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Around 1947 there was a considerable reduction of terror and unnecessary cruelties. In the camp at Stara Gradiška there were numerous Communists who had expressed their sympathies for Stalin's version of the Communist society at the wrong time and place. After the fatal 1971, the prison cells were virtually filled with numerous intellectuals, students and other citizens sentenced for having taken part or having supported the Croatian leaders and reformers. The length of their sentences varied but all the prisoners were connected by their political motives. They were all victims of legal retaliation and charged with "Croatian nationalism and counter-revolution". More detailed analysis of this period will be possible when a welcome and long-awaited memoir retrospective has been written by former prisoners. This 198 year old prison was first closed immediately after the first democratic elections in 1990. Taking advantage of the armed rebellion of local Serbian leaders, widely assisted by the armoured units of the Banja Luka corps of the former Yugoslav army, the rebel leaders from Krajina turned Stara Gradiška into a camp for prisoners of war. Many Croats from the occupied area of western Slavonia and the non- Serbian population of north-western Bosnia were imprisoned and tortured there. Two days before Christmas 1991, six prisoners (65) from Stara Gradiška were exchanged for four Serbian volunteers from Monte Negro and Šumadija. The exchange was carried out on the bank of the River Sava near the village Davor and what I was told by the liberated prisoners confirmed my fears that torture continued in Stara Gradiška camp. The following statements complete the dark mosaic of crime aod the violation of essential human rights.
People Died of Hunger
The 52 year old witness from Nova Gradiška, was taken to Stara Gradiška after being confined and tortured in Okučani.
"These criminals took us, one by one, every night from our cells to their office, beat us up and then threw us back into our cells and waited for us to die. From the very first day people died, one by one. They were beaten to death or died of hunger. In the period between 6th and 2lst December 1991, six men died and it is not known what happened to their bodies. These men were Mirko Tomljenović, a lawyer from Bosanska Gradiška, Ilija Šandorović from the village Gornji Bogićevci, Petar Antonić from the village Donji Čaglić, Luka Grgić from the village Borovac, Darko Sanicki from Bosanska Gradiška and Djuro Hrdžić from the village Varoš.
In Okučani, we were placed in two small cells. We were tortured all day by people wearing uniforms as well as by civilians who beat our bodies and heads using different objects. At that time, the town of Okučani was full of Chetniks who had come from Serbia. They threatened us with their knives and tried to frighten us by telling us that they were going to pull out our eyes and cut our ears.
The commanding officer of this prison was called Zdravko (the witness does not know his surname). Slobodan Jordan from Okučani and Miroslav Šučur and Dragan Vojnović from Uskoci near Stara Gradiška were particularly cruel. We were taken to the military prison in Stara Gradiška on 24th December 1991 and soon after some of the prisoners, including myself, were exchanged through International Red Cross mediation and set free on l5th January 1992.
Bodies covered in Wounds
After leaving the hospital, the prisoners gave evidence of the fate of tortured people who were also taken to Stara Gradiška ,from Bučje prison near Pakrac. Thus 36 year old J.Š. says:
"I saw the prisoners from Bučje when they came. They were all civilians arrested in their homes. They were mostly Croats but there were also some Italians who lived in villages near Pakrac. One man, 65 years old, was caught while he was running away from his house with DM 16,000 hidden in a plastic bag. They caught him, took his money and beat him up. He was more than beaten up, he was completely broken so that he had no more teeth and wounds full of blood and pus, looked like black sacks hanging all over his body. His leg and ribs were broken. He was accused of having killed sixteen Serbian children for the money he owned. This was an official accusation and he was to be taken to the Military Court. The guards believed that this absurd accusation was true and additionally persecuted him."
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