COMMITTEE COMPILING DATA ON CRIMES

AGAINST HUMANITY AND INTERNATIONAL LAW

02 No. 597/96

October 15, 1996

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE MISUSE OF MEDICAL TREATMENT FACILITIES

IN SARAJEVO FOR MILITARY PURPOSES

 

 

 

Contrary to the international humanitarian law provisions, Moslem military authorities in Sarajevo used maternity homes, rehabilitation centres and other medical treatment facilities for military purposes. By positioning machine-gun and sniper nests in these facilities they turned them into strongholds. When the Serb party responded to their fire delivered from the mentioned facilities, the true state of affairs was presented malevolently in the media campaign to the detriment of the Serbs.

The deaths of numerous injured and sick Serbs at the hospitals were caused by the lack of medical care which was especially manifest in deprivation of the Serb patients of blood transfusions and constant delays of operations. These violations of international humanitarian law are corroborated by a vast number of statements given by witnesses, especially by physicians from Sarajevo.

 

 

THE USE OF THE MEDICAL TREATMENT FACILITIES

AS MILITARY STRONGHOLDS

 

 

1.1. Witness 281/96-1, professor at the Sarajevo Faculty of Medicine, testifies as follows:

"... Events taking place at the maternity home in Sarajevo and Ilidža Rehabilitation Institute are especially interesting.

The chief of medical staff, Dr. M., obstetrician, told me the day before that the members of the ¢ Patriotic League¢ had entered the maternity home at 10.00 hrs. in the morning. They were brought in by Dr. Lutvo Hodžić, a pediatrician. Throughout that day and the next day as well, they were launching fire attacks from the maternity home against the Serb positions. The maternity home is situated on the hill standing erect in between Sarajevo and the area stretching toward Vogošća.

It was not before 16.00 hrs. of the next day that the Serbs responded to the attack launched from the maternity home. However, it was already vacated. No single newborn infant or woman who has just given birth or any of the medical staff members was injured because they had all been evacuated beforehand.

An even more drastic incident took place at the Ilidža Rehabilitation Institute. The day before, I cannot recall the exact date, the members of the ¢ Patriotic League¢ , i.e., ¢ Green Berets¢ from the Hrasnica settlement, brought armament and carried it to the third floor of the Institute building. While some of those members changed into the hospital pyjamas another group came dressed in white medical staff outfits the next day. They started shooting from the third floor of the Institute and killed some 20 Serbs who were in the park.

Later, Serbs burned the third floor, but there were no wounded patients. They were taken to the first floor and ground floor beforehand.

On several occasions I was witness to shells landing in the ¢ Koševo¢ hospital yard. Twice they had hit the Traumatological Clinic in my close vicinity. However, it always took place after the Moslem Army members, positioned in front of the Traumatological Clinic, had fired a series of shells. Nearby it was located some kind of their school where we used to hide later whenever they would start launching fire attacks from that school against the Serb positions. The Clinic is some 15 m away from the Civil Engineering Faculty, where that school of theirs was located.

One of the ¢ Patriotic League¢ command headquarters was housed in the basement and on the ground floor of the Faculty of Stomatology, as well as in the majority of schools and kindergartens..."

1.2. Witness 344/96-2, surgeon, who was born in Sarajevo where he studied and worked as a physician and specialist in medicine in the "Koševo" Clinic Centre, testifies as follows:

"... I devoted myself to my profession and was never indulged in politics.

Towards the end of February and in early March 1992, Juka Prazina was under medical treatment at the Traumatological Clinic in Sarajevo. Through the course of his medical treatment the Clinic was practically occupied, under the control of his armed men. Working conditions were hard to endure and sometimes even unbearable. Shootings were common and armed members of his formations used to move freely around the Clinic corridors.

As of March 1992, the Clinic Centre was under the complete control of the ¢ Green Berets¢ . At the Clinic Centre entrance, within its very compound, in the buildings themselves and on the roofs, one could see armed men who used to stop us doctors asking for our IDs and maltreating us. More often than not they used to fire shots within the hospital compound. On account of the frequent shooting and shell impacts on the rooms of the patients, most of the patients stayed day in and day out in the dinning-rooms or in the corridors. On her way to the surgery, one of the physicians was wounded in the leg in early April 1992.

