During the trial for war crimes committed at the former Croatian Army prison Kerestinec, one of the witnesses claimed that another witness tortured him.
Dragoslav Gracanin, a former major in the Yugoslav People's Army, JNA, claimed on Friday that Josip Perkovic, a former government official and witness at the trial, was one of the people who beat him when he was imprisoned in Kerestinec.
“I was shocked when I saw the person who beat me testify at this trial. I saw that man on TV, so I'll give you his photo,” Gracanin said to the presiding judge at the trial on Friday. He added that he found the photo on the Internet.
Judge Marijan Garac confirmed that the person in the photo was Josip Perkovic.
In 1991 and 1992, Perkovic was the Croatian Deputy of Defence Minister and the head of the Croatian Army Intelligence Service.
On May 24, he testified at the trial for the Kerestinec prison commander Stjepan Klaric and his four subordinates Drazen Pavlovic, Viktor Ivancin, Zeljko Zivec and Goran Strukelj.
They have been charged with the physical and psychological torture of 34 detainees, mainly Croatian Serbs, and the sexual abuse of female prisoners during the second half of 1991 and the first several months of 1992.
Perkovic testified that he personally informed Croatian President Franjo Tudjman and Defence Minister Gojko Susak about the crimes in Kerestinec.
Gracanin, who has lived in Holland since 1994, testified that he was captured in January 1992 in the former JNA barracks in Zagreb. He said he was investigated by the Croatian authorities for serving in the enemy army, but he was acquitted of all charges.
He spent almost 300 days in Croatian prisons, but refused to be exchanged as a prisoner of war for Croatian soldiers imprisoned in Serbia.
He testified about the torture and sexual abuse he and other male and female prisoners endured in Kerestinec, and claimed that Stjepan Klaric personally beat him.
“I was just an object without any human rights there,” he said.
Borivoj Rogic, another prisoner from Kerestinec, testified on Friday about the torture he also underwent while imprisoned. He was forced to lick the floor and to hit the wall with his head, he said. Rogic said the guards broke his ribs and put a pistol in his mouth many times.
The trial continues on July 16.
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.