Beaten in Fallout Shelter

As the trial for crimes on Mount Igman continues, a State Prosecution witness says that indictee Nedzad Hodzic beat him while he was detained in a fallout shelter in “Igman” hotel.

Witness Zoran Mandic said that he was arrested, as a civilian, at the beginning of the war and taken to a school building in Pazaric, Hadzici municipality, and then to “Silos” detention camp, where he stayed until the end of the war.

As he said, he and ten other prisoners were taken from “Silos” to Mount Igman in the winter of 1993.  

“When we arrived everything was OK. We worked and dug trenches,” said Mandic, who testified via video link from America.

According to Mandic’s testimony, a group of men came one evening and beat them in the fallout shelter.

“Nedzad hit me personally. I felt pain in my kidneys. I was bleeding… We were facing the wall. One of them introduced himself as Nedzad Dizdarevic. Later on I found out that his last name was Hodzic. After that he took Jadranko Glavas away. Two days later he said that Glavas died,” the witness said.
 
He said that he did not know who beat the other prisoners, but he heard them moaning and falling down to the floor.

Nedzad Hodzic and Dzevad Salcin, known as Struja, former members of “Zulfikar” Unit of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina, ABiH, are on trial for crimes committed on Mount Igman in 1993.

The Defence teams presented, as evidence, a statement the witness gave to the Prosecution on May 7 last year and another one given to the Public Safety Centre in Sarajevo in 1996 due to the differences between his statements and testimony at the trial.

The statement given to the Prosecution of BiH indicates that the witness heard from Dragan Vukovic that Hodzic beat Glavas up and that he died afterwards, but, testifying at the trial, Mandic said that he did not know Dragan Vukovic.

“The statement you are talking about was not read to me,” the witness said.

The statement from 1996 indicates that the witness said that Nedzad had a scar and that he was about 27 years old. However, testifying at the trial, he said that he did not remember the scar.
 
The trial is due to continue on June 5.