Consequentially, patients and medical staff felt insecure. Patients of Serb nationality who were afraid and felt threatened sought ways to leave the hospital..."

1.3. Witness 344/96-3, a physician and a specialist in medicine, testifies as follows:

"... During 1992, upon moving out of the hospital medical equipment, medical staff and patients the ¢ Green Berets¢ members used the facility of the ¢ Jezero¢ pediatric hospital in Sarajevo for carrying out combat activities. .."

1.4. Witness 420/96, lawyer from Sarajevo, testifies as follows:

"... On May 25, 1992, we met our neighbour V., a physician at the Pediatric Clinic, who told us that the Moslems had seized the maternity home and Pediatric Clinic. They moved out all the patients and prepared themselves for conducting fire assaults against Serb positions. Also, they were warned to avoid passing through that area because it was dangerous.

However, we passed by the maternity home and Pediatric Clinic and saw that Moslems had really seized those facilities and positioned their machine-gun and sniper nests, blocking all the entrances..."

1.5. Witness 426/96-48, who was a nurse in charge at the "Koševo" Hospital for Pulmonary Diseases in Sarajevo until May 6, 1992, when she managed to escape, testifies as follows:

"... In February or March 1992, Juka Prazina came for medical treatment to the Traumatological Clinic nearby the building where I worked. Since I used to come there often and knew the medical staff members, I learned from them that Prazina had been accommodated there. The Clinic building was secured by his men armed to the teeth and wearing the insignia of the ¢ Green Berets¢ . Only the people they trusted were permitted to enter the building of the Traumatological Clinic..."

The men guarding Prazina rendered impossible for the medical staff members to enter those rooms and carry out their regular treatment procedures. They occupied one wing of the Traumatological Clinic forbidding access to all, including the medical staff from other wards. I myself was convinced by what I saw with my own eyes.

1.6. Witness 569/96-2, physician, who worked and lived in Sarajevo until the end of 1993, testifies as follows:

"... The following medical treatment facilities in Sarajevo were misused for military purposes: ¢ Jezero¢ Clinic Hospital, which was equipped and used as the city maternity home at that time, Gynecological Clinic and Pediatric Clinic situated nearby the demarcation line. Owing to the site it was located, ¢ Jezero¢ Hospital was seized by the Moslem Army members. They turned it into their stronghold from which they launched fire attacks against the Serbs and Serb positions..."

1.7. Witness 391/96, who was wounded on the street in Sarajevo on May 12, 1992, and thereafter transferred to the Orthopedical Clinic of the "Koševo" Hospital, testifies as follows:

"... During my medical treatment in the hospital I was eye-witness to the positioning of the 120 mm mortars within the hospital compound. I was also witness to Moslem Army members firing from those mortars on the Serb positions..."

 

 

2. THE MISUSE OF THE MEDICAL TREATMENT FACILITIES

FOR DETENTION OF THE SERBS

 

2.1. Witness 281/96-1, professor at the Faculty of Medicine in Sarajevo, testifies as follows:

"... During the attack on the column on the Dobrovoljačka Street I was in charge of the on duty medical team at the Traumatological Clinic. They brought a large number of seriously wounded members of the JNA.

The ¢ Green Berets¢ members stopped the military vehicles, opened the doors and fired shots at the officers and soldiers. Colonel Dr. Radulović, Surgeon-General of the Military District, was killed in that way. Those who managed to jump out of the vehicles were shot dead on the street because the attackers had been positioned on both sides of the street.

Following the operations performed on them, those wounded soldiers were transferred to another ward of the Urological Clinic. Without the knowledge of the physicians, the Moslem ¢ Patriotic League¢ members were entering all hospital wards and taking away the wounded at their own will, without regard for their health condition.

They were taken to a special ward of the Urological Clinic. I have never seen them again. Furthermore, we were unable to communicate with or contact them at the Urological Clinic and I do not know anything about their whereabouts.

At the beginning of the war, a Moslem S., the lawyer on whom I had performed an operation before the war, met me on the hospital premises and invited me to have a cup of coffee with him. He took me to the Administrative building of the Clinic Centre. It is a small building consisting of the ground floor and one floor with a large atrium. At that entrance were erected high metal bars by Moslems. Before the war, those bars were not there. And, in the atrium I noticed some fifty incarcerated people who were standing or walking. They were mostly older people. S. confirmed to me that it was a prison. I did not notice any young men among them.

