'Those Frustrating Events': Witness Testifies to Torture

A survivor of nine months of torture in Yugoslav Army prison camps, Robert Hausvicka, was the second witness to testify in the Milosevic trial following the winter recess. Lead prosecutor Geoffrey Nice very carefully led the young man through testimony about sustained beatings, use of electric shocks to his head and lower extremities, and beatings by rods to the bottoms of his feet. At one point, Mr. Nice said he would not subject the witness to any more and directed the judges to read additional details from his statement.

The beatings caused such excruciating pain that the witness finally agreed to tell his torturers all he knew. When that wasn't enough to satisfy them, he lied, describing Croatian forces in far greater numbers than he knew them to be. Still, guards beat him for the 50 page confession he signed but had no opportunity to read. The 'confession' admitted to killing and slaughtering children, cutting off ears and gouging out eyes.

Mr. Hausvicka was a member of the Croatian special police, intended to defend Dubrovnik, though he never had a chance, he said. Shortly after the JNA siege of Dubrovnik started, he was captured and eventually transferred to the JNA Camp at Bileca in Bosnia-Hercegovina. After being held there for several months, he was transferred to the JNA camp in Montenegro on the Bay of Kotor called Morinje. He testified that conditions there were even worse than in Bileca. Prisoners were held in a warehouse, made to lie on a wood floor, and given only a bucket for a toilet. They were subjected to various indignities such as mock executions and forced boxing matches. Both camps held about 80% civilians and 20% police or military prisoners. The civilians were elderly men.

At the end of his direct examination of the witness, Mr. Nice 'invited' the Chamber to assure that Milosevic's questions about what Mr. Hausvicka suffered had a specific and valid forensic purpose. Judge May admonished the accused before he began cross examination, 'Mr. Milosevic, you hear the point. This is a witness who suffered and I'm sure you'll have in mind the need to deal sensitively with any cross examination.'

For the most part, Milosevic avoided asking questions relating to Mr. Hausvicka's imprisonment and torture, which he referred to as 'those frustrating events.' He tried to get the witness to say the guards who mistreated him were not JNA soldiers. Whether they were or not, they wore JNA uniforms and conducted interrogations and beatings in JNA facilities, Mr. Hausvicka said.

Despite his visibly emotional demeanor, Mr. Hausvicka stood up well to Milosevic's cross examination. He declined to answer questions about events of which he had no direct knowledge. When Milosevic asked if he knew about judicial investigations of the mistreatment of Serbs in Dubrovnik, the witness asserted that he has Serb friends who remain in Dubrovnik and can testify that no one ever mistreated them. However, he added, that was the extent of his knowledge and he might be wrong. Milosevic appeared to suggest that he, too, might be wrong, stating that he only got his information from his associates.

When Milosevic asked whether it was true that local criminals were ordered released to join the armed forces firing on the JNA, Mr. Hausvicka pointed out that there was no prison in Dubrovnik, only a small detention facility in the district court for holding no more than 5 prisoners awaiting trial. Milosevic might well have a conversation with the associates who provide him with the information on which he bases his cross examination.

While Milosevic refrained from bullying this witness, he questioned how he was able to return to work with the special police forces for nearly two years after his release in a prisoner exchange on 2 September 1992, before resigning because of the effects of his imprisonment. Mr. Hausvicka replied that his physical symptoms from injury to his spine, kidneys, ribs and head were not so important, but there was a delayed reaction in experiencing psychological stress. It was the psychological injuries that eventually caused his 'breakdown' in mid-1994.

The witness's courage in dealing with the results of his brutal treatment was evident in the following colloquy with Milosevic:
Milosevic: 'Who killed all the soldiers on the Dubrovnik theater of war [if there were so few Croatian fighters]?'
Witness: 'I will give a specific answer, if you agree.'
Milosevic: 'Of course, whatever you want.'
Witness: 'My answer is 'you'.'

Redirect examination provided an opportunity for the prosecution to play the tape of Montenegrin President (now Prime Minister) Milo Djukanovic's apology to the people of Dubrovnik for the role Montenegrins played in the war, causing such pain and suffering to their neighbors. The apology is an admission of responsibility by a man who was prime minister of Montenegro at the time and one of Milosevic's supporters. As such, it makes it difficult for other Montenegrins -- or Milosevic -- to deny the crimes committed by Montenegrin forces, acting in concert with the JNA and Serbian forces, against the citizens of Dubrovnik and southern Dalmatia. The tape was a reminder that Biljana Plavsic was in fact the second head of state to publicly accept responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity. As more come forward, it will become increasingly difficult to perpetuate the nationalist myth of who were the victims and who the victimizers.