Serb Soldier Lets Girlfriend Listen
to Muslim Leader Being BeatenTHE HAGUE, Netherlands, May 15 (AP) — A Serb paramilitary soldier let his girlfriend in Belgrade listen over the phone as he beat up a Bosnian Muslim leader, the alleged victim told the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal Tuesday. Sulejman Tihic, a judge and leading member of the Muslim-led Party of Democratic Action, said he was taken prisoner and subjected to repeated beatings after the northeastern Bosnian town of Bosanski Samac fell to rebel Serbs in April 1992.
Tihic was the third prosecution witness to testify in the war crimes trial of Bosnian Serb Dusan Tadic. Tadic, a 40-year-old former bar owner accused of the murder, torture and rape of non-Serbs in the northwest of Bosnia in 1992, was not involved in the attack on Bosanski Samac.
But for his alleged offenses to be classified as crimes against humanity, prosecutors who are trying Tadic must prove that similar offenses were being committed across Bosnia at the same time. The three-judge panel in the juryless trial is led by Judge Gabrielle Kirk McDonald of Texas.
Before the Serb takeover of his town, Tihic, 44, had been part of a political forum that tried to calm ethnic tensions in the area. His role and religion made him a prime target for Serb paramilitaries picking on non-Serb leaders, he said.
Among the Serbs who took over the town were paramilitary troops led by Zeljko Raznatovic, better known as Arkan, whose units have been blamed for some of the worst atrocities in Croatia and Bosnia. Tihic said following his arrest, he was held in the Interior Ministry building in Bosanski Samac, beaten with other Muslims by Serb troops and forced to sing Serb nationalist songs.
In one incident, Tihic said he “was interrogated by two of Arkan’s men ... they beat me, one of them called his girlfriend in Belgrade and she was listening to what they were doing to me.” Later, another of Arkan’s men forced him to read a statement on local radio urging non-Serbs not to resist and assuring them they would not be ill-treated by the Serbs.
Tihic and other prisoners were later blindfolded and taken to Yugoslav Army barracks inside Serbia, he claimed. At a camp in Batajnica, they were again interrogated and mercilessly beaten by Yugoslav soldiers, he testified.
Serbia and its tiny ally Montenegro form what is left of Yugoslavia, and have repeatedly denied any involvement in the Bosnian conflict.
Tadic is accused of murdering more than 30 Muslims and Croats and torturing dozens more in northwestern Bosnia. He has pleaded innocent to all the charges, saying he is a victim of mistaken identity. His trial, the first international war crimes trial since the military tribunal at Nuremberg, Germany, after World War II, is expected to last up to six months.
May 10 · First Muslim Before Tribunal Pleads Not Guilty
May 9 · Historian Takes Stand for Second Day In Trial of Dusan Tadic
May 8 · Historian Sets Context for Atrocities in Day 2 of Tadic Trial
May 8 · Muslims in Sarajevo React to Tribunal Trial
May 7 · Defense: Tadic Had No Role in Murder, Torture
May 7 · On Trial's Eve, Tadic Claims Innocence
May 7 · Childhood Friend Says Tadic was Cruel, Artistic
May 7 · Tribunal Judge Heavy on Texas Style
Key Facts about the War Crimes Tribunal
International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia
The United Nations
Coalition for International Justice
Major War Criminals/Suspects
CalTech's Bosnia Site
Reports on War Crimes in the Former Yugoslavia
CalTech's Bosnia Site
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