Foca Prison Trial

Defence and prosecution clashed last week over allegations that the bodies of Bosniaks killed in Foca prison in 1992 were thrown into the Drina river beneath the prison walls.

Former Foca prison inmates claimed to have seen and heard from their cell, Room No. 23, the bodies being dropped into the river. The witnesses said they could see car lights on the bridge over the Drina and could hear the bodies hit the water.

But defence lawyers representing former prison warden Milorad Krnojelac claimed the bridge could not be seen from Room 23.

They also said they had evidence that the sound of objects hitting the water would have been drowned out in the prison cells by the general sound of the river.

Prosecution investigator Racine Manas, who visited the prison in 1996 to reconstruct witness testimonies, said inmates could see the bridge from Room 23 if they climbed on the radiators by the window. Manas said sound tests had not been carried out.

Former inmates pointed out, however, that the bridge is only 30 meters away from the prison building and in the summer months, when the alleged events took place, the river is low and less noisy.