Protector of detainees or an abuser

In its closing argument, the Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina has requested the indictee Branko Vlaco to be sentenced to a long prison sentence, since as the manager of “Bunker”, “Planjina kuca”, “Kod Sonje” and “Nakina garaza”, he established the system of punishing detained civilians from May to November in 1992. The indictment alleges that the detainees were abused, forced to perform hard labour and forced to act as human shields, where many were killed, and dozens of them are still missing.

“We heard that Mongo forced one detainee to make a salute. You heard a blunt hit. And then again, and he forced them to engage in oral sex,” said witness Mensur Sahbegovic, describing the abuse that occurred in “Bunker”.

In its closing argument, the Defence of the indictee requested Branko Vlaco to be acquitted of all charges. Lawyer Rade Golic said that the Prosecution had failed to prove the joint criminal enterprise for which Vlaco and “the whole community in Vogosca” is charged, arguing that detainees from Vogosca were not civilians but members of the enemy forces.

Golic said that Vlaco had no jurisdiction whatsoever regarding the selection and detention of the population in Vogosca, and that he could not refuse the offer to became a manager and to prevent the entry of unidentified persons in prison.

At the end of the process, Vlaco said that he deeply regrets and apologises if he hurt someone but that he was also fair and professional the whole time, perhaps sometimes imprudent.

The Prosecution withdrew the charges relating to the rape of one female, because of the lack of evidence. They also withdrew charges related to the events in “Planjina kuca” in June 1992 because they estimated that they have failed to prove the disappearance of detainees from that detention camp.

During the evidentiary proceedings, the Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina examined 60 witnesses and experts of forensic medicine, and presented over 300 pieces of material evidence. The Defence examined one witness, and introduced about 30 pieces of material evidence.

The indictee Vlaco was unavailable to state judicial institutions until January 16, 2012, when he was arrested in Montenegro and extradited to Bosnia and Herzegovina. He has been in custody since.

Human shield

Many witnesses testified on how the Serb forces attacked Svrake and Semizovac (municipality of Vogosca) in early May 1992, after which the Muslim population was detained in the military barracks of the Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA) in Semizovac.

From these military barracks, civilians were deployed to three facilities designated for the imprisonment of detainees, “Planjina kuca”, “Nakina garaza” and “Bunker”.

At the same time, residents from the area Gornje Bioce (municipality of Ilijas) and from Sarajevo’s suburb of Nahorevo were also brought to those detention camps.

Eset Muracevic, first witness of the Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina was examined on February 6, 2013. He said that the manager of “Planjina Kuca” and “Bunker” – in which he was abused and subjected to harsh living conditions – was the indictee Branko Vlaco.

Many witnesses said that they learned from other detainees that Vlaco is the camp manager and that his deputy is a certain Nebojsa Spiric.

Some of the witnesses described the conditions in the detention facilities as appalling, explaining that in “Bunker”, they relieve themselves in one barrel, slept on concrete, and that they were given one loaf of bread daily, which was divided between 12 persons. According to the testimonies, the detainees lost weight, and some said that for few months they could not even go to bathe.

One witness said that he is forced to have sex with another detainee in “Bunker”.

Witness Asim Sehic said that a couple of times he heard and saw the abuse of detainees who were forced to jump down naked from a point three metres-high, jump on tree branches, and that detainees were forced to have sexual intercourse with each other.

Numerous witnesses described the taking away of about 50 detainees from “Planjina kuca” to serve as human shields on Zuc hill. As was described by witnesses, detainees were brought to one pit at Zuc, from where they were taken by Serbian soldiers, for the purpose of serving as human shields.

Attached to father’s belt

“Once, out of 50 of us who went to Zuc, only 20 of us remained. Others were wounded, and some never returned. I was wounded then, too,” said witness Husnija Sehic.

Witness Hazim Durmo served seven times as a human shield but one particular time was the most painful for him, when he was on Zuc hill.

“My father was attached to me in the human shield. We went together, and one Serbian soldier, a mercenary from Serbia, was holding the machine gun on our shoulders,” said the visibly upset Durmo, adding that his father was then shot and killed, and they simply joined him to another detainee.

Some witnesses, including Safet Borcak, Fuad Bajraktarevic and Hazim Durmo said that Branko Vlaco made decisions regarding who is going to work. Asim Sehic claims that the guards decided who will go to work, not the indictee Vlaco.

Rasid Hodzic said that he, along with his brother and the other men from the village of Svrake were taken to the tyre repair shop in Vogosca, known as “Nakina garaza”.

“I have to say that Vlaco never behaved badly towards us, but others did,” the witness said.

Upon arrival at “Planjina kuca”, witness Muhamed Ruhotina said that he saw blood on the walls. As he said, the detainees were beaten on a daily basis by guards named Sinisa and Predrag, and by soldiers who came from the frontline to “abuse the detainees”.

Mirsad Prutina and Bego Selimovic said that detainees were often beaten by unknown soldiers.

Witnesses Enver Durmo and Hilmo Sehic have said that Branko Vlaco personally beat them.

On the other hand, witness Ekrem Piknjac said that the indictee Branko Vlaco protected him in the detention camp “Bunker”, and that he allowed his father to visit him.

Witnesses Esad Sehic and Halid Masnopita were taken from the area of Ilijas to the Vogosca detention camp at “Planjina kuca” in 1992.

“On one occasion, Avdo Durmic complained that he was hungry. In front of all of us, Vlaco slapped him so he fell down,” recalled Masnopita, adding that otherwise the manager was correct.

Answering the question of Dragan Medjovic, the second defence attorney of Branko Vlaco, on whether the witness Masnopita experienced harassment by the indictee, the witness said he did not.

Hilmo Sehic said that he volunteered once to go to work in order to get another meal.

“Vlaco said; ‘You shall not give the orders, but me’. Then he kicked me in the chest and broke my ribs,” recalled Sehic.

The struggle for a piece of air

Some witnesses have said they will never forget the day in captivity when they were forced to move an unexploded air bomb, a so-called “sow”, from the road into some house.

“Every moment you expected to explode into 1,000 pieces,” said witness Fadil Duric.

Several prisoners from “Bunker” testified that on Eid, tear gas was thrown inside, so they began to choke. Some witnesses said that they were saved because manager Vlaco opened the door of “Bunker”.

“It was agony, the struggle for a piece of air,” said one witness.

Srpko Pustivuk, the only witness of the Defence of Branko Vlaco, who is indicted of crimes in the area of Vogosca, said that able-bodied men in Gornja Bioca were voluntarily located in the school from where they were taken to detention camps in Vogosca.

In 2011, the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina acquitted Srpko Pustivuk of war crimes committed in the area of Ilijas in 1992.

With its material evidence, the Defence sought to prove that Vlaco was not a member of any political party, and that Republika Srpska’s Ministry of Justice had the real jurisdiction over prisons in Vogosca.

The facility “Bunker”, where prisoners were abused and tortured, is a building from the Austro-Hungarian period and is located near the restaurant “Kod Sonje” and the boarding house “Kon-tiki”. According to witnesses, the detainees were taken to restaurant “Kod Sonje” for interrogation, and that they were beaten there, too. Witnesses also said that the manager’s office was in “Kon-Tiki”.

The indictee Vlaco addressed the Trial Chamber at the end of the trial, emphasising that honesty and respect for everybody are most important for him.

“I was not the master of life and death, as the unfounded indictment claims. I exposed my life to paramilitary formations and others who wanted to enter prison without authorisation. During the time I spend in prison, no one was killed. Violence and terror are something strange to me,” said Vlaco.