Bosnian Serb Policemen Beat Detainees in Kotor Varos
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Witness Ahmet Cirkic told the court in Sarajevo on Monday that Dusko Vujicic and Dusko Maksimovic beat him up while he was detained in a building near the courthouse in Kotor Varos in 1992.
He said that the detention of Bosniaks and Croats started after Bosnian Serb forces took control over the Kotor Varos municipality in June 1992.
He recalled how he was taken to the building near the courthouse after spending two nights in the local police station, whose commander was one of the defendants, Savo Tepic.
We were brought to a room on the far right [of the building]. The number of people detained in this room kept rising. On the left side, there was a room for the guards, and I knew all of them, said the witness.
He said that Vujicic often came to the room where the prisoners were held, and that once he beat him up, kicking him in the head.
When we heard that Vujicic was coming, we were scared. His arrival was a shock for us every time, said Cirkic.
The witness said that getting beaten up was a normal occurrence while he was in detention. He recalled that once Maksimovic came into the room with two other men and beat him with a pistol on the head.
Most of the prisoners had broken noses, said Cirkic, adding that some even died from the physical abuse.
Vujicic, Maksimovic, Tepic, Dragoslav Bojic, Radojko Keverovic, Rade Skoric and Ilija Kurusic are charged with having participated in a widespread and systematic attack, forcing Bosniaks and Croats to leave their houses; detaining, torturing and committing other inhumane acts against them from May to the end of 1992.
According to the indictment, Tepic was the chief of the police station in Kotor Varos and a member of the Crisis Staff in the municipality, Bojic was the commander of the police station, Vujicic was a police officer, Maksimovic, Skoric and Keverovic were reservist policemen, while Kurusic was a member of the Bosnian Serb Army.
They have all pleaded not guilty.
The trial will continue on Monday.