My estimate is that there were some 120-150 incarcerated people. I went to that building some three to four times. In August or September 1992, the prison was vacated. Personally, I do not know where those men were taken, but it was rumoured that they had been executed in front of the ¢ Zetra¢ Sports Hall..."

2.2. Witness 344/96-2, surgeon, who was born in Sarajevo and worked at the "Koševo" Clinic Centre, testifies as follows:

"... As of March 4, 1992, the Clinic Centre was under the complete control of the ¢ Green Berets¢ . Armed men could have been seen at the Clinic Centre entrance, within its very compound, in the buildings themselves and on the roofs.

Upon the arrival of the first wounded, among whom were Serbs as well, intolerance towards the wounded men of Serb nationality already became evident. The armed members of the ¢ Green Berets¢ subjected them to rude treatment. Acting in accordance with a decision that was not publicly disclosed, and in all probability following the order issued by the Moslem authorities, the arrived wounded Serb soldiers were taken to the specific ward of the Urological Clinic. Those wounded men were gathered in a group and accommodated at one place and extended scarce medical aid. Those armed groups subjected them to continuous torturing. Not a track of the Serb patients that had been taken to the Urological Clinic remained..."

2.3. Witness 426/96-48, who was a nurse in charge at the "Koševo" Hospital for Pulmonary Diseases in Sarajevo, testifies as follows:

"... Moslem soldiers used to come to the hospital to take out some of the wounded men who never returned. It was carried out mainly by the members of the group of Juka Prazina.

I recall them bringing a 14-year-old boy of Serb nationality to the hospital. His name was S. He had an injury inflicted by the knife in the chest area. In his facial area and around his external ears (conchae) he had scores of pricks inflicted by flying pins. Moslem soldiers accused him of being a sniper. One night Moslem soldiers took him to the Urological Clinic that had already been turned into prison.

The prison was set up at the Urological Clinic in early May. I wanted to go there and visit professor Ž. M. who was detained in it. However, soldiers guarding the entrance, thrashed me and cursed my Serb mother..."

2.4. Witness 569/96-2, physician who lived and worked in Sarajevo until the end of 1993, testifies as follows:

"... The Urological Clinic was turned into the prison hospital in May 1992. In all probability such a choice ensued from the fact that the employees working at the Urological Clinic were mainly the members of the Party of Democratic Action (SDA) and as such were confidential people.

At the beginning of the war, by the decree of the Crisis Headquarters Mustafa Hiroš, an esteemed member of the Party of Democratic Action and its confidential person, was appointed director of the Urological Clinic, although there were also other more qualified physicians..."

2.5. Witness 341/96-1, student from Sarajevo, testifies as follows:

"... Across from our building in Sarajevo on the Hasan Brkić Street, at the ¢ Iskrica¢ kindergarten was housed Juka Prazina¢ s Command Headquarters. Nearby were the premises of the Faculty of Stomatology where Adnan Solaković¢ s military formation was stationed. Before the war, Adnan Solaković had been a criminal and at that time he was the assistant of Juka Prazina. It was a mujaheddin unit and its members made themselves distinctive by wearing fezzes on their heads.

Many Serbs who were taken to the kindergarten and the Faculty of Stomatology were beaten up there. The chief executor at the ¢ Iskrica¢ kindergarten was Nervin Uzunović, called Šok, age about 40, tattooed, blond. I heard that he had shot dead 7 soldiers while the JNA troops were withdrawing from Sarajevo. Also, I heard that he used to bring to his wife, as birthday presents, severed Serb ears and noses..."

 

 

3. THE MISUSE OF THE MEDICAL TREATMENT FACILITIES

IN MEDICAL TREATMENTS OF THE SERBS

 

3.1. Witness 281/96-1, professor at the Faculty of Medicine in Sarajevo, testifies as follows:

"... In the early days of war, the ¢ Patriotic League¢ members had formed a sort of hospital within the second ward of the Urological Clinic where they used to take seriously injured Serbs.

Members of the Serb medical staff were denied access to that ward. Personally, I know that the officer in command of the Officer¢ s Club in Sarajevo, who had been wounded on the Dobrovoljačka Street, was taken away from the Intensive Care Ward of the Traumatological Clinic only 24 hours after a very difficult operation. I performed the operation on him. Following his transfer from the Intensive Care, a guard armed with an automatic rifle was placed to keep him under close watch. Before the war, that guard was the x-ray technician at the Radiological Institute. He was taken away from the Clinic the next day and I have not seen him since.

