Witness Describes Prisoner Abuse at Rapatnica Detention Facility

Ekrem Ibracevic, the former chief of military security with the municipal headquarters of the Territorial Defense in Srebrenik, and Faruk Smajlovic and Sejdalija Covic, members of the military police, are on trial for war crimes against Serb civilians in Rapatnica.

Elvedin Cudic, a former commander of a military police squad in Srebrenik, testified at the trial. He said he took on his post as commander in May 1992. Cudic said the commander of the Territorial Defense Headquarters in Srebrenik and his immediate supervisor was Fadil Vikalo. However, Cudic said he received orders from Ekrem Ibracevic, the assistant chief for military security.

“The military security body consisted of Ekrem Ibracevic and the late Mijo Gudeljevic. Mustafa Covic was with Ekrem the entire time during the examination. He was his right hand man,” Cudic said.

Cudic said his squad consisted of two sections: the traffic section and intervention-infantry section. Cudic said a section for guarding detention facilities was created after the establishment of a detention facility at the beginning of July 1992.

Cudic said there were two detention facilities in the Srebrenik area, which primarily held individuals who avoided serving in the military as well as Serbs.

One of the detention facilities was located in a building in Rapatnica. Cudic said he assumed that Ibracevic was the person who decided that the building would be converted into a detention facility. The second detention facility was located in a stadium in Luke. According to Cudic, the state security body, or the civil police, was responsible for that facility.

Cudic said that military police was in charge of detaining and bringing people to the detention unit, but the military security body, whose staff interrogated detainees, decided their fate.

“Faruk Smajlovic was the commander of the traffic section. He was a superior officer to Ismet Imsirovic, the guard commander in Rapatnica. I think the traffic section was in charge of the buildings and that the guards were members of that section, but I am not completely sure,” Cudic said, adding that the detention unit section consisted of six guards.

Cudic said that while he was a squad commander, he visited the detention facility in Rapatnica at least once a week in order to make sure it functioned properly.

Cudic said that one morning Ismet Imsirovic told him about an attack on a prisoner which had occurred in the detention unit. He said he’d noticed red patches on prisoner Lazar Stanisic’s body.

“He told me some military policemen had come to the hall after 10pm. They were Faruk Smajlovic, Mustafa Covic, Sejdalija Covic and two more persons accompanied by Ekrem Ibracevic,” Cudic said.

Cudic said Imsirevic told him he heard cries from the hall, that Ibracevic walked towards the hall and that all of them left the building afterwards. Cudic said he was told that they spent about two hours in the hall and that the detainees had been burned with a lamp.

“No actions were undertaken. I orally informed Fadil Vikalo. I told Imsirovic to inform a doctor if need be. I believe he did that,” Cudic said. He said he didn’t discuss the matter with Ekrem Ibracevic.

Cudic said he’d previously tried to draw Ibracevic’s attention to problems at the detention facility, but his remarks weren’t taken into consideration. Cudic said he was replaced a short time later, and that he saw Lazar Stanisic with bandages and a plaster on his face.

Responding to questions by Smajlovic’s defense, Cudic said it was true that he didn’t specify who Lazar Stanisic was during his testimony at Zurahid Mujcinovic’s trial. He said his memory was refreshed after he spoke to other people. Mujcinovic was sentenced under a second instance verdict to eight years in prison for war crimes in Srebrenik.

Cudic said he personally recruited Sejdalija Covic to the military police, and said he had nothing to do with the detention unit. He said Covic wore distinctive clothing, namely fingerless gloves, and that a man named Husein Hodzic, also known as Bobi, used to wear the same gloves.

Cudic said the conditions in Rapatnica were bad, but the detainees were given the same food as military policemen.

The trial will continue on May 26.