Witness’ Memories Coming Back

Witness Vlado Dervenic said that he was detained, along with about 750 other men, in a school building in Odzak, adding that the living conditions were bad and that the detainees were beaten up.

“Anto Golubovic was the Manager and Josip Tolic was his Deputy,” Dervenic said, adding that both of them used to hit him.

The Defence said that, in his previous statements the witness failed to mention that Tolic was Golubovic’s Deputy and that he did not mention that Tolic used to beat him.

“My memories are beginning to come back now,” Dervenic said.

He said that Golubovic and Tolic took his cousin Rade Dervenic out and beat him up for two hours. Responding to a question by the Chamber, he then said that Dervenic was taken out by Golubovic but that he personally told him that “Golubovic and Tolic beat him up”.

The Defence said that, in his statements given in 2007 and 2013 this witness did not mention Tolic in the context of that particular event.

“Tolic was present there. He is present here now,” the witness said, when asked by the Defence to explain the differences between his statements.
Tolic, former member of the 102nd Odzak Brigade with the Croatian Defence Council, HVO, is charged with having participated in the abuse of Serb detainees in the Odzak and Bosanski Brod area from May to October 1992.

Detainees were transferred from Odzak to Novi Grad, where, as alleged by witness Dervenic, they were beaten up again. He said that they were then taken to Brod and detained at three different locations.

“Tolic came and selected 25 of us, who were then taken away in order to dig trenches,” the witness said, adding that Tolic first told them that they would be shot and then told them that they would perform some works.

Rifat Konjic, Defence attorney of the indictee, said that, in his previous statements this witness said that “a military policeman”, not the indictee, was the one who selected the detainees for labour.

Responding to a question by indictee Tolic, the witness said that he did not remember the indictee driving him to Brod in order to have his tooth extracted and buying him a meat pie afterwards.

The trial is due to continue on May 9.