That ward was being secured by a retired policeman called ¢ Mujica¢ , from Bjelava, who was abominably ruthless.

Also, I would like to point to the behaviour of a number of Moslem physicians towards the injured Serbs. The lack of extending proper medical care and especially refusal to give blood transfusion, including also continuous delays of operations caused deaths of many Serbs. In doing it, the following were the leading persons: Dr. Esad Čibo, orthopedist, Naim Kadić, neuro-surgeon, currently Moslem Ambassador to Kuwait, doctor Ljubović, neuro-surgeon, Dr. Ešref Bešlić from the Abdominal Surgery Clinic, Dr. Ferzad Bilal, anesthesiologist, the head of the Anesthesiology Centre at the beginning of the war, Dr. Kemal Drnda, chief surgeon, Dr. Muhamed Gavrankapetanović, neurologist, Dr. Feriz Gavrankapetanović, traumatologist, Dr. Amira Dulić, anesthesiologist, Dr. Fakica Bušić, otorhinolaryngologist.

The brutal behaviour of one Topić, whom they called Topo, the owner of a cafe-bar at Alipašino polje, needs special emphasizing. Later, he was appointed military attaché someplace in Germany. He in person came with his two companions into the surgery while I was performing the operation on an injured Serb soldier. Pushing me aside, they took him off the table, carried him out and started beating him at the very entrance of the surgery. After that, they took him away to a place unknown to me..."

3.2. Witness 426/96-48, nurse at the "Koševo" Hospital for Pulmonary Diseases in Sarajevo, testifies as follows:

"... The employed members of the Serbs medical staff stopped receiving food while the Moslem medical staff continued to receive food. Such kind of discrimination was also practiced in regard to the patients of the Serb nationality. For instance, the Moslem patient laying in a bed received food while the Serb patient laying in the bed next to him received no food whatsoever.

The same procedure was applied in distribution of medicaments. Moslem physicians would simply stop curing Serb patients by not giving them medicaments. Moslems on the other hand continued to receive proper medical treatments. Moslem physicians used to discharge Serb patients before they were cured, because room had to be made for the reception of the sick Moslem patients.

Following the attack on the JNA column in Sarajevo, several wounded JNA soldiers were brought to the hospital. Those soldiers did not receive as proper a treatment as the one extended to the Moslems. They were given neither the appropriate medicaments nor were adequate operations performed on them. I am positive that they received no blood transfusions although they needed them.

The ¢ Green Berets¢ members moved freely through the hospital. They entered both the rooms and surgeries during operations. Those soldiers threatened physicians of Serb nationality.

The people of Serb nationality were often brought from the Central Prison to the hospital. They were beaten up to such an extent that they could not have been recognized. The Moslem soldiers who used to bring them in did not allow them to remain for proper medical treatment in the hospital, but requested from us to examine them without delay and return them back. Among those people I remember an engineer from Hrasno who was savagely beaten up all over his body.

During my last days in the hospital, the hospital authorities did not allow further reception of the wounded and sick Serbs, saying that the hospital was meant to be used only by the Moslems and not by Serbs..."

3.3. Witness 569/96-2, physician who lived and worked in Sarajevo until the end of 1993, testifies as follows:

"... The JNA soldiers who had been wounded during the attack on the JNA column on the Dobrovoljačka Street were brought to the Urological Clinic. I treated no one because we Serbs were not allowed to effect cure over them. Medical treatment was carried out by Moslems..."

3.4. Witness 281/96-6, pensioner from Sarajevo, testifies as follows:

"... As a result of shelling I was wounded twice by the end of 1992 and in early 1993. First time I was wounded in the arm and sought medical aid at the infirmary in Stari Grad. When physicians and other medical staff had realized that I was a Serb they became very rude and instead of extending me adequate medical care they further hurt my wounded arm causing me even greater pain due to which I fainted. When I regained consciousness, they were cynical and made fun of me.

