ŠIKANIĆ: MUJAHIDEEN PERFORMED RITUAL SLAUGHTERING AND TORTURED US WITH THIRST

BELGRADE, OCTOBER 12 /SRNA/ - Former member of the Light Prnjavor Brigade of the Republika Srpska Army /RSA/ Branko Šikanić, who survived captivity in the infamous Kamenica camp near Zavidovići, told SRNA that, in addition to the horrific scenes of ritual slaughter of his comrades and torture carried out by members of the "El Mujahideen" detachment, he will forever remember the lessons of jihad and the passion of foreign warriors.

"They spoke to us normally in Serbian. It is very clear that they were preparing for war. Who knows when they came to BiH. The majority of these mujahideen actually came from Western Europe, and a smaller part directly from Asian and African countries. The largest part was from Tunisia, Algeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, there were a few Albanians, there was a significant number from Turkey," says Šikanić, who was employed as a doctor on Ozren.

Šikanić, who was captured together with medical technician Velibor Trivičević on July 21, 1995, in the village of Krčevina after the Serbian defense line was breached, said that they immediately faced the cruelty of those in whose hands they would remain until August 24, when they were transferred to the camp in Zenica prison.

"Immediately after being captured, the Mujahedeen took us to the trench where our positions were. There we found a Republika Srpska fighter whose head had been completely severed and his chest had been cut open from neck to stomach. One mujahedeen brought an axe and shouted `Tekbir!,` and the other five or six `Allahu Akbar!`", he testified.

The Mujahideen then took Šikanic and Trivicevic to the village of Livade with the other ten RSA fighters they had captured on the fateful July 21 and locked them in a house where they tied them up with rope and subjected them to severe torture.

"We were tied so that our knees were bent at our chins. A stake was under our knees, and our hands were tied under the stake, and we were in that difficult position for two days and two nights," said Šikanić.

IN KAMENICA CAMP, WE WERE TIED WITH CHAINS AND TORTURED EVERY DAY

On the third day after their capture, they were taken by van to a Mujahedin camp in the village of Kamenica, in the immediate vicinity of the demolished Orthodox Udrim Monastery.

"There they killed Gojko Vujičić from Donji Vijačani by nailing him in the right side and cutting off his head with a sword in three strokes before our eyes," he said.

According to him, during the 32 days they spent in Kamenica, everyone in the group was mistreated and tied with cart chains about a centimeter thick around their ankles and locked with padlocks.

"Tied up like that, they took us to the Gostović River several times to swim, and the torture was daily and they used various methods," he said.

The Mujahideen distributed meager but regular meals to the prisoners twice a day, but the problem was that they denied them water.

"They didn't give us water. They made us thirsty. It was a huge problem to endure," he said.

He emphasized that the room they were in was equipped with all the medical supplies like the best mobile ambulance and that he performed surgeries on his fellow soldiers without anesthesia.

"We treated the wound on the soldier Goran Sokanović's leg, it healed perfectly without damaging the arteries or bone. Ten days after his capture, there were many surgeries. I did everything without anesthesia," said Šikanić.

He says he did all this in front of an audience he didn't expect.

"Muslims from the village of Kamenica brought their children to watch us. Imagine now that we were taking our children to see some Mujahedeen!? Well, that's a catastrophe! And the children entered that room where we were chained. They were singing `Ila..ila..la..Ila..la`. That drama lasted about 45 minutes, and Trivičević and I were operating and bandaging the fighters," Šikanić recalled.

LESSONS FROM QUR'AN

During the days of captivity, things happened in a way that no screenwriter could write.

"One Mujahideen asked when he was capturing me - `Who are you?` I answer him, `A doctor.` He asks me again, and I say the same thing again. He widened his eyes more and more, gathered himself together a little and said: `/Radovan/ Karadžić is also a doctor, that's not good,` and when he asked Trivičević, he managed and said that he was `a little doctor,`" Šiknić said.

He also recalled the scene when the Mujahideen asked their captives how many Muslim women they had raped.

"An Ukrainian who was with us in the unit told them: `I didn't rape anyone, I was having fun with a Muslim woman.` What fun, he almost had his head blown off. The Mujahideen immediately took a knife in his hands. I raised my hand, in chains, and said - `I guarantee with my life that no Muslim woman was raped,`" said Šikanić.

Šikanić emphasized that they were shocked that he, whose life was in their hands, would say such a thing.

"And then they ask - do you know the Qur’an? And we have no idea, when Vele Trivičević started talking about the Qur’an for a full four minutes and the Mujahideen were delighted. They brought us each a hot shepherd's pie and a liter of cola. It's incredible, what an experience it is, so little knowledge, and how much it can be worth in life," remembers Šikanić.

TORTURES IN ZENICA PRISON

The group that included Šikanić was transferred to the Zenica prison camp on August 24, where they found dozens of Serb fighters, mostly from the Vlašić battlefield, but also one member of the Prnjavor Brigade, who had been captured on May 27, 1995.

"After Gojko Vujičić was killed, there were 11 of us left, and after we found that one of our fighters in Zenica, 12 of us fighters were returned home," he said.

He stated that in Zenica they were also mistreated by the police officers who were on duty, but that there were also some who were polite.

THEY FIND OUT THAT DAYTON AGREEMENT WAS SIGNED WHILE STILL IN PRISON

In prison, they specifically learned that the Dayton Peace Agreement had been signed.

"They showed us the map when it was signed, for about three seconds and every fighter bent down to see what was ours, and the policeman who showed us said: `Serbs, you also got your Republika Srpska, but don't forget the Central Bank is in BiH.' You see, the bank was important to them, not the state," said Šikanić, adding that it still sounds incredible to him today.

RELEASED ON CHRISTMAS, BROUGHT TO EXCHANGE BAREFOOT

Šikanić was released from prison in Zenica with three prisoners from the Prnjavor group on Christmas Day, January 7, 1996, and after three days spent in a warehouse in Sanski Most, he was exchanged in the village of Koprivna.

One group was exchanged earlier - on December 24, 1995, and one on St. Sava Day, January 27, 1996.

"We were brought barefoot for the exchange. We were barefoot for six months, but luckily it was summer, and when winter came, the body adapted," said Šikanić, who lost 18 kilograms during his captivity.

Of the twelve people from Prnjavor who had the misfortune to get to know the members of the "El Mujahid" detachment well, nine are still alive.

"Three fighters passed away. We stayed in touch. We all live here in Prnjavor and we remember," he said. /end/