Beaten Once or Several Times While in Batkovic
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Testifying at the trial for war crimes committed in “Sabirni centar” detention camp in Batkovic, Bijeljina municipality, witness Nermin Suljic says that he does not know any of the indictees and that he has never heard of them.
Suljic, former member of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, who testified for the District Prosecution in Bijeljina, said that he was captured on the Brcko battlefield in January 1993 and transferred to the detention camp in Batkovic, where he spent six months.
According to the witness’ testimony, during his six-month detention he was beaten up once. He said that he was not beaten by people, who ran the detention camp, but a military policeman, whose last name was Lujic.
“While I was in the detention camp, I was beaten once. A military policeman, whose last name was Lujic, took me out of the hangar and hit me on my kidneys and back using a police baton. Besides that, I had no other problems,” Suljic said during his testimony.
The District Prosecution in Bijeljina presented minutes from Suljic’s examination by the Cantonal Prosecution in Tuzla in 2010 as material evidence.
In that statement Suljic mentioned that he was beaten up several times during his detention in Batkovic and that indictee Ljubisa Misic was one of those who beat him.
However, the witness denied the mentioned statement, claiming that he had never said that.
The Defence of the indictees objected to the inclusion of that piece of evidence in the case file, explaining that the examination in Tuzla was conducted in an unlawful manner, considering the fact that procedural rules were not respected. The Trial Chamber will render a decision concerning this piece of evidence at a later stage.
Misic, Djoka Pajic, Petar Dmitrovic and Djordje Krstic are charged with having beaten and physically mistreated detainees, including civilians, the wounded and prisoners of war, who were held in “Sabirni centar” detention camp, during 1992 and 1993.
The trial is due to continue on August 23.
