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“I remember very well all the mistreatment that I was subjected to for a total of 212 days in two camps. And for that reason I can't sleep well. I find it difficult to concentrate. And I am -- I am not very good at fulfilling my responsibilities. I have a wife and three children at home. I was taken to two camps for absolutely no reason, and I repeat, I spent 212 days there absolutely for no reason.” Marko Knežić, a Croatian man from a village near Dubrovnik, speaking about the effects of the mistreatment he suffered while imprisoned by Serb forces in 1991 and 1992 . He testified on 17 September 2003 in the case against Slobodan Milošević.
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Marko Knežić lived in Slano, a small sea-side village of about 500 residents, located about 40 km from the historic walled city of Dubrovnik on the Adriatic coast in Croatia. In 1991, Mr. Knežić, then 38 years old, was a receptionist at a hotel in the village. He was married and at that time had two sons aged eight and two (his daughter would be born two years later). His family had been living in Slano for generations.
Mr. Knežić told the Office of the Prosecutor that “relations between different ethnic groups in our area were always cordial” Although he and his fellow villagers knew that conflict had broken out in Vukovar, located in eastern Croatia, in mid-1991 they did not believe that it would spread to his area since Dubrovnik, a UNESCO world heritage site, “was so close and so famous”. However, as tensions gradually increased, a Local Crisis Committee was formed, as other villages in their area had also done. Mr. Knežić was one of the civilian volunteers working for the Crisis Committee and the local police to guard places such as the water and electricity supply and the communications tower.
On 3 October 1991, without any prior warning, the war was suddenly upon them. An air attack destroyed the local television tower. As Mr. Knežić later remembered, this “was the sign that war had reached our area”. That night, the Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA) and the Yugoslav Navy (JRM) began heavily shelling Slano from both land and sea. Mr. Knežić remembered that “[it] was burning everywhere". We lost water and power. Phone connections were cut off. Night was like hell, everything was burning just like in [the] movies.” The Crisis Committee directed the villagers to evacuate Slano. Mr. Knežić’s family had already left several days before. Mr. Knežić himself remained behind to try to defend the village along with some of the other local defenders.
In the morning of 4 October 1991, JNA troops entered Slano in trucks and armoured personnel carriers. Mr. Knežić saw “hundreds and hundreds of military [personnel] and paramilitaries.” He recognized the soldiers’ uniforms, having himself performed compulsory military service in the JNA in 1977.
The local resistance was quickly overwhelmed by the superior fire power of the JNA troops. Some of the local defenders managed to flee the village, but Mr. Knežić was unable to do so before the JNA had closed in on all sides. Carrying his grandfather’s old hunting rifle, Mr. Knežić hid in the rocks behind his house. There, he found his father Antun Knežić and his neighbor Božo Glumac.
For two months, the three men hid in the rocks, sneaking out at night to forage for food in the surrounding hills and in the village. They watched as the JNA occupied the village. Troops and paramilitaries began burning and looting the houses. Eventually, Mr. Knežić testified, almost all the houses in Slano were destroyed; his own was badly damaged.
On 1 December 1991, Mr. Knežić’s father was captured by JNA troops while gathering food. Three days later, Mr. Knežić himself and his neighbor, Božo Glumac, found themselves surrounded by JNA soldiers. They surrendered and were forced to lie on the ground with their hands tied behind their backs, while soldiers kicked them and hit them with rifle butts, before being taken into the village. Mr. Knežić was taken to the Military Police Headquarters, which had been set up in one of the few remaining houses in Slano. There, he was interrogated about the local crisis committee and the defence of the village.
The next day, 5 December, Mr. Knežić and his neighbor Mr. Glumac were transported to the Bileća prison camp, located in Bosnia and Herzegovina, about two hours away. At first, Mr. Knežić remembered, Bileća was run by the Užice Corps of the JNA and later, by its Rijeka Corps.
Upon their arrival at Bileća, Mr. Knežić and Mr. Glumac were taken into a room known as the “Catacomb” and chained to beds there. A uniformed JNA soldier came in and kicked Mr. Knežić, breaking one of his ribs.
The next day, they were moved to a smaller room, known as the “Cage”. There, they were chained together and for the next few days were interrogated by different soldiers wearing regular JNA uniforms. Mr. Knežić particularly remembered that one of their interrogators was a JNA captain named Biga. During these interrogations, they were treated very roughly and were frequently hit with batons.
