No Information about Detention of People

At the trial for crimes in the Stolac and Capljina area, witnesses confirm that the Fourth Battalion of the “Knez Domagoj” Brigade did not have any authority over the Kostana hospital in Stolac, “Branko Sotra” school building in Crnici and the Dretelj detention camp.

Testifying in defence of Veselko and Ivo Raguz, Zeljko Stankovic, former Assistant Commander for Logistics with the Fourth Battalion of “Knez Domagoj” Brigade of the Croatian Defence Council, HVO, said that the Brigade’s zone of responsibility spread from Osanici to Komanja Brdo, Stolac municipality. He pointed out that Battalion members were in no way involved in the taking of Bosniaks to detention facilities in that area.
 
“Kostana hospital and Dretelj detention camp belonged to HVO military police. It was a separate unit. It did not have any link to our Battalion. I do not know who was in charge of the school building in Crnici, where people were held too. However, the school was outside the zone of our responsibility,” Stankovic explained.
 
He confirmed that Bosniak members of his unit were disarmed in mid-July 1993, but he had never heard that Veselko Raguz issued that specific order.
 
“I know that the disarmed Bosniaks were taken to Capljina and then to Dretelj and Gabela, I guess. I do not know who took them, but members of the Fourth Battalion did not do it. They did not use our vehicles for transporting those people either,” the witness explained. 
 
The Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina charges Veselko Raguz, former Commander of the Fourth Battalion with the “Knez Domagoj” Brigade of the HVO, and Ivo Raguz, former member of that Brigade, with having participated in crimes against civilians in Stolac and Capljina in July and August 1993.
 
According to the charges, Veselko Raguz ordered, assisted or participated in the unlawful arrest and detention of civilians and resettlement of Bosniak women and children, while Ivo Raguz is charged with physical abuse of civilians.
 
Ljubomir Raguz, former general affairs officer with the Fourth Battalion of the same HVO Brigade, said that his superior Veselko Raguz had never ordered him to disarm Bosniak soldiers or resettle women and children.
 
“The Fourth Battalion did not participate in the persecution and taking of people to detention camp. Our zone of responsibility did not change over time. No detention facilities were under our responsibility,” witness Raguz said.
 
He mentioned that neither they nor members of the Fourth Battalion could enter the Kostana hospital and Dretelj detention camp without prior announcement or entrance permit.
 
When asked by the State Prosecutor whether they knew that men were being taken to detention camps, Raguz confirmed that he knew that Bosniaks were disarmed, but he did not know that they were taken to Kostana hospital or Dretelj.
 
“Neither Veselko Raguz nor any of us knew what was happening. We thought that those soldiers were disarmed and allowed to go home,” the witness said.
 
Jasmina Balavac, who was held in the school building in Crnici in July 1993, testified at this hearing as well. The witness said that she did not see Veselko Raguz, whom she had known “well from before the war”, in the school building during her detention.
 
The trial is due to continue on May 8.