Second time I was wounded in the right leg area. However, because of the way in which the Moslem medical staff had treated me before I avoided seeking medical aid. I appealed for help to the UNRPOFOR medical service but Moslem interpreters did not allow me to be treated there. As a result, my health worsened to the point where the question of whether to amputate my leg arose..."

3.5. Witness 163/96, dean of the Faculty of Medicine in Sarajevo, testifies as follows:

"... From the beginning of the war the ¢ Green Berets¢ members took over and assumed complete control of the ¢ Koševo¢ Clinic Centre and Urological Clinic, setting up the prison hospital into which Moslem soldiers brought and kept incarcerated suspected patients from other wards..."

3.6. Witness 478/96-31, engineer from Sarajevo, born in 1956, testifies as follows:

"... I was taken some ten times to Moslem prisons housed in the basements. Lastly, on June 1, 1993, I was brought to the premises of the Anti-armour Company Command Headquarters on the Junaka socijalističkog rada Square. They started beating me. I fainted. When I regained my consciousness, I realized that I was transferred to the hospital found in the settlement of Dobrinja 2. I had two open wounds in the head and blood was all over my body. On my left hand finger I had a ring which one of the nurses tried to take off by force. However, she did not manage to do it because I woke up at that moment. She succeeded though in hurting my finger to such an extent that I still have a visible scar..."

3.7. Witness 675/94, who was wounded and transferred to the Traumatological Clinic in Sarajevo on April 18, 1992, testifies as follows:

"... In the hospital I realized that I was treated in a different way in comparison with other patients and came to the conclusion that it was on account of my being of Serb nationality. The nurses in the hospital kept inquiring about my nationality. I received neither the prescribed medicaments nor did they bandage my wound. When the physicians of Serb nationality came to check on me I received the needed medicaments and my wound was bandaged in their presence.

As a result of the irregular bandaging, the wounds in my legs became infected.

One day I noticed the Moslem Army members walking from one room to the other and writing down the names of the patients of Serb nationality.

On July 4, 1992, four Moslem soldiers came to my room, ordered me to get up without delay and follow them. Since I could walk only on crutches I took them. I also reached out to take my medicaments and hygienic necessaries, but they told me that I would need none of them. I had only managed to grab my crutches before they put handcuffs on my hands and took me into the police Black Maria. Once in there, the four soldiers started beating me. After that I was taken to the Sarajevo Central Prison..."

3.8. Witness 665/95, testifies as follows:

"... While we were laying on the Dobrovoljačka Street, automatic gun fire was heard. I felt a piercing pain in my left arm elbow. We were shot at from a distance of some 2 m by a man about 40-50 years of age. He ordered us to lay down and disarmed us with a group of the ¢ Green Berets¢ members.

I was taken to the hospital where I stayed until my exchange which took place on May 11, 1992.

During the reception procedure at the ¢ Koševo¢ hospital I was searched and a small knife that I had used to open cans was found in my pocket. By throwing that knife at my back, one of the nurses inflicted a 2 cm deep piercing wound in my back. She threatened to kill me. One Moslem soldier also threatened to kill me. That was the soldier armed with a gun who guarded me at the Surgical Ward..."

3.9. Witness 59/96, who was doing his military service in Sarajevo and was wounded on the Dobrovoljačka Street in Sarajevo on May 3, 1992, testifies as follows:

"... When the column on the Dobrovoljačka Street had stopped for a moment, armed Moslems with automatic weapons pointed at us started emerging from all sides. They started shouting at us to surrender, which we did. Unarmed, we got off the vehicles leaving the armaments in the vehicles. Then all hell broke loose. Moslems were shooting at us from all sides. Many soldiers were killed then. I saw them falling down shot to death. Then, I was wounded in the left shoulder and arm and I also collapsed.

We that had been captured and wounded were taken to the ¢ Koševo¢ hospital. Medical care extended to us resembled more torturing procedures than medical treatment procedures. They deliberately stitched our wounds without anesthetizing us. They hit us on our wounds, cursed us, insulted us and maltreated us. In the hospital itself they established some sort of investigation station where they interrogated us, beat us, tortured us and opened our already surgically closed wounds. Even in the most dreadful of movies I did not see that. Many died there. Many lost consciousness. However, no one extended them any help for hours. I saw that they had killed some of the wounded in the hospital. They tortured lieutenant P. most savagely, giving free rein to their desires..."

