Bullet as reward in Omarska

Institute for the Research of Genocide Canada
Published: October 27, 2011  

BULLET AS REWARD IN OMARSKA

Sense Tribunal: http://www.sense-agency.com/icty/bullet-as-reward-in-omarska.29.html?news_id=13309&cat_id=1

Case Radovan Karadzic

Ivo Atlija completed his evidence at the trial of Radovan Karadzic. The trial then continued with the testimony of a former prisoner of the Omarska prison camp. As the witness said, her day began with counting the dead bodies scattered in front of the notorious ‘white house’. The prisoners in Omarska in most cases died of torture, which was so terrible that ‘a bullet was sometimes a reward’

The trial of former Republika Srpska president for genocide and other crimes in BH continued with the cross-examination of Ivo Atlija, a Bosnian Croat from Brisevo near Prijedor. Last week he spoke about the attack of the Serb forces on the village on 24 July 1992. Sixty-eight people were killed in the attack, including the witness’s father, 14 women, two boys and four disabled persons.

Karadzic accused the witness of trying to ‘deceive’ the judges with his evidence. To corroborate his accusation, Karadzic used a document from the Bosnian Serb Military Intelligence Service (VOS) in which it is noted that about 50 ‘extremists’ were located in the village of Brisevo where they were purportedly carrying out secret preparations for the war together with the Green Berets from the nearby Muslim villages. The witness dismissed the claim, saying there were no military formations in Brisevo at the time of the attack, except for the soldiers of the Sixth Krajina Brigade and the Fifth Kozara Brigade of the Bosnian Serbs. When Karadzic insisted that the document ‘strictly forbids unnecessary use of fire’, the witness replied that fire was indeed opened on anything that moved, including women and children.

In his replies to Karadzic’s question, the witness explained that he, his father and several other men and women took shelter in the basement of a house during the attack. Serb soldiers told his father and Pero Dimac there was no need to hide anymore and that they could all go back to their homes. The father ‘unfortunately believed this’ and went home, Atlija said. Soon afterwards, Atlija’s father was killed in front of his house. Pero Dimac was ordered to run towards the forest and was then shot in the back of his head at close range. The witness dismissed Karadzic’s suggestion that Dimac was trying to flee. As Atlija explained, he witnessed the killing from the distance of just fifteen meters.

After Ivo Atlija completed his evidence, protected witness KDZ 080, woman from Prijedor, began her testimony. The witness’s written statement which contains relevant parts of her previous evidence at the Kvocka and Brdjanin trials in 2000 and 2003 respectively was tendered into evidence. When Serb forces took over power in Prijedor in late April 1992, the witness was first not allowed to go to work and in June 1992 she was arrested and detained in the Omarska prison camp.

Prosecutor Caroline Edgerton read out the summary of the statement. According to the summary, the witness’s day in Omarska began with counting the dead bodies around the notorious ‘white house’. In the statement, the witness described the beatings, humiliation and killing of Omarska prisoners. This included physical and sexual abuse of women. The witness also described the interior of the prison camp and the visit of Radoslav Brdjanin, Stojan Zupljanin and other Serb officials to Omarska in July 1992.

In August 1992, the witness was moved to Trnopolje. She ‘paid’ to leave Prijedor by signing a document ceding all her property to the Serb Autonomous Region of Krajina.
At the beginning of his cross-examination, Karadzic strove to show that Keraterm and Omarska were in fact ‘investigation centers’. The witness disagreed: people are not abused and killed in investigation centers, while in Omarska it was an everyday occurrence. According to the witness, they were ‘concentration camps’ where people in most cases died of torture so terrible that ‘a bullet was sometimes a reward’.

