Former Judge Describes Treatment of Silos Prisoners

Mustafa Djelilovic, Fadil Covic, Mirsad Sabic, Nezir Kazic, Becir Hujic, Halid Covic, Serif Mesanovic and Nermin Kalember have been charged with the unlawful detention, inhumane treatment, physical abuse, mental abuse, and forced labour of detainees in Hadzici detention facilities, including the Silos detention camp, the Krupa military barracks and the 9 Maj school building.

According to the charges, at the time Djelilovic was the president of the municipal assembly, crisis committee and wartime presidency of the municipality of Hadzici, while the other defendants were members of military and police authorities as well as managers of detention camps. Kalember was a guard at the Silos detention facility.

Testifying in Mustafa Djelilovic’s defense, Muhidin Kapo said he investigated the alleged participation of Silos prisoners in the following crimes: armed rebellion, associating with the enemy, and the illegal possession of weapons.

“A death sentence could even be handed down for those crimes. Custody measures were obligatory,” Kapo said.

Kapo said prisoners couldn’t be transported from Silos to Sarajevo for questioning due to the security risk, so he and judge Davorin Jukic, two typists and an attorney went to Tarcin, where they questioned the prisoners in special offices.

Kapo said he didn’t exclude the possibility that other prisoners could have been held in Silos as well, however he was only interested in prisoners mentioned in the files of the district military prosecution. He said he and Jukic examined prisoners from Silos and ordered them into custody.

Kapo said the prisoners didn’t complain to him at all. He said he found out later on from the media that the prisoners had been exchanged.

“I spoke to them in a humane manner. I asked them how they were doing and whether anyone had mistreated them…Members of the Bosnian Army were also held in detention in Silos. All the detainees were treated in the same manner. I experienced the horrors of detention. When I saw the conditions and people in Silos, it all seemed good and normal to me,” said Kapo, who described Silos as “a typical detention unit.”

Kapo said he saw that the detainees had wooden palettes, sponges, blankets and furnaces in their living spaces. He also said he didn’t know who the manager of Silos was in 1994.

“To be honest, I only know Becir Hujic and Serif, the artist, from before the war because they worked as police officers in the central prison. They behaved in a correct and professional manner. Becir became close to the people in Silos,” Kapo said.

The trial will continue on September 3, when other defense attorneys will examine Kapo.