Financial compensation for torture in OUP Prijepolje in 1994

In a decision handed down by the First Municipal Court in Belgrade, the Republic of Serbia (RS) is ordered to pay 1,690 000 RSD to Himzo Kamberović and Kasim Hajdarević in compensation for torture committed against them by members of the Ministry of the Interior (MUP) of the Republic of Serbia in February 1994. The Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) filed a compensation lawsuit on their behalf on November 22, 2005.

Himzo Kamberović and Kasim Hajdarević were brought to the police station after an illegal weapons search action conducted in Februry 1994. Although no weapons were found in their houses, members of the Prijepolje Internal Affairs Department (OUP) took them to the police station for questioning. During the informal questioning, police officers Momir Laković, Nenad Puzović, and Ratomir Dučić beat Kamberović and Hajdarević with their fists and feet, and then they hit them with their police truncheons on their palms. Puzović ordered Kamberović to take his shoes off and bend his upper body over the back of a chair while kneeling on the chair, in order to make it possible for Dučić to hit him on his soles with an electricity cable. Kamberović was also forced to count loudly the number of times he was hit, and when he came to number 15, they made him count again, claiming he made a mistake. They were released from jail the following day. Both Kamberović and Hajdarević were diagnosed with serious bodily injuries. Due to an exposure to torture and fear, less than three weeks after this incident, Kamberović was diagnosed with diabetes.

In the course of the criminal proceedings, the District Court in Užice sentenced the accused police officers to five months in prison each after finding them guilty of trying to extort victims’ statements, and the Supreme Court of the RS upheld this decision. After they served their time, these police officers resumed their duties with the Prijepolje OUP, and Nenad Puzović even got promoted.

After three hearings in the civil lawsuit held before the First Municipal Court in Belgrade, the responsibility of the RS for the torture committed by the members of the RS MUP against Kamberović and Hajdarević was established and Serbia was ordered to pay 980.000 and 710.000 respectively to the victims of torture in non-pecuniary damages for the mental anguish and physical pain they suffered.