Dronjak: Brother’s Bones and Shirt

Witness Esma Cehic told the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina that Serb soldiers arrested her brother Enver in his house in Gornji Vojici village, near Kljuc in mid-1992. The witness said that later on she heard that her brother was taken to the Kamenica detention camp in Drvar.

“The Serb Army surrounded the village. They asked me where Enver was. I said that he had gone to Banja Luka. They said that it was not true, entered the house and arrested him,” the witness said.

The Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina charges Ratko Dronjak, former Commander and Manager of the Kamenica detention camp and a prison in the “Slavko Rodic” school building in Drvar, with having organised the unlawful detention of Bosniak and Croat civilians and prisoners of war in the period from 1992 to 1995.

According to the charges, civilians and prisoners of war, who were held in those buildings, were subjected to torture, beating, murder and inhumane treatment, while also being forced to perform hard labour.

The witness said that she went from Kljuc to Travnik, because she found out that the prisoners, who were held in the Kamenica detention camp, would be sent to Karlovac, Croatia.

“I went there and asked if my brother Enver had arrived. A man, who had come out of the detention camp, told me that they called my brother’s name and drove him to some doctors in Banja Luka because of some problems with his hand, although he told them that there was nothing wrong with his hand,” the witness said, but she did not specify when she went to Karlovac.

The witness said that she found out about her brother’s fate when a grave was discovered between Drvar and Bosanski Petrovac. She did not say when this happened.

“He was found in that grave. When I came there to identify him, I saw his shirt and underpants next to my brother’s bones,” witness Cehic said.

The witness told the Court that, prior to being arrested and taken to the detention camp, Enver had survived the shooting in Velagici, Kljuc municipality.

“A child came and said that he had seen Enver lying in the brook. He said that he was covered with blood. He managed to crawl to our village and asked where his family members were. At that time we were in a neighbouring village. We came back by tractor to pick him up. His body was full of bullet holes and totally covered with blood,” witness Cehic said, crying.

The trial is due to continue on Friday, July 15 this year.