Vladimir Zarkovic was testifying in the trial of eight former Croatian military police officers charged with killing two civilian prisoners and beating others in Lora 13 years ago.
During more than six hours of hearing, the witness spoke of his detention in Lora. He said he had been taken prisoner near the southern Bosnian town of Neum on 22 March 1992 and exchanged on 14 August at Nemetin, outside Osijek in eastern Croatia.
Zarkovic said that he and other inmates would be hidden away during visits by delegations of the International Committee of the Red Cross, so that they were registered only in June 1992.
He said that the first defendant Tomislav Duic, the prison warden, had never beaten him, but that he had been cruel to others, in particular to people from Trebinje, "whom he thrashed with baseball bats."
Zarkovic said that Duic had protected him by ordering the guards not to beat him and that he had a sort of privileged status in prison. He said he had seen many cases of ill-treatment while cleaning the cells and toilets.
The witness said he was present when Nenad Knezevic tried to escape. Knezevic was shot and wounded and dragged back into the prison where he was beaten up.
Zarkovic said that he and another inmate put Knezevic in a van which then took him to hospital. He heard later that the prisoner had died there.
After that, the guards lunged at another civilian inmate, Gojko Bulovic, kicking and punching him. The witness heard him crying for help until midnight that day, "after which everything fell silent."
Zarkovic recognised three of the four accused present at the hearing.