THE HAGUE/ZAGREB, May 6 (Hina) - The trial of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic resumed on Tuesday with the testimony of protected witness B1461 who spoke about sexual abuse of male prisoners in the Calopek detention camp
in eastern Bosnia.
THE HAGUE/ZAGREB, May 6 (Hina) - The trial of former Yugoslav
President Slobodan Milosevic resumed on Tuesday with the testimony
of protected witness B1461 who spoke about sexual abuse of male
prisoners in the Calopek detention camp in eastern Bosnia. #L#
Witness B1461, a 36-year-old Bosnian Muslim from the village of
Divic near Zvornik, described the attack of Serb forces on his
village in April 1992, the shelling from positions in Serbia, the
occupation of the village, and the abduction of a group of 174 men to
the camp in the village of Calopek.
The prisoners were detained next to Calopek's Culture House. On
June 10, 1992 Serb paramilitary forces led by Dusan Vuckovic-Repic
brought about 30 naked prisoners to the stage, forcing them to have
sex and abuse each other, while the other prisoners were placed in
the audience to watch, the witness said.
According to the witness, the prisoners were brought to the stage in
pairs, among whom there were two, three pairs of fathers and sons,
who were forced to perform oral sex on each other and later to bite
off and cut off their penises.
The molesters, led by Vuckovic, later stabbed them with knives,
randomly shot at them, the witness said and added that he himself
was stabbed in both arms.
The witness said his father and their neighbour refused to engage in
a fight on the stage so the Serb soldiers beat them up. The neighbour
was beaten to death, while his father and uncle were later shot.
According to the witness, about 30 prisoners were killed in
Celopek.
In July 1992, the witness was transferred to the Batkovici camp,
also in eastern Bosnia, which he left a year after during an
exchange of prisoners.
During the cross-examination, Milosevic, who is defending himself,
refused to deal with the sexual abuse cases in Celopek, stating that
authorities in Serbia tried Vuckovic and other perpetrators of that
crime in 1993. Milosevic said "I do not understand why witness B1461
has been brought to testify against me".
Instead, Milosevic focused on the circumstances of the attack on
the village of Divic, trying to deny allegations on artillery
strikes from Serbia, claiming the attack was carried out by Bosnian
Serb forces.
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