3.10. Witness 304/96, who stayed at the "Koševo" hospital in June 1992, testifies as follows:

"... I was treated as a criminal at the ¢ Koševo¢ hospital. They did not want to provide me with medical care. Although I was wounded in the head and arm areas they performed operations on me without anesthetizing me.

When I told one of the physicians that one Arab man named Aziz had extended first aid to me, he said that there was no need for any further operative procedures.

During my stay in that hospital, they used to tie me with a rope and push the automatic gun barrel into my mouth. They transferred me from the hospital to the Central Prison..."

3.11. Witness 391/96, who was wounded on the street in Sarajevo (where he lived) on May 12, 1992, testifies as follows:

"... Without delay I was driven to the Orthopedical Clinic of the ¢ Koševo¢ hospital where the operation was performed on me on that same day. Over the next few days they treated me correctly, i.e., until the departure of Dr. Miličević from the Clinic on May 20, 1992. Thereafter, patients of Serb nationality were treated appallingly by the medical staff.

Many Serbs laying motionlessly were suffocated with pillows and some of them strangled by the members of the medical staff. Also, I heard that some wounded Serbs were given wrongly prescribed injections which led to their deaths later.

Dr. Ćeba who had replaced Dr. Miličević was most responsible for that.

Such conditions at the Clinic made me ran away from the hospital on my crutches on June 9..."

3.12. Witness 540/95, as the former JNA officer should have departed from Sarajevo on May 3, 1992. However, when the former JNA column had been attacked on the Dobrovoljačka Street, he was seriously wounded in the leg and thereafter transferred to the "Koševo" hospital. He testifies as follows:

"... One Moslem officer ranking as major came into the hospital and took away my ID card, trying to hit me with a rifle butt. While leaving he told the medical staff and uniformed guards to watch over me carefully.

Cursing and maltreating me they took away all my personal effects. They were never returned to me.

Throughout my stay at the hospital, I was under constant surveillance of the armed members of the Moslem Army who were entering the room in which I was accommodated together with other wounded JNA members all night long. Cocking their rifles they sang us songs, such as ¢ Sleep, sleep Chetniks¢ .

Irrespective of the regular visits paid to us by physicians we had to insist that our bandages be changed. We were offered no medical care whatsoever. In terms of food, we received only one meal a day consisting of some 100 g of cooked vegetables with two small slices of toasted bread and a glass of tea.

The imprisoned and wounded JNA members who were staying in that hospital, were taken to a separate room where they were interrogated. On one occasion, the Moslem Army members took the officer in command of the Officer¢ s Club in Sarajevo away from his room to be interrogated and never returned him..."

3.13. Witness 454/95-8 testifies as follows:

"... On May 3, 1992, while retreating in the JNA column of vehicles from the Lukavac military barracks, I was wounded on the Dobrovoljačka Street. I sustained two rupturing wounds inflicted by bullets in my leg.

Without delay the Moslems transported me by a pick-up truck to the ¢ Koševo¢ hospital where I arrived at around 19.00 hrs. Since we had been presented to the medical staff members as Chetniks they treated us - the wounded JNA members extremely inhumanely.

Only at 23.30 hrs. did they bandage my wounds, although I implored them to bandage them as soon as possible because I had already lost much blood.

I stayed in the hospital until May 12, 1992. Over that period I had two operations performed on me. However, since both of them were carried out without anesthesia I suffered tremendous pain.

During those 8 days I lost as much as 15 kg of my body weight. The hospital was visited on a daily basis by the armed soldiers who interrogated the wounded..."

3.14. Witness 623/95 testifies as follows:

"... During the attack on the JNA column in Sarajevo on May 3, while withdrawing from the Lukavica military barracks, a number of the JNA members were wounded and thereafter transferred to the ¢ Koševo¢ hospital. Ivica Simić was transferred to the hospital together with me. Upon our receipt to the hospital all tracks of him were lost though. During the receipt to the hospital he was conscious and his health condition in no way indicated that his life was in danger.

The imprisoned soldiers who were wounded and stationed in that hospital were guarded by the members of the Bosnia-Herzegovina Territorial Defence..."

