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Prosecution witness Hamdo Bevab told the Sarajevo court on Monday that he was detained by the defendant Maric in his home village of Gorica after the surrounding municipality of Prozor fell under the control of the Croatian Defence Council in October 1992.
He said that he was held for seven days and had to do forced labour with other imprisoned Bosniaks before returning home, where he lived “in fear” until April 1993, when he was arrested again by Croatian Defence Council fighters.
He was taken to the fire station in Prozor, where he was beaten for an hour and half by Maric and other soldiers.
“I fell unconscious. They broke six of my ribs and my collarbone,” said Bevab, who was visibly upset during his testimony.
He said that he was released after three days, but Maric detained him yet again in August 1993.
“He started beating me with a rifle everywhere… He was putting out cigarettes on me, on my face, my neck, on my forehead,” the witness said.
The worse moment was, he recalled, was when Maric took his 15-year-old son Almir and beat him too.
“My mother-in-law Munita Corbadzic, who was disabled, asked him why he was beating us, and he kicked her so she fell down,” he said.
Maric then took Bevab and his son, along with another detained Bosniak called Mujo Becirovic, to the village of Lug, where he continued to abuse them.
He said that Maric played Russian roulette with them and burned his cheek with a bullet.
“He was pulling my nails with pliers and squeezing my fingers. He was stabbing a bayonet into Mujo’s fingers. My son was there the whole time and then he took him to another room, I thought I would never see him again,” the witness said, crying as he testified.
Maric, a former member of the Croatian Defence Council, is accused of participating in murders, torture and other inhumane acts from November 1992 to October 1993.
He is charged, amongst other things, with the abuse of Hamdo Bevab, his son and Mujo Becirovic.
The trial continues on July 3.
