This post is also available in: Bosnian
Nebojsa Todorovic testified that he was mobilised after the Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA) left Visegrad in May 1992 and that he was ordered to go to the Uzamnica barracks.
According to his words, soon after several young members of the Yugoslav People’s Army who were born in Visegrad, came to the barracks and defendant Popovic was among them. After that a certain number of Bosniaks was located in Uzamnica “for their own safety”.
“Police brought… Men were there for a while and then they were taken for exchange, and women were being guarded from the paramilitaries,” Todorovic said.
He added that the guards behaved correctly towards Bosniaks but also that members of paramilitary units came to Uzamnica and abused people.
“We could handle some of them, but we could not handle Milan Lukic. We informed the command, but he was coming again. He beat them… I heard couple of times that he forced them to sing Chetnik songs,” Todorovic testified.
According to his words, he and the defendant Popovic along with several other guards sought the transfer because of the constant arrivals of Lukic and his solders to the Uzamnica camp, and they were transferred to the front line in December 1992.
The Bosnian prosecution charges Popovic with having participated in the abuse, beating and torture of prisoners while he was a guard at the Uzamnica detention camp as well as the sexual abuse of men and women.
The Hague Tribunal sentenced former commander of the White Eagles paramilitary unit Milan Lukic for life for crimes at Visegrad, including the beating of Bosniaks men in the Uzamnica camp in 2012.
Responding to the questions about Popovic, witness Todorovic said that prisoner Nurko Dervisevic once told him that the accused “pushed him in the chest in Uzamnica.”
Todorovic added that Bosniaks in Uzamnica had three meals a day and had the same food as soldiers and that they voluntarily went to work.
Witness Vojo Cevic, former member of the Bosnian Serb Army from Visegrad, also testified as a defence witness at this hearing. He said that he met the defendant in December 1992 when he was appointed to the first front line above the town.
“I heard at that time that these people came on their own initiative from Uzamnica. That was not usual, that was the period when the war gained momentum and it was unusual for people from background to go to the first line willingly,” Cevic said and added that he didn’t know why the defendant wanted a reappointment from Uzamnica.
The trial continues on October 22, when the defence will call two new witnesses.
