Djelilovic et al: Cruelty in Silos

Witness Djordje Andric said that as of mid-May 1992 he could not move freely and that policemen came every day to Tarcin (municipality of Hadzici), where he lived with his family, and asked whether the Serb population had any weapons.

Andric said that on June 6, 1992, he was taken from his family home in Tarcin, together with his brothers and father, first to the Social Home in Pazaric, where they were interrogated about weapons, and afterwards a “Kalgari” took him to the Silos camp.

“When I arrived to the cell, it was dark. In the middle of the night, six policemen came asking who the new arrival was. They took me out and stamped on me in front of the cell,” said the witness.

He said that the next day he was transferred to another cell, where he met his brother and some men who were beaten and bloody.

During their stay in Silos, all the prisoners, the witness claimed, were beaten, and one “Kalember Buba” beat them most.

“When we got loud inside the cell, the guards usually told us to shut up or they will call Kalember,” recalled the witness, adding that he personally was not beaten by him.

Asked by the prosecutor Marjan Pogacnik if he knew who was the warden, Andric replied it was defendant Becir Hujic, and that he spoke with him inside once. “When we got dysentery, I asked him to provide us with medical help,” said the witness and added that guards after that dropped the pills in the dust and prisoners struggled among themselves to grab the medicine for the illness.

The Prosecution charged Mustafa Djelilovic, Fadil Covic, Mirsad Sabic, Nezir Kazic, Becir Hujic, Halid Covic, Serif Mesanovic and Nermin Kalember with crimes against civilians and prisoners of war in the Silos camp and other facilities in the municipality of Hadzici.

According to the indictment, between 1992 and 1996 they took part in a systematic joint criminal enterprise within which they committed crimes against Serb civilians and prisoners of war. The indictment specifies that Becir Hujic was warden and deputy warden of the Silos camp, and the same positions were held by Halid Covic too. Nermin Kalember was a a guard in Silos, while the rest of the defendants carried out duties in the civilian, military and police structures of the local authorities.

Describing the conditions in the camp, Andric said they were disastrous, in the five months that they were there no one ever bathed, and they used a bucket as a toilet inside the cell.

He said that they received one bread crust daily, and after the dysentery outbreak they were poured soup in a bowl from which they would share three or four spoons.

Vasvija Vidovic, lawyer of the first defendant Djelilovic, presented the witness with the document from the Crisis Headquarters of the Serbian Democratic Party (SDS) from March 1992, which says that the witness was appointed commander of a certain platoon, to which Andric said that he had nothing to do with that.

He denied that the Serb population distributed weapons.

The next hearing was scheduled for May 24, 2012, when lawyers of the rest of the defendants will cross-examine the witness.
M.B.