Former Prisoner Describes Abuse at Hands of Duka

Miroslav Duka, the former Bileca police commander, Goran Vujovic, the former chief of the Bileca public safety station, and Zeljko Ilic, a former police officer, have been charged with war crimes in Bileca.

Vujovic and Duka have been charged with enabling and organizing the detention of Bosniak and Croat civilians in Bileca, where prisoners were killed, tortured and abused. Ilic is charged with having participated in their physical and mental abuse.

State prosecution witness Ramiz Pervan said he was captured in his home in Bileca in June 1992, and was detained in a police station.

“A commander of the Beli Orlovi [the White Eagles paramilitary formation) put me up against a wall, beat me and told me to keep my hands up against the wall. I fell, he lifted me up and beat me…I fell down and was lying on the ground for about ten minutes when Goran Vujovic came from the office and laughed. Two Bosniaks were with him and laughed as well. He looked at me and stopped laughing,” Pervan said.

Pervan said he was transferred from the police station to military barracks in Bileca, where captured Bosniaks were guarded by reserve police officers. Pervan described the police officers at the military barracks as “very correct.” Seven days later, he was transferred to the old prison in Bileca.

Pervan said that during his detention in the prison, Miroslav Duka interrogated him once about weapons from Capljina.

“When I answered, he cursed and kicked me. The kick threw me three meters away. Then he said to two certain people, ‘Treat him.’ They took me inside and kicked me for ten minutes with army boots. I lost consciousness and I know that they were jumping on my chest,” Pervan said.

Pervan said four of his ribs and his teeth were broken from the assault, and said he still has problems with keeping his balance.

During cross-examination, Pervan said he didn’t remember whether Duka was present when he was assaulted.

Pervan described an incident in which Duka and Ilic fired at the prisoners’ cells and threw tear gas at them. He said one night he saw Duka through the window of his cell, approaching the prison with an automatic rifle.

“He fired at the window where I was [standing]. We [Pervan and the other prisoners] hid and the bullets began to ricochet. Then he took tear gas and threw it into the room. Then, he fired again. Then the choking started. I ran out of the room and a bullet hit me, but it only grazed the skin. I threw myself into a storage room and hid. After a while, I heard Duka and Zeljko Ilic coming, I recognized their voices. Zeljko said, ‘Let’s burn the warehouse.’ Duka didn’t answer. Then the fire bomb was heard as well as the flames, but the cistern quickly extinguished it,” Pervan said.

Dejan Bogdanovic, Duka’s defense attorney, said that during the investigation Pervan had stated that before the shooting he’d heard shouting and saw Duka kick a guard. Bogdanovic asked Pervan why his testimony had changed at the trial. Pervan said the statement he had given during the investigation was correct, but he’d forgotten to mention the details Bogdanovic specified.

The trial continues on July 7.