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Mile Puljic, the former commander of the Second Battalion of the Second Brigade of the Croatian Defense Council, has been charged with allowing his subordinates to take detainees from Heliodrom to the frontline. On the frontline, detainees performed forced labour and were used as human shields. Puljic also allegedly participated in the enforced disappearance and beatings of detainees.
According to fourteen counts which were read aloud in the courtroom, soldiers of the Second Battalion of the Second Brigade of the Croatian Defense Council deprived two persons of their liberty in May 1993. The remains of those persons were exhumed in 2007 and 2008.
The indictment further alleges that from May 1993 to March 1994, soldiers of the Second Battalion who were under Puljic’s command, took Bosniak detainees away from Heliodrom and escorted them to the division line on Santiceva Street in Mostar. There they performed forced labour. They were forced to dig trenches and build bunkers. Some of the detainees were beaten.
According to the state prosecution, this resulted in the death of eleven detainees and the wounding of approximately 73 detainees. About 15 detainees were mistreated by soldiers of Puljic’s Second Battalion.
Prosecutor Remzija Smailagic said this case involved “playing with numbers,” with regards to the number of killed, wounded, missing and deported persons.
Smailagic said she intended to prove that Puljic allowed his subordinates to commit the crimes described in the indictment and failed to punish the perpetrators, with the ultimate aim of “accomplishing the Herceg Bosna plan.”
Smailagic said she would prove that Puljic was engaged militarily and ordered civilians to perform forced labour on a daily basis. She said soldiers of the Second Battalion participated in the crimes mentioned in the indictment. She said Santiceva Street was within the zone of responsibility of the Second Battalion of the Second Brigade of the Croatian Defense Council.
“Is anyone else but Mile Puljic present here? Is this a trial of Herceg-Bosna, the Croatian Defense Council, or some group that is not mentioned in the indictment?” said Davor Martinovic, Puljic’s defense attorney. He said this trial was “playing with Mile Puljic’s human destiny.”
Martinovic said it wasn’t true that Santiceva Street was under the command of the Second Battalion, and said the prosecution had not examined any members of that unit.
The trial will continue on April 8.
