Bosnian War Prison Camp Detainees Were Raped, Witness Testifies

Begajeta Mujic, a Bosniak civilian, told Belgrade Higher Court on Monday that female prisoners held at the Sase mine prison camp in the Srebrenica municipality by Bosnian Serb forces in 1992 were taken out and raped.

Former Bosnian Serb soldier Novak Stjepanovic is on trial for raping a young Bosnian female at a house in Bratunac in early June 1992.

The indictment alleges that the victim was taken out of the prison camp on an unspecified date and moved to Bratunac, where she was held prisoner in a house.

The next day, after being moved to another house, Stjepanovic allegedly ordered her to take off her clothes and lie down on a bed, and then raped her.

Stjepanovic has pleaded not guilty.

Mujic testified that the victim and her sister were held prisoner along with other Bosniak civilians at the Sase mine camp.

She said that young women were taken out of the prison camp and then were later brought back.

Asked about the victim in the Stjepanovic case and her sister, Mujic said they came back “with tears in their eyes”.

“They did not say anything, we asked but they did not want to say anything so we did not want to pressure them anymore,” she told the court.

Mujic said she does not remember if Stjepanovic, who she said she knew before the war, was present when the victim and her sister were taken away.

Mujic said she was captured in May 1992 together with her niece, who was also taken out of the prison camp and raped.

The trial will continue in April.