Analysis – Witnesses at Trial of Ibracevic et al. Describe Assault and Torture of Rapatnica Prisoners

Fifteen other witnesses described the roles and responsibilities of defendants Ekrem Ibracevic, Faruk Smajlovic and Sejdalija Covic. They also described events that took place in Srebrenik detention facilities.

Ibracevic, Smajlovic and Covic have been charged with unlawful detention, abuse, torture and other criminal acts committed in Rapatnica and Luke from June to August 1992.

The state prosecution alleges that Ibracevic was the former chief of military security at the Municipal Headquarters of the Territorial Defense in Srebrenik, Smajlovic was commander of the military police at the municipal headquarters, and Covic was a member of the military police.

Former prisoners from the villages of Brezje, Jasenica, Potpec and Tinja described how they were captured and taken to a former dance hall in Rapatnica’s cultural center.

“When we came [to the dance hall], we saw ten to twenty people we didn’t know. We died of fear: they were beaten up, their faces were cut…They said they were from the village of Potpec,” state prosecution witness Dobrivoje Mihajlovic said.

Mihajlovic said prisoners were taken out of the hall to the first floor for interrogation. He said he heard screams, noise and banging from the first floor. He said a man named Muce stood at the entrance to the hall and called out the names of prisoners who would be interrogated. He said Muce’s brother, Sejdo (Covic’s nickname), entered the hall and beat prisoners.

“Sejdo was wearing black gloves. He entered and beat us before the captain. The captain came about three times. The first time he said we have to tell them everything about the weapons or they’ll kill us,” Mihajlovic said. He was unable to identify the caption in the courtroom.

Beatings of Rapatnica Prisoners Common, Witnesses Say

State prosecution witness Danilo Blagojevic said a captain and Covic were present when he was interrogated.

“The captain stopped, and that one [Covic] grabbed my jacket and said, ‘Why are you lying?’ He cursed my ‘Chetnik’ mother. He knocked me off the chair and hit me on the back, with some rod, cable or wood. Then the captain told him to stop,” Blagojevic said.

Blagojevic said he found out the names of people in Rapatnica through other prisoners. However, he was unable to explain how he knew that the man who had beaten him was called Sejdo.

State prosecution witness Marko Maksimovic said he was abducted from his apartment in Srebrenik and was taken to Rapatnica in July. He said Ekrem Ibracevic hit his face and threatened to kill him while holding a gun to his temple. Maksimovic identified Ibracevic in the courtroom.

State prosecution witness Rado Jovanovic said two men with flashlights burst into the premises where he was detained with his cousin. He said the two men started kicking them.

He said he recognized Covic as one of the men who beat him. He said during his interrogation he found out that the other man was Ibracevic.

State prosecution witness and former prisoner Blazan Todic said he was beaten during his interrogation. He said he was beaten in a basement where he was detained with his neighbour, Lazar Stanisic.

“One of them was carrying a little crate with batons and knives and asked what I wanted him to beat me with. I said nothing, and he started hitting me on the back with a baton. Some of them were beating me, the others were beating Lazar…Then captain Ibracevic opened the door and said, ‘Get out! What are you doing?,’” Todic said.

According to Todic, Ibracevic brought the soldiers and then closed the door and secured the lock. Defense attorney Sanjin Bandovic asked Todic why he had mentioned a chief named Ibrisevic, and not Ibracevic, in a previous statement. Todic said he may have mistaken his name.

Prisoners Were Tortured in Rapatnica Dance Hall, Witnesses Say

Witnesses Pero Djukic, Drago Djukic and Lazar Stanisic said they were tortured during one night of their detention in the former dance hall. They said they were burned with a soldering iron and were tortured in other ways as well. Drago Djukic said he had needles pushed under his fingernails and was forced to eat salt off of glass.

“There were six of them, two men were wearing hats, they had mitt gloves on…prick, back, prick, back…all eight fingers, excluding the thumbs,” Djukic told the courtroom while weeping.

Pointing towards Smajlovic, Djukic said, “I know this guy in the second row…he was there when they beat us in the hall.”

Responding to questions from the defense, Djukic confirmed that he was presented with 10 photos of the defendants in 2008. In 2008, he was unable to identify Smajlovic.

