No Information about Crimes in Batkovic
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Witness Cekic, who was Commander of the collection centre in Batkovic as of August 1994, said that most of the prisoners of war were former members of the 28th Division of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina, ABiH.
According to Cekics testimony, the living conditions in Batkovic were good. He said that military policemen questioned prisoners about the strength and positions of the ABiHs units and crimes against Serbs, while guards treated them in a correct manner.
Cekic said that he had never ordered or allowed abused of prisoners. He said that an order to enable uninterrupted access to prisoners by the International Red Cross had been in force until the dismissal of Batkovic in the fall of 1995.
Radovan Karadzic, former President of Republika Srpska, is charged with genocide, crimes against humanity and violation of the laws and customs of war.
The indictment, which charges Karadzic with persecution of Bosniaks and Croats, alleges that not only soldiers, but also civilians were held in inhumane conditions and abused in Batkovic and that at least six prisoners were killed.
During the cross-examination Prosecutor Amir Zec confronted witness Cekic with pieces of evidence, indicating that about 3,000 prisoners were held in inhumane conditions in Batkovic in 1992 and 1993, that some of them died, while many were forced to dig trenches on the frontlines, and that at least three prisoners were beaten to death.
No, it is not known to me that people were beaten up. I was not present in Batkovic at that time. As far as I know, nobody mentioned it, Cekic said, adding that, during his term as Commander, prisoners were not abused or forced to perform hard labour.
Cekic denied that captured old men and children from the Srebrenica area were brought to Batkovic after the fall of Srebrenica in July 1995. When Prosecutor Zec presented him with a list of people, including young men aged 15 and 17, as well as a 70-year old man, the witness confirmed that they were brought along with ABiH soldiers, because they had joined them in an effort to break through from Srebrenica to Tuzla.
Cekic denied statements given by eyewitnesses, which were conveyed to him by the Prosecutor. The statements say that wounded Bosniaks from Srebrenica died in Batkovic, because they were deprived of medical care. No, that is not true. Three peoplr, who were wounded during the breakthrough operation, died. They were offered medical assistance, but they died, he said.
Prior to examining Cekic, the prosecutors cross-examined Defence witness Milovan Bjelica, who was President of the Sokolac Municipal Assembly during the Bosnian war. Bjelica confirmed that he heard that members of the Second Romanija Brigade with the Republika Srpska Army, VRS, had committed the murders in Novoseoci village. According to the charges, Serb forces killed 44 local Bosniak residents in Novoseoci on September 22, 1992.
The trial of Karadzic is due to continue on Thursday, April 4.
