Begovic the worst Guard in Batkovic

Witness Ejub Smajic said that, in the summer of 1992 he was detained in a detention camp, where indictee Begovic beat him with his knuckles, hands, legs and a baseball bat. He described the indictee as one of “the worst guards” in the detention camp.

“I still cannot understand how they could beat us up so brutally. Had I known him or done something bad to him, I would have understood, but I did not even know him,” Smajic said.

Begovic is charged with having personally beaten detainees and having forced two people to have sexual intercourse in Batkovic in the summer of 1992.

According to the charges, detainees, who were held in that detention camp, were subjected to an atmosphere of terror created by murders, abuse and inhumane conditions, while also living without sufficient food, water, medical care and adequate sleeping conditions.

Smajic said that, upon his arrival in the detention camp, he was taken, along with Ferid Zecevic and Husein Curtic, behind that building and beaten up. As he said, those two detainees passed away a short time later.

“They were in a bad condition, just like me. They could not walk. Ferid asked me to give him a pill. I told him I did not have it. He died one day later,” the witness said, adding that Curtic died a short time after that.

He said that Curtic’s body was carried out in a blanket and that it had still not been found.

“Gligor knows all that, because he was there every day,” he said.

When asked by the Prosecution whether Zecevic and Curtic were beaten again after having been brought back to the detention camp, the witness answered affirmatively.

Describing the indictee, the witness said that he was about 20-years-old, that he had brown hair and that he had come to Bijeljina from Gorazde. He said that he saw the indictee beat other detainees as well.

“I want the sentence against him to be as strict as possible and I want compensation from him,” the witness said, adding that he still suffered consequences of his stay in the detention camp.

A part of the witness’ testimony was closed to public.

According to the official schedule of the Court of BiH, the trial is due to continue on January 28, when two Prosecution witnesses will testify.