Shelter for Women in “Partizan”

According to the charges against Mladic, the persecution of Muslim and Croats throughout BiH reached the scale of genocide in Foca municipality.

Vujicic said that, during the night he used to “guard women, who were detained in small sports hall ‘Partizan’”. According to his testimony, during the day the women could move freely, but they locked themselves at night.

“This was a shelter…The women were free…but they stayed in one place in order to protect themselves more efficiently,” Vujicic said.

He specified that he kept watch in front of “Partizan” for four nights only and that he was told that nobody should be allowed to enter the hall.

When asked if he heard that incidents and sexual violence against women in “Partizan” happened later on, he said:
“I really did not hear about any incidents… I was on the frontline… Do not ask me, I know nothing about it”.

In several of its verdicts, The Hague Tribunal determined that Serb soldiers frequently raped and sexually abused Muslim women, including minors, in “Partizan” hall, the secondary school, at Buk-Bijela and other locations in Foca.

Vujicic confirmed that, following the breakout of the war, paramilitary formations from Serbia and Montenegro were active in the Foca surroundings, adding that they pillaged both Muslim and Serb houses.

The local authorities then suppressed them after “Ratko Mladic had visited Foca and sorted things out”.

The witness did not deny that mosques in Foca were destroyed and damaged, but he said that, in most cases, it happened during combat because Muslims forces would open fire from minarets and use the mosques as ammunition and explosive storages.

Mladic’s Defence is due to continue presenting evidence tomorrow, July 18.

The indictment also charges Mladic with genocide in Srebrenica, terror against the local population in Sarajevo and taking UN “blue helmets” hostage.