Connected to Electricity, Beaten, Mistreated

Witness A1 said that a man named Duka came to his house at the beginning of June 1992 and that he beaten him up. As he said, the following day he was taken away and detained in a centre in Bileca.
 
“While I was there, they connected me to a device that was connected to electricity. They connected the electricity to my hands. It lasted five or six minutes. Then I was told to turn the switch on that device on number 2. At that moment I fainted,” the witness said.
 
When asked by Prosecutor Behaija Krnjic who was present when all that was happening, A1 said that several people, including a man named Ilic, were there.
 
As he said, he was then transferred from the Centre to an isolation cell in the basement of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, MUP, building, where he stayed for a total of 123 days. The witness said that, during his detention in the isolation cell he was taken out for examinations.
 
“In most cases I was examined by Duka. He would first hit me and say: “Do not let your blood drip down to the floor’,” A1 said.
 
Goran Vujovic, Miroslav Duka and Zeljko Ilic are on trial for crimes committed in Bileca. Vujovic and Duka are charged with having enabled and organised the detention of Bosniak and Croat civilians in the Public Safety Station, SJB, building and the Students’ Dormitory in Bileca, where detainees were killed, tortured and abused, while Ilic is charged with having participated in mental abuse, torture and murders.
 
According to the charges, Vujovic was Chief of the SJB in Bileca, Duka was Commander of the Station and Ilic was policeman.
 
Witness A1 said that, during his stay in the isolation cell he was taken out in order to clean the toilet, which he described as a big humiliation.
 
“Kuljic and Rogan took me out of the cell to clean something. They brought me to the toilet. I had to clean it with my bare hands. Then they said to me: ‘Lick that now.’ I cannot forget the humiliation,” he said.
 
The witness said that he saw Duka hitting Ferhat Avdic, adding that, a short time later he heard that Avdic died.
 
“Duka hit him on his nose with his fist and then on his head with a steel stick. Ferhat fell down. Two men then carried him out in a blanket,” he said.
 
The trial is due to continue on Tuesday, November 4, when the Defence of the indictees will examine the witness.