After a few days of forceful interrogation, the soldiers moved Mr. Knežić to a different room. Although the room was designed to hold about ten people, it was overflowing with more than 30 prisoners. After approximately one month, Mr. Knežić was moved to a slightly larger room which was just as over-crowded: over 50 prisoners were crammed into a space meant to hold no more than 20 people.
In addition to the over-crowding, Mr. Knežić testified that the prisoners at Bileća were subjected to both physical and psychological mistreatment. Soldiers regularly forced prisoners’ heads into the toilets. Mr. Knežić was subjected to electric shocks, as were many of the other prisoners. The prisoners were forced to perform manual labor during which they were beaten. The beatings increased after 9 January 1992, when the prisoners learned that Croatia’s independence had been recognized internationally. In addition, they were kept in unhygienic conditions and fed very little.
Mr. Knežić also testified that the JNA soldiers tormented the prisoners psychologically. Their tactics included the use of constant light in the rooms where the prisoners were kept. Most of all, Mr. Knežić remembered, the guards would torment the prisoners by falsely telling them that they were going to be released in a prisoner exchange.
Although delegates of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) visited the Bileća prison camp on several occasions, Mr. Knežić was initially kept hidden from them. Although he arrived at Bileća on 5 December 1991, he was only officially registered there on 13 January 1992. Mr. Knežić later testified that even when he was visited by the Red Cross officials, he and the other prisoners were too afraid to tell them about the mistreatment.
On 23 May 1992, Mr. Knežić was told he was going to be exchanged. He was placed in a bus along with approximately a hundred other prisoners and several JNA guards. After three hours of driving, however, they were brought to another prison camp, Morinj (in Montenegro).
Although there was no forced labor in Morinj, the conditions there were generally worse than in Bileća. Beatings with batons were a common occurrence and were used to discipline prisoners for making too much noise when they ate, for refusing to sing Serbian songs, and for refusing to fight other prisoners to entertain the guards. Prisoners were always beaten on their way to and from the latrines, which led many to refuse to go to the toilet for days at a time. The guards were always careful to provide them with games and a radio the day the ICRC delegates came, but after they left, the conditions returned to the same level of brutality.
On 13 June 1992, Mr. Knežić testified, the treatment was particularly bad. A uniformed soldier named Boro Gligić, who seemed older than most of the soldiers, arrived at 2am. He ordered the prisoners to stand with their hands behind their backs and then the soldiers began to beat them. Until 6am, the guards took turns beating them with sandbags, batons, bats and boots. Two of Mr. Knežić’s right ribs were broken.
Mr. Knežić told the Office of the Prosecutor that he had no doubt that the torture he and the other prisoners were subjected to in both prison camps was done at the orders of senior JNA officers. He stated: “Since both the commanders [of Bileća and Morinj camps] were from [the] JNA, these camps were run by the JNA. This is my strong belief that those camps could not have established without the prior approval of the senior JNA command and whatever was going on in the camps was being done with their consent.” Mr. Knežić’s opinion is supported by his observation that there were frequent comings and goings between the Bileća prison and the JNA officers’ quarters, which were located next to the camp.
On 2 July 1992, Mr. Knežić and 20 other prisoners were loaded onto JNA buses and told they were going to be exchanged. This was the seventh time Mr. Knežić had been told he was going to be exchanged. This time, however, it was true. In the town of Cavtat, the prisoners were unloaded under ICRC supervision and ultimately released.
Mr. Knežić provided the court with medical documentation about the effects his detention had on his health. He said that he had lost so much weight during his nine months of imprisonment that his younger son did not recognize him when he returned. His absence left his children with a deep sense of insecurity. Even today, he said, when he leaves his house, his children ask one question: “Father, when will you come back?”
Marko Knežić testified on 17 September 2003 in the case against former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milošević. In this case, many victims’ testimonies were submitted in written form as an exhibit, and appeared before the Tribunal to answer questions from the accused or the court. Marko Knežić related these events to an investigator of the ICTY’s Office of the Prosecutor on 4 and 6 May 2000. Slobodan Milošević died in custody on 11 March 2006 and proceedings against him were terminated.
>> Read Marko Knežić’s full testimony and witness statement.