Ex-Prisoners Recall Physical and Sexual Abuse in Ljubuski

A prosecution witness codenamed S-2, whose face and voice were disguised during his testimony, told the state court in Sarajevo on Thursday that he was physically and sexually abused in the police building in Ljubuski.

S-2 said he was captured, along with another protected witness codenamed S-5, in the Mostar area in late September 1993 while he was a member of the Bosnian Army.

He said that after having been detained in Siroki Brijeg for a month and a half, they were transferred to the police building in Ljubuski, where they were held until March 19, 1994.

“In the beginning the two of us were alone in a cell. Guards would come into the cell and beat us. Four or five of them would come in and hit us with all sorts of things – fists, batons – and kick us… We had bruises, cuts and injuries all over our bodies,” S-2 told the court.

He said that, of all the guards who mistreated them, he remembered defendants Stojan Odak and Vice Bebek, as well as Nedeljko Matic, who sexually abused him and S-5.

“He forced us to satisfy each other orally,” S-2 said.

While being cross-examined, the witness explained he had never mentioned the sexual abuse during the investigation because he was ashamed.

Ivan ‘Ivica’ Kraljevic, Mato Jelcic, Slavko Skender, Stojan Odak, Vice Bebek, Vinko Radisic and Dragan Milos are on trial for holding detained civilians and prisoners of war in bad conditions, allowing their mistreatment, gave them too little food and taking them to other locations to do forced labour.

According to the charges, Kraljevic, Jelcic and Skender were managers of the military investigative prison in the police building in Ljubuski at various periods of time from September 1993 to March 1994. The other defendants were guards.

More than a hundred Bosniaks were detained at the prison.

S-5 also testified on Thursday and confirmed having been detained in Ljubuski with witness S-2.

He said he was beaten up almost every day and sexually abused once. He also named defendants Odak, Bebek and Milos as some of the guards who beat him.

“When they would come to the cell, you could not tell who was hitting you,” S-5 said.

He said that Ivan Kraljevic was the prison manager when he got there, but was replaced by Slavko Skender.

The trial is due to continue on November 24.