METAK KAO “NAGRADA” U OMARSKOJ

Sense Tribunal: http://www.sense-agency.com/tribunal_%28mksj%29/metak-kao-quotnagradaquot-u-omarskoj.25.html?news_id=13307&cat_id=1

Predmet Radovan Karadžić

Nakon što je iskaz Ive Atlije zaključen u nastavku suđenja Radovanu Karadžiću svjedoči bivša zatočenica logora Omarska koja, između ostalog, kaže da joj je dan počinjao brojanjem mrtvih tijela razbacanih ispred zloglasne “bijele kuće”. Zatočenici Omarske su, kaže, najčešće umirali od posljedica torture koja je bila toliko strašna da je i “metak ponekad bio nagrada”

Suđenje bivšem predsjedniku Republike Srpske Radovanu Karadžiću optuženom za genocid i druge zločine počinjene u BiH nastavljeno je unakrsnim ispitivanjem Ive Atlije, bosanskog Hrvata iz prijedorskog sela Briševo. Atlija je, podsjetimo, u svom prošlonedjeljenom iskazu između ostalog svjedočio o napadu srpskih snaga na to selo 24. jula 1992. godine u kojem je ubijeno 68 ljudi, uključujući svjedokovog oca, 14 žena, dva dječaka i četiri invalida.

Optužujući svjedoka da svojim iskazom “obmanjuje” sudije Karadžić je ukazao na dokument Vojne obavještajne službe (VOS) bosanskih Srba po kome se u Briševu nalazilo oko 50 “ekstremista” koji su se zajedno sa Zelenim beretkama iz okolnih muslimanskih sela navodno u tajnosti pripremali za rat. Svjedok je odbacio te tvrdnje navodeći da u Briševu u vrijeme napada nije bilo nikakvih vojnih formacija, osim pripadnika Šeste krajiške i Pete kozaračke brigade bosanskih Srba. Na Karadžićevo ukazivanju da se u dokumentu”najstrožije zabranjuje upotreba vatre bez potrebe” svjedok je uzvratio da je, naprotiv, vatra otvorena na sve što se kreće, uključujući žene i djecu.

Svjedok je odgovarajući na Karadžićeva pitanja, između ostalog, naveo da su se njegov otac, on i još nekoliko ljudi i žena u vrijeme napada krili u podrumu jedne kuće. Srpski vojnici su njegovom ocu i Peri Dimaču rekli da nema potrebe da se više kriju i da svi mogu da idu kućama. Otac je, kaže svjedok, “nažalost u to povjerovao” i otišao kući pred kojom je nedugo potom ubijen. Peri Dimaču je naređeno da potrči prema šumi, a onda mu je iz neposredne blizine pucano u potiljak. Svjedok je odbacio sugestiju optuženog da je Dimač pokušao da bježi, navodeći da je to ubistvo vidio sa udaljenosti od petnaestak metara.

Nakon što je svjedočenje Ive Atlije zaključeno počeo je iskaz zaštićene svjedokinje KDZ-080. U dokaze je uvedena njena pisana izjava koja sadrži relevantne dijelove ranijih iskaza u predmetima Kvočka i Brđanin 2000. i 2003. godine. Radi se o Prijedorčanki kojoj su srpske snage po preuzimanju vlasti u tom gradu krajem aprila 1992. godine najprije zabranile da dolazi na posao, a potom je u junu 1992. uhapsile i zatočile u logor Omarska.

Prema sažetku koji je pročitala tužiteljca Kerolin Edžerton/Caroline Edgerton, svjedokinjin dan u Omarskoj je počinjao prebrojavanjem mrtvih tijela oko zloglasne “bijele kuće”. U izjavi je, između ostalog, opisala premlaćivanje, ponižavanje i ubijanje zatočenika Omarske, uključujući fizičko i seksualno zlostavljanje žena. Ona je, također, opisala unutrašnjost logora, kao i posjetu Radoslava Brđanina, Stojana Župljanina i drugih srpskih zvaničnika Omarskoj u julu 1992. godine.

Svjedokinja je u avgustu 1992. prebačena u Trnopolje, a izlazak iz Prijedora je “platila” potpisivanjem dokumenta kojim se odrekla kompletne imovine u korist srpske Autonomne regije Krajina (ARK).

Karadžić je na početku unakrsnog ispitivanja pokušao dokazati da su Keraterm i Omarska bili zapravo “istražni centri”. Svjedokinja se, međutim, nije složila s takvom karakterizacijom navodeći da se u istražnim centrima ljudi ne zlostavljaju i ubijaju što je u Omarskoj bila skoro svakodnevna pojava. Po njoj, radilo se o “koncentracionim logorima” u kojima su ljudi najčešće umirali od posljedica stravične torture u odnosu na koju je i “metak ponekad bio nagrada”.