Basic and Sijak: Rape or Claiming Compensation

Whilst Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina considers that both indictees should be sentenced, the Defence argued that guilt has not been proven, adding that the witness “A” claimed that she was raped so that she can qualify for a pension as a civilian victim of war. The sentence is to be announced on January 18.

According to the indictment, Muhidin Basic, as Chief of the War Department of the State Security Service in Olovo, and Mirsad Sijak, as military policeman, member of the 122nd Light Brigade of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina (ABiH) were in the Sumarstvo building in Vares on January 25, 1994, when person “A” came to visit her brother, who was imprisoned there.

It is alleged that both indictees, as well as two unknown members of the ABiH, forced witness “A” to have sexual intercourse with them.

During the evidence procedure, the Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina examined 15 witnesses, as well as several expert witnesses, including also the victim of rape, whose two-day testimony was closed to the public.

Her brother, a former member of the Croatian Defence Council (HVO), who, according to the indictment was in prison of the ABiH, in the basement of the Sumarstvo building in Vares also appeared as a witness.

Fear of Reaction

“Basic and Sijak stuck adhesive tape over her mouth and forcibly removed her upper clothing, while they stripped the lower clothes and raped her,” said Mirko Lecic, prosecutor of the Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, while reading the indictment.

According to him, Basic was the first who raped her, followed by Sijak, and after him, two unidentified people who were also present there.

According to the indictment, Basic stayed with the woman and threatened her that she would never see her brother if she told someone what happened. As the prosecutor argues, Basic added that “he was a Tito-era agent and that he leaves no traces”.

The brother of the witness said that he did not know until recently that his sister had been raped.

“Two years ago, my sister told me that Muhidin Basic and Mirsad Sijak raped her. She did not want to tell me this before because she was afraid of my reaction,” testified witness “C”.

As stated in the indictment, person “A” first spoke about the rape to members of the Women Victims of War Association.

Bakira Hasecic, president of the Association, said before the court that after her colleagues recorded the story of person “A”, she telephoned Basic to inquire whether he works in the Intelligence and Security Agency (OSA) of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as person “A” had claimed.

“He asked me to meet him in a café, which I refused. But the next day he came to the premises of my Association demanding me to tell him the name of the person who reported him. The whole time he was mentioning the name of the person “A”, saying that he is sure that she is avenging him because her brother had been imprisoned,” said Hasecic.

According to Hasecic, on that occasion indictee Basic said that the person “A” was raped by Mirsad Sijak.

Kerim Celik, Basic’s defence attorney, asked Hasecic why person “A” had not gone to the police and instead to the Association to make a statement about the rape, and to inquire whether she is entitled to a pension as a victim of rape.

“The doctor told her that she would feel better if she shares her experience with us, and she refused the pension until we persuaded her to accept it because she is entitled to it,” said Hasecic.

Rifet Alihodzic, together with his colleague from the Command in the Emperor’s Bridge went to Vares on January 25, 1994, and argued that person “A” asked to go with them in order to visit her brother.

“When person “A” left the car, one hundred metres away we met Mirsad Sijak and briefly spoke with him, and then we went to do the job”, the witness said, adding that in the afternoon person “A” returned with them to the Emperor’s Bridge, but that they did not say anything, nor had they noticed anything strange with her.

According to Alihodzic, person “A” visited him in 2009, and told him then that she was raped on the day they went together to Vares.

Both Elvedin Bisic, former member of the ABiH and the Deputy Manager of the prison, who was in the premises of the Sumarstvo building, as well as Alija Cizmo, a former guard, said that “there is no way that there was sexual abuse in that facility, and that they did not hear anything about it”.

Presenting the findings on the health of person “A”, experts of the Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina said she experienced severe trauma and that because of the shame she did not want to tell anyone about it.

“Our conclusion is that witness “A” experienced rape in war through the use violence and brutality from soldiers she knew before the war, as well as from two unknown people, too”, said Marija Kaucic-Komsic, a neuro-psychiatrist, who, together with psychologist Mirjana Music examined person “A”. On the basis of the medical records they obtained, they compiled an assessment and opinion.

However experts of Muhidin Basic’s Defence expressed a different opinion. Tatjana Dragisic and Mirjana Miskovic said that the personality of witness “A” “is fully preserved without serious psychopathological disorders, with mild depressive disorders”, emphasising person “A” is capable of thinking and acting very fast, and that is not typical of a person who has survived a certain trauma.

Activities of the Witness

The indictee Basic, testifying in his favour, said that “rape did not even pass through his mind”.

He said that on January 25, 1994, he was in Olovo. He also said that he knew person “A” because she was a delegate in the Municipal Assembly of Olovo and that she “actively participated in it”.

“I am not afraid of truth, but of lies. I had several problems with that woman,” said Basic, adding that in late 1993, she begged him to rescue her brother from prison, who, as a member of the Croatian Defence Council (HVO), surrendered just before the capture of Vares, and that she also offered money for it.

Indictee Mirsad Sijak defended himself with an alibi. According to his lawyer Fahrija Karkin, Mirsad Sijak was on “referral” from the Command in Vares on the morning of January 25, 1994, after which he, together with his colleague, travelled to Kakanj for the takeover of the Corps, which is recorded in his diary. This was attached as the proof by the Defence.

Sabahudin Operta, witness of the Defence, who allegedly spent the whole day with the indictee, confirmed this. Sijak also submitted documentation that in the beginning of January 1994, he was wounded in the lower extremities and genitals, and said that he was on treatment for one month, and that he occasionally came to work.

“My life, my honour, my family and career has been destroyed by this indictment. I have been indicted for something to which I have no connection whatsoever,” said Mirsad Sijak.

Sijak and Basic denied their guilt on January 9, 2012, after which the trial began. During the trial, both indictees defended themselves while at freedom.