War Court of Commander Luburić, which dealt with cases of alleged treason. The court also dealt with more gratuitous charges such as price fixing. The first batch of prisoners to be tried was a group of 17 Muslim refugees from Mostar. Over the course of the month, dozens of suspected communists were executed. The arrests and subsequent executions were of an alarmingly arbitrary nature, which only served to exacerbate the terror felt by Sarajevans. According to survivors, the torture method most commonly used by Luburić's agents involved tying prisoners' hands behind their backs, pulling their hands between their legs, placing a rod between their knees, hanging them upside down and then beating them. These torture sessions, which the Ustaše euphemistically referred to as interrogations, were usually followed by the prisoner's execution or deportation to a concentration camp. Luburić is said to have revelled in inviting the family members of his victims to the villa and then describing in great detail how their loved ones had been tortured and killed. As the killings progressed, some Sarajevans took to bomb shelters in fear for their lives, though the city had not been bombed in weeks. On 16 March, Luburić convened a meeting of over 1,000 Ustaše political and military figures, and in the presence of senior German officials, issued a declaration denouncing Bolshevism, the Yalta Conference, and the new communist government in Belgrade. On 21 March, the Ustaše uncovered a plot to assassinate Luburić. His would-be assassin was a communist youth named Halid Nazečić, who was betrayed by one of his accomplices. Four Ustaše were subsequently killed in Partisan attacks within the city. On the night of 27–28 March, the Ustaše hanged fifty-five Sarajevans from trees and street lamps in Sarajevo's Marindvor neighbourhood. Signs bearing the phrase, "Long live the Poglavnik!" were placed around their necks. Their bodies were left to hang as an example to others. Those attempting to retrieve the bodies were fired upon. On 4 April, Luburić and his entourage left Sarajevo. About 350 Ustaše policemen and 400 Ustaše soldiers stayed behind to defend the city. Luburić's reign of terror in Sarajevo claimed 323 lives, according to a post-war war crimes commission. Several hundred others were deported to concentration camps. The Partisans entered Sarajevo on 6 April and proclaimed its liberation. The city's capture coincided with the fourth anniversary of the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia. The exhumation of bodies