Unbearable Pain

Testifying at the trial for crimes in the Kladanj area, a State Prosecution witness says that, when she had a kidney attack in detention, “police Commander Safet” told her that he was not responsible if she died a natural death.

“I am responsible for your security, but I am not responsible for your natural death,” witness Milena Andric said, recalling what Safet told her.

She said that she had the kidney attack, while being detained, along with other Serbs, including her husband and his parents, in the teachers’ buildings in Stupari.

“I remember that I was screaming due to the pain,” she said, adding that Safet appeared in the apartment when she got better.

Andric said that she did not know whether Safet she was in pain, but she considered that it was his duty to send someone to help her.
According to the charges, although he was responsible for the conditions in which civilians were held, Safet Mujcinovic, former Commander of the Police Station in Stupari, failed to undertake measures to improve the conditions, but he allowed inhumane treatment of detainees. It is alleged that he deprived Milena Andric of medical assistance in June 1992.

The witness, who was detained in the teachers’ buildings for 14 months, said that she did not know indictee Safet Mujcinovic very well, so, when asked to identify him in the courtroom, she pointed towards indictee Ramiz Halilovic. After having heard what his name was, she apologized to him.

Her husband Milomir Andric said that he did not remember the conversation between Safet and his wife, adding that she told him about it later on. Also, he did not remember what the guards told him, when he personally asked them for help, because his wife was in pain.

He said that, in the summer of 1992 Ismet Butkovic and Kahro Vejzovic took him out of the teachers’ buildings for an examination in front of a nearby school building.

While indictee Nusret Muhic questioned him about weapons, Vejzovic hit him a few times, as he said. He mentioned that he had not known Vejzovic before, adding that he heard his name during his detention.

“He came to me running two or three times and hit me on my head with his fist,” witness Andric said, adding that he also hit him on his ribs with a rifle butt.

The witness was taken to the Police Station in Kladanj soon after. As he said, he told Muhic about his father’s and his weapons, for which they had permits. The weapons were found later on. He said that Muhic treated him in a correct and professional manner.
The indictment alleges that Muhic was Chief of the Section for Fight against Crime with the Public Safety Station in Kladanj, while Vejzovic was policeman in Stupari.
 
Describing the conditions in the teachers’ buildings, where he was held for nine months, the witness said that policemen guarded them and that they were allowed to go out for 15-minute walks. As he said, in the beginning he did not have any objections about the food, but it became worse later on.

“We were not allowed to open windows even though it was very hot,” he said.

As he said, indictee Nedzad Hodzic, whom he described as a chaste man, was one of the guards. During the course of his testimony he said words of praise for indictee Halilovic as well.

Mujcinovic, Halilovic, Hodzic, Vejzovic and Muhic are on trial, along with Selman Busnov, Zijad Hamzic, Hariz Habibovic and Osman Gogic, for crimes in Kladanj.

The trial is due to continue on January 24.