Local Justice – Tuzla: Hit by Legs, Hands and Rifle Butts

Witness Hazim Zukic said that he was captured on July 7, 1992 and that he was taken to a garage in Smoluca, where Nadil Poljakovic and Avdo Hodzic, former members of the Territorial Defence of Srebrenik, had already been held.

“Policeman Milorad Cvijanovic came on the following day. He hit me with his leg and rifle butt. He first hit Poljakovic on his head ten of 15 times with his rifle butt until he fainted. Then he began hitting me. Although my whole body ached, I could not scream, because I was out of breath,” Zukic recalled.

According to Zukic, indictee Svetomir Ilic used to come to the garage often.

“He took Nadil Poljakovic and me outside. He asked me if I knew how to roll a cigarette. When I said I did not know it, he did it himself. After we had smoked one cigarette, he began beating me. While he was beating me, he put a revolver pipe into my mouth and told me that he would kill me if I fell down,” Zukic said.

Milorad Cvijanovic, known as Micko, and Svetomir Ilic, known as Sveto, are charged, along with Milorad (son of Milan) Cvijanovic and Vaso Ilic, former members of the Territorial Defence, with having abused detainees in Smoluca village from June 25 to July 29, 1992.

Zukic said that he was held in detention for 20 days and that, on the fifth day a group of men, including Vaso Ilic, came to the garage.

“He gave me a police baton and told me to hit Nadil and Avdo on their feet. I did not want to do it. He knocked me down. I hit them on their feet a few times, but he was not satisfied, because I did not hit them hard enough, so he continued hitting them on their backs,” the witness said.

The trial is due to continue on December 28, when Aleksandar Jovic and Alija Sutovic, court expert in psychiatry, will be examined.