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Drazen Lovric, who testified as Marko Radic’s Defence witness, said that, in 1993 and 1994, he was member of the “Ivan Stanic Cico” Reconnaissance Unit, which was a “branch” of the Convicts Battalion, and he received his salary from the Battalion and the Second HVO Brigade, to which he “did not belong.”
“We used to receive our salaries from the Convicts Battalion and the Second Brigade. We did not take the money but we invested it in a joint fund for the wounded and the killed soldiers. The Convict Battalion was not a part of the Second Brigade and, as far as I know, the ‘Ivan Stanic Cico’ Convicts Battalion never existed, although rumours said it that it would be established,” Lovric explained.
The State Prosecution charges Marko Radic, Dragan Sunjic, Damir Brekalo and Mirko Vracevic, former HVO members, with having participated in the crimes against Bosniaks in Vojno prison, near Mostar, in the course of 1993 and 1994.
The indictment alleges that Radic was commander of the Bijelo polje Battalion with the Second HVO Brigade and commander of the “Ivan Stanic Cico” Reconnaissance Unit. Later on, he allegedly became commander of the Second Brigade.
The Convicts Battalion was an independent unit, which performed special military tasks. It was under the direct commandership of the HVO General Staffs. The Tribunal at The Hague sentenced commanders Mladen Naletilic to 20 years’ imprisonment and Vinko Martinovic to 18 years for crimes committed by Battalion members.
Lovric said that the Staffs of Bijelo polje Battalion, to which he belonged in the course of 1992, was situated in a nunnery in Bocine until June 30, 1993, when “Muslim forces attacked it.”
“The situation became chaotic in the following days. Later on, the Fifths and the Third HVO Battalions, as well as some units from Siroki brijeg and Grude, arrived to Bijelo polje. Radic was commander of the Bijelo polje Battalion and he, therefore, was not responsible for those other units,” Lovric said.
The witness said that he was not aware of the existence of a prison in Vojno area, in which Bosniaks were unlawfully held in inhumane conditions and physically or mentally abused.
The trial for the crimes committed in Vojno is due to continue on Wednesday, July 2.
