Prosecution Witnesses Say Police Commander Beat Detainee in Bileca

The witness, Miralem Camo, said that he saw former police commander Miroslav Duka beat an arrested Bosniak man at a police station in 1992.

Miroslav Duka has been charged, along with Goran Vujovic and Zeljko Ilic, with crimes committed against prisoners and civilians in Bileca.

Duka and Vujovic have been charged with enabling and organizing the detention of Bosniak and Croat civilians in the public safety station and student dormitory in Bileca, where they were killed, tortured and abused.

The indictment says that when the alleged crimes took place, Duka was a police commander, Vujovic was chief of the public safety station, and Ilic was a police officer. Ilic has been charged with participating in the abuse, torture, and murder of Bosniaks and Croats.

During today’s hearing, witness Miralem Camo told the court that he was arrested on June 10, 1992 and taken to the police station in Bileca, along with his brother Amir and several other Bosniak men.

“We were beaten up during the arrest. They beat us with rifle butts. They broke my ribs. We were standing there. One of them shouted at us and said something like ‘he did not want to chase us.’ Then he hit me,” Camo said.

According to Camo, upon their arrival at the police station the arrested men were accommodated in a room on the upper floor and gave statements about weapons.

“I remember one incident. We were sitting on the floor when Duka came. I knew his face and that he was police commander. He was talking about how he had just come back from a battlefield, when Mehmed Murguz, who was sitting on the floor, interrupted him and said something. Duka said, ‘You are pro-Ustasha.’ Then he started kicking his head,” Camo recalled.

According to Camo, at this point Murguz was taken to another room. Camo said that Murguz’s head was swollen and he looked beaten up when he came back. He also said that he heard screams while Murguz was in the other room.

Several days later all the prisoners were taken to the student dormitory in Bileca, said Camo, where they were detained in isolation cells for four months and guarded by policemen from Bileca.

“We slept on concrete floors. We only had some blankets. There were many of us…I didn’t go out for four months, except once, when I got sick,” Camo said. He added that he was not beaten during his detention.

Camo said that tear gas was thrown into his cell one night and that prisoners began panicking and suffocating, but he did not know who was responsible.

At the same hearing, Camo’s brother Amir said that he was also arrested and detained at the Bileca police station in June 1992. Amir Camo said that he had seen Duka at the police station, and that he had seen him kick Mehmet Murguz in the head.

Responding to cross-examination questions by the defense, Miralem and Amir Camo said that policemen allowed others to bring them food and clothes at the student dormitory.

The trial will continue on February 24.