Witness Describes Violent Policeman

Celic, who began testifying on August 30, said that he was brought to the Public Safety Station in Kladanj on July 22, 1992, in order to be examined about arms. A military policeman, whose last name, as he found out, was Gogic, beat him up in the cell three times.
 
“The first beating was the worst for me,” the witness said, explaining that blood poured out of his mouth, nose and left ear.
 
The witness told the Court that, while he was in the cell, he was examined by inspector Nusret Mujic every day in regard to the handover of an illegal gun. He said that he did not possess illegal weapons, but, after a few days he admitted to Muhic that he had two rifles. The witness explained that the guns did not belong to him, but to a man from nearby Brnjica village, who had hidden them on the side of a road.
 
“When I realised that the beating would not stop, I admitted that the guns, which that man had put away, were mine,” he said.
 
Celic said that the military policeman, who had beaten him, was rather short and blonde, adding that he never saw him after that. The witness explained that the policeman had a small plate on his uniform and that ‘military police’ was written on it, but he was not sure if his first and last name were written on it as well. He said that, during the investigation he was not offered any photographs for the purpose of identification, but he “stayed in his memory.”
 
Celic did not accept an allegation by Gogic’s Defence attorney Fahrija Karkin, who said that he did not describe the military policeman during the investigation.
 
The witness said that Muhic could see his injuries while examining him.
 
Gogic, former military policeman, is charged with having beaten witness Celic up, while Muhic, former Chief of a Crime Prevention Group with the Public Safety Station in Kladanj, is charged with having failed to “undertake measures in order to ensure his safe treatment during the process.”
 
They are on trial along with Safet Mujcinovic, Selman Busnov, Zijad Hamzic, Ramiz Halilovic, Nedzad Hodzic, Hariz Habibovic and Kahro Vejzovic, former members of the Territorial Defence and military and civil police.
 
The witness said that, once the guns had been found, he was sent back from Kladanj to Stupari, where he was detained in the education workers’ building together with other Serbs, including Dobrivoje Jovicic. He said that he described the military policeman to Jovicic, who told him that his name was Osman Gogic and that they had worked with the same company before.
 
Describing the living conditions in the education workers’ building, the witness said that apartments were furnished and that he neither saw nor heard that anybody was mistreated. He said that he thought the conditions were better than the conditions in which Bosniak refugees in a nearby school building lived. He complained about the summer heat, saying that civil policemen, who guarded them, did not allow them to go out or open the windows.
 
He told the Court that Mujcinovic did some small favours to him, like loosening the handcuffs, which were put on his hands after he had been examined about the weapons. According to the charges, Mujcinovic was Commander of the Police Station in Stupari.
 
The witness said that he was sentenced to six months in prison for illegal possession of weapons in Tuzla in late 1992. He said that he admitted to the judge that the weapons belonged to him. He said that he heard that the Yugoslav National Army, JNA, armed the local Serb population in the Kladanj area.
 
The trial is due to continue on September 13, when a new State Prosecution witness will be examined.