Witness Describes Forced Labour and Abuse at Papic Trial

The Sarajevo cantonal prosecution has charged Papic, a former commander of a battalion with the First Sarajevska Brigade of the Bosnian Serb Army, with the inhumane treatment and mistreatment of civilians. He has also been charged with intimidating civilians and forcing them to perform hard labour.

The indictment alleges that Papic committed the above crimes from 1992 to 1994, and exposed civilians to life-threatening situations on several occasions.

Prosecution witness Esad Hrustic was a member of a work squad in Grbavica run by Papic in 1992.

“Papic slapped me in the face twice…I don’t do what it was all about, it isn’t clear to me why he did it,” said Hrustic.

According to Hrustic, two Bosnian Serb soldiers invited all able-bodied men in the area to report to a command building.

“We had to check in at the 29 Novembar warehouse each morning. They performed checks there…An elderly civilian was in charge of the work squad. He was the one who assigned tasks to us,” Hrustic.

When asked by prosecutor Nives Kanevcev if he knew Papic, Hrustic said he did, but was unable to definitively identify him in the courtroom. He said Papic was the commander of the armed forces in the Grbavica neighbourhood.

Hrustic said following allegations that members of the work squad wanted to form a trade union, their mistreatment began. They were lined up and had their hair cut. According to Hrustic, there was no one they could complain to.

“They introduced stricter measures against us. One day Papic took us to a building in Zagrebacka Street and ordered each of us to carry out a little piece of wood. He said Nedzad would be killed otherwise,” Hrustic said.

Hrustic said Papric was influential, because he was the commander at the time.

Enver Kupusija’s testimony was postponed, due to his poor health.

The next hearing will be held on May 25.