“Silos” not under Responsibility of Ministry of Justice

Testifying for the Prosecution of BiH, witness Mato Tadic said that, after having been appointed Minister of Justice with the Government of the Republic and Federation of BiH in 1994, he found out about the existence of “Silos”.

“Later on I sent my assistant to a field mission in that area. When he came back, he informed me that the facility existed, but we had nothing to do with it, because the prison was not under the jurisdiction of the Justice Ministry,” Tadic said.

He explained that he found out more about that facility from international organizations in 1995 and that, after that it was decided to prepare an information note about “Silos” and send it to the Government.

“At that moment we realized that we should figure out whether any persons, for whom court decisions had been issued, were held in the facility and, if yes, transfer those people to prisons under our jurisdiction,” the witness said, adding that ministries of defence, internal affairs and justice were tasked with preparing the information note.

When asked by Prosecutor Zorica Djurdjevic whether the conclusion was execution, the witness said that he thought not. Also, he said that he found out that detention orders and decisions to open criminal proceedings by the District Court Martial, had been issued for a certain number of persons in “Silos”, but he did not see them.

Tadic said that he did not know whether the information about “Silos” was submitted to local authorities.

“The assistant, who visited the Hadzici area several times, told me that there were problems with the local population, as they objected to relocation of prisoners to Sarajevo or Zenica, because they expected those people to be used for exchange for Bosniaks,” he explained.

The Prosecution of BiH charges Mustafa Djelilovic, Fadil Covic, Mirsad Sabic, Nezir Kazic, Becir Hujic, Halid Covic, Serif Mesanovic and Nermin Kalember with crimes committed in “Silos”, “Krupa” military barracks and “9. maj” school building.

According to the charges, Hujic was Manager and Deputy Manager of “Silos” and Halid Covic performed the same functions. Mesanovic was one of the Deputy Managers in “Silos” and Manager of a detention camp in “Krupa” military barracks, while Kalember was a guard in “Silos”. The other indictees were members of civil, military and police authorities.

When the Prosecution completed the examination, the Defence of indictee Covic said that the conditions for cross-examination of the witness were not met, because he was examined about different circumstances during the trial and investigation. Following a short break, the Trial Chamber decided to continue the examination of this witness on October 2.

The trial is due to continue on September 18 with reading of a statement by a Prosecution witness.