Crimes Committed Against Humanity

B e l g r a d e

January 1998.

The 465 prisoner camps for Serbs in the territory of Bosnia-Herzegovina (for which the Committee has thus far collected evidence of existence) included two camps in the territory of the municipality of Zavidovići owned by mujaheddins. They were located in the villages of Kamenica and Gostovići.

The individuals who fortunately survived the atrocities testify on what the captured soldiers of the Army of Republika Srpska and civilians went through during the imprisonment.

... On 17 or 18 September, 1995, I was captured and taken to the mujaheddin camp located in the village of Kamenica near Zavidovići. P.M. from Kotor Varoš, R.R from Banja Luka, G.G. from Banja Luka, P.N. from Banja Luka, S. from Lijevče Polje, G. from Laktaši, and N. from Budžak, were taken there together with me.

We were brought to their camp, where we saw big, circular tents, in which the mujaheddins stayed. I counted 29 tents, assessing that each could hold 40-60 men.

I was taken to a room on the upper floor of a house, where I saw three mujaheddins, their heads wrapped up so that only their eyes could be seen. They ordered me to sit on a slab. One of them took a full-steel rod, diameter cca 2 cm, and started hitting me on my back and neck, until the rod banded. Then the other flattened the rod with a hammer. He then took the second, and then the third rod.

When the rods bent by the beating, they tied a wire around my neck, tying its other end around my leg. They had taken our boots, so I was barefoot. The end of the wire around my neck and leg was not insulated, while the remaining part of the wire was not. I saw something like a transformer in the room. One of the men took another wire connected to the transformer and connected it with the wire that was tied around my neck and leg. As soon as he did it, the electric shock made me faint. When I came around, they would turn on electricity again. This was repeated several times and I lost consciousness each time. The kept the electricity on for different durations. The electric shock made me feel as if my tongue had become shorter, and I started to choke.

When they were done with the electricity, they started hitting me with their legs, and then one of them took me back to the ground floor, where my friends were kept. After returning me downstairs, they took another prisoner upstairs, so we all underwent the same torture.

According to my assessment, the mujaheddins were Pakistanis, Turks, Arabs from Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, but among them were also Arabs from Germany and England.

I would also add that apart from these mujaheddins, there were also Bosnian Muslim in the Kamenica prisoner camp. I remember a Gunić form the Novoselije settlement in Banja Luka ...

... I lived in Vozuća, the place where I was born. On 10 September, 1995, early in the morning, soldiers of the Army of Bosnia-Herzegovina attacked Vozuća and the civilian population, including me and other women, had to flee. The next day, we were in the village of Kesten, where I was captured at about 16.30 hrs., with a group of 60 people. The group consisted of civilians, women and children, and some soldiers. We were taken prisoner by mujaheddins and Bosnian Muslims.

After they captured us, they started beating us with their fists, legs, rifle-butts and sticks. A mujaheddin hit me hard on the back with his rifle, and then spit on me scolding my "chetnick mother".

I saw a captured Serb fall on his knees, after which the Muslim killed him with a shot from automatic rifle.

About thirty of us from the village of Kesten, including me and two more women (J.M. and G.B.), were taken from the village of Kesten to a mujaheddin camp in the village of Kamenica near Zavidovići. The others were taken to Tuzla.

The three of us were imprisoned in a wooden shed in Kamenica, while men were locked up in a nearby barrack. I could not see anything because I was blindfolded, but I concluded that it was a mujaheddin camp because they spoke in a very bad Serbian language.

Throughout the night, mujaheddins and Bosnian Muslim were coming to the shed in which we were kept, to beat us with rifles, sticks, legs and fists. I heard them talking about cutting our throats.

During the night, a mujaheddin came and put a non- insulated wire end on my face. He connected the rest of the wire, which was insulated, to some source of electricity, and I felt a terrible pain caused by the electric shock. This was repeated several times. Then he moved the wire from my cheek to my spine. Sometimes he held the wire on me longer, sometimes shorter.

The same electricity-torture procedure was applied on the other two women who were imprisoned with me.

During the night, we heard screams and moans and captured Serbs from the nearby barrack, pleading the mujaheddins not to torture them.

The next day, they interrogated us several times, beating us at the same time.

I heard them mentioning the names of my father, Miloš Jović, my uncle Mitar Jović, Drago Marković, Ranko Djurić, Mirko Matičić and his son Miodrag and a Čeda, who were captured with us, but now I do not know anything about their further fate. It has been assumed that they were killed on the way to Kamenica.

The second day, in the evening, the mujaheddins took the three of us, women, to their base in the territory of Zenica, by a small bus. We were kept there for about twenty days, before they took us to KPD in Zenica.

... After they brought us to Kamenica, they put us in a small wooden shed where they kept us tied for two days and two nights. All the time they beat us with their fists and some objects. Mujaheddins beat us at night, and Muslim soldiers during the day. We were not given any food, except that they spilled water from a bottle on our heads, offering us to drink it that way.

