veličina fonta

verzija za štampu

copyright

pošalji komentar

Radic et al: "The worst thing that can happen"

30 November 2007  

Protected witness K told the Court how women detained in Vojno detention camp, including her daughter, were taken out to be raped.

At the trial of four former members of the Croatian Defence Council protected Prosecution witness K spoke about life in Vojno detention camp near Mostar, where, according to her, her daughter survived "the worst possible experience".

"Guard Rudo Ramic asked my daughter to leave the room in which we stayed. I begged him to take me as well, but he did not allow me to go. Later on, when she came back, she cried, screamed, pulled her hair and said she would jump into a river," said the protected witness, adding that her daughter told her that she "was raped by a person named Dragan Skobic".

The Prosecution of BiH charges Marko Radic, Dragan Sunjic, Damir Brekalo and Mirko Vracevic, as former HVO members, with responsibility for the happenings in Vojno detention camp, in which men, women and children were detained. The indictment alleges that detainees were beaten, maltreated, murdered, raped and forced to perform hard labour.

"In early September 1993 HVO soldiers came and forced us to leave our apartment in Mostar, which was situated on the west bank of the Neretva river," said the protected witness, adding that she was taken to Vojno detention camp, together with 18 other people, her daughter and her 72-year-old mother.

The protected witness said she saw when a woman was taken away from the room in which they stayed. She claims that, one occasion Marko Radic, Dragan Sunjic, Damir Brekalo and a person known as Jez were present when some women were taken out.

"Brekalo introduced himself and asked witness D, who was holding her child, to go out with him. When she said she could not go because of the child, he threw the child on the ground and dragged her out. When she returned later on, she was crying. When they went to the toilet together, she told my daughter that she had been raped," said witness K.

Speaking about indictee Vracevic, the witness said that he was a guard and that he "touched her daughter's neck with a knife on two occasions". However, he did not hurt her because a guard known as Kuna stopped him. "Vracevic did not maltreat me, but I heard he did maltreat witness AM, although I do not know what exactly he did to her," said witness K.

The witness says that, during her three-month stay in Vojno detention camp, she "was taken, together with other women, to cook and clean the facilities in which soldiers lived".

The trial is due to continue on December 3, when three witnesses will be examined.