Serbian Court Urged to Jail Ex-Policeman for Torturing Prisoners

In closing arguments in the trial of Milorad Jovanovic at Belgrade Higher Court on Thursday, war crimes prosecutor Bruno Vekaric called on the court to jail the former Bosnian Serb reservist policeman.

Jovanovic is accused of torturing civilian prisoners who were held at the Simo Miljus Memorial Museum in Lusci Palanka in the Sanski Most area of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the summer of 1992.

"The common denominator in this case is [the victims'] fear of Milorad Jovanovic. We urge that he is pronounced guilty and sentenced to ten years in prison," Vekaric told the court.

According to the indictment, Jovanovic, together with his commander Slavko Vukovic, who has since died, and other unnamed police officers, forcibly brought non-Serbs from villages near Sanski Most in June and July 1992 and imprisoned them in the museum in Lusci Palanka.

In order to get evidence about the possession of weapons or information about a group allegedly resisting Serb troops, Jovanovic hit prisoners with his fists, a shotgun and other objects, kicked them, tied them to a chair or a beam on the ceiling and beat them, forced them to be baptised as Orthodox, and made them crawl on the floor and kiss his boots.

One civilian died as a result of the beating.

Jovanovic's defence lawyer Marko Milovic called for an acquittal, arguing that the only thing in the indictment that was true was Jovanovic's personal details.

"As well as Jovanovic, the indictment mentioned Slavko Vukovic and unknown members of the police force," Milovic noted.

"Milorad Jovanovic is collateral damage and he is being burdened with someone else's crimes and someone else's war profiteering," he told the court.

Jovanovic admitted during the trial that civilians...