The basic court in Zvornik confirmed the indictment against four policemen from Osmak who are accused of having, as officials, participated in gross abuse and physical injury of minors by abuse of authority, thereby committing a criminal offense – violation of human dignity by abuse of official position or authority.
The District Public Prosecutor’s Office in Bijeljina has charged the commander of the Police Station in Osmak, Dejan Marković aka Deša, crime inspector Novica Popović, and police officers Rajko Đurić and Dragan Milutinović, reports BIRN BiH.
In the confirmed indictment, it was stated that these police officers participated in the unjustified and excessive use of physical force, by which, by abusing their authority, they committed intimidation and physical injury to others, as well as acted in a manner that insulted human dignity.
It was clarified that minor A.J., police officers interrogated him without the presence of persons designated by law, and that Dejan Marković “hit him with an open fist in the face” and then intimidated him with a weapon, giving him additional blows in the neck and shoulder area.
For the remaining three defendants, it was stated that they did not take any action to prevent Marković from beating the minor, as well as that during the interrogation, Đurić “began to break his fingers by pulling them one by one”, while Popović and Milutinović were driving him in the police car. vehicle, during which Milutinović hit him in the arm and leg area.
Detektor reported that fourteen-year-old Ajdin Jusić was beaten at the end of August last year in Osmaci, not far from Zvornik. He was interrogated in the local police station, without his father or lawyer present, by the police who then beat him.
He told Detektor journalists that the police twisted his fingers and handcuffed him, and asked him to tell them who was robbing the houses in the village.
The policemen did not let his father out into the corridor. When he managed to get out, he found the policemen holding Ajdin’s hand, leaning against the wall. He asked them why they were questioning him without his parents present, but he says he was getting cheeky answers to get out of the way.
“At that moment, I heard Ajdin scolding me, shouting: ‘I can’t admit what I don’t know’. And I heard the child crying, shouting: ‘Don’t touch me’, and the crying stopped,” recalled earlier Jusic.
The policemen brought Ajdin to the front of the house and left him there unconscious, his father said earlier, who reported the policemen to the internal control, and a day later to the District Public Prosecutor’s Office in Bijeljina.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republika Srpska stated in a press release that they received a complaint for illegal behavior when taking a statement from a minor and that they informed the Prosecutor’s Office in Bijeljina about everything.
The police officers have been suspended, but it is not yet known whether they have been disciplined.
Earlier research by Detektor showed that many cases of police violence, which disturbed the public in Bosnia and Herzegovina, went unpunished or lengthy procedures are still ongoing.
