Beating in Central Prison in Sarajevo

Witness Zoran Jovicic said that he was brought to the Central Prison in Sarajevo in June 1992 after having been arrested in his apartment in the Ciglane neighbourhood. According to his testimony, he was arrested by members of the Territorial Defence, whom he did not know. 

He was held in the Central Prison for three months. He said he was most brutally beaten on the first evening of his detention. 

“Upon my arrival to the prison I was personally beaten up most brutally. Guards and people who met us stood in two lines while all of us prisoners had to walk between them, holding our heads down. I was hit on my spine, ribs, stomach and even my neck. 

“They hit me with all sorts of objects, including rifle butts and boots. They beat me for at least two hours but I survived because I was young and strong,” Jovicic said. 

Jovicic explained that after three months he was transferred to the Viktor Bubanj military barracks, where he stood trial before being sent to the Central Prison to serve his sentence. 

“I was sentenced to two years because they found that I allegedly communicated the positions of the Territorial Defence of Bosnia and Herzegovina to Serbs. Of course, this was not true, but I served my one-and-a-half year sentence,” the witness said. 

Jovicic told the Court that he had heard about Ramiz Avdovic, but he could not recognize him. 

Ramiz Avdovic and Iulian-Nicolae Vintila are charged with crimes committed in the former Viktor Bubanj military barracks. 

They are charged with having participated in the establishment and maintenance of a system for abuse of Serb civilians, as members of a joint criminal enterprise, in the period from June to the end of November 1992. 

According to the charges, Avdovic was a 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. 

At the hearing Mustafa Keco also testified for the Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In June 1992 Keco worked as a guard in the Central Prison and later on in the Viktor Bubanj barracks in Sarajevo.  

According to his testimony, prisoners were never mistreated in the Central Prison and Viktor Bubanj barracks. 

“I am saying that responsibly. I never saw that any of the prisoners were mistreated, at least not during my shifts. They did stand trials and were examined by inspectors, but I never noticed any signs of beating or bruises on them,” Keco said. 

When asked whether he knew who his superior officer was, Keco said that Ramiz Avdovic was commander of guards, but he never heard that he had been officially appointed to that position. 

The trial is due to continue on Friday, May 17.