Lalicic Participated in Abuse of Hrasnica Detainees, Says Witness
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Lalicic served as a former guard and member of the First Corps of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina at a detention facility located in the basement of an unfinished building in Hrasnica, near Sarajevo.
He is charged with participating in the mental and physical abuse of detained civilians, as well as the rape and sexual abuse of a woman in 1992 and 1993.
In his testimony, Dubljevic said he was beaten in the Hrasnica detention facility in December 1992.
“That night was the worst one for me. I begged Zaim’s pals to shoot me,” Radovan Dubljevic said.
Dubljevic said that his teeth were knocked out during the beating.
He said Lalicic struck him with his leg and arm twice. He said he was beaten more than ten times, with varying degrees of violence. He said the beatings primarily occurred when he was taken to other locations to perform forced labour.
Dubljevic said he was sure that another person committed the incident of rape described in the indictment. He said he recognized the rapist’s voice, as well as the injured party’s screams. He said he didn’t hear Lalicic’s voice.
Witness Savo Pejic said “Fikro’s special soldiers” came to collect him on August 18, 1992. He said they took him to a prison that was located in the underground garages between two skyscrapers in the area. According to Pejic, while he was there he saw the injured party washing dishes.
According to Pejic, rumours circulated at the time that the injured party had been raped, but he had not personally seen it take place.
“The man [Lalicic] spread terror among people. I was really afraid of him…He beat me up once,” Pejic said, identifying the defendant in the courtroom.
Testifying at the same hearing hearing, Milivoje Malesic said he heard from “his colleagues from the squad that the injured party was raped in late 1992 or early 1993.” He said that he was not detained, but was aware that other people had been detained in garages between two skyscrapers in the area.
The trial will continue on March 9.
