veličina fonta

verzija za štampu

copyright

pošalji komentar

Osmic: Schoolmates

Alija Osmić

11 February 2010  Ivica Keskic, testifying for the Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, says indictee Alija Osmic beat him several times in 1993, adding that Osmic "probably" took away detainees who were never seen again.

"I had known Alija Osmic from before, as we attended the same class at school. I did not have an impression that he was a guard in the garage in Donjici, in which I was detained in July 1993, because he came there for some other reason - to beat people.  Alija used to beat everybody, including me. He beat me on several occasions, hitting me with his foot, hand, stick." Keskic said. Keskic was a member of the First Battalion of the Croatian Defence Council, HVO, at the time.

The Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina charges Osmic, a former member of the Military Police Squad with the 307th Brigade of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina, ABiH, with having participated in a number of crimes committed against Croats, who were detained in various buildings in the Bugojno area, from July 18, 1993 to March 19, 1994.

Among other things, Osmic is charged with having participated, in collaboration with other members of the ABiH, the Public Safety Station in Bugojno and the Town Defence Headquarters, in the detention and physical abuse of Croats who were held in garages in Donjici village as of July 20, 1993.  

Ivica Keskic said that, three or four days later he was transferred, together with the other detainees, from the garages in Donjici to the basement of the Marxist Center - Cloister in Bugojno, where indictee Osmic beat him again.

"On one occasion a few members of the Brigade's Police Squad came. Alija Osmic was among them. They took me, Vlatko Kapetanovic and Marijo Gusic out.
Then they started beating us. Some time later I fell down. A policeman grabbed me by my legs and dragged me to the toilet," Keskic said, adding that he saw Osmic and one more policeman "loading Vlatko Kapetanovic into a black Mercedes". He said nobody ever saw the man again.

The indictment alleges that Osmic and some other members of the ABiH participated in beating several prisoners in the Marxist Center in July 1993 and put one of them into a black Mercedes trunk. It further alleges that Osmic and some other members of the ABiH killed the detainee. His remains were found in September 1993.

Keskic said that Osmic escorted the refrigerator truck, which transported the witness and the other detainees from the Marxist Center to the premises of the "Vojin Paleksic" school building a short time later. The witness said that the indictee did not beat him while he was in the school building, adding that he was transferred to the "Iskra" stadium ten days later.

Keskic said that indictee Osmic took away prisoners from the detention camp, adding that he "probably" took away some people who never came back.  

Keskic escaped from the detention camp at the end of September 1994 while he was performing forced labour outside the camp.

The trial is due to continue on February 18.