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Prosecution witness Lazo Krickovic, a former member of the Police Section in Sanica, appeared at the trial for crimes committed in Kljuc. He spoke about taking part in arrests and bringing individuals in for questioning, and the arrest of Mamer Pehadzic, who, “as he heard later”, had disappeared.
“I remember that we arrested people and brought them for interviews, but I do not know why. I used to receive orders from Commander Milan Tomic. The first person who was brought there was Suvad Medic, a former policeman. Tode Gajic brought him to Kljuc, but I do not know what happened to him afterwards,” Krickovic said.
He said the people who were arrested were Muslims who were then examined by members of the Criminal Police from Kljuc. Some of them were then taken to Kljuc.
Vinko Kondic, Bosko Lukic and Marko Adamovic are charged with crimes committed in Kljuc during 1991 and 1992. The indictment alleges that from May to August 1992 the army and police searched the villages and settlements in Kljuc Municipality, including Sanica, conducting “intensive and unlawful” arrests of the Muslim population.
It is further alleged that, between May 1992 and April 1994 the army and police came to Biljani, Botonjici, Gornji and Donji Budelj, among other places, where they were responsible for beating, intimidation, robbery and murder of the Muslim population.
“I remember that soldiers brought about 30 people from Gornji and Donji Budelj to the school building in Sanica. Me and other policemen were tasked with guarding those people. They were taken away by bus on the following day, but I do not know at what time,” Krickovic said, adding that about ten old and sick people were released on this occasion.
Krickovic told the Court that he heard, in June or July 1992, that about 150 people were killed in Biljani, adding that his commander, Tomic, told him that “this should not have happened”.
The indictment alleges that on July 10, 1992 the police participated in capturing and killing at least 219 male Muslims in Donji Biljani, Domazeti, Botonjici, Brkici and Jabukovice.
The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina issued a first-instance verdict, sentencing Marko Samardzija to seven years’ imprisonment for crimes committed in Biljani.
This witness further alleged that he arrested Mamer Pehadzic and brought him to the Public Safety Station, PSS, in Kljuc, but he did not say when this happened. He said the reason for the arrest was the fact that his name was not mentioned on the movement pass possessed by his mother.
“On my arrival at the police station I saw Milan Tomic, who had already been transferred to Kljuc. I told him that I had brought Pehadzic, because he had asked me to do it before but I had not found him. Gajic then came, telling Mamer that he had to stay there,” Krickovic said.
The witness explained that he saw Pero Mihic in the PSS in Kljuc, but he did not see Samir Pehadzic.
At the hearing held on May 20, 2009 Mamer and Samir Pehadzic’s mother appeared as a Prosecution witness. She told the Court that Lazo Krickovic and a person named Pero Mihic had arrested her two sons and taken them to the PSS in Kljuc. During her testimony she said that this was the last time she saw them.
The trial is due to continue on Wednesday, May 27.
