Bosnian Croat Forces ‘Beat and Molested’ Female Prisoner

The prosecution witness told the court on Tuesday that she was detained by the Croatian Defence Forces in her hometown of Mostar in August 1992 and taken first to the town’s military infirmary, where she was assaulted, and then to the Dretelj prison camp.

“That morning three of them came to our apartment. They all wore black uniforms and introduced themselves as members of the Croatian Defence Forces,” witness Olga Skoro testified.

“My mother-in-law and I were alone; my husband had left Mostar earlier with our children. They told me to bring money and gold and to come with them. They took me in a van to the infirmary in Mostar. This happened on August 3, 1992,” she said.

She said she spent three days locked up in the infirmary, where Croatian Defence Forces fighters “beat and molested” her.

“One time they took me out of the room where seven of us were held, brought me to the office and asked me to give them money. As I did not have any to give them, they stripped me naked and humiliated me and threatened they would force me to go home naked,” explained Skoro.

Asked by the prosecutor whether she was then raped, the witness replied she was not, but that during her imprisonment in the infirmary in Mostar she saw women being taken out at night and returned at dawn.

Three days later, Skoro and other prisoners were moved from the infirmary to the Dretelj camp, where she was held until October 1992.

“In the hangar, where they put us, there were around 100 women. We slept on a concrete floor and were served food two times a day. We ate from one plate with one spoon, one after another. We mostly did cleaning and washing. They did not beat us in an organised fashion, but in passing they would hit any of us,” she recalled.

The defendants at the trial, Ivan Zelenika, Srecko Herceg, Edib Buljubasic, Ivan Medic and Marina Grubisic-Fejzic, are accused of war crimes against several hundred Bosnian Serb civilians imprisoned at Dretelj in 1992.

According to the indictment, Zelenika was an officer with the Croatian Defence Forces, Herceg was the commander of the Dretelj camp, Buljubasic was his deputy, while Medic and Grubisic-Fejzic were camp guards.

All are accused of torturing prisoners and forcing them to do hard labour; several prisoners died as a consequence.

During cross-examination, the witness said she did not know any of the defendants personally, but that she had heard all their names.

“I don’t know what the defendants look like and I cannot tell you whether I saw them in Dretelj or not. I did not know them, but I repeat, I heard about all of them in Dretelj from people who were held there with me,” explained Skoro.

The trial is set to resume on September 3.