Detainees Did not See Tolic’s Hits

Jovan Kalabic, who was detained in that hall from May to the beginning of July 1992, said that he witnessed Tomanovic’s beating.

“I was ten metres away from him. I saw a Muslim man, whose name I have forgotten, hitting him,” he said.

As he said, several other guards were present besides that man, but he did not see that they beat Tomanovic, whom he saw dead in the hall on the following morning. The witness said that he did not see indictee Tolic in that group.

Tolic, a former member of the Croatian Defence Council, HVO, is charged with having participated in the beating of Tomanovic, as well as some other detainees, who died due to consequences of the beating, in the sports hall in Odzak. Tolic is also on trial for having committed other crimes in Odzak and Bosanski Brod.

Witness Kalabic said that he saw Tolic “hitting and slapping” some detainees, “but he did not hit them as hard as he could”.

Prosecutor Milorad Barasin asked the witness whether he had had some vices from before. The witness said that it was gambling.

Second Defence witness Petar Ninkovic said that, following his beating in the sports hall in Odzak in the summer of 1992, Josip Tolic came and told them: “All of you leave now. I have brought the ambulance.”

The witness said that a doctor offered them medical assistance in Odzak and that Tolic gave him some water and pain killers later on, adding that he was thankful for that. He said that he did not see Tolic hitting detainees.

When asked how he knew that it was Tolic, the witness explained that he heard it from other detainees.

The date of the next hearing at which Tolic will testify will be set at a later stage.