Balkan Repository Project - Bosnia War crimes guard says followed orders

Bosnia War crimes guard says followed orders

10:49 a.m. Jul 28, 1998 Eastern

By Christine Lucassen

THE HAGUE, July 28 (Reuters) - A Bosnian Moslem former prison guard on trial for war crimes admitted on Tuesday that he had mistreated Serb detainees, but told the Yugoslavia tribunal he had been following orders.

United Nations prosecutors charge that Esad Landzo was directly involved in the torture and murder of Serbs at the jointly operated Bosnian Moslem and Bosnian Croat Celebici camp in central Bosnia in 1992.

He is on trial with Bosnian Moslems Hazim Delic and Zejnil Delalic and Bosnian Croat Zdravko Mucic in the first case to come before the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia where the victims are Serbs.

Landzo told the court he had obeyed orders to the letter and considered himself a good soldier. Fear for his own safety had driven him to commit some of the acts of which he is accused.

``I attempted to be a perfect soldier...I did believe I had to execute each and every order without complaint. The perfect soldier is the one who executes all the orders. I tried to stick to that throughout the war,'' Landzo said quietly.

He described a reign of terror under fellow accused, camp commander Mucic and camp deputy Delic.

``He had two machine-guns and a knife,'' Landzo said of Mucic.

Describing Delic, he said: ``He would raise hell.''

Landzo, 25, has pleaded not guilty to grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions and Violations of the Laws and Customs of War. He faces a maximum life sentence if convicted.

Wearing a yellow shirt with dark tie, Landzo said he remembered taking part in some of the criminal acts of which he stands accused because he was ordered to do so.

Asked whether he had kicked prisoners unconscious, beaten them with shovels and suffocated and burned one detainee, he replied: ``Yes, ...but it was ordered by superiors.''

He said he could not recall other alleged incidents.

``I can't remember him from Celebici,'' he said of one case. ``There were 250 prisoners...Others were also executing orders. Maybe somebody else did it, I really don't know.''

According to the indictment, detainees at Celebici lived in terror. They witnessed the abuse and slaughter of other prisoners, suffered inhumane living conditions, were deprived of adequate food, water and medical care as well as sleeping and toilet facilities.

Landzo is accused of helping create this misery. He told the court he had sometimes tried to help individuals, given that there was no chance of improving general conditions.

Food and water, he said, were adequate.

Landzo said he had wanted to kill himself on several occasions after his time at Celebici, but added that this had changed since he arrived at the tribunal's Scheveningen detention unit outside The Hague. He was arrested in May, 1996.

``I have learned English, started to work with a computer,... I hope I will be able to achieve something in the future and not return to the state I was in,'' he said.

The prosecution and the defence lawyers of the three other accused in the Celebici case were granted a delay to prepare their cross-examinations of Landzo's defence testimony, which came unexpectedly after other witnesses failed to appear.

Landzo is one of 27 war crimes suspects in custody in The Hague. Four trials are running concurrently and a fifth is awaiting the outcome of an appeal.

Tribunal prosecutors have issued public indictments against some 60 individuals and an unspecified number of sealed indictments. Its most wanted suspects, former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and his military commander Ratko Mladic are still at large.

This article does not have permission of the copyright by owner, but is being offered for comment, criticism and research under the "fair use" provisions of the Federal copyright laws.