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Bastah et al: Female detainees in Susica

29 August 2008  Two Prosecution witnesses recognise Bastah in the courtroom.

Two Prosecution witnesses were examined at an open session but their personal details were not to be publicly announced.

The two of them said that they were taken from their houses in Vlasenica in the spring of 1992.

"My house is located near the road. A Lada vehicle passed our house many times on that day. I could hear loud music coming from the car. The passengers called upon the Muslims to hand over their weapons, as there would be no war. I recognised the car. It belonged to Dragan Bastah," the first witness said.

The Prosecution charges Predrag Bastah, also known as Dragan, and Goran Viskovic with having participated in the murder, unlawful detention, mental and sexual abuse, torture and forcible disappearances of Muslim civilians from the Vlasenica area from April to September 1992.

As indicated by the first witness, in May 1992 Bastah and another young man came to her family house and took her son to the prison, which was located "behind the police building in Vlasenica".

The witness claims to have visited her son from mid May to early July, when she was captured and taken to Susica detention camp. She said that, during the mentioned period of time, she "often saw Bastah taking people from the prison to other locations, where they performed forced labour".

"After having been captured, we spent one night in Susica. The following day Bastah came and took 10 men with him. My husband was one of them. I never saw him again. He has still not been found," the witness recalled.

As indicated by this witness, after having left the detention camp the convoy headed towards Kladanj. Then she saw Bastah "getting out of a truck parked on the road".

"I approached him, as I knew that he had seen my son. I asked him to protect him. However, he just laughed at me, without giving me any response. I never saw my son again," the first witness said.

The second witness said she had known Bastah prior to the war, adding that she was "taken to Susica detention camp", together with the first witness.

"When they came there to capture us, they had masks covering their heads. They mistreated us. Later on, when they took us to the detention camp, we were mistreated. They took out some women in order to rape them, but they never took me," she said.

In the course of cross-examination indictee Bastah said that he "does not know" the second witness "at all".

The trial is due to continue on September 11, 2008.