 

 

4.THE MALTREATMENT OF THE MEDICAL STAFF

OF SERB NATIONALITY

 

4.1. Witness 344/96-2, physician surgeon from Sarajevo, testifies as follows:

"... As of March 1992, the Clinic Centre was under the complete control of the ¢ Green Berets¢ . At the Clinic Centre entrance, within its very compound, in the buildings and on the roofs, one could see armed men who used to stop us doctors asking for our IDs and maltreating us.

On her way to the surgery, one of the physicians was wounded in the leg in early April 1992.

At any time, over night and day alike, the armed persons assaulted medical staff members, asking them various questions and looking for weapons and persons who allegedly sent signals to the Serb positions. The members of the Serb nation they called Chetniks and bandits.

While I was on duty on April 8, 1992, three armed persons, the ¢ Green Berets¢ members, stopped me at around 24.00 hrs. and accused me of allegedly sending signals from our Clinic. For a moment I thought that they were going to kill me. Owing to my self-composed attitude and the courage of nurse V. I managed to get out of that tight corner..."

4.2. Witness 426/96-48, from Sarajevo, testifies as follows:

"... While being on duty one night, a group of 6 ¢ Green Berets¢ soldiers came and ordered me to follow them to the warehouse. There they started grabbing my uniform and tearing it up. They tried to rape me but run off when a shell landed nearby.

The ¢ Green Berets¢ members moved freely around the hospital. They entered rooms and surgeries during operations. Those soldiers threatened physicians of Serb nationality.

In early May the prison was set up at the Urological Clinic. Soldiers guarding the entrance thrashed me and called be a Serb whore, preventing me from visiting my professor.

Early in the morning of May 6, 1992, I was sent for by Dr. Mehmedalija Budalica who was present when Moslem soldiers assaulted me and tried to rape me. When on that occasion I had sought protection from him he told me that his ¢ time has come¢ . He inquired about the whereabouts of my daughter who had escaped from Sarajevo shortly before that. When I told him that she was in Sarajevo, he said: ¢ How is it possible? We could not find her anywhere¢ .

After that I took the advantage of the opportunity and escaped home. On that same night came Moslem soldiers who searched my apartment and took away everything they were interested in. Upon their departure, under the cover of night, I ran across the street and made my way through the barricades to the Serb-held side of the street.

Thus I managed to run away from Sarajevo..."

4.3. Witness 649/96, pensioner who lived in Sarajevo, testifies as follows:

"... In June 1993, I heard from Dr. Zečević, the head of the Medical Centre ¢ Omer Maslić¢ in Dolac Malta in Sarajevo, that the leadership of the Party of Democratic Action had sent her a letter instructing her to dismiss from their jobs all the persons of Serb nationality employed in that medical facility. She could not accept it, soon fell ill and passed away. After her death, all the Serbs working in that Medical Centre were dismissed from their jobs..."

4.4. Witness 803/95-1, professor at the Sarajevo University, testifies as follows:

"... I was born in Sarajevo where I had lived until the end of 1992. My family is one of the oldest families in Sarajevo where I also had a family house.

I was employed at the Urological Clinic in Sarajevo where I had been appointed to the office of the director of that Clinic. Following the issuing of the declaration of independence of Bosnia-Herzegovina in April 1992, my colleagues Moslems Dr. Mustafa Hiroš and Dr. Mugadin Bušatlić came to my office and ordered me to leave it on the grounds that being a Serb I could not be a director of the Clinic any more. I received no written paper as to the decision brought for my replacement. Dr. Mustafa Hiroš was appointed to the office of the director of the Clinic thereafter.

From the beginning of the war, the ¢ Green Berets¢ members came to my apartment 11 times to search it.

When three uniformed members came to my apartment for the first time they explained that they came to look for weapons. All the weapons I had consisted of an old trophy revolver that was formally licensed. I handed it over to them. Nonetheless, in addition they took away from me some DEM 4,000-5,000, family jewelry that belonged to my mother, clothes and other things which they fancied.

Some ten searches were carried out thereafter. The explanation for carrying out each and every search was always the same. However, not once did they have a written search warrant..."

 

 

5. THE MISUSE OF MEDICINE

FOR PROPAGANDA PURPOSES

 

5.1. Witness 779/95, physician from Sarajevo, testifies as follows:

"... By mid-April 1992 a radio station ¢ M¢ , that was very popular in Sarajevo, throughout the whole day kept saturating the citizens of Sarajevo with panic reports about the child in diabetic coma who was dying in Vareš as a result of the shortage of insulin. According to that report, the insulin could not have been transported to Vareš because the Serbs had surrounded the town and cut off communications.

