Witness Recalls Beatings and Abuse in Dretelj
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The protected witness, codenamed D, told the Bosnian court on Tuesday that three members of the Croatian Defence Forces, HVO, came to his home on August 3, 1992, and took him and his two brothers to the infirmary of the Yugoslav People’s Army in Mostar.
“I found Serbs there, all from Mostar. They put us in detention rooms. I spent two days there and then we were taken to Dretelj,“ said the witness.
He added that he met one of the accused, Ivan Zelenika, in the infirmary.
Together with a dozen other Serbs, he added, he was moved to the Dretelj camp on August 5, 1992, where he spent 13 days.
“On our arrival, they started hitting us with their fists as soon as we got down from the truck. They even hit us with rocks,” he said.
“My brother was seriously wounded and was writhing on the ground. I was hit in the eye,” added the witness.
The Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina charges Zelenika, Srecko Herceg, Edib Buljubasic, Ivan Medic and Marina Grubisic-Fejzic with committing crimes against several hundred Bosnian Serb civilians imprisoned in 1992 in Dretelj.
According to the indictment, Zelenika was former officer of the HVO, Herceg was the former commander of the Dretelj camp, Buljubasic was his deputy, while Medic and Grubisic-Fejzic were camp guards.
It is specified that all of them forced prisoners to do hard labour and tortured them, and that several prisoners died as a consequence.
Witness D said that conditions in Dretelj were poor, that prisoners were taken to hard labour every day, and that they received minimal food rations, which is why he lost weight.
“There was abuse, mostly from drunken people, who stormed in and called out names. There were women who knew martial arts and sometimes participated – these were Zarina, Vesna and Marina,” said D, adding that he heard that some women in the camp were raped.
D said he was beaten by a woman called Vesna, and that once he saw two prisoners being sexually abused.
“I did not want to watch, but prisoners had to do things to each other which are not for talking about. There were women present, who giggled and commented,” recalled the witness.
According to the witness, during his stay in the camp he met Herceg who, he said, “left a very good impression on him”.
The trial will resume on August 27.
