Kondic et al: Prisoners Mistreated

Radomir Radinkovic, a former member of the security services with the First Krajina Corps of the Yugoslav National Army and later also a member of the Republika Srpska Army, who was “tasked with security and interrogation” in Manjaca, said that “up to 3,000 prisoners of war” stayed in the detention camp during the course of the war. He said there were about one hundred people from Kljuc among them.

“In 1992 they started bringing people from Sanski Most, Prijedor and Kljuc. As far as Kljuc residents are concerned, they were brought by Kljuc civil policemen, who then handed them over to detention camp authorities. We asked them to provide us with a signed list of people every time they brought prisoners. Although they resisted the idea, they always had to provide a list of prisoners,” said Prosecution witness Radinkovic.

The State Prosecution charges Vinko Kondic, Bosko Lukic and Marko Adamovic with having participated in organizing a group of people and abetting them to commit genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in the Kljuc area in the course of 1991 and 1992.

The indictment alleges that for a certain period of time Kondic was Chief of the Public Safety Station in Kljuc, Lukic was Commander of the Territorial Defence, TD, Staff in Kljuc, and Adamovic was Deputy Commander of the TD Battalion in Kljuc.

The witness told the Court that he knew that the people who were brought to Manjaca detention camp had been arrested “as per an order by the TD, military or police” in their places of residence, adding that they were all treated as prisoners of war “until their examination had been completed”.

“Upon arrival, there were marks caused by beating or mistreatment on some prisoners. We therefore formed a reception commission. It consisted of the Police Chief from Banja Luka, detention camp manager, clinic staff and a medical doctor. Each new prisoner was asked to take his clothes off. We asked him about injuries. Some were so scared that they told us that their injuries were the result of falling down,” Radinkovic said.

Radinkovic said the detainees were guarded by military policemen in the detention camp, adding that these policemen were inclined to “cause incidents to happen”.

“Prisoners were often beaten and mistreated. Everybody knows about it. It happens in all detention camps. The Court is probably informed about it. Military policemen were doing it arbitrarily. Strong and young men beat the helpless. It all made sense. Some people died,” the witness said.

Answering questions about the prisoners from Kljuc, the witness said he knew that Omer Filipovic and Esad Bender from Kljuc were killed in July 1992, adding that some other men were injured.

The Prosecution presented Radinkovic with an official note, signed by him, pertaining to this incident. The note alleged that Filipovic and Bender were taken out, together with some other people, by military policemen, but it was “symptomatic that policemen and inspectors from Kljuc had brought four new prisoners earlier that day. They may have suggested this action to be taken”.

“I mentioned that as one of the possibilities. However, civil policemen were not allowed to enter the detention camp itself,” the witness said.

Radinkovic told the Court that inspectors from Kljuc, Prijedor and Sanski Most examined detainees from their places of residence, adding that some of them used to beat prisoners, but it was “not the case with inspectors from Kljuc”.

The trial is due to continue on April 8, 2009.