Supplemental report on war crimes in the former Yugoslavia - Transcript

US Department of State Dispatch, Nov 2, 1992

Reconnaissance units of the army of Bosnia-Herzegovina were eyewitnesses of the burial of about 750 people during only one day. Their bodies were placed by excavators into fortification facilities and trenches for cannons, which were previously removed. Newly captured civilians and many camp prisoners from refugee convoys coming from the towns of Prijedor, Banja Luka, Kljuc, Mrkonic Grad, and Skender Vakuf were killed.

Imam Mustafa Mojkanovic of Bratunac was tortured before thousands of Muslim women, children, and the elderly at the town's soccer stadium, according to Imam Efardi Espahic of Tuzla. Serb guards ordered the cleric to cross himself. When Mojkanovic refused, they beat him, stuffed his mouth with sawdust and beer, and then slit his throat.

The Muslim mufti of Zagreb, Sevko Omarbasic, has said that by the end of July the Serbs had executed 37 imams.

(New York Newsday)

Mid-April: Muslim soldiers removed Serbian corpses from the Drina Hotel in Goradze to a nearby river. A former hotel worker said some of the corpses were mutilated, e.g., were missing hands, and she saw one with his eyes gouged out. (Department of State)

One Serb seized by the Muslims was named Zekovic. He [was] paraded naked through Gorazde by his captors and was forced to crawl on the asphalt and bark like a dog, according to an eyewitness. Then he was tortured mercilessly before being executed, according to some reports. (Department of State)

Adil's two brothers, Salko and Arif Umerovic, reportedly participated with him in the killing of other Serbs in Gorazde. (Department of State)

Torture of Prisoners

May-June: A 52-year-old Bosnian Muslim cleric, whom Serbian military police had arrested on May 16 and subsequently released, was picked up again on May 29 or 30 by a convoy of Serb militia; he had been hiding in the woods. He was interned in Omarska camp for 75 days, during which time he was beaten regularly until he bled. The cleric witnessed several public beatings and sexual torture in the camp. He said that several men had been forced by the guards to have intercourse with each other, and that guards cut off some prisoners' hands and penises as a punishment and to frighten the other men. (Department of State)

16 May: A 52-year-old Bosnian Muslim cleric from Bosanska Kostajnica was arrested on May 16 by Serbian military police. He was beaten by the guards with rifle butts, boots, and police batons. Three ribs in his back and his chest bone were broken. All his upper front teeth were knocked out. (Department of State)

May: A 35-year-old Muslim refugee from Rudo, who was detained in Rudo camp with 21 other Bosnians, told a US Foreign Service officer on September 18 that all of the men in his camp had been beaten regularly. Men would be taken from their room for interrogation and return disfigured, in some cases with ears, fingers, or noses cut off. (Department of State)

May: Forty young women from the Muslim-populated town of Brezovo Polje, north of Sarajevo, were brutalized and repeatedly raped in May of this year by Serbian soldiers, according to the Zagreb weekly, Globus. The US Consulate in Zagreb reported that the story had contained enough names, dates, places, and other specifics--including photographs of quoted victims--to appear credible. (Department of State)