State Prosecution Witnesses Describe Abuse of Prisoners in Rapatnica

Ekrem Ibracevic, the former chief of military security with the Municipal Headquarters of the Territorial Defense in Srebrenik, Faruk Smajlovic and Sejdalija Covic, former members of military police, have been charged with abusing and torturing Serb civilians in Rapatnica in 1992.

During the investigation into the case in 2013, Lazar Stanisic said he was detained in Rapatnica, where Mustafa Covic terrorized him. He said he was Ekrem Ibracevic’s bodyguard and that Ibracevic was also a security officer. He said Covic was previously a cafe manager and a truck driver.

“Covic destroyed me. He used to take me out at night, at 4 or 5am He threatened to shoot me. He hit me on the back and head with a baton. He once broke a chair while hitting me on the head with it. Only the back of the chair remained in his hands,” Stanisic recalled. He was unable to testify in court due to his poor health.

He said Covic once took him to a hall where several other people had already been detained. He said one of those people burned his back with a soldetron.

“Ibracevic came on the following morning and asked me why I looked dispirited…I already had scabs on my injuries. He invited a doctor. Both the doctor and the nurse started to cry when they saw them,” Stanisic said.

He said Mustafa’s brother, Sejdalija Covic, once passed by the building, grabbed him in passing and told him to “thank God for not making him his guard.”

Stanisic said he stayed in Rapatnica for 37 days and he once told Ibracevic to transfer him or kill him, or else he would commit suicide. He said he was transferred to Tuzla afterwards.

The defense teams said they would ask the witness whether he knew Ibracevic’s name during his stay in Rapatnica. They said they would have asked him who prepared the document, which he wanted to read at the beginning of his examination before the Higher Court in Belgrade.

A statement given by Stokan Markovic, who was unable to appear in court due to his poor health, was read at this hearing as well. He said he was detained on the premises of Rapatnica football club for seven days.

“The key holder, who unlocked the door, was some truck driver from Rapatnica. I would faint from the beatings. Two or three guys once entered the room and hit me in the face with their fists. One part of my face, around my lips, is still numb,” Markovic said.

He said he was once beaten by a man who was wearing black gloves with rivets. When he was transferred to Tuzla, he said he found out it was the key holder’s brother.

Markovic said he thought the biggest reason for his assault was the fact that he was a member of the Serbian Democratic Party and the deputy president of the Serbian municipality of Srebrenik.

The defense teams asked whether it was true that Markovic advocated for secession of the municipality of Srebrenik, whether he could describe the key holder and whether they were guarded by the civil police or the military.

Prosecutor Zorica Djurdjevic also read statements given by a deceased witness named Pajo Rikic, as well as former Rapatnica detainees named Gavro Djukic and Mico Jovanovic, who could not appear due to their poor health. These witnesses were not abused during their detention, but had information on the mistreatment of other prisoners.

Trial will continue on October 27.