Kujundzic: Boxing ring in Percin disco

25 August 2008  Prosecution witnesses recall what happened when the "Predini vukovi" came to Bukovacke Civcije.

 

Former residents of Bukovacke Civcije village said that, on June 12, 1992, when members of the "Predini vukovi" ("Predo's Wolves") Unit, came to their village they destroyed the mosque and took more than 100 men to "Percin disko" detention camp.

"People said that they were members of Predrag Kujundzic's Unit," Edin Memic said, adding that the men stayed in "Percin disko" detention camp for a few days before being taken to the hangars of "Bosanka" factory. After that they were taken back to the detention camp.

Predrag Kujundzic, known as Predo, is charged, as commander of the "Predini vukovi" Unit, with having participated in the persecution, murder, rape, enslaving and physical and mental abuse of Bosniak and Croatian civilians.

The indictment alleges that members of the "Predini vukovi" Unit detained civilians in the "Percin disko" detention camp, where they were exposed to regular physical and mental abuse, while some were killed. 

Memic told the Trial Chamber that there were "between 280 and 360 detainees" in the detention camp, adding that they were guarded by "policemen, dressed in blue camouflage uniforms", who took them to other locations to perform forced labour.

"I used to bury corpses and dead cattle, but not everyone had the same task," the witness said.
According to Memic, on July 12, 1992 the "Predini vukovi" came to the detention camp and took him and 50 other prisoners to some other location, where they were used as human shields.

"They killed one man at the end of the column, claiming that they would do the same to anyone who tried to run away. I was in the first row of the human shield. When the shooting started I lied down in some courtyard. When the third row was taken out, the army started moving back, as a Serbian lieutenant was wounded," the witness said.

Memic said that he and another detainee were hiding in an abandoned house for the next five days. They did not have any food or water, so they had to surrender to Predrag Kujundzic's forces.

"Prior to taking us back to the disco, they beat us up. They hit us with all kinds of stuff," the witness said.

Edin Memic recalled what happened on July 19, 1992, when "the Predo's wolves beat the detainees for the whole day."

"They ordered fathers and sons, or two brothers to hit each other. They behaved like animals. They forced us to eat onion and soap. After that they made a boxing ring and forced brothers to fight each other. They placed their bets. Whoever won the bet would get a box of beer and two men to beat them up," Memic said. He stayed in "Percin disko" for the next "two or three weeks".

Witness Muharem Hamidovic was taken from Bukovacke Civcije to Percin disco on June 12, 1992. He told the Court that, on that day Predrag Kujundzic, who he recognised in the courtroom, ordered the village residents to bring their guns and drive their cars to him.

"He confiscated a blue golf. He drove him for a long time. I used to see him driving that golf in Civcije later on," Hamidovic said.

This witness said that, in July 1992 soldiers took 50 detainees to some location, where they were supposed to be used as human shields. On the same day, in the evening hours, "about twenty of them" returned to the camp.

"Five days later, on July 17, I was taken somewhere to identify those people. The soldiers threw up, while I was moving the corpses with my hands in order to take a look at them. On that day I found 14 persons from my village. Some village residents have never been found," Hamidovic said.

The trial is due to continue on Wednesday, August 27.