Prisoners Died before Morning

Witness G.Z. said that, being an active policeman, he was engaged, as of mid-June 1992, as the chief guard in a prison behind the Court building in Kotor-Varos, along with three other guards, who were members of reserve police forces.
 
“Savo Tepic was Chief of Police and Dragan Bojic became the Commander in mid-1992,” said G.Z., who asked the Court to prohibit the publishing of his full name in public.
 
He said that the key task of the guards was to guard the detainees, predominantly civilians – Muslims and Croats, who were mostly brought by members of the “Red Berets” and “the special units”, as the witness said.
 
He mentioned that there were usually about 30 detainees, but the number changed over time.
 
“Many of them had been beaten up prior to being brought to that place. I informed Commander Bojic about it orally. In two cases people were brought in the evening. They were in a bad condition and did not live to see the following morning,” the witness said, adding that sometimes he personally drove some of the beaten detainees to the dispensary.
 
This witness said that, according to the rulebook, nobody was allowed to enter the prison premises, but in some cases he was not able to prevent that. As he said, members of “Red Berets” and “SOS” unit entered the prison in that way.
 
“They did it more or less forcibly. Nobody could prohibit Slobodan Dubocanin from doing it,” the witness said, adding that Dubocanin was Commander of the Special Forces, whose members entered the prison and mistreated prisoners.
 
According to his testimony, prisoners were also taken to the Police Station, where they were examined, mostly by Zdravko Pejic, representative of the State Security.
 
“Dusko Maksimovic came to the prison, when his brother was wounded in Kotor village. (…) He may have hit somebody. I cannot remember for sure,” the witness said. Responding to a Defence’s question, he said that he could not say that concretely and surely, adding that Maksimovic brought some clothes to the prisoners whom he knew.
 
He said that he was dismissed from the prison in late August 1992 and that Ilija Kurusic was appointed a guard after that.
 
Savo Tepic, Dusko Vujicic, Dragoslav Bojic, Dusko Maksimovic, Radojko Keverovic, Rade Skoric and Ilija Kurusic are on trial for crimes in Kotor-Varos. They are charged with having participated in detention, torture and other inhumane acts against Bosniaks and Croats in 1992.
 
According to the charges, Bojic was Commander of the Police Station in Kotor-Varos, Tepic was Chief of the Public Safety Station, Vujicic was an active policeman, Maksimovic, Skoric and Keverovic were reserve policemen, while Kurusic was member of the Republika Srpska Army, VRS.
 
Second witness A.G. also asked the Court to only allow the media to publish his initials, not the full name. He said that he was arrested in mid-June 1992 and taken to the Police Station in Kotor-Varos, where he was examined and beaten up.
 
As he said, Dusko Vujicic, who was accompanied by a uniformed soldier, then took him to prison, where he saw between 20 and 30 people, many of whom he knew.
 
“Soldiers used to come in order to beat us. This may have not happened every day, but it happened frequently,” said the witness, adding that the guards treated them in a correct manner.
 
According to his testimony, three persons died in the prison due to injuries.
 
A.G. also said that Dusko Vujicic visited the prison frequently, when new prisoners were brought.
 
According to the schedule of hearings, this trial is due to continue on November 10.