Pero Djukic said after being tortured with a soldering iron he was returned to the basement, where there were “six centimetres of coal dust.”

“The wounds swelled…I thought Lazar wouldn’t survive, he also was burned all over. My brother Drago suffered even worse injuries,” Pero Djukic said.

Djukic said he was taken to an office where he was bandaged by nurses when Fikret Ibracevic came in.

“He smiled wryly and said, ‘Who did this to you?’ He repeatedly came when they were beating us. He just came in and left,” Djukic said.

Lazar Stanisic was unable to appear in court because of his poor health. His testimony was read aloud in court. In his statement, he said he saw Ibracevic after he was tortured.

“He asked me, ‘Why have you shrunk?” Scabs were already on the wounds. He called for a doctor. Both the doctor and the nurse began to cry when they saw them,” Stanisic said.

Stanisic said Mustafa Covic, known as Muce, was a particularly cruel man from Rapatnica. Stanisic said Covic was Ibracevic’s bodyguard.

“I was destroyed by that Covic. He took me out during the night, at four or five in the morning, threatening to shoot me, he beat me with a baton on my back and head. Once, he broke a chair on my head. Only the chair’s arm remained in his hands,” Stanisic said.

Ismet Imsirovic, a former guard at the Rapatnica detention facility, said he found Pero Djukic, Drago Djukic and Lazar Stanisic with wounds on their bodies one morning.

Imsirovic said Faruk Smajlovic, Huso Hodzic, Samir Nurkanovic and a man named Jasmin came to the Rapatnica detention facility the night before, and that Mustafa Covic was present when they arrived. According to Imsirovic, they took the Djukic brothers and Stanisic out of the hall, one by one.

Rapatnica Abuse Was Reported to Srebrenik Military Police

Imsirovic said he informed his superior, Elvedin Cudic, about this incident. At the time Cudic was the head of the military police in Srebrenik. Cudic said Imsirovic told him about the ‘unpleasant events’ that happened in the detention facility.

“He told me that individuals from the military police were entering the hall after 10 p.m. Those people were Faruk Smajlovic, Mustafa Covic, Sejdalija Covic and two people who accompanied Ekrem Ibracevic,” Cudic said.

He said Imsirovic told him he heard screams from the hall and that Ibracevic went to the premises when everyone else had left.

Enis Softic, also a former guard at the Rapatnica facility, said Faruk Smajlovic, Sejdalija Covic, Samir Nurkanovic, Huso Hodzic (nicknamed Bobi) and a man named Jasmin were present on a night when prisoners were tortured.

“Faruk had a square black bag, like a briefcase…They went to the hall,” Softic said.

Elvedin Cudic said the military police was responsible for taking people in custody, but that the fate of the prisoners was decided by the military security which interrogated them.

“Faruk Smajlovic was the commander of the traffic department. He was superior to Ismet Imsirovic, who was commander of the guard in Rapatnica. I think the traffic department was in charge of facilities and that the guards were from that department, but I’m not entirely sure,” Cudic said.

Witnesses also described torture they experienced while detained at the Rapatnica football club in the settlement of Luka. They said false executions were held to intimidate prisoners.

Petar Novakovic, who worked as a police officer before the war and was in Srebrenik since August 1993, said he had heard that Stokan Markovic was shot at in Luke.

Novakovic said an acquaintance of his who was also a police officer, told him that Covic had fired short bursts of gunfire towards Markovic, and that Ibracevic was also present.

Stokan Markovic was unable to appear in court due to his poor health. His statement was read aloud in the courtroom.

“I was losing consciousness from the beating. Once, two or three people entered, they were punching my face. Even today, I don’t feel one part of my face near the lips,” Markovic said while describing the torture he experienced at the football club.

A number of prosecution witnesses who saw Markovic before they were transported to Tuzla, described his “mutilation” of Markovic.

“One person with an entirely black face was left among the last of us. I asked if this was Stokan Markovic. I couldn’t believe that he’d survive and that his face would heal again,” Dobrivoje Mihajlovic said.

The defense’s evidence procedures began on Tuesday, November 24.