Statements from Silos Detainees not Coerced, Witness Says

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 and mental suffering and forced labour of detainees in Hadzici.

According to the charges, 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 and managers of detention camps. Kalember was a guard at the Silos detention facility.

Zvonko Maric, a journalist and the former head of the commission for prisoner exchanges in the Hadzici area, testified at today’s hearing. Maric said Tufo and his police officers were the most agile force in the area.

“He had a clear plan. I don’t think he fitted into the existing hierarchy,” Maric said.

Maric said he interviewed Tufo in 1993 or 1994. Some parts of the interview were read aloud in the courtroom.

During his interview with Maric, Tufo had said, “I’ve personally decided that Silos will become a prison.” Tufo, who died after the war, said the prison was opened in order to detain Serbs who possessed illegal weapons.

Tufo he said he was involved in discovering military formations, and had information that 1,200 Serbs in the area had been issued weapons. He said the Bosnian Serb Army would have occupied Hadzici if they hadn’t been arrested.
Tufo also said the civilian authorities were confused, so the Bosniak population was dissatisfied.

During Maric’s examination, statements given to him by Serbs detained in the Silos detention facility were read in the courtroom. The detainees told journalists they had been arrested because they possessed weapons. Some of them said they had been issued weapons by the Serbian Democratic Party. One of the detainees told journalists he had taken the weapons to defend his town, not to attack it.

Djelilovic’s defense attorney, Vasvija Vidovic, asked Maric whether their statements were coerced. Maric said they weren’t.

“Saying there was any coercion is a notorious lie. None of the soldiers were present,” he said.

Maric said the Silos detention facility would have closed if a large-scale exchange in Kobiljaca had succeeded in 1992.

He said 480 Serbs from the Silos detention facility were supposed to have been exchanged on that occasion. He said the exchange didn’t happen because the Serb side didn’t respect the agreement. Maric said the Bosniak side began obstructing the exchange of prisoners from the Silos detention facility.

Maric said Djelilovic had never prohibited the exchange of those prisoners. “I think he never participated in the exchange process,” Maric said.

He said he was also detained at the Silos detention facility on suspicion of collaborating with the enemy.

Maric said Bosniaks and Croats who violated laws were detained there as well.

Maric will continue testifying on October 22.