Mikulic: Beating in Detention Camp

Almir Dedic said that he was brought to Dretelj detention on July 1, 1993, after being arrested in his house in Visici village, Capljina municipality.

Dedic said that, in late July or early August 1993 he watched the beating and mistreatment of detainee Grebovic in front of the detention camp, adding that indictee Mikulic and two other persons participated in it.

“They beat him with all sorts of things… gun butts, legs. They hit him on his head, back and stomach. He was covered with blood. Mikulic cut him with a broken glass bottle and said: ‘Watch me drink Muslim blood.’ He told him to eat a lit cigarette,” witness Dedic said.

The witness said that he did not know how indictee Mikulic looked like. He was not able to recognize him in the courtroom, but he remembered him introducing himself, while taking detainee Grebovic out.

“He said: ‘My name is Drazen Mikulic. I am an HVO soldier.’ I shall remember his first and last name forever,” Dedic said.

The State Prosecution charges Mikulic, former member of HVO military police, with having treated civilians, who were held in Dretelj, Capljina municipality, in an inhumane manner from the beginning of July to the end of August 1993.

The indictment alleges that, acting on his own or in collaboration with other persons, Mikulic participated, on several occasions, in the torture of detainees in an extremely cruel, brutal and humiliating manner, causing the civilians severe bodily injuries and suffering, which even resulted in the death of some of them.

Second State Prosecution witness Hamzo Tabakovic was brought to Dretelj in July 1993. He too saw detainee Enver Grebovic being taken out and beaten in front of the detention camp.

“Drazen Mikulic and two other unknown men beat him. He was covered with blood and bruises,” Tabakovic said, adding that he saw the indictee punching Grebovic with a fist only once.

Witness Tabakovic said that he gave a statement to the State Investigation and Protection Agency, SIPA during the course of the investigation. He said that, in that statement he said that Dario or Mario Mikulic beat Grebovic up, but the investigators told him that it was Drazen Mikulic.

Prior to the examination of the first two witnesses the Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Defence of the indictee presented their introductory arguments. Prosecutor Remzija Smailagic said that she would prove that indictee Mikulic committed the crime, while Defence attorney Davor Martinovic said that Mikulic did not commit the crime charged upon him.

The trial is due to continue on November 29 this year.