Witness Says Monika Ilic Poured Acid on Wounds
This post is also available in this language: Shqip Macedonian Bos/Hrv/Srp
Didic recalled that he was captured on May 19, 1992 and taken to Brcko police station, before being transferred, along with 15 other Bosniaks, to Luka detention camp in Brcko.
“While I was in Luka, I saw Republika Srpska Army members and ‘Arkan’s men’. [Members of the paramilitary unit of the late Zeljko Raznatovic “Arkan”.]
“They took us to one of the port hangars, where more than 100 men, mostly Muslims and Croats, had already been detained. They began examining and beating me and another prisoner on May 20,” Didic added.
“Konstantin Simeunovic and a Dragan and Ilija were the ones who beat us the first time. They hit us with all kinds of objects. We were beaten three or four times a day and even at night.”
On May 25, 1992, he said, the defendant, Monika Karan-Ilic, told him she wanted to “see his blood”, so he was beaten up with a fire hose. He was then sent back to the room, where other prisoners were held.
“Monika, who was accompanied by soldiers, came again the following morning. Somebody pulled my blanket off me. She then began pouring liquid over me, which burnt my wounds.
“I was in great pain. I could not see clearly, because my eyes were half-closed due to the beating, but, judging by the smell, I would say that it was muriatic acid,” Didic said.
He said that the defendant did not beat him, but encouraged Goran Jelisic and other men to do so.
The Hague Tribunal sentenced Jelisic to 40 years in prison for crimes committed in Brcko.
The indictment, which contains eight counts, charges Karan-Ilic, a Bosnian Serb, with torture, treating in an inhumane manner and mentally abusing Bosniaks in the Luka camp and the police station in Brcko from May to July 10, 1992.
It is only the second indictment against a woman for war crimes before the courts in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Witnesses Suad Ramovic and Hasan Kamberovic also testified at this hearing. Both men said they were held in Luka in May 1992, and that Amir Didic was beaten more than anybody else.
“I remember that Monika once came to the hangar, pulled a blanket off Dedic and said: ‘Ouch! This Muslim stinks’. She was holding a revolver in her hand and wanted to kill him,” said Kamberovic.
The suspect was arrested in Prijedor in December 2011 and she is currently held in custody in Bijeljina.
The trial is due to continue on September 10.
