Witnesses Describe Detainee Abuse at Batkovic Detention Camp
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Former prison guard Gligor Begovic is charged with beating detainees at the Batkovic detention camp in the summer of 1992.
Protected witness A said that he was brought to the Batkovic detention camp in the summer of 1992. He said there were between ten and fifteen guards, including four guards who he knew by their first names: Zoka, Gligor, Veselin, and Vojkan.
A described the conditions at the camp as inhumane.
“Worms crawled over detainees,” A said.
“Gligor Begovic was rather short. He was about twenty. He is sitting here in the white jacket,” A said. He said he learned Begovic’s last name after having been exchanged and sent to Tuzla.
A said he was beaten at the Batkovic detention camp almost every day, and that Begovic singled him out for a beating on his first day.
“He [Begovic] kicked me on my chest. Then he hit me on my back with the butt of a rifle, and then on my chest again until I fainted,” A said. A said he experienced a similar beating on the following day. A spent a total of fifteen months at the Batkovic detention camp.
A said Begovic and other guards beat other detainees as well, and that detainees suspected of being “special forces members” were beaten more than others.
“I don’t know how those men survived at all. Their ears were like ashtrays. Their faces distorted. They would come back crawling,” A said.
A said he was also taken to other locations in order to perform forced labour and dig trenches. He said he saw Begovic participate in taking detainees away.
Saban Mustafic, the second prosecution witness, said he was also beaten by Begovic, whom he recognized in the courtroom. Mustafic spent 25 days at the Batkovic detention camp.
“They beat me up as soon as I arrived, but I didn’t know anyone at that time. When I woke up, I thought I was dead, because I saw 1000 people with their heads shaved, sitting there with their heads bowed,” said Mustafic.
Mustafic said Begovic and a major named Zoran Zaric used to beat alleged “special forces members” on a daily basis.
“They used to hang Alija Konjanik until he fainted. Zoran Zaric and Gligor Begovic did that. They would pour water over him and hang him again,” Mustafic said.
Responding to a question by the defense, Mustafic said he didn’t know why he failed to mention Begovic in one of his previous statements.
“They probably didn’t ask me,” said Mustafic, whose testimony was previously closed to public.
The trial will continue on March 11.
