The judgment of Jovica Stanišić and Franko Simatović was followed with special attention in Bosanski Šamac, the place where terrible war crimes were committed against the non-Serb population. Those who survived the camp say that no court can bring back those killed, nor erase the memories of those days from the survivors. Those who carried out the orders are walking freely in this city today.
Vinko Tufeković from Gornji Hasić near Bosanski Šamac spent 6 months in the camp. He was first taken to the camp in Bosanski Šamac, after which he and some other prisoners were taken to the camp in Miloševac, which is only a few kilometers away from that town. After spending three days in Miloševac, he was again taken to Bosanski Šamac.
“I spent a Golgotha, a mortal Golgotha.”
He tells how the detainees were kept in inhumane conditions, and how the criminals often beat them. In addition, he tells that they often committed other crimes in order to inflict pain on innocent people.
“When I came, there were about 200 of us, and one room was 25 square meters – there were 52 of us in that room, you can’t sit well, let alone stretch out and lie down, bare concrete. If you grab a little bed overnight, that’s all for you. They come to hit you at any time of the night or any time of the day. They wanted to extract my teeth, I refused. Eight of them came, they beat me for 2 hours”.
Among those captured was a Franciscan priest who, Tufeković says, was beaten the most, which was also painful to watch. They were looking for objects to inflict as much pain and injury as possible.
“It was a horror, you don’t know which is worse – watching someone get hit or being hit. They hit us with shovels, with beams – they hit me with a 10 by 10 beam, but it was long, so they couldn’t swing it.”
He recalls the scene after the war when his persecutor in the camp, known by the nickname Žvaka, stopped him on the road as a policeman. This, he says, is only an indication that only politicians have been convicted of war crimes, while the perpetrators walk around freely.
“I stopped and opened the window and he shouted to me – come on. I don’t want to go, as I said, you are not ashamed to stop me, and you know what you were doing. And nothing – he just shouts to me, come on, come on… Those who mistreated us – the politicians were convicted, but these native Serbs, none of them answered”.
Today is a difficult day for Vinko because he remembers all those unpleasant times he lived through. He says it’s like that every year before the anniversary when he was taken to the camp.
“I can’t get over those memories, after so many years it comes to my mind – what must it have been?”.
No one can remain indifferent to such stories, regardless of their nationality. Although time cannot be turned back and mistakes cannot be corrected, it is important to at least acknowledge the crime, repent and call the criminal by his right name. People who carry severe wartime traumas deserve it.
