Avdovic and Vintila: Hit by Sergeants
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Witness Radivoje Skobo was brought to Viktor Bubanj military barracks in September 1992. He was told that he was brought to the barracks due to the aggression against Bosnia and Herzegovina. He said that he had a rifle, which was taken away from him.
When I was brought, seven of us stayed in the same cell. The conditions were horrible and food was bad. I bathed only once during my stay, the witness said.
He said that he was beaten by two sergeants.
While I was moving a barrel of water in the hallway, Kemo Dautovic hit me on my nape with some object. I almost fell down. Safet then hit me on my kidneys with his leg, Skobo said.
Iulian-Nicolae Vintila and Ramiz Avdovic are charged with having participated, as members of a joint criminal enterprise, in the establishment and maintenance of a system for abuse of Serb civilians from June to the end of November 1992.
According to the charges, Avdovic was Commander of Guards on the fifth floor of the District Prison in Sarajevo and former Viktor Bubanj military barracks, while Vintila was a cook and guard in the former barracks.
Witness Skobo said that the two indictees did not beat him. Also, he said that he thought that Ramiz Avdovic was the Manager during his detention, adding that he saw him giving tasks to sergeants.
Skobo told the Court that a criminal proceeding was conducted against him and that he was sentenced to eight and a half-years in prison on March 25, 1993. As he said, after he had filed an appeal, the sentence was reduced to seven years.
When asked by Vlado Adamovic, Defence attorney of indictee Vintila, if it was true that Boro Berijan gave him a rifle on behalf of the Serbian Democratic Party, SDS, as indicated in the verdict, the witness said that he could not remember.
Also, Adamovic presented a document, indicating that the witness was member of the Military Post in Lukavica from May 1, 1992 to June 16, 1995, and asked the witness if he knew about it.
They may have registered me as their member, but I never went to frontlines, the witness said.
Trial Chamber Chairwoman Zeljka Marenic asked the witness why he did not report to anybody that the sergeants beat him. He said that he did not dare to do it, because even worse things would have happened to me.
The trial is due to continue on February 15.
