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Mate Zelic, former member of Rama Brigade with the Croatian Defence Council, HVO, who testified in defence of Zeljko Jukic, said that he had known the indictee by sight and that he was a member of the Marinko Beljo Special Purposes Unit.
As he explained, members of the Special Unit were mainly young men, aged up to 25 years, who were dressed in dark green aviator overalls.
When asked by the Prosecution whether he knew until what date the Marinko Beljo Unit existed and whether it turned into some new unit later on, the witness said that he knew nothing about it.
As far as I know the unit was active until the end of the war. Honestly, I have never heard of a Kinder Squad, I have no idea, Zelic said.
The Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina charges Zeljko Jukic, former member of the HVO, with having participated, along with other members of HVO and the Croatian Army, HV, in the persecution of Bosniak civilians, murders and forced disappearances of the Bosniak population from Prozor municipality from July to September 1993.
Second Defence witness Jerko Radic, who worked with the Office for the Missing and Detained Persons in Mostar during the war, said that he heard about Zeljko Jukic from his neighbour Zlata Omanovic, who told him that she heard that her son Edis was killed by a Zeljko Jukic.
The Omanovics were my closest neighbours in Prozor. I wanted to help them find their son, I did hear from her that it was done by Jukic, but it was not spoken about later on. After that I never heard Jukics name being associated with Edis murder and disappearance, the witness explained.
When asked by Prosecutor Sanja Jukic why he told the Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina during the investigation in 2011 that local citizens said, later on, that Jukic was responsible for Edis murder, witness Radic explained that his wife had told him that.
I first heard about Jukic from Zlata Omanovic, when she came to seek my help in finding her son. I did not know Jukic. I did not have any information about that event. I am just saying what I heard from others, Radic confirmed.
The trial of Jukic is due to continue on July 4, when the Defence will examine two more witnesses.
