Analysis – Witnesses describe torture and rape at Indira Kameric trial

The state prosecution asked that Kameric be found guilty and sentenced to the full extent of the law. Kameric’s defense believes that a case of mistaken identity has taken place, and has requested a verdict of release.

Kameric, a former member of the 101st Bosanski Brod Brigade of the Croatian Defense Council, has been charged with participating in the torture of Serb and Bosniak civilians and prisoners of war on police premises and at the Polet stadium in Bosanski Brod from April to October 1992.

The state prosecution questioned ten witnesses and filed material evidence during the trial. The defense presented three witnesses, and attempted to prove that Kameric was a municipal worker during the time of her alleged crimes, and not a member of the military.

Kameric has been charged with participating in the sexual, physical, and mental abuse of prisoner Hazba Nukic at the Polet stadium on June 29, 1992. She has also been charged with forcing a protected witness known as IK-3 to participate in Nukic’s abuse.

In her testimony, Hazba Nukic said she was beaten and sexually abused at the Polet stadium. She said Indira Vrbanjac (Indira Kameric’s maiden name) was present during her abuse, and slapped her twice.

Nukic said she read the charges against her, and accused her of transmitting information to Serb forces.

Nukic said she was taken to the defendant’s office in the evening, where five armed soldiers beat her. She said the defendant didn’t beat her, but called a man into the room to abuse her instead. Nukic said she found out later on that the man was also a prisoner.

“He cut my bra, squeezed my breasts, ripped my underwear, put his hand into my vagina…I screamed. Then Indira said, ‘Let me slap this Chetnik’s whore twice,’” Nukic said.

Nukic identified Kameric in the courtroom, and said she was the one who beat her and ordered a detainee to abuse her.

IK-3 said that he was forced to beat and abuse Nukic in the presence of Kameric.

“The police officers ordered Hazba to sit on my lap. A police officer on the left or the right side ordered me to hit Hazba on her arms and back. I was hitting her, and he said, ‘You can do it harder,’” IK-3 said.
“Indira was the ringleader with regards to Hazba and I,” IK-3 said.

Brutal prisoner beatings

Kameric has also been charged with participating in the physical abuse of a prisoner named Jovo Dujic in front of the Polet stadium in July 1992. She allegedly acted in collaboration with other members of the Croatian Defense Council. According to the indictment, Kameric beat Dujic with a metal bar and jumped on his chest in high heels.

Witness Branislav Nadic said he saw Croatian Defence Council soldiers beat Dujic at the Polet stadium. He said one of the soldiers was a woman. When asked whether that woman was present in the courtroom, Nadic pointed to Kameric.

“They pushed him down on the door, in the meantime, a female with a metal bar came, beat him with the bar and jumped on his chest in high heels,” Nadic said.

A protected witness known as IK-4 said he watched soldiers beat Dujic. He said there were two female soldiers who participated.

“They hit him with [their] legs, arms, and jumped on his back…He was covered in blood… Later, they took him away and he never came back”, said IK-4 . He said a prisoner told him that one of the female soldiers who participated in Dujic’s beating was Kameric. IK-4 said he knew Kameric from before the war, but didn’t recognize her at the time.

The state prosecution has charged Kameric with assisting in the rape of unlawfully imprisoned women at the Polet stadium from September to October 1992.

A protected witness known as IK-5 said she was raped for more than 20 days while detained at the Polet stadium.

“On the day I was brought there, in the afternoon they immediately took me away to rape me and they did it every day,” said IK-5. She said the women who were detained with her looked bad. She said Hazba Nukic, who had been accused of cooperating with the Serb side, looked the worst.

“Hazba said Indira beat and abused her,” IK-5 said. She specified that Hazba Nukic was talking about Indira Vrbanjac (Kameric’s maiden name). IK-5 said she knew Vrbanjac by sight.

When asked whether Indira Vrbanjac was in the courtroom, IK-5 said that she wasn’t. She said she was blond and looked thinner at the Polet stadium than when she saw her on television.

Kameric has been charged with the physical and mental abuse of prisoner Marko Mitric, which allegedly took place on the premises of the police station in Bosanski Brod in June 1992.

Neuropsychiatrist Vjekoslav Kovacevic said Mitric was unable to testify because of trauma he endured. Instead, testimony that Mitric gave to the State Investigation and Protection Agency in December 2007 was read in the courtroom.

In his testimony from 2007, Mitric said Indira Vrbanjac had issued him a certificate stating that he had been deprived of his personal belongings at the Bosanski Brod police station.

He said he was transferred to the district prison in Tulek in the municipality of Bosanski Brod in early June 1992. He said Indira Vrbanjac was the judge at his trial.

The state prosecution believes a statement Mitric gave to investigating authorities in 1994 demonstrates Kameric’s guilt with regards to the abuse he endured. However, this statement has not been read in the courtroom.

A case of mistaken identity, defense claims

During the court proceedings, the defense examined three witnesses and presented several pieces of material evidence. Kameric also testified in her own defense.

Witness Snjezana Cavalic said she saw an armed woman in front of the stadium in Bosanski Brod. The man who was with her at that time said the woman was Indira Kameric.

“She was big and muscular, heavily armed and wore a camouflage uniform. Her hair was red and she had freckles. She looked pretty rough for a woman,” Cavalic said. She said the woman was 175 centimeters tall.

Cavalic said the woman she saw near the stadium didn’t look like the defendant in the courtroom, who she said she’d never seen before.

Witness Resad Bundavica said Kameric issued certificates in the municipality of Bosanski Brod from April 12 until the end of June 1992. He recognized her in the courtroom.

“She was a corpulent, young person, she had curly black hair, and she was not older than 30. I remembered her from her swiped hair. She wore glasses when she was issuing me the certificates. She was in civilian clothes,” Bundavica said.

Witness Ferid Osmicic, an imam of the Islamic Community of Bosnia and Herzegovina, said Kameric worked in the municipality’s Property and Legal Department from May to October 1992.

Osmicic said he went to the municipal building every day to determine the legal status of persons killed during the war, in order to calculate the funeral costs. He said he saw Indira Kameric on a daily basis and had known her since childhood.

Osmicic said no one could walk from the city center, where the municipal building was located, to the Polet stadium, from May to October 1992. He said it was impossible and suicidal due to the shelling happening at the time.

While testifying in her defense, Kameric said she didn’t go to the Polet stadium or the police station in Bosanski Brod in 1992. She said she didn’t know anything about the crimes that took place at either location.

She said during that time she worked for the municipality. She said she didn’t belong to any military formation and had never worn a uniform.

Kameric said she had long black hair and wore glasses in 1992. She also said she couldn’t wear high heels since her shoe size is 44.

During the court proceedings, the defense presented an official note from the police center in Banja Luka, dated October 27, 1992. The note described Croat forces in the area of Bosanski Brod, and a mentioned a 30 year old woman named Indira Losic.

The Kameric trial began on January 23, 2014. Kameric has been defending herself at liberty.