Bukovica engleski.qxd - Fond za humanitarno pravo

Bukovica engleski.qxd 15.3.2003 13:53 Page 40
40
Bukovica
Osman Kaim was himself severely beaten in Kovačevići
in the fall of 1992 when he went to the community
office to obtain a certificate on the extension of his son
Munever’s ID card. Such certificates were valid for only
one month and every time Munever went to get one he
was physically or verbally abused.
I decided to go instead of Munever to spare him. Being
an old man, I thought they wouldn’t make problems for
me. I got to Kovačevići and saw a lot of soldiers and
civilians outside the building housing the police station,
post office, a store, and the Registry Office. They were
wearing different kinds of uniforms - camouflage
fatigues, ordinary military and police uniforms - so that
you couldn’t tell who was police and who was army. A
tall young man in uniform came up to me, grabbed the
beret I always wear, and threw it up on the roof of the
building. I kept cool and handed my son’s ID to a man
in uniform, after which he gave it back to me together
with the certificate. When he was giving me the papers,
he suddenly hit me in the side, so hard that the spot is
still painful. I found out later that his last name is
Djerković and that he’s from Brdo village in Bukovica.
Then I went home. It was about noon. About one kilometer
from Kovačevići, near the edge of the woods, three
uniformed men caught up with me, including the one
called Djereković - a short man - who had hit me in
Kovačevići. As soon as they came close, they started tripping
me up to make me fall. I moved aside, thinking they
would go on their way. But Djerković came up to me,
threw a belt around my neck and pushed me over a tree
stump. Then all three started kicking and punching me
all over. Djerković kept me pinned down all the time
with the belt around my neck. I passed out after that
beating and lay there for three or four hours.