Mikulic: Strikes in Dretelj

S1, a former member of the Army of Bosnia andHerzegovina (ABiH), said that he was arrested along with three other members of ABiH on 17thof July 1993 on the route to Blagaj, and that he was forced to stay in Dretelj until 21 December 1993.

“I was beaten, but I do not know who beat me.I was hit by anyone who came close, I was hit by legs with boots, batons, wooden sticks… the police baton was the easiest, “said protected witness S1, describing his stay in the Dretelj camp.

He said that he had his teeth broken and two or three ribs cracked in Dretelj, and spent time in the infirmary until the dissolution of inmates from Stolac and Capljina.

“In Dretelj we arrived at dusk and straight away the beating started. That night we gave the first statements, one of the HVO membersgave me a cigarette, another came and told me to put it out. I moved to put it out on the left arm, and he extinguished it on the right,” the witness recalled.

According to S1, the accused Drazen Mikulic did not beat him, and he did not see if he attacked others.

The State Prosecution charges Mikulic, former member of military police of the Croatian Defence Council, HVO, 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, several times, in the torture of detainees in an extremely cruel, brutal and humiliating way, causing civilians severe injuries and suffering, which even resulted in the death of some of them.

The indictee defends himself while at liberty.

Witness S1 identified the accused Mikulic in court, saying that he is the person who introduced himself to the prisoners by name in August 1993r, and said that they will remember him.

The witness testified that in the statement he made in July 2006 to members of the State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) he said that Drazen Mikulic presented himslef, and told prisoners they would be slaughtered with a knife.

“I remember that I said that,” added the witness S1.

During questioning by the Presiding judge, the witness explained that he was 90 percent sure that the person he saw twice in the camp, and that he pointed out in court in court, was in fact the accused Mikulic.

The defence of the accused did not have any questiones for the witness.

The trial is scheduled to continue on 19 January 2011.A.S.