Selimovic et al: Security Officer’s Signals

Prosecution witness Milovan Mastikosa told the Court he was captured in the vicinity of Sanski Most, together with five other members of the Republika Srpska Army and police, in September 1995. He said he was then taken to a shooting, but he managed to survive.

“They handed us over to ‘Hodza’, who prayed to God. He stood behind us, and then shot four people. My childhood friend was killed on that occasion. We survived the shooting by accident, because he ran out of ammunition, I guess,” Mastikosa recalled.

Mastikosa testified at the trial of Mehura Selimovic, Adil Ruznic and Emir Mustafic, who are charged with having assisted and abetted the detention of civilians and members of the Republika Srpska Army and police in detention centers in Bihac, Cazin and Bosanski Petrovac from February 1994 to February 1996.

Suad Kapic, known as Hodza, a former member of the Third Battalion with the 517th Cazin Brigade of the Fifth Corps of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina, was sentenced, by a second instance verdict pronounced by the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina this year, to 17 years in prison for participation in the torture of captured members of the Republika Srpska Army, VRS. Kapic was sentenced for having participated in the murder of four prisoners; Milovan Mastikosa and Dragan Stupar survived the shooting.

Witness Mastikosa said that, after having been captured, he was taken to Bosanski Petrovac, where he stayed “in a hangar for more than 20 days”. Some time later he was transferred to the premises of the “Plastika” Factory in the same town. According to the witness, indictee Selimovic examined him during the course of his detention in that building. Mastikosa recognized the indictee in the courtroom.

“Mehura asked who had beaten us, because he saw bruises. He cursed someone, saying this was not how it should have been done. He once told me that I would be eaten by pigs on Petrovacko polje unless we cooperated with him,” Mastikosa recalled. After having spent three days in “Plastika” he was transferred to the “27. juli“ military barracks in Bihac.

The witness recognized indictee Ruznic in the courtroom, saying he examined the detainees in Bihac, as well as indictee Mustafic, claiming he was a guard in the military barracks.

“When Ruznic was not happy with our answers, he gave a signal by touching his hair. The guard would then hit me on my back. I do not know if he hit me with his hand or a stick,” the witness said, adding that he once saw Mustafic beating a prisoner.

A second Prosecution witness, Bogdan Lakic, said he was examined “by a security officer almost every other day” during the course of his detention in the “27. juli“ military barracks in Bihac, recognizing indictee Ruznic as the security officer.

“In most cases I was examined, either orally or in writing, in an office. (…) We were psychologically abused and threatened, as they told us they did not know whether we would survive or not. (…) The guard would slap me in the face when the security officer gave him a signal to do so by touching his hair. I was slapped on two occasions,” the witness said.

The indictment alleges that Selimovic was Counter-intelligence Officer, Operational Officer and Deputy Chief of the Military Security Services Section of the Fifth Corps, Ruznic was Assistant Commander for Security Affairs and Operational Officer with the same Section, while Mustafic was a member of the Military Police with the Fifth Corps.

The trial is due to continue on October 6, when the indictees’ Defence teams will cross-examine witness Mastikosa. D.S.