Female Bosnian Croat Fighter Tried for Prisoner Abuse
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Kameric, a wartime member of the 101st Bosanski Brod Brigade of the Croatian Defence Council (HVO), went on trial on Thursday, accused of participating in the physical and mental abuse of Serb and Bosniak civilians and prisoners of war from April to October 1992 in the Bosanski Brod area.
“Witnesses remember her well for her wrongdoing,” prosecutor Izet Odobasic told the Sarajevo court in his opening statement.
“She did not prevent the abuse, but just the opposite – she initiated, organised and abused the prisoners herself, encouraging sexual abuse in particular,” said Odobasic.
The prosecutor said that he would prove, through the testimonies of the victims, that Kameric was complicit in the rape of female prisoners by handing them over to other HVO fighters, who took them to do forced labour and raped them several times.
“Men and women were exposed to great suffering… Her aim was not to help or to prevent, but to humiliate and threaten human dignity in the most severe way,” said Odobasic.
The prosecution claims that Kameric abused people who were illegally imprisoned in the police station and the FK Polet football stadium in Bosanski Brod.
Defence lawyer Lejla Covic said that she would not present her opening statement at this stage of the trial.
The first witnesses will testify on February 25.
