Witness Claims that Indictee Ordered a Murder

Ramo Becirovic said that he used to live in Paros village, Prozor municipality, until April 17, 1993, when he was arrested and taken to a detention camp.
 
“Nikola Maric came with soldiers of the Croatian Defence Council, HVO. They took Ibro Ramic and I to a detention camp, while younger men ran away to the forest,” the witness said, adding that he did not know indictee Maric before the war and that Ibro Ramic told him that it was Nidzo.
 
Becirovic said that three men – brothers Zulfo and Becir Becirovic and Ajka Ramic, were killed in his village that day. According to the witness’ testimony, Nikola Maric was not in the vicinity when Ajka Ramic was killed, but he ordered the murder of Zulfo Becirovic, who was 65 at the time.
 
“Zulfo shouted, saying that the soldiers were demolishing his house. Nikola said: ‘What are you waiting for? Kill him’. At that same moment, I heard a burst fire. I saw Zulfo falling down behind the house,” the witness recalled, pointing out that he did not see who shot him.
 
The witness said that Zulfo’s brother Becir was killed by one of the soldiers, while he was running away across a meadow.
 
Becirovic said that he was then taken to a police warehouse in Prozor, adding that he was transferred to a detention camp in Ljubuski about fifteen days later and then to the Heliodrom in Mostar. The witness said that he had not seen indictee Maric again after having been taken from Paros village.
 
Nikola Maric, former member of the Croatian Defence Council, HVO, is charged in 25 counts with having committed persecution by participating in murders, torture and other inhumane acts in the period from November 1992 to October 1993.
 
Protected witness S-23 appeared as the second witness at this hearing. He said that, while he was hiding in the woods, he saw the murder of Zulfo Becirovic, who was mentally disabled. As the witness said, three soldiers in camouflage uniforms approached his house.
 
“Beci Becirovic, who too was mentally ill, was killed, as well as Ajka Ramic, known as Sida. We heard about it from female residents,” S-23 said, adding that he surrendered a couple of days later and that he was held in the police warehouse for about twenty days before being transferred to detention camps in Ljubuski and Mostar.
 
He said that Nikola Maric took him and six or seven other people from the police warehouse to a location, where they performed forced labour.
 
“Other prisoners told me that his name was Nikola Maric and that he stood out in mistreating Muslims,” the witness said.
 
Third Prosecution witness Mujo Kukic said that he used to live in Gorica village, Prozor municipality, and that he knew indictee Maric and his family before the war.
 
Kukic said that he performed forced labour in the “Putnik” company in Prozor and that, after having returned from work one day in April 1993, he found out that three persons were killed in neighbouring Paros village. As he said, that morning he saw Nikola Maric and a group of soldiers going towards his village.
 
According to the witness’ testimony, he was captured on June 11, 1993 and taken to the secondary school centre in Prozor. He was then again used for performing civil duty in “Putnik”. As he said, he stayed in the detention until 1994.
 
The trial is due to continue on November 13.