Witness Gets a Letter Telling him not to Mention Names

Testifying at the trial for crimes in Mount Igman, Hadzici municipality, a State Prosecution witness requests the prosecutor to “avoid some questions, if possible, because he received a letter, instructing him not to speak about that”.

Witness Goran Golub was invited to testify about having been taken from Silos to Mount Igman, where he spent eight days. He said that a person nicknamed Mesar (butcher) came to Silos and asked for volunteers for performing labour. Several persons stepped out. They were blindfolded and transported to Mount Igman.
 
When Prosecutor Vladimir Simovic asked him if he could say the names of the people who were transferred from Silos to Igman with him, he said that he “received a letter, instructing him not to mention certain persons’ names”.
 
“Could you skip that question? A person, who was with me in Silos, sent me a letter, asking me not to mention names,” the witness said.
 
Responding to a Prosecutor’s question, the witness confirmed that he knew Mladen Jovovic, Kosta Lojanica and Slobodan Simovic.
 
Golub said that nobody even touched him, while he was on Igman, and that he “wants to thank Zuka”. He said that he did not know indictees Nedzad Hodzic and Dzevad Salcin and that he did not see them at that place.
 
Nedzad Hodzic and Dzevad Salcin, former members of “Zulfikar” Special Purposes Squad with the Main Command Headquarters of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina, ABiH, are charged with having tortured, beat and sexually abused prisoners, cut parts of their bodies of, intimidated them and participated in other inhumane acts on Mount Igman.
 
According to the charges, Nedzad Hodzic and other members of the Unit took Jadranko Glavas out of the detention facility on Igman and hit him with steel sticks until he died. Later on the indictee threatened the other prisoners, by telling them that they would end up the same.
 
Witness Mladen Jovovic said that he was taken, as a civilian, to “Pazaric” school building on June 30, 1992 and that he was then transferred to the military barracks in Krupa.  
 
“I was then transferred to Silos, where I stayed from December 1992 to January 19, 1996. However, I was not there the whole team, because I was taken to Igman at the beginning of 1993,” Jovovic said.
 
He told the Court that indictee Nedzad Hodzic and a person nicknamed Seljo came to Silos in order to pick them up. After that they were transferred to Igman by an SUV.
 
“Branislav Krstic, Dalibor Krstic and Jadranko Glavas were in the SUV with me. Nedzad began mistreating and beating people. He beat Glavas more than the others. He pushed a gun pipe into his mouth, telling him that he would not survive,” the witness said, adding that Hodzic had a Sandzak accent and a scar on his face.  
 
The witness said that others told him later on that Glavas died due to having been beaten on Igman.
 
When asked if he knew indictees Hodzic and Salcin, the witness said that “their behaviour was inexplicable in the 21st Century”, adding that “various types of mistreatment, including beating and forcing people to sing some songs”, happened.
 
Jovovic said that they were accommodated in a fallout shelter of a hotel on Mount Igman, recalling an event that happened in front of the hotel, when, as alleged by the witness, indictee Hodzic gave a revolver to two prisoners and ordered them to play Russian roulette.
 
“Many soldiers were present at that place. They stood in two rows. I was about ten metres away, watching it,” Jovovic said.
 
When asked by Nedzla Sehic, Defence attorney of indictee Hodzic, whether the indictee beat him, he said that he used to come to the room alone and beat.
 
“Guards did not enter the room. I do not know who let him in. However, he beat me down there in the fallout shelter,” the witness said.
 
When asked if Goran Golub was with him, he answered affirmatively, adding that he “probably saw that”.
 
The trial is due to continue on February 20.