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Ivica Dzakula, the first and only witness testifying in defence of the second indictee, said that he found out that his former schoolmate Medin Kaplan mentioned him in “some court processes”.
“He mentioned that I was member of military police in Stolac. I asked him why he lied and mentioned me, given the fact that we knew each other and that I was not present in Stolac. He told me: ‘What can I do, neighbour. When they asked me about Dretelj and Kostana, I had to mention those of you whom I knew’,” the witness said.
Dzakula explained that he was wounded in February 1993 and that he then underwent medical treatment in Croatia, so he could not possibly have been present in Kostana hospital in Stolac.
“I was in a spa in July and August. I was in wheelchairs, as I had a high-rate disability,” he said.
Testifying as a State Prosecution witness last year, Medin Kaplan said that he was arrested and detained in Kostana hospital in July 1993.
Witness Dzakula testified in defence of Ivo Raguz, former member of the Fourth Battalion with “Knez Domagoj” Brigade of the Croatian Defence Council, HVO, who is charged with having participated in abuse of detainees.
He is on trial together with Veselko Raguz, former Commander of that Brigade, for having ordered and participated in the arrest and detention of civilians from Stolac and Capljina during the summer of 1993.
Dzakula said that, while he was on medical treatment, he found out that his neighbours were detained in July and August 1993, but he did not know who detained them.
The Defence of Ivo Raguz presented testimonies by Semir Balavac at a trial before the Cantonal Court in Mostar in 1997, adding that the witness did not mention the second indictee on that occasion.
In October 2012 witness Semir Balavac told the Court that indictee Ivo Raguz was among the persons, who hit and physically mistreated him during examinations in Dretelj detention camp.
The Defence of the second indictee included two more pieces of material evidence in the case file, thus completing the evidence presentation process.
The trial is due to continue on October 8, when the last witness and an expert witness of the Defence of the first indictee will be examined.
