Mladic: Murders and Rape in Trnopolje
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The purpose of Trnopolje detention camp was to conduct the ethnic cleansing of Prijedor municipality. Serbs deported people from one village after the other. First, they took women and children to Trnopolje. After that they organised convoys and deported them. In the beginning they transported them in cattle wagons and, later on, by truck. As far as able-bodied men are concerned, they either killed them right away or detained them in other detention camps, like Omarska and Keraterm, before deporting them, said Merdzanic, who was a medical doctor in Trnopolje from June to September 1992.
Merdzanic, who had worked in Kozarac village before, described an attack by Serb forces on that village in late May, 1992, adding that Muslims, who were the absolute majority in the village, were either detained or deported after the attack.
Mladic, the then Commander of the Republika Srpska Army, VRS, is charged with the persecution of Muslims and Croats throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina. According to the charges, the persecution reached the scale of genocide in Prijedor and six other Bosnian municipalities.
Besides that, he is on trial for committing genocide in Srebrenica, terrorising civilians in Sarajevo and taking UNPROFOR members hostage in the period from 1992 to 1995.
Witness Merdzanic mentioned the murder of seven detainees in Trnopolje, adding that some Muslims, who were brought from Keraterm, told him that more than 150 people had been killed in that detention camp.
He said that he thought that Trnopolje Commander Slobodan Kuruzovic, who was dressed in military camouflage uniform, knew about the murders, rape and beatings, although he did not personally beat people. The witness said that, despite knowing this, no investigation was conducted.
Merdzanic confirmed that detainees, who were filmed by British television station ITN in Trnopolje at the beginning of August 1992, were held behind barbed wire.
After the Prosecution had played a recording of Merdzanics brief conversation with ITN journalist Penny Marshall, the witness said that he stealthily gave the journalist photographs of beaten detainees, whom he treated as a doctor.
While being cross-examined by Mladics Defence attorney Branko Lukic, Merdzanic confirmed that, with permission from the Trnopolje Commander, several Muslim women, who told him that they had been raped, were transferred to Prijedor hospital for medical examinations, adding that the hospital staff confirmed this.
He said that the perpetrators then threatened the detention camp Commander, adding that they came to Trnopolje in two tanks on which they wrote words El Maniacs.
When asked whether anybody forced detained Muslims and Croats, who were held in Trnopolje, to join the convoys, Merdzanic said that nobody beat them up in an attempt to force them to join, but they were simply told that they had to leave.
He confirmed that the convoy with which he left was organised by the Red Cross.
The trial of Mladic is due to continue tomorrow.
R.M.
