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Dobrivoje Mihajlovic said that he was brought to Rapatnica, along with others, on June 21, 1992 after having been captured, while attempting to leave Brezje village, which was under artillery fire.
“When we came, we saw between ten and 20 people, whom we did not know. We were scared to death. They were beaten up. They had cuts on their faces. They said that they were from Potpec village,” Mihajlovic said, adding that more men from Brezje and Jasenica were brought on the following day.
As he said, they were taken to a room on the first floor in order to be examined, adding that they heard cries, shouting and loud bangs coming from that room.
The witness said that a man known as Muce was at the hall door and that he called out the names of the people, who were then taken for examination, adding that his brother Sejdo entered the hall as well and hit people.
“Sejdo had black gloves. He would enter the hall and hit people in front of the captain. The captain came three times. During his first visit, he said that we had to say everything about the weapons, or else we would be killed. I think that the captain was the chief of the detention camp,” the witness said.
He said that Sejdo beat his cousin Radenko in the hall and that his uncle Ilija, who was disabled, fell, when Sejdo hit him on his way to the toilet.
Ekrem Ibracevic, Faruk Smajlovic, known as Puka, and Sejdalija Covic, known as Sejdo and Cova, are on trial for having tortured and abused Serb civilians in the local community premises in Rapatnica and the football club premises in the period from June to August 1992.
The indictment alleges that Ibracevic was Chief of military security with the Municipal Headquarters of the Territorial Defence in Srebrenik, Smajlovic was Commander of the Military Police Squad, while Covic was a military policeman.
Witness Mihajlovic said that he was not beaten during his examination in Rapatnica, adding that he thought that this was thanks to a man, who brought him to that place following his arrest, because he had known him from before. As he said, the man said upon their arrival in Rapatnica: “Nobody should even touch these four men”.
He said that, after having spent seven days in Rapatnica, 36 or 37 detainees were transferred by refrigerator truck to a prison in Tuzla, where he stayed until April 1993.
“A man with a totally black face was among the last to come out. I asked if it was Stokan Markovic. I could not believe that he would survive and that his face would be back to normal again,” the witness said.
Mihajlovic said that he heard that Markovic too was in Rapatnica, but that he was held in some other premises, just like a few other men, who were brought to that prison. As he said, those men said that they were tortured with a soldetron and that needles were pushed underneath their nails.
The witness said that he was not sure whether he could recognise the captain from Rapatnica, because he did not know how much he could have changed since. When asked whether he could see him in the courtroom, the witness said: “Could it be the gentleman with a tie”, pointing to attorney Ismet Bajramovic.
Documents, indicating that the witness identified Muce and Sejdo on photographs during the investigation in 2009, were included in the case file.
Responding to questions by Covic’s Defence attorney Ismet Bajramovic, the witness was not able to explain why he said, when identifying Muce, that he recognised him, because he was the one who hit his uncle Ilija, although he said, at the hearing today, that Sejdo did it.
The trial is due to continue on January 27.
