Analysis – Zaim Lalicic: Accused of Rape and Prisoner Abuse at Hrasnica

The Bosnian state prosecution believes that it demonstrated over the course of the three month trial that Lalicic is guilty of the rape and sexual assault of a female prisoner, as well as participating in the physical and mental abuse of detained civilians. Lalicic is a former member of the First Corps of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as a former guard at a detention facility in Hrasnica.Lalicic’s defense invited three witnesses to testify. Sabina Mehic, Lalicic’s defense attorney said the state prosecution could have examined the injured party, who testified under the pseudonym S.M., in greater detail.S.M. told the court that a few months after her arrest in 1992, she was detained in a garage located between two buildings, where Lalicic was a guard. Then, in November or December 1992, she was transferred to the basement of an unfinished building.According to S.M., it was there that Lalicic took her to an office where he slapped her several times, pulled her hair, and hit her twice in the groin with a baseball bat, and told her not to tell anyone.S.M. said Lalicic took her to an improvised bathroom approximately ten times, where he raped her over a bath tub.S.M. said that although she trusted the other prisoners, she didn’t have anyone to confide in.“I’ve had male children. I kept silent for 22 years and I wanted to talk about what happened to me…for my peace of mind,” S.M. said during cross-examination. Defense attorney Sabina Mehic asked S.M. whether she knew what it was like for the other female prisoners. S.M. said she didn’t, but she assumed that “the same thing happened to them when they were called upon,” but “they’re afraid to confirm it.”Abuse and Torture of Hrasnica PrisonersWitness Radovan Dubljevic said Lalicic kicked and punched him on two occasions, and that he “was certainly beaten more than ten times, sometimes more, sometimes less.” He said the beatings usually took place when he was being transported to perform forced labour.Djubljevic said he remembered a night in the end of December 1992, when he was beaten so badly in the basement of the Hrasnica building that all his teeth were knocked out.“That night was the worst. I prayed for Zaim’s [Lalicic] buddies to shoot me,” he said. Dubljevic said he was sure S.M. had been raped by another person that night. He said he recognized her rapist’s voice and heard her screaming. He said he didn’t hear Lalicic’s voice.Witnesses Milivoje Malesic and Savo Pejic said they’d heard that S.M. had been raped. “The man [Lalicic] was fear and terror. I was really afraid of him…He beat me once,” Pejic said. Pejic was detained in the basement facility in Hrasnica and identified Lalicic in the courtroom. Branka Gataric said she’d heard stories about S.M.’s rape and said she told her about it in December of last year. “She was taken away by that Zaim, I forgot his surname. He hit her on the head, raped her and threatened her,” Gataric said.Former Guards and Prisoner Defend LalicicFormer guards at the Hrasnica detention facility and a former female prisoner known as O-1 testified in favor of the defense. O-1 said she was detained with S.M., and said she never told her that she’d been raped or threatened. “When I came out, everyone was saying we were raped. Not a single one of us was raped. I wasn’t raped,” O-1 said. She said female prisoners were typically taken out of their cells in groups of two, in order to wash dishes and clean.According to O-1, Zaim Lalicic wasn’t rude to her, and said that once while she was cleaning he brought her coffee. Former guards Sead Tekac and Sead Corbo said they knew S.M. and hadn’t heard that she’d been raped. Tekac said he was often on duty with Lalicic and said he was never alone. According to Tekac, he “never heard or saw that Zaim had done something.”He described Lalicic as “a real soldier, responsible and professional in every job.” “I met S.M. in 1997 or 1998 at my relative’s apartment…They called over so we could see each