Two Years in Detention

Witness Nurko Dervisevic said that Goran Popovic and Nebojsa Todorovic captured him “in an ambush” and transported him to the Police Station in Visegrad for an examination.
 
He told the Court that he gave the Police Chief his personal identification card and that he began “loosing orientation”. He explained that he consumed brandy prior to attempting to leave Visegrad.

The witness said that, after having been at the Police Station, he woke up in Uzamnica detention camp, but he could not recall how he got there. As he sad, about a month after having been brought to the detention camp, he was once hit by Popovic.

“He hit me on my chest with a glove with spikes once,” the witness said, adding that Popovic was a guard in Uzamnica.

Prosecutor Seid Marusic asked the witness if he could recognize the man, whose name he said was Goran Popovic, in the courtroom. Pointing to indictee Popovic, the witness said: “I would say this is the man. I am not sure.”

The witness explained that he knew Popovic “by sight” and that he heard that he worked in a forestry company, but he knew his father Jovan well. He said that he used to work with his father in the “Varda” Company in Visegrad.

The Prosecution of BiH charges Goran Popovic, former guard in Uzamnica detention camp, with having participated in the abuse, beating and torture, as well as sexual abuse of men and women. Goran Popovic was originally charged together with Jovan Popovic, but the proceeding against him was separated due to his illness.
 
During the cross-examination Defence attorney Milos Peric said that, in his statement given after his release from Uzamnica, the witness did not mention having been hit.
 
Following the examination of the witness, the Prosecution of BiH requested the Trial Chamber to order Popovic into custody, because, as the Prosecution said, Border Police officers caught him as a co-driver in a car on the state border between BiH and Serbia last week, on June 16.  

The indictee was previously banned from leaving the country. Defence attorney Peric said that this was an unfortunate combination of circumstances. The Defence attorney explained that the indictee and a friend of his went shopping and presented a bill from a shop situated near the border crossing.

“He regularly responded to invitations from the Court and Prosecution of BiH. He does not have a motive for fleeing. He does not have Serbian citizenship,” Peric said.

The Trial Chamber will render a decision concerning this motion at a later stage. The trial is due to continue on July 9.