Witnesses Cannot Complain about Indictees

Karlo Juric said that he was a member of the Croatian Defence Council, HVO, until the spring of 1993, when he was captured by the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, ARBiH. As he said, when he was brought to “Musala” school, the Manager took their money and rings away.

“The living conditions were horrible. We slept on the wooden floor without any blankets. I remember Ramo. I cannot complain about him. However, his brother, the Manager, a man named Maca, the two Cibas… they did all sorts of abnormal things, beat people up, take food away from detainees. From time-to-time they would let somebody inside to beat us, particularly when some of their men got killed,” Juric said.

When asked by Prosecutor Sanel Pajevic whether he knew detainees from Dusina, the witness said that there were about ten of them and that they beat and tortured them brutally.

“They accused one young man of having raped somebody. They burnt his genitals. They smashed his fingers in the door, so he would admit it. The crying for help and screaming was so bad that one could not listen to it,” the witness said, adding that he did not see who tortured them.

When asked by Dusan Tomic, Defence attorney of indictee Ramo Zilic whether he saw or heard that the indictee tortured anyone, Juric said:

“I really did not see Ramo Zilic harming anyone, but I heard that Zilic did not allow someone to bring food and underwear to a detainee”.

Zilic and Gakic are charged with having treated Croat and Serb civilians, who were detained in the “Musala” school building in Konjic, in an inhumane manner.

Witnesses Bruno Boras and Nino Arapovic confirmed that they used to see indictees Zilic and Gakic in the “Musala” school prison, but they said that the indictees did not beat them.

“Gakic and Zilic treated me in a correct manner. I do not know how they treated the others,” Boras said.

Boras and Arapovic confirmed that the detainees from Dusina were tortured and starved. According to Arapovic, Commander Edo Zilic, indictees Gakic and Zilic, a man named Tresnjo and two Cibas – a blonde and black-haired one were in the “Musala” school prison.

“As far as I am concerned, I cannot say any bad words about Ramo Zilic. Gakic did no bad things either. He was a guard at that time,” Arapovic said.

Considering the fact that witness Rajko Mrkajic was not able to attend the hearing, because he was severely ill, his statement previously given to the Prosecution of BiH was read in the courtroom.

He described how Dragan Kuljanin was beaten up prior to the exchange of detainees from “Musala”, which was supposed to happen in October 1994.

“Guards Ramo Zilic and Esad Gakic yelled in the corridor and forced detainees to enter their locker rooms. At that moment Gakic began hitting Dragan all over his body with a police baton in the corridor in front of the locker room. When Dragan fell down, Gakic continued hitting him with his legs,” Mrkajic said.

In his statement he said that Gakic dragged Kuljanin out of the corridor and that Kuljanin was covered with blood and bruises, when he returned to the locker room.

The next hearing is due to be held on January 30.