No Contacts with Prisoners

Stevanovic said that, being a member of the First Bijeljina Light Infantry Unit of the Republika Srpska Army, VRS, he was lightly wounded in late September 1992 and transferred to Lopare, where he performed logistical tasks, including preparation of fire woods for the Army.

“As my arm was put in plaster, I could not drive a car, so ‘Oliva’ was assigned to me in order to help me. At that time I found out that he had arrived to the Unit about ten days ago and that he had been in Serbia and Montenegro before that. The two of us were stationed in the municipality building in Lopare. Our task was to help distribute fire wood, food, cigarettes and other supplies for soldiers,” the witness said.

He said that prisoners and guards were stationed and that the two of them had no contacts with them, adding that he had never seen or heard that Oliver insulted or beat some of the prisoners.

As he said, in most cases prisoners were brought to the location in order to perform labour from a detention camp in Batkovic, Bijeljina municipality.

“Rodic and I were wounded, when visiting soldiers deployed in the Lukavac surroundings on October 10, 1992. I was lightly wounded again, but Oliver received severe injuries, so he was transported to Belgrade in order to undergo medical treatment,” Stevanovic said, adding that he had never seen him in the Unit again after the wounding.

He pointed out that, while staying in Lopare, he and Rodic had never been assigned any tasks related to the detention camp in Novi Ugljevik and that they had never stayed in the camp.

Defence attorney Miodrag Stojanovic included a discharge letter in the case file. The mentioned letter confirms that indictee Rodic underwent medical treatment in the mentioned period of time.

The Bijeljina District Prosecution charges Oliver Rodic, along with Ostoja Minic and Velimir Popovic, with having taken Croat and Bosniak prisoners out of the detention camp in Ugljevik during 1992 in order to examine them and beat and tortured them during the examinations.

At this hearing Veselin Londrovic, Defence attorney of indictee Popovic, provided the Court with a certificate issued by the Dispensary in Ugljevik on May 24, 1992, indicating that Popovic was sent to Bijeljina hospital in order to undergo surgery in that period.

The trial is due to continue on March 7.