Local Justice – Raguz: Apprehended to Police Station

Jozo Matic, former Assistant Commander of the Police Station in Stolac, said that he knew that Enes Gutosic was apprehended and brought to the Station in Stolac in 1993, but he was not present on that day.

”I do not remember the exact date, but it happened in 1993. I was not present when he was brought to the Police Station. However, when I spoke to the Station Chief on the following day, I found out that Gutosic had surrendered to the Army in the Poprat area, Stolac municipality. The Chief explained to me that he would be held in custody in order to be questioned about why he joined a group of self-organized citizens, who mounted barricades on the road and stopped citizens prior to the beginning of the war,” Matic said.

When asked whether indictee Miroslav Raguz came to the Police Station in Stolac to take a statement from Gutosic and whether he heard that the indictee abused anybody, the witness said that it was not known to him that the indictee came to the Station and that he did not hear that he abused anybody.

Raguz, former Assistant Chief of the Security and Information Service, SIS of the Croatian Defence Council, HVO in Stolac, is charged with having participated in the physical abuse and causing of bodily injuries and suffering of Bosniak civilians, who were held in Kostana hospital, in the period from the beginning of August to late October 1993.

Adis Nuspahic, Prosecutor with the Cantonal Prosecution in Mostar, asked the witness if he knew who apprehended Enes Gutosic to the Station in Stolac, how long he stayed in custody and who made the decision about it.

”I have already told you that I was not present at the Station on the day, when he was brought. Later on I found out that members of the Army arrested him and that the Station Chief decided that he should be held in custody. I cannot remember for how long he was kept,” Matic said.

The trial is due to continue on March 9.S.G.