This post is also available in: Bosnian
Djukic is testifying at the trial of Bosniak fighters Ekrem Ibracevic, Faruk Smajlovic and Sejdalija Covic, who have been accused by Bosnia’s state prosecution with the torture and abuse of Serb civilians in Rapatnica from June to August 1992. Their crimes were allegedly committed on the premises of Rapatnica’s school building and football club.
The witness, Jovo Djukic, said that following an attack on the village of Brezje in June 1992, he and others were captured and taken to the Rapatnica school building.
He spent three days in detention there before he was taken to Tuzla. Upon his arrival, he met his two brothers, who told him that they were burned with soldetrons during their detention in Rapatnica.
“My brother took his clothes off. I saw his scars. His back was burned with a soldetron. Both Drago and Pero, as well as another man whose last name was Stanisic, were burned that way. They said it happened in Rapatnica,” Djukic said.
Djukic said he was not abused during his stay in Rapatnica.
Djukic said that during their detention in Rapatnica, detainees were taken away in order to give statements.
“Muce, a guard, came to the hall and said, ‘Here is a piece of paper and a pen. Write about the village.’ They would call out our names out and take us to a room on the upper floor, where we wrote our statements,” he said.
Djukic told the court that he wasn’t beaten while writing his statement, but another detainee told him that he was beaten.
“He just said, ‘they hit me with their legs and hands,’” Djukic said. He said the detainee didn’t tell him who had beaten him.
The trial chamber asked Djukic whether he’d noticed if any other detainees had been beaten before being returned to the hall. Djukic said he hadn’t.
“The situation in the hall was rather peaceful, but if they needed anyone, they could take him out,” Djukic said.
The trial will continue on March 3.