Across from the shed in which we were kept was a wooden barrack in which captured soldiers of the Army of Republika Srpska were locked up, from which cries and screams were heard, especially at night. S. recognized cries and screams of her uncle Mitar Jović.

The following day, a Muslim soldier came into the shed, asking if some of us had a father among their captives. S. responded, saying that her father Jovan Miloš was among the prisoners, and the soldier replied: "Unfortunately, you don’t have a father any more. You will now hear his name mentioned on the loud speaker". Soon afterwards, the names of allegedly captured soldiers of the Army of Republika Srpska were read through the public address system installed in that part of the camp. The names read in addition to Miloš Jović were: Mitar Jović, Nenad Gligorić and Mirko Matičić, all from Vozuća, plus some other names which I cannot remember. I do not know what happened to these people, but since nothing is known about them, it is likely that they have been killed.

In the evening on 13 September, 1995, we were transferred by some vehicle, blindfolded, with arms and legs tied, into the community of Podbrežje near Zenica...

...I learnt that after being taken prisoner on 21 July, 1995, by a mujaheddin unit, my son Gojko Vujičić was killed. He was a farmer, from the village of Donji Vijačani, the municipality of Prnjavor, born in 1955, in the village of Donji Vijačani.

A group of captured Serbian soldiers, including Š.B. and S.J. told me that the mujaheddins had cut off Gojko’s head, and then forced all Serb prisoners present to kiss his head...

... It was on 21 July, 1995, that I was captured by mujaheddins, together with 11 other soldiers of the Army of Republika Srpska. They took us to a house and imprisoned us in a room where they beat us all night with wooden sticks, a rubber hose, with their fists and legs with heavy soldiers boots on.

The following morning, some men in white clothes came into the room in which we were imprisoned, holding 60 cm long swords in their hands. One of them ordered me to lie down on my stomack, saying that he was going to cut my throat. He cut my shirt all over with the tip of the knife. The skin of my back was also cut. Then they beat me severely. We were left tied in the same room until the next morning.

The next morning, the mujaheddins took me to the front line in the place called Krčevine, where I had been captured. Then they uncovered my eyes and ordered me to show them where our units were. On the way back, I noticed a body of the killed Serb soldier Miladin Šuman from the village of Hrvaćani, the municipality of Prnjavor, on whose forehead the crescent and star sign was incised. Moving on, I noticed 21 dead bodies of Serb soldiers in army uniforms.

In Gostovići, we were placed in an unfinished, roofless house, with only a concrete slab which leaked, so that water was inside all the time. As soon as we arrived, the mujaheddins tied us with a hose, into which they let air under pressure, to make it expand and press our legs. This cause terrible pains and Gojko Vujičić swore God, so one mujaheddin took him aside and cut his head off. I did not see what he used for the cutting, but I know that he brought the head into the room and forced all of us to kiss it. Then the mujaheddin hung the head on a nail in the wall. Every day, the mujaheddins, Muslim soldiers and civillians came into that room, to beat us until we lost consciousness. They ordered us to lie down on our stomachs and then they kicked us with their boots, hit us with pieces of wood, and often connected some electric devices on various parts of our bodies and caused electric shocks by turning on a kind of a machine, until we lost consciousness.

I was kept in Gostovići for 33 days, during which time I did not receive any medical help, even though I was wounded during the capture ...

... On 21 July, 1995, I was captured together with 11 other soldiers of the Army of Republika Srpska by soldiers of the Army of Bosnia-Herzegovina, which also included mujaheddins. After they took us prisoner, they threatened to butcher us. They kicked us with their boots, beat us with rifle butts and gun barrels, with their fists and pieces of wood, swore our Serbian and chetnick mother, and women who followed us all the way hit us with pieces of wood all over our bodies, mostly on the head and back.

We were brought in a house in the village of Gostovići and the mujaheddins immediately tied our hands and legs with a rope, made nooses on other ends of the rope, and put them around our necks.

Tied like that, I was unable to make a move with any part of my body because the noose around my neck tightened with even the slightest move. We spend the entire night and the following day tied like that. In the evening, we were tied again, except that we were ordered to lie on our stomachs,to put our hands on our backs and raise our legs up. A mujaheddin tied my legs first, then my hands with the same rope, and than put a wire around my neck, to which he tied the rest of the rope. I spent the whole night in that position. I could not move my leg or arm because each move would tighten the wire noose around my neck.

In the mujaheddin camp, we were placed in a roofless building which only had a leaking concrete slab, for which reason water was on the floor, and we were tied, 12 of us with one rope.

Mujaheddins came into that room. We distinguished them from Bosnian Muslims by their uniforms and signs, as well as by the color of their skin.

Tied like that, mujaheddins hit us mostly with sticks and batons until we lost consciousness. Mujaheddins entered the room with sabers in their hands, about 60 cm long. They stuck saber tops into our bodies, mostly in the neck area, showing that they were going to cut our throats. They also hit us with their booted legs, and with the sabers all over our bodies. After the mujaheddins would leave, Muslim soldiers would come in, with shovel handles, which they used for hitting us, mostly in the chest and head areas. The beating took place every day, mostly at night, several times in a row.

