Syria Defendant Goes on Hunger Strike Over Prison Conditions

Milarem Berbić. Photo: Court of BiH

Defendant Berbic said he could not follow the trial because he had been on hunger strike for six days in protest about what he said were poor conditions in the state prison in which he is being held.

He complained that his rights are not being respected, that he is getting different treatment from other detainees, that he is being insulted. He listed similar reasons at a previous hearing when the trial was also postponed and witnesses who were supposed to testify were not heard.

Judge Dzemila Begovic stated that she had been informed by the prison that it has a halal certificate for inmates’ food, but Berbic said the did not matter as he was not being given meat to eat at all.

The defendant also complained about possibilities for medical check-ups, claiming that he was sent back “with no checks done” or specialists failed to appear, or that he refused to go for check-ups because he had been offended by certain statements.

Berbic particularly emphasised that he wanted to be transferred to be with another group of prisoners or even put in an isolation cell because his religious beliefs had been insulted.

He also complained about his phone conversations being cut short, and that he was not given the possibility to read daily newspapers. He said he had observed differences in his treatment compared to that of other detainees.

The defendant said that after he went on hunger strike, no facility staff had addressed him except for policemen, who were unable to solve his problems.

Defence lawyer Almin Hrustic pointed out that on December 8, Berbic informed him he would go on hunger strike and that he thought the Bosnian Justice Ministry would send an inspector to see him.

He gave the court seven complaints which Berbic lodged with the prison manager, but all of them were rejected.

Hrustic also said the defendant had already been on hunger strike four times, but nothing had changed.

Prosecutor Elvira Stanojlovic said she did not understand why such simple matters about which the defendant had complained could not be resolved.

Although the defendant first said he only wanted to be transferred to be with another group of prisoners, after a break in the hearing, he said he wanted this to be a group of inmates who have also been charged with going to fight in Syria.

He explained that during the break in the trial, he had read a letter from the prison manager to the Bosnian state court, calling him a manipulator.

“I am now requesting to be sent back to the group of Syrians. I will remain on hunger strike until I die,” Berbic said.

Judge Begovic said the court would check whether anything could be done and called on Berbic to reconsider his decision to go on hunger strike for heath reasons and because of the trial itself.

Berbic is accused of leaving Bosnia and Herzegovina on August 29, 2014 to join foreign paramilitary units in Syria. While in Syria, he allegedly joined a unit fighting for the so-called Islamic State, which was declared a terrorist organisation by the UN.

The trial is due to continue on December 22.