At the trial for crimes committed against Bosnian Serbs in the Hadzici area, near Sarajevo, a prosecution witness said that in 1992 he was held prisoner in the primary school in Pazaric and in the Krupa army barracks.
“It was bad. I thought about attacking the guards hundreds of times and thus end my own life. It was hell,” said witness Vasilije Krunic, while describing his several-months-long stay in the Krupa barracks.
He said he was living in Pazaric when on May 24, 1992, he was taken from his house to a place where he was beaten up and then returned home. On the following month he was taken to the primary school in Pazaric, where he spent around a month.
“I entered the school and saw around 50 people. Some were fine, some injured. They told me they had been beaten. During our stay there, we could not splash water on our faces or bathe, and we had only one meal a day. At one point eight of us ate from a single plate, one portion of soup, with one spoon,” said Krunic, adding that he himself was not beaten in the school.
The witness said that after having spent a month in the school, he was taken to the Krupa army barracks, where he stayed until November 4, 1992, when he was exchanged.
Mustafa Djelilovic, Fadil Covic, Mirsad Sabic, Nezir Kazic, Becir Hujic, Halid Covic, Serif Mesanovic and Nermin Kalember are charged with the crimes committed in the Krupa barracks and the May 9 school.
The indictment specifies that, as representatives of civilian, military and police authorities, between 1992 and 1996, they took part in a systematic criminal enterprise, and as part of which they committed crimes against civilians and prisoners of war of Serb nationality.
Krunic said he knew that Serif Mesanovic was warden of the Krupa prison and that he heard from other prisoners that the defendant had beaten someone in the warehouse, adding that he personally never saw Mesanovic beat anyone.
Krunic testified that the prisoners in the Krupa barracks were all civilians taken from their homes and incarcerated.
“Beatings resumed in Krupa. I heard the beating and yowls. Whoever wanted to see the Serbs, came and watched. They cursed and insulted us. Furthermore, there was not enough food in Krupa and we slept on boards without covers or anything. They turned us into circus freaks,” said the witness.
Krunic added that he heard that the principal of the school in Pazarici was Mirsad Sabic, and that he knew that Sabic came to the school on several occasions asking for some weapons.
The trial will resume on Wednesday, June 6, when the defence will cross-examine Krunic.
Timeline of events in the case against 13 former Serb fighters charged with committing war crimes in the villages of Cuska, Zahac, Ljubenic and Pavlac in Kosovo in 1999.