Indictee Denies Having Participated in Crime

Pijunovic said that he came to Teslic in June 1992 as member of the reserve police forces together with four other colleagues as per an order by the Public Safety Centre in Doboj “in order to establish order, because all sorts of things were happening in Teslic at the time”.

“We received arrest warrants from Police Commander Predrag Markocevic and Crime Service Chief Marinko Djukic. Police chiefs held a board meeting at which they decided to collect money from citizens in order to purchase new radio stations. The announcement was published via Radio Teslic,” Pijunovic said.

The indictee said that the witness confirmed that he had not raped her. Also, he claims that he did not beat Prosecution witnesses Asir Kopic and Saban Mesinovic, who said that during their testimonies.

“I saw those people for the first time when they appeared in the courtroom,” Pijunovic said.

The Court did not accept a Defence proposal to confront injured parties Kopic and Mesinovic with Pijunovic in the courtroom, explaining “that it would be unnecessary, considering the fact that they testified directly”.

The indictee said that he took a total of 30,000 Marks from Jozo Martinovic on two occasions and that he handed them over to his superior Milan Savic, one of the chiefs with the Public Safety Centre in Doboj.

“I did not shoot in his house. I did not break his arm. When that happened, I drove him to hospital in Doboj,” Pijunovic explained.

The indictee denied having participated in the taking of Memija Sacirovic and his sons away. They were killed afterwards.

He told the Court that, acting on an order by the Crime Service Chief, he took Rasim Galijasevic from the Territorial Defence building in Teslic and escorted him to the Police Station in Teslic, where he handed him over to someone else.

“Later on I heard who took him away. I did not see him again,” the indictee said.

The District Prosecution in Doboj charges Pijunovic with having participated in the torture, taking away, rape and unlawful detention of civilians from May to July 1992. According to the charges, Miroslav Pijunovic, known as Piko, was a member of the “Mice – Red Berets” police formation with the armed forces of Republika Srpska, RS.

The indictment alleges that Pijunovic confiscated “money for the Serb Army” from a non-Serb person, threatening him with a gun.
 
Pijunovic said that he was not a member of the Red Beret Unit.

“They were from Serbia. I was not in contact with them,” the indictee said.

He said that another person nicknamed Piko lived in Teslic, adding that the indictment against him was fabricated by security services.

The date for continuation of the trial will be set at a later stage once the presence of the remaining Prosecution witness Amir Ikotic, who works in Japan, has been secured.