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Omarska Prison Camp Beatings Focus of Today's Tribunal Testimony
Tadic, a former cafe owner and reserve police office, is accused of visiting prison camps — including Omarska — in the Prijedor region of north western Bosnia, killing, torturing and raping at will. He has denied any involvement.
Asked by the prosecution how many killings occurred at the Omsarska camp Greve answered: "I would rather suggest thousands... But I'm not in a position to establish numbers. "According to Serb officials there were no large scale
releases. Considering the number of people who were taken in, it (killing) must have been on a large scale," said Greve.
Greve was giving her second day of testimony, called by the prosecution because of her role in a report on Bosnia to the U.N. Commission of Experts. Publication of the Commission of Experts' preliminary report in November 1992 led to the Security Council resolution which saw the tribunal established in May 1993. Greve, a Norwegian appeals court judge, co-ordinated an annexe to the U.N. report, bringing together and collating statements from as many as 400 witnesses.
The defence on Monday objected to her as a witness, claiming her evidence was "hearsay based on second, third and even fourth-hand testimony."
On Tuesday she told of terror and brutality at the Omarska camp, a former iron ore mining complex, where non-Serb males of military age were taken after a Serb assault on Kozarac — the north western Bosnian town where Tadic was born. Women and other males were forced out of the area in an "ethnic cleansing" operation, Greve testified. Men were kept in squalor at Omarska during the excepionally hot summer months of May to August without toilet facilities, bedding, medical attention and fed only starvation rations of bread and gruel, she said. Prisoners were regularly beaten while going to collect food.
The tribunal heard on Monday how camps around Bosnia were "open house" to Serbs who would roam freely beating and
killing Muslim and Croat detainees. Greve told how people — policemen, regular soldiers and paramilitaries — would go to the Omarska camp at night and take prisoners out of the camp. "These were people from outside the camp," Greve said. She added prominent non-Serbs, such as famous athletes or politicians were especially victimised.
Tadic is accused of sexual mutilation and handing out ferocious beatings at the Keraterm and Trnopolje camps in northwestern Bosnia, as well as at Omarska. Interrogations at the camps were referred to by the Serb authorities with the euphemism of "informative talks," Greve said. "According to the head of the Serbian police in the area 6,000 such talks took place in the camps," she said. Asked by prosecutor Alan Tieger how the interrogations were conducted Greve replied: "In a brutal manner. Prisoners were beaten severely and many were severely tortured."
Confessions from prisoners were later used by Serb authorities to back claims that non-Serbs had been conspiring to attack and liquidate their neighbours, she said.
Conditions for the 36-38 women at the camp were marginally better than for the men, Greve said. "Women on one level had better conditions than the men but the main problem for them was rapes at night time; it happened all the time."
Omarska was speedily shut down in August 1992 after television images of starving prisoners flashed around the
world. Greve said prisoners were decanted to other camps where conditions were better and the chances of survival higher.
Tadic has been in tribunal custody for over a year. His trial, which began on May 7, is the first international prosecution since the Nuremburg and Tokyo war crimes trials following World War Two. The tribunal has indicted 57 suspected war criminals. It holds five suspects, including Tadic, at its detention centre in the Hague.
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Berserkistan, May · Beatings and Torture in Luka Camp Told at Tribunal
Berserkistan, May 20 · Serb Camps were 'Open House' for Torture
Berserkistan, May 15 · Girlfriend Listens as Muslim Leader is Beaten
Berserkistan, May 10 · First Muslim Before Tribunal Pleads Not Guilty
Berserkistan, May 9 · Historian Takes Stand for Second Day In Trial of Dusan Tadic
Berserkistan, May 8 · Historian Sets Context for Atrocities in Day 2 of Tadic Trial
Berserkistan, May 8 · Muslims in Sarajevo React to Tribunal Trial
Berserkistan, May 7 · Defense: Tadic Had No Role in Murder, Torture
Berserkistan, May 7 · On Trial's Eve, Tadic Claims Innocence
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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