I remember that on the fourth night of the stay in the mujaheddin camp in Gostovići, we were all blindfolded and taken out to a field where we were ordered to lie down on our stomachs, after which they tied our arms and legs. Our legs were tied with a hose which expanded fast and tightened around our legs. This caused terrible pains and none of us could keep quiet, we had to moan. I was beaten throughout the night and was retaurned to the prison room only the next morning.

A mujaheddin came into that room, bringing with him the head of Gojko Vujičić, whom I had known well, and ordered us all to kiss Gojko’s head, which was covered with blood. When we did it, he took the head and hung it on a nail on the wall and the head stayed in our room for about three days.

I stayed there for 33 days, during which time we were beaten every day and night until we lost consciousness. We were bruised, covered with blood and swollen all the time. Whenever Muslim or mujaheddin soldiers came in, they threatened to slit our throats and cut our heads off.

During our stay in the mujaheddin camp, they brought some electic devices and connected them to parts of our bodies and then turned a handle on that device to cause horrifying electric shocks all over our bodies.

Mujaheddins took us, chained, to a nearby river, where they forced us to lie in water for several hours, after which they returned us, so wet, to the camp.

They took us out at about 14 hours, when the sun was the strongest, and ordered us to lie on our backs and look at the sun for a long time. As we were looking at the sun, they also forced us to hold a 30 cm long piece of wood in out teeth.

... I was captured on 21 July, 1995 in the village of Krčevine by soldiers of the Army of Bosnia-Herzegovina, including mujaheddins who wore special unifors, special marks and had darkish faces, unlike Muslim soldiers.

After the capture, we were transferred to a building where we spend the night kneeling, tied with a rope. On the other end of the rope, a noose was made for each one of us and put around our necks. The second night, mujaheddins entered the room in which we were kept, ordered us to lie on our stomachs, put our arms on the back and raise our legs up, and tied a rope around our legs. They tied our arms with a wire and put the wire noose around our necks. We stayed in that position throughout the night and noone could move either arm or leg because each move tightened the noose and we could be strangled.

I spend 33 days in the mujaheddin camp in the village of Gostovići and every day, myself and other Serbs were beaten at least once, sometimes several times, not only by mujaheddins but also by local villagers.

Every day, I was taken to be interrogated and on my way back, I saw that all captured Serbs were swollen, bruised, covered with blood and beaten up, and most of them were beaten up so severely that they could not even move.

Considering that I received heavy blows on my head every day, I cannot exactly remember the date when Gojko Vujičić was taken out of the room in which we were kept. When his head was brought into the room, it was still bleeding. The mujaheddin who brought Gojko’s head in forced us to kiss it, and the interpreter added that one chetnik’s head was cut off, and it will be somebody else’s turn tomorrow. Gojko Vujučić’s head was hung on a large nail found in the wall. One mujaheddin placed a handsaw on my neck after having ordered me to kneel down. Holding me by the hair with his hand, he said that he was going to cut off my head. He threatened B.Š. and V.T. in the same manner.

During our stay in the camp, we could niether lie down nor sleep. We had to sit tied next to the wall with our heads bowed to the floor. Muslim soldiers and mujaheddins brought in some electirc devices which they most frequently put on our chests and then turned on electricity, which caused terrible pains.

We were given food once a day, mostly a small piece of bread and some warm water...

As a consequence of the blows that were inflicted on me by the mujaheddins in Gostovići, three of my ribs on the left were broken.

Mujaheddins came into the room where we were kept and beat us severely. They hit us with spade handles, kicked us with their boots, hit us with rifle butts and barrels. I was all blue, covered with blood and swollen.

In that position, sitting next to the wall, tied like I described, we had to bow down and touch the concrete floor with our foreheads and heads when they so requested. We would stay in that position for several hours, which caused terrible pains in my head.

As a result of the blows in the mujaheddin camp, almost all my teeth have been knocked out. Only 7 teeth have remained in my lower and upper jaw. Also, as a result of the blows and threats, I have become nervous and I feel pain in the areas of my spine, chest and legs. After everything I have gone through, I do not feel like living any more ¼

The fact that mujaheddins in the Vozuća battlefield, assisted by Bosnian Muslims, decapitated Serb soldiers or cut off parts of their bodies after taking them prisoner is also confirmed by other documents in possession of the Committee.

The exhumation was performed in the presence of representatives of the organizations from the international community (OHR, PHR, SFOR, IPTF and the International Committee of the Red Cross) by the Joint Commission of the Republic of Srpska and the Muslim- Croatian Federation.

The State commission for the exchange of PoWs and missing persons of the Republic of Srpska claims 54 captured persons belonging to the Army of the Republic of Srpska who went missing in the region of Gostović where the unit of the Army of B-H "El Mujaheddin" had its detention camp.