Drunken Bosnian Serb Jail Warden ‘Beat Prisoner’

Former Bosnian policeman Ferid Cutura told the court in Sarajevo on Wednesday that he was kicked and beaten by war crimes defendant Vlaco while detained at the Bunker detention camp in Vogosca in May 1992.

Cutura said that after he was arrested alongside another policeman, Nijaz Salkic, he was held in a military barracks in Rajlovac before being transferred to the Bunker, where he saw several local residents from his village of Svrake, who had been beaten up.

He said that he was then examined by a policeman called Nele, who also beat him up.

“Then they took me to Brano Vlaco. He was drunk. He hit and kicked me all over my body,” Cutura said.

Vlaco is accused of being the warden of the Bunker, Planjina Kuca, Sonja and Nakina Garaza detention camps in Vogosca, where he established a system to abuse imprisoned civilians.

Prisoners were murdered, tortured and abused, forced to do hard labour and used as human shields, it is alleged. Many of them were killed and dozens are still considered missing.

Former policeman Salkic also testified for the prosecution on Wednesday, saying that when he was brought to the Bunker, he saw that Cutura had been hit, but was not physically mistreated himself.

“I was in Vlaco’s office. We drank three glasses of brandy together. He treated me in a fair manner. He told me not to tell anyone that I was a policeman, or else not even he could save me,” Salkic said.

Other detainees told him that Vlaco was the detention camp manager, he said.

He added that some detainees were beaten up and that their faces were deformed because of the beating. Two of the detainees told him that Vlaco was there while they were assaulted.

Salkic, who was freed as part of a prisoner exchange at the beginning of August 1992, said he could thank Vlaco for the fact that he stayed alive.

A protected state prosecution witness codenamed SV-3 also testified, saying thta while he was detained in the Planjina Kuca camp together with about 200 other people in 1992, he was taken to do forced labour and was used as human shield four times.

The anonymous witness said that a total of 50 detainees were used as human shields on the first of those occasions. He said that 21 of them were either wounded or killed.

SV-3 said that he was wounded four times while he was held at the detention camp.

Vlaco’s trial is due to continue on November 27.