Four Marinas in Dretelj

Ivan Grbavac said that he went to Dretelj on July 20, 1992. He said that, during the course of his one-month detention in the building, he saw indictee Herceg, whom he had known “from his school days”, only once.

“I saw him in Dretelj at the end of July. He came to the canteen and gave me a pack of cigarettes,” the witness said, adding that he did not know what the indictee’s function in HOS was.
 
The witness explained that, prior to his arrival in Dretelj, he often saw indictee Herceg in Stari Hardomilj, where the training of soldiers took place.

“I was wounded in late May. I went to a hospital in Ljubuski for medical treatment. I used to see Srecko at the hospital. He was in a hospital bed. Following my wounding, I went to Hardomilje regularly. I used to see Srecko there as well. It was in late June or at the beginning of July,” Grbavac said.

Herceg is charged, along with Ivan Zelenika, Edib Buljubasic, Ivan Medic and Marina Grubisic-Fejzic, with having committed crimes in Dretelj. According to the charges, they participated in forcing detainees to perform hard labour and torturing them.

The indictment alleges that Zelenika is a former HOS officer, Herceg was Commander of Dretelj, Buljubasic was Deputy Commander of the military barracks in Dretelj, while Medic and Grubisic-Fejzic are former guards.

The witness said that about a hundred detainees were held in Dretelj and that he once prevented some persons from mistreating them. He said that Blaz Kraljevic, the then HOS general, ordered them not to mistreat detainees.

“Blaz Kraljevic visited Dretelj a few times. He always said that detainees should be treated as the sanctity and that nobody was allowed to hit or mistreat them,” the witness said.

He said that Sime Martinovic, Hektor Cosic and indictee Edib Buljubasic were commanders in Dretelj.

“I stayed in Dretelj until the end of August. I think that detainees left there in mid-August. Sime Martinovic informed me that they had been taken for an exchange,” he said.

Grbavac was examined as indictee Medic’s and indictee Grubisic-Fejzic’s Defence witness as well. He said that he had known a person named Ivan Medic from before the war, but he “never saw that man in Dretelj”.

The witness said that indictee Marina Grubisic-Fejzic, whom he has known from before the war, was present in Dretelj as well.

“Marina never slept over in Dretelj. I saw her during a brief period of time. I think she then left for Posavina,” he said, adding that the indictee had “short brownish hair”.

He said that, besides her, three other women named Marina were present in that building as well.

The trial is due to continue on January 28.