Trial of Vuk Ratković for Rape in Višegrad Begins

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - The trial of Vuk Ratković has begun at the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina on charges of rape committed between June 1992 and January 1993 in Višegrad, Birn reports.

According to the indictment, confirmed on December 19 last year, Ratković is charged with, as a member of the Višegrad Brigade of the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS), repeatedly torturing, abusing, raping and beating a female person of Serbian ethnicity.

- The accused on three occasions forced a female person of Serbian ethnicity into sexual intercourse because she was married to a Bosniak - said Edin Muratbegović, prosecutor of the State Prosecutor's Office, during the reading of the indictment.

The victim in this case will also be a witness with protective measures, and according to the indictment, during the period of hostilities between the VRS and the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina (ABiH), her husband and sons left Višegrad, while she remained in the town with her minor daughter.

 - In mid-June, the accused came armed in front of her building, forcibly took her to an apartment, undressed her, beat her, and then raped her, telling her that she was the wife of a Turk. He raped her twice in her apartment when no one else was there - said Muratbegović.

The third rape, as the prosecutor stated, occurred in mid-January 1993, when the victim's minor daughter and cousin were present in the apartment.

- While raping her then, the accused told the victim that she must respect him as her new husband and that she was his property. He told her that she would no longer give birth to Turkish, but to his, Serbian children - stated prosecutor Muratbegović.

According to the indictment, the accused forced the victim's minor daughter to say where her father was, and also forced her to play Serbian songs about the killings of Bosniaks on the Drina River.

The continuation of the trial is scheduled for March 5.