Lalovic and Skiljevic: All Sorts of Detention Camps
18 March 2010 Milan Trbojevic, former Deputy Prime Minister of Republika Srpska, says he remembers the Instructions for Treatment of Prisoners of War issued in June 1992, but he is not sure to what extent the Instructions were respected.
"The Instructions were drawn up by Bogdan Subotic, the then Minister of Defence. They were published in the Official Gazette of Serbian People in June 1992. I did not participate in their preparation. I can only comment on the text itself, but, as a witness, I cannot say anything to you. (...) Everything was written in a nice way and this was how it should be. However, I do not know if the Instructions were implemented," Trbojevic said, testifying for the Defence of indictee Soniboj Skiljevic.
Skiljevic and Radoje Lalovic are charged with crimes committed in "Butmir" Penal and Correctional Facility in Kula, near Sarajevo, where non-Serb men, women and children were detained. The indictment alleges that detainees were held in inhumane conditions and taken to other locations to perform forced labour, when some of them were killed.
The indictment alleges that Lalovic was the Kula Manager until the end of 1992, when his former deputy, Skiljevic, took over the function. He performed this function until the end of 1995.
When asked by the Defence of the second indictee why the Government drew up the Instructions, the witness said there were "all sorts of detention camp" at the time, adding that "the focus was on defence".
Trial Chamber Chairwoman Minka Kreho warned the second indictee's Defence, noting that the witness was not an expert who should "interpret decisions", and insisting that it should ask him concrete questions pertaining to the case.
Trbojevic said he remembered Soniboj Skiljevic as Manager of the Kula Facility, adding that he used to see him when he came, as an attorney, to visit his clients, after having completed his mandate with the Government in late 1993.
At the next hearing, scheduled for March 18, indictee Skiljevic will testify for his defence.
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