Witness Recalls Abuse of Prisoners at Batkovic Detention Facility

Amer Berbic, a former prisoner, said Begovic, a former prison guard at Batkovic, hit him while he was detained at the Batkovic camp in Bijeljina.

“This gentleman [Begovic] stood out from the rest…He told personally told me that I wouldn’t live, that I would suffer and he would castrate me,” Berbic said.
 
He said he was abused daily, and men named Veselin, Zoran and Major also abused him during his detention.
 
“They hit me with rifles, bats, smaller batts, and a longer one about 60 to 70 centimeters long. That one broke and I saw it had a spring…I was always blue, my eyes were red, my ears plugged, all puffy, from the abuse,” Berbic said.
 
He said each of the prisoners were beaten every day for about thirty minutes, depending on how the guards felt. Berbic said prisoner Zulfo Hadziomerovic from Vlasenica died from the abuse, after the defendant asked him to leave the hangar they were held in.

“Gligor, the defendant, called him outside. Then the defendant cursed. He said, ‘You won’t live anymore,’ that’s what happened,” Berbic said. He said he heard Hadziomerovic scream.

According to Berbic, a prisoner named Omer from Bijeljina was also killed. He said one of the guards who took him out was the defendant.

Begovic has been charged with abusing prisoners at the Batkovic detention facility, where detainees were terrorized by acts of murder and abuse. The indictment alleges that the Batkovic detention facility had inhumane living conditions, and that detainees suffered from a lack of food, water, medical care, and sleep.

Begovic has been charged with forcing two prisoners to have sexual intercourse in agricultural buildings at the facility, where detainees were hidden during visits by the International Red Cross in the summer of 1992. The indictment also alleges that other detainees were sexually abused in the same building.

Begovic has also been charged with participating in beatings which caused the deaths of several detainees.

Witness Mehmed Becic said that he was one of the so-called 13 “special men” at the Batkovic detention facility whom the guards targeted for abuse. He said the guards did not allow the International Red Cross to register him for three months.

Becic initially said he didn’t know the names of the guards at Batkovic, but after being reminded of his statement from the investigation, he said he knew Gligor Begovic.

In his statement, Becic said Begovic was one of the worst guards.

“He came and beat prisoners sometimes. He hit me once and others with his fist,” Becic said.

The trial continues on April 22.