At Partizan Sports Hall were there toilet facilities?

Yes.

How would you sleep?

Well, on the floor.

With blankets?

No.

Were you fed?

Once in three days. We gave the food to the children. The camp was filthy.

Thank you, Witness.

—

Now Mataruga had to cross question and dismantle the woman, prove her unreliable. He had humiliated her already. Illiterate. Easy to crack her like a dry stick.

He said, You are using the following expressions, camp and prisoners. When somebody tells me that he is a prisoner in a camp, I think of something quite different. But you said in your statement that you were taken to the Partizan Sports Hall. How is this a camp? It is a community centre.

We were prisoners there.

But it is certainly not a camp.

We were imprisoned there.

And yet it was a recreation hall with several doors and windows that opened.

Judge Smith interrupted, Counsel, the witness is telling us what the place was like and how they were treated. Now, you don’t argue with her.

Mataruga pressed his lips together and checked the clock. Here, in this foreign court, his usual strategies of intimidation and mocking were curtailed. Implied threats were not permitted. No money or handshakes behind doors. Rule 96 stated no corroboration was necessary for the testimony of victims of sexual assault. It was a difficult case.

To gain a little time he said, There is distortion in my headphones. Instead of hearing the voice of the witness, I hear the interpreter.

The registrar said, You must use the button on your desk to control the channels and the volume.

Mataruga was obsequious, said, Your Honour, please forgive me.

He turned back to Esma. Let us clarify matters, he said. When you gave your first statement, were you telling the truth? Did you say you were in a camp?

I always tell the truth.

Yes, I do believe that you did tell the truth at that time. What did you say?

I told them what happened, how they dragged us away and put us in the camp.

Do you know that everything that we’re saying here today is being recorded?

I know that.

Well, you’re unwell, let’s make a break.

No.

I’m suggesting only for your well-being.

No. What I know, I will say. What I don’t know, I cannot say. You cannot make me say anything I don’t know. I’ve had enough of all this.

I do believe that you have had enough. You lived through a war.

What I know, I know. What I don’t know, I don’t know. A camp is a camp.

Mataruga gestured to Dragić, You see this man here? He has been charged with terrible crimes.

Esma said, He committed terrible crimes. They killed my husband. Now I must live in a foreign country. They took the wedding ring from my finger.

Mataruga looked up at the judges. Waited.

Judge Banda said, Please, Witness. Only answer the questions.

—

I learned to see tiny changes in Judge Banda’s neutral face. When the lawyers were hard on witnesses her lower lids tightened and she swallowed and the corners of her lips compressed. Justice must be seen to be done. It was too early to feel annoyed by the defence’s tactics, and yet she did. This witness had brought sincerity and outrage into her court. This witness had suffered enough. But there must be process.