,” explained the witness.

In late December 1992, the witness was taken to the Silos. He explained that the warden and deputy warden of the facility were Becir Hujic and Halid Covic.

Asked by the prosecutor, Marjan Pogacnik, whether there was physical abuse in the Silos, the witness said that once the prisoners from his cell were beaten by the guard from the “Zulfikar brigade.”

“I think it was in 1993 when a guard told Marinko to wash his face with urine. He refused, and the guard came down to the cell and started beating everyone. He beat me too with a rifle butt,” described Petric, adding that he also recalled guard Kalmber, whom he was afraid of.

The witness said that he was taken together with other prisoners to the Viktor Bubanj barracks and from there they were taken to hard labour. He was exchanged, he said, on January 27, 1996.

“Silos was supposed to be disbanded on January 19, 1996, but 44 of us remained there after that date. We were afraid we would never leave,” said the witness.

Before being imprisoned in the Silos, the witness specified at the beginning of his testimony, he had a rifle which he turned over to Mirsad Sabic.

Asked by Edina Residovic, Djelilovic’s lawyer, whether Serbs were armed with weaponry belonging to the Yugoslav People’s Army, the witness said that he did not know that and added that he turned over his rifle in late May or early June 1992.

The cross-examination of the witness would resume on November 15.