Radic et al: Collecting prisoners

Ilija Vrljic, former commander of the Second Brigade with the Croatian Defence Council, HVO, claims that he “never went to Heliodrom to bring prisoners”, who were taken to other locations to perform forced labour and then detained in Vojno, near Mostar.

“I never went to Heliodrom. It is not common for a commander to go and collectprisoners. I was not a driver or messenger. I may have issued an order, but I did not go there myself,” said Vrljic, who was visibly disturbed by the questions made by indictee Dragan Sunjic’s Defence, which invited him to testify as a witness.

Sunjic’s Defence examined this witness about the taking of prisoners from Helidrom,because it had two different documents containing names of prisoners, who were taken out of the detention camp. One of them mentions the indictee, while the other mentions the witness, as the responsible person.

The State Prosecution charges Dragan Sunjic, Marko Radic, Damir Brekalo and MirkoVracevic with the happenings in Vojno, near Mostar, where men, women and children were detained in the course of 1993 and 1994.

The indictment alleges that detainees were beaten, abused, killed, raped and forced to perform hard labour.

Witness Vrljic was not able to confirm which military unit was responsible for the area in which Vojno was located in 1993. He was not able to explain why his name was mentioned in some documents dated September 1993, when he said that he left the post of Second Brigade Commander a month earlier.

“After the Bosnian Army attacked the HVO on June 30, 1993 and conquered the Sjeverni logor, where the Second Brigade’s Staffs was situated, I was concerned about providing material and technical resources, i.e. the logistics, for my Brigade. The Brigade’s base was then moved to Domazeti settlement,” the witness said.

The witness said that he did not know indictee Dragan Sunjic, adding that he could not confirm if he was member of his Unit.

Nikica Zovko, former member of the HVO military police, appeared as the second Defence witness. He confirmed that he was member of the same Unit as Sunjic until September 1993, when the indictee left the Unit.

“On June 30, 1993, when the Bosnian Army attacked us, we went to Bijelo polje, but it was not an organised visit. We wanted to know what had happened to the soldiers who had been stationed in the barracks in Sjeverni logor, which had been conquered by the Bosnian Army. We were kept on the front line in Bocine,” Zovko said, adding the situation was totally chaotic at the time.

Zovko further said that the military police forces in Bocine were under the responsibility of the First Bijelo polje Battalion, which was commanded by indictee MarkoRadic at that time.

“We were on the front two times for seven days. Then we went back to the checkpoint in Djubrani village, where the Northern Sector base was,” the witness said.

The trial is due to continue on September 25.