Prisoner Recalls Visegrad Police Station Abuse

Prosecution witness Junus T., who testified that he was sexually abused and beaten up in the basement of Visegrad police station at a previous hearing on February 26, responded to defence questioning by saying that he assumed that his abuser was one of the three defendants but could not be certain.

“I heard the name ‘Predrag Milisavljevic’. Out of five people who beat us, one resembles him. It could be him. I was under pressure, because I was viciously abused. I assume it is him, but I am not 100 per cent certain. I am 50 per cent certain,” Junus T. said.

The witness explained that upon returning to the room where he was held with other prisoners, he heard that his abuser was “Predrag Milisavljevic” or “Milosavljevic”, a man who had a twin brother.

“We were beaten, humiliated… Some of them urinated on my hands and told me: ‘Balija [a pejorative word for Bosnian Muslims], do your ablutions now.’ When they were beating us, one was questioning, the other one hitting…” said Junus T.

According to Junus T., he was taken to the police station by “people in black uniforms with Chetnik [Serbian paramilitary] insignia” on May 13, 1992, and held for two nights, during both of which he was beaten up.

“We were taken out several times, beaten, abused. Thank God I stayed alive,” the witness said.

While detained at the police station, the witness said that some of the soldiers forced him to caress their sexual organs.

“[Another detainee and trial witness, Ahmo] Zulanovic was with me in the room. An unknown soldier had an intercourse with him,” the witness said.

Predrag Milisavljevic is charged with sexually abusing men at the police station.

Together with him, Milos Pantelic and Ljubomir Tasic are being tried for participating in murders, the forced transfer of people and other inhumane acts in Visegrad.

The indictment says the offences were committed in 1992 when Milisavljevic and Pantelic were police reservists in Visegrad and when Tasic was serving with the Bosnian Serb Army.

Junus T. said he saw defendant Pantelic and others set fire to his house in a village near Visegrad.

“He was throwing a Molotov cocktail – gasoline in a bottle with a fuse, was thrown through a broken window,” said Junus T., emphasising that he did not recognise any of the other soldiers except for Pantelic.

The trial is set to resume on April 16.