Prisoner Recalls Beatings on Frontline

Prosecution witness Mladen Suvajlo told the Sarajevo court on Thursday that he was detained at the Silos camp in Hadzici on June 9, 1992, and then transferred to the Krupa barracks several months later.

In January 1993, along with a group of other prisoners, he was taken to the frontline in the Sarajevo suburb of Hrasnica, where he was forced to work, and abused and beaten.

“One soldier once told me to run, and I knew that it would mean that I was running away and that he would have to kill me. I did not want to run and then he hit me,” said the witness, who testified from Australia via video link.

Becir Hujic, Mustafa Djelilovic, Fadil Covic, Mirsad Sabic, Nezir Kazic, Halid Covic, Serif Mesanovic, and Nermin Kalember are on trial for committing crimes against Serb and Croat prisoners at the Silos camp, the Krupa barracks and the 9th of May school in Hadzici

According to the indictment, Hujic was the warden of the Silos camp, as was Halid Covic at a later date. Mesanovic was one of the deputy wardens at the detention centre and also camp warden in the Krupa military barracks. Kalember was a guard, while the others worked for the civilian, military or police authorities.

The witness said that he was later brought back to the Krupa barracks, where he was also taken to do forced labour.

“Since I was seriously beaten, a doctor later prescribed that I could not work, and I did not go to work,” he said.

Later he was taken back to the Silos camp, where prisoners were made to do various kinds of work include cutting wood.

“Conditions were a bit better after my return, but there were still beatings, which I felt when I said that I could not cut wood because of the pain in my back. I asked for a pill from a guard, and I was hit on the head… He made me work while I was in pain,” the witness said.

The trial continues on July 3.