State Prosecution Witness Describes Beatings in Modrica
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“First he hit me with his fist. During other interrogations, he hit me with the handle of a broomstick, a rod, with his feet and hands all over my body. One time, I lost consciousness. He hit me in the crotch with a rod. The result was I had to remove one testicle. I haven’t had problems before. Fourteen teeth of mine were broken or knocked out,” Mujanovic said.
The indictment alleges that Kovacevic interrogated Mujanovic every day for an hour or two, from April-May 1994. Kovacevic is accused of mentally and physically abusing Mujanovic during each instance of interrogation.
Mujanovic said he didn’t know Kovacevic. He said he met Kovacevic for the first time after the conflict in Jakes in 1997. He said he saw Kovacevic again in 2001 in the village of Dubica, where has a summer house.
“I was with my father, who told me that was Jovisa Kovacevic. My father knew him because he worked at Strolit, where the defendant was a director for some period of time,” Mujanovic said.
Kovacevic’s defense attorney, Milenko Radonjic, said that Mujanovic hadn’t mentioned that he also had worked at Strolit.
Mujanovic said he worked at Strolit from 1986 to 1989, and didn’t know at the time that Kovacevic was a director.
The defense said Kovacevic’s appearance doesn’t match the description given from the identifying records – the records show that Mujanovic incorrectly stated that Kovacevic had dark hair and skin.
Forensic expert Ljubomir Curkic also presented his findings at the trial. He said that on the basis of medical records, he could not conclude that Muajanovic’s current health problems were related to injuries he sustained in 1994.
“There are no findings of teeth injuries in the medical documentation,” Curkic said.
Merima Mujanovic, Hasan Mujovic’s wife, said after her husband’s release, she noticed that his teeth had been knocked out and had a cut on his head. She said that when her husband had one of his testicles surgically removed, doctors had told her that it was due to his beatings from 1994.
She stated that her husband told her that he knew Kovacevic from Strolit.
Prior the questioning of witnesses, district prosecutor Slavko Krulj said that based on the testimony of the damaged party and that of other witnesses, he would prove the allegations in the indictment.
Defense attorney Radonjic said Kovacevic is innocent. He said Kovacevic had never seen or interrogated Mujanovic, and didn’t understand why Mujanovic was testifying against him.
The trial will continue on March 23.
