Bosnian Serb Judge Details Beating

A Bosnian Serb judge gave a harrowing account Thursday of the beating and intimidation at gunpoint he says he experienced at the hands of hard-line nationalists demanding that he vote in their favor.

Jovo Rosic, a Constitutional Court judge, said he was threatened with death and beaten Aug. 14 by two men who ordered him to rule against a decision by Bosnian Serb President Biljana Plavsic to dissolve parliament and call early elections.

With Rosic and another judge absent, the court’s five remaining judges voted 4-1 against Plavsic’s decision the following day.

Hard-line nationalists led by Radovan Karadzic, the Bosnian Serbs’ former president and an indicted war crimes suspect, pushed through the court ruling as part of their power struggle with Plavsic. Western governments refused to accept the court ruling.

Rosic, speaking for the first time since the beating and his release from a hospital, said he opened the door of his hotel room at 2 a.m. to find two young men he did not recognize.

“Without a word the men threw me on my bed, took out their guns and both put gun barrels to my temples,” Rosic recounted.

“You will not vote for the decision by that whore from Banja Luka,” Rosic quoted one as saying.

“Fearing for my life, I said I wouldn’t,” Rosic said, adding that he was then beaten until he lost consciousness.