BERSERKISTAN

Berserkistan Navigator Sex Torture of Muslims
Told at Tadic Trial

Serb soldiers fired their weapons in the air
and played the song 'Let Me Live' as one inmate
was beaten with a metal bar.

By Jennifer Scott

Dusan Tadic THE HAGUE, July 24 (Reuters) - A Muslim survivor of the Omarska prison camp told a U.N. war crimes trial on Wednesday that Bosnian Serb soldiers forced a prisoner to bite off a fellow inmate's genitals. Halid Mujkanovic, 31, giving evidence in the case of Bosnian Serb Dusan Tadic, told the court that he saw the accused among a group of around 10 soldiers present during the brutal assault.

Speaking from behind a screen in the Hague courtroom to conceal his face, Mujkanovic said the soldiers acted "as if they were at a sports match." "I saw (prisoner) 'H' holding (another inmate) by the hands. 'G' had to bow down in his (unnamed inmate's) crotch and was ordered he must bite the genital," Mujkanovic said in a slow, deliberate voice. "The second time I looked, 'G' got up with his mouth full, he was all bloody." The indentities of the victims were withheld.

Tadic showed no emotion as Mujkanovic, who had known the accused since childhood, said he saw him, dressed in camouflage uniform, among the group which ordered the assault. "I saw him with my own eyes...I know him well," he stated adamantly when defence lawyer Stephen Kay suggested he had wrongly identified Tadic.

Questioned closely by presiding judge Gabrielle Kirk McDonald, Mujkanovic said Tadic was facing him during the mutilation but he did not see Tadic actively take part in it. Nor did he see him order others to commit the act, he said.

Prisoners at Omarska Mujkanovic, who told the court that he was beaten regularly during his detention at the camp in the Prijedor region of northwest Bosnia, said the soldiers cheered during the assault. "They looked as if they were at a sports match -- as if they were supporting a team," he said calmly. He told the court that Serb soldiers fired their weapons in the air and played the song "Let Me Live" as one inmate was beaten with a metal bar.

Mujkanovic was the latest in a string of witnesses to place Tadic at the Serb-run camp in the summer of 1992 and to testify to the horrific conditions there. Tadic, 40, maintains he never went to the camp and is a victim of mistaken identity. In jail since his arrest in Germany 29 months ago, he denies charges of killing and torturing non-Serbs in the Prijedor region.

The trial, in its tenth week, has heard 42 prosecution witnesses build a picture of a widespread and systematic Serb campaign to "ethnically cleanse" areas of Bosnia of non-Serbs. Witness 'H' later took the stand in a closed session.



To learn more...
THE DUSAN TADIC TRIAL
Berserkistan, July 23 · Father Tells Tribunal of Delivering Son to Tadic for Fatal Beating
Berserkistan, July 19 · Witness Tells Tadic Trial of Horrors Imposed on Women at Omarska
Berserkistan, July 18 · Former Omarska Prisoner Says He was Beaten by Dusan Tadic
Berserkistan, July 17 · Defence Accuses Muslims of Lying in Tadic Trial
Berserkistan, June 21 · Tribunal Heads of Horrors at Trnopolje Prison Camp
Berserkistan, June 18 · Eyewitness Places Dusan Tadic at Omarska Prison Camp
Berserkistan, June 14 · Friend Watched as Tadic Slit Muslim Police Throats
Berserkistan, June 11 · First Eyewitness Testifies Against Dusan Tadic
Berserkistan, June 7 · Tadic Defense Won’t Challenge Serb-Yugoslavia Caused War
Berserkistan, May 9 · Historian Disclaims Civil War Defense in Tadic Trial
Berserkistan, May 8 · Historian Sets Context for Atrocities in Day 2 of Tadic Trial
Berserkistan, May 8 · Muslims in Sarajevo React to Start of Tadic Trial
Berserkistan, May 7 · Defense: Tadic Had No Role in Murder, Torture
Berserkistan, May 7 · On Trial's Eve, Tadic Claims Innocence
Berserkistan, May 7 · Childhood Friend Says Tadic was Cruel, Artistic


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