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Zvornik 7 Beaten in Serb Prison
TUZLA, Bosnia-Herzegovina, May 18 (AP) — Muslim soldiers handed over by U.S. troops to Bosnian Serbs were beaten while in a Serb prison, international officials said Friday. The International Red Cross said it has confirmed to its satisfaction that the men were among the soldiers missing from Srebrenica since the U.N.-protected Muslim enclave fell to Serbs last July.
All seven told international visitors they had been severely beaten by police in the eastern Bosnian Serb city of Zvornik to force them to sign confessions, the officials said on condition of anonymity. Serb news reports said the men confessed to killing four Serbs near Srebrenica on May 2. The beatings were evident from bruises on the faces and bodies of at least five of the Muslims, the officials said.
The men, armed with pistols and grenades, surrendered a week ago to U.S. forces just inside Serb-controlled territory moments after shots and an explosion were heard in the direction from which the men came. The Army unit summoned Zvornik and U.N. police, and turned them over to the Serbs as they are required to do under the Dayton peace accords. The men have since been transferred to a prison in the northeastern city of Bijeljina, where they are visited by U.N. police daily and representatives of other international groups, including the Red Cross and European Union.
The officials praised the Bijeljina authorities for their cooperation. Visitors have been allowed private interviews up to 90 minutes for each detainee. However, none of the international organizations have been able to take photographs of the men because of orders from Zvornik court authorities, officials said.
The Tuzla office of the Red Cross said Friday that it had confirmed that the men had escaped from Srebrenica from messages it carried from the men to their families in the Tuzla area. The real proof will come when they are reunited with their families, it said. Some international officials in Tuzla said there are some odd facts that raise questions about what the men were doing before they surrendered.
These officials said when the men surrendered, they appeared healthy, unlike many people on the run for 10 months. They wore new uniforms and casual shoes in good shape, and were cleanshaven with recent hair cuts. They were also carrying bread so fresh it was still warm.
The officials said the Zvornik police responded so promptly it appeared as if they had expected the call, and that the detainees appeared relaxed and weren’t handcuffed when they were taken away in a van with one armed guard. Some 8,000 Muslims from Srebrenica are listed as missing. International officials have said it is apparent that at least 3,000 and possibly most of them were killed after they surrendered or while trying to escape.
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Berserkistan, May 14 · Zvornik 7 Believed to be Srebrenica Refugees
Berserkistan, May 13 · U.S. Blundered Turning 7 Muslims Over to Serbs
Berserkistan, May 11 · Accused Muslim Soldiers Surrender to U.S. Troops
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