Bosnia Woman Accused of Jail Torture Awaits Verdict

The prosecution urged a conviction for Monika Karan-Ilic, one of the only women being tried in Bosnia for war crimes, but the defence said she wasn’t guilty of torturing detention camp inmates.

During the closing arguments at the court in Brcko on Wednesday, prosecutor Amela Mustafic said that the trial had showed that Karan-Ilic was guilty of war crimes committed in 1992 and should be convicted.

“Several witnesses confirmed that at the time of the crimes they personally saw the defendant in the Luka camp in Brcko together with Goran Jelisic and that on several occasions she tortured the witnesses and other prisoners physically and mentally,” said the prosecutor.

But defence lawyer Dragan Oparnica said that the indictment was based on scurrilous newspaper articles about Karan-Ilic and that she should be acquitted.

“It is undeniable that the defendant occasionally visited the Luka camp with Goran Jelisic, but it was not proved that she committed any acts she was charged with, because Monika herself was a victim at the time,” said Oparnica.

Goran Jelisic pleaded guilty to war crimes in Brcko at the Hague Tribunal in 2001 and was sentenced to 40 years in prison.

At the end of the hearing, Karan-Ilic addressed the court, saying that she was the “victim of Jelisic’s tyranny”.

“I am Jelisic’s war trophy, a sexual object with a damaged mind, a victim, a Croat mother’s child who was forced to come to the Luka camp with him two or three times,” she said.

Karan-Ilic is charged with the torture, inhumane treatment and physical abuse of civilians between early May and July 10, 1992, in the Luka detention camp and at the police station in Brcko.

The verdict will be announced on May 17.