Having learnt of that story, I asked a friend of mine to go to the Clinic where I worked, take the insulin from it, carry it to the railway station and give it to the engineer who was bound to drive to Zenica that day. I notified the physicians in Zenica about my undertakings and told them to wait for the train and take the insulin, which was carried out without any problems whatsoever and the child was saved as a result.

Apparently, this case had to serve the purpose of satanization of the Serbs, because Vareš had not been surrounded at all. On that day, the train normally ran on the Sarajevo to Zenica line, as did the bus on the Zenica to Vareš line.

Not being aware of the train of events, the mentioned radio station went on repeating the appeal for help for the child in Vareš. Finally, following the receipt of the message from Vareš that everything was all right, silence simply shrouded the station..."

5.2. Witness 281/96-1, professor at the Faculty of Medicine in Sarajevo, testifies as follows:

"... In summer 1993, at the request of a Swiss woman I checked the percentage of the Serbs undergoing medical treatment at the hospitals in Sarajevo. In view of the fact that I could not always make the distinction between the Serb and the Croatian names, I sorted them in the same group. The Serb and Croatian share in the total number of the persons admitted to the hospital for medical treatment was 10,2% at the time when it was claimed that the percentage of the Serbs and Croats in town amounted to 38%. On the other hand, throughout the war Serbs could seek medical aid only from the scarce number of Serb physicians and from some Moslem ones.

Especially, I would like to emphasize the statement of Dr. Dževad Softić, professor of gynecology, whose words said in my office at the Clinic were as follows: ¢ Four women were brought to me for abortion, because they were allegedly raped by Serbs. When I asked them who raped them and where it took place, all of them said that they had not been raped but were told to say so because it would be to their advantage.¢

I am noting here that all of them were Moslem women as well as the physician who questioned them..."

5.3. Witness 569/96-2, physician who lived and worked in Sarajevo until the end of 1993, testifies as follows:

"... The ¢ Jezero¢ Clinic Hospital was situated close to the demarcation line. Owing to such a position, the Moslem Army members seized the ¢ Jezero¢ Hospital establishing their stronghold in it. From there they delivered fire on Serbs and Serb positions on the other side of the demarcation line with the aim of instigating Serbs to respond to their provocations and presenting them as the ones who were responsible for the opening of fire on the hospital. It was aimed at demonization of the Serbs and creation of a distorted media picture. Each of those provocations was followed by a campaign on their television about the alleged actions undertaken by the Serbs which however did not show who started them. .."

INDICATIONS CONCERNING PERPETRATORS:

1. Dr. Ešref Bešlić, from the Abdominal Surgery Clinic,

2. Dr. Berzad, anesthesiologist, the head of the Anesthesiology Centre at the beginning of the war,

3. Dr. Mehmedalija Budalica,

4. Dr. Fakica Bušić, otorhinolaryngologist,

5. Dr. Muhamed Gavrankapetanović, neurologist,

6. Dr. Feriz Gavrankapetanović, traumatologist,

7. Dr. Esad Drino, from the Abdominal Surgery Clinic,

8. Dr. Kemal Drnda, abdominal surgeon,

9. Dr. Amira Dulić, anesthesiologist,

10. Dr. Naim Kaidić, neuro-surgeon, currently Moslem Ambassador to Kuwait,

11. Faruk Konjhodžić, physician, neuro-surgeon,

12. Almir Kusić, called "Kinez", in charge of the Security Centre at the University Medical Centre,

13. Doctor Ljubović, neuro-surgeon,

14. Adnan Sokolović, a criminal before the war, Juka Prazina¢ s assistant, mujaheddin unit commander stationed at the Faculty of Stomatology where many Serbs were brought and beaten up,

15. Dr. Esad Ćibo, orthopedist,

16. Dr. Mustafa Hiroš, urologist,

17. Dr. Lutvo Hodžić, pediatrician.

EVIDENCE: 454/95-8, 540/95, 675/94, 623/95, 665/95, 779/95, 803/95-1, 59/96, 163/96, 281/96-1, 304/96, 341/96-1, 344/96-2, 344/96-3, 391/96, 420/96, 426/96-48, 478/96-31, 569/96-2.