Selimovic et al: Words That Will Never Be Forgotten

Zivko Malesevic, former member of the Safety Services Center in Banja Luka, told the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina that ABiH members captured him in the vicinity of Bosanski Petrovac in September 1995.

The witness said that after having been captured, he was transferred to the plastic factory in that town, where he was questioned by indictee Selimovic.

“They first had us pass between two lines of soldiers in order to get to our room. Soldiers were hitting us with fists or feet…I was questioned by Mr. Mehura, who threatened me. He had a revolver and he said: ‘Chetnik, you will either speak or make a sign of the cross and be eaten by pigs in a meadow’. I shall never forget those words,” the witness said.

Malesevic said that during the course of the examination Selimovic “signaled to the guard by scratching his face” and left the room. The guard then hit him several times.

The State Prosecution charges Selimovic, Ruznic and Emir Mustafic with having assisted in 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.

The Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina considers that Selimovic was a Counter-intelligence Officer, Operational Officer and Deputy Chief of the Military Safety Services Section with the ABiH’s Fifth Corps; Ruznic was Assistant Commander for Security Issues and Operational Officer with the same Section; and Mustafic was a member of the Military Police Unit with the ABiH’s Fifth Corps.

The indictment alleges that in October 1995, Selimovic physically and psychologically abused a prisoner of war in the plastic factory in Bosanski Petrovac, “threatening him by saying he would kill him and intimidating him”.

Witness Malesevic recalled having been transferred by a military truck from Bosanski Petrovac to the “27. juli” military barracks in Bihac “more than a month later”. He said he spent the night in the barrack and he was transferred to the “Luke” prison in that town on the following day.

He stayed in the prison until the end of January 1996, when he was exchanged.

“We were questioned in prison cells. During the course of my first examination a man who had a camcorder came to the cell. He was accompanied by Mehura and Ruznic. We spoke for more than two hours. After that I did not see Mehura again, but Ruznic would come with written questions,” the witness recalled.

As indicated by Malesevic, in November and December 1995 he and other Serb detainees were beaten up and taken to other locations in Bihac area to perform forced labour.

“Guards used to beat us. I remember the beating that happened after the fall of Sanski Most. A guard entered the room and told us to go to the toilet. He then hit us one by one. I was the fourth in the row… He hit me hard, so I fell down. He then jumped on me with his boots on,” Malesevic said.

The witness explained that at the beginning of 1996, indictee Ruznic told him he could sign “a statement of cooperation”, by which he would undertake to continue working for “the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina” after being released.

The Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina has charged Ruznic with having psychologically abused detainees in the “Luke” prison in Bihac by forcing them to sign papers undertaking to serve in the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The next hearing is due to take place on December 15 this year. 

D.Dž.