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I was told that the pool was connected with the River Sava. They pushed me into the pool, threatening to kill me with electric current. This electric current strikes from outside and it cannot kill you unless you are completely exhausted. It can torment you and make you dizzy but I could stand it. I was taken back to my cell later and I was more or less left alone. One day they took us all to some caves where they told us how Ustashas had burnt children there during the Second World War. We watched in silence. After such "political lectures" the guards were so furious that someone had to pay the price. In Stara Gradiška there were Serbian prisoner too, mostly army deserters. They served their term there distributing food and doing similar jobs. I talked to a Serbian major, who was sentenced to an eight-year term in prison, while we were cleaning the corridor. He told me that he had already been in Croatia and killed Croats but that he couldn't endure it anymore and that he opened fire on his own army. They were beaten the same way as us and I saw through a key hole that they were sleeping in the corridors, on concrete with no blankets. Some of them told me that they were waiting to be beaten and that afterwards they were going to be sent back to fight."
Imprisonment and Torturing of Old Aged
The witness, K.I., aged 70 , spent all his life in the village Donji Varoš, near Stara Gradiška, as a farmer. He was arrested in his home, together with his wife, bv Serbian irregular army formations. In his statement he reminds us of six prisoners of war who disappeared after having been arrested near Okučani.
"The imprisoned Croatian soldiers were taken into the cell next to mine. They were all young, around twenty, except one older man. One morning they were not there anymore. At night they were forced out from their cells. They were first beaten up there and the prisoner Luka, who distributed food, told me that the walls were all covered with blood and that their cell had to be washed and cleaned. I don't know where they were taken but I never saw them again in prison. What did they do to them to get the walls splashed with blood? I was beaten too despite my old age and weakness. One night I was tortured with cigarettes in my cell. Two men came and asked if I smoked. They were laughing. One of them held me while the other stubbed his cigarette out in my ear. I was screaming my head off and then one of them took off my socks and started hitting the soles of my feet with underground cables. I screamed with pain as my feet hurt terribly. The other one took a baton and beat me on my chest and arm. My veins broke and blood spattered around. I fell on the floor and remained lying there after which they left my cell.
Soon after this three men from Novi Sad television came. The door opened and they asked me why I was imprisoned. I replied: "That is easy to answer. I was arrested in my home on 9th September 1991 but to this day nobody has told me the real reason". I knew the reason - I was a Croat and my sons were in the Croatian army, but of course I couldn't tell them so. They asked me about the food, but I didn't say a word because I didn't want to say that it was good although some people in Srbac said that they were satisfied fearing that otherwise they could be taken back to the camp.
Messages, Inscriptions and Graffiti by Stara Gradiška Prisoners
I visited the whole prison complex of Stara Gradiška twice during May 1996 in order to take some photos. I noticed then numerous messages, inscriptions and graffiti engraved or drawn by prisoners. Some of the graffiti is dramatic evidence of fear, anxiety and trepidation. The authors of these inscriptions are mostly Serbs sentenced to short terms for stealing or desertion. Since these messages are signed in most cases they represent an authentic document of the time, giving evidence not only of their authors but of the people and authorities that condemned them. Apart from calenders found in almost every room reminding the prisoner of the day of his arrival and the day of expected release, the cell walls are illustrated with pornographic drawinas and poems. But the most interesting messages are those with war themes because they often provide information on war criminals.
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