Dolic: One Rape After the Other
04 March 2010 Prosecution witness Edina Kmetas says she was raped by two Croatian Defence Council, HVO, soldiers on August 1, 1993, adding that she found out later their names were Zoran Calis and Darko Dolic.
"The taller soldier ordered me to take my kids and go to the first floor of the house. He locked the kids in a room and me in another room. I fought as much as I could. He tore off my dress buttons. He hit me with a gun butt and raped me. He threatened me with his rifle and knife, telling me I must not leave the room," Kmetas said, adding that another soldier then came and "pushed his penis into my mouth".
"He slapped me. I started bleeding. He hit me with a rifle butt and raped me. I do not know when he left," the witness said in a shaky voice, adding that her husband told her the taller soldier's name was Zoran Calis and the other one was Darko Dolic.
The Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina charges Darko Dolic, a former member of the Croatian Defence Council, HVO, with the "Rama" Brigade with "having forced other people into having sexual intercourse with him, while threatening them".
The indictment alleges that Dolic participated in abusing, intentionally causing physical and mental suffering and robbing civilians from Prozor municipality during 1993.
"I do not know how long it lasted. I know it was getting dark when my husband came to take me to the woods. When he opened the door, I told him I had been raped by the two soldiers. He took me by my hand, put a sweatshirt on me and took me to the woods, where we were hiding," Kmetas said.
The witness said her husband told her when they arrived in the forest, they "had to go on with our lives and my kids needed me".
The witness claims that, prior to raping her, the two soldiers gathered and mistreated members of her family and residents of Druzinovici village, Prozor municipality. Kmetas said the two men were dressed in camouflage uniforms, while one of them had a mark on his sleeve, saying "HVO military police".
The second Prosecution witness, Zlata Ruvic, who lived in Druzinovici village, said that two soldiers came to her house in July 1993.
"We were provoked by soldiers. They asked for jewelry and money. A soldier was trying to take something away from my sister-in-law. He wrestled with her. I saw this as I was standing in the corridor. I heard him telling her: "Yes, you will do it!'. I fainted. When I woke up, my sister-in-law came to the room. She never told me what had happened, but I never asked her," Ruvic said.
Ruvic said that Druzinovici village residents found shelter in the woods after the incident. She said Suljo Kmetas came one day and told them to come with him or else his family would be killed.
"When we arrived at Zlatif Kmetas' house, the same soldiers, who had come to my house, approached me. They introduced themselves as Calis and Dole. They beat me with gun butts. I saw them taking Edina to the house. It was scary and horrible. She suffered the same thing as my sister-in-law," Ruvic said.
The trial is due to continue on March 11, 2010.
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