He Improved Conditions in Uzamnica

Stojan Zekanovic, former sergeant with the Yugoslav National Army, JNA, said that he took over the function of Commander of Uzamnica military barracks in Visegrad on April 4, 1993, as per an order issued by the Podrinje Brigade Commander.

“When I came to the barracks, guards and Muslims, who were held in it, were already there. There were both old and young people, women and two children. They were held in that facility in order to be exchanged,” Zekanovic said.

Zekanovic mentioned that the detainees were guarded for the sake of their own security and that they were locked at night, while they were able to move freely during the day. When asked by the Chamber whether those people could leave, considering that he said that they were free, the witness said that he “assumes that they could flee”.

He mentioned that he heard rumours about all sorts of things happening in the military barracks prior to his arrival and that some guards left the military barracks, because they “could no longer watch that”.

Speaking about the conditions in the military barracks and hangar, where Bosniaks were held, the witness said that he made sure that they got new blankets and heating stoves and that they were given the same type of food as soldiers, three times a day. Also, he said that, during the night they urinated into a bucket.

Zekanovic said that the people had to be treated in accordance with the Geneva Convention. Prosecutor Seid Marusic then asked “whether the Geneva Convention meant urinating into a bucket?”

“They walked and aired the bedding. They went to other locations in order to perform labour, like picking fruits and vegetables,” the witness said, adding that he improved the living conditions after having arrived in the military barracks.

He said that a woman complained to him about being sexually abused by a Saban Muratovic, so he detained him for two days because of that.

Zekanovic said that he met indictee Goran Popovic after the war and that he heard, later on, that he too was a guard in Uzamnica, but he was not in the barracks, when he arrived. He could not remember the names of the guards from April to October 1993, when he left the barracks.

The Prosecution of BiH charges Goran Popovic, former guard in Uzamnica detention camp, with having participated in the abuse, beating and torture, as well as sexual abuse of men and women, in Uzamnica detention camp from April to September 1992.

Witness Jelisavka Petrovic, former Vice-President of Visegrad municipality and a member of the Serbian Democratic Party, SDS, testified at this hearing as well. She said that Muslims were the majority in Visegrad and that Serbs were intimidated.

“Serbs did not cause any incidents, because we were the minority,” Petrovic said.

She confirmed that there was a group of extremists among Muslims, which caused trouble, adding that both the Bosniak and Serb population left Visegrad on a couple of occasions.

The trial is due to continue on November 5.