Witnesses Describe Civilian Deaths and Deportation at Maric Trial

Nikola Maric, a former member of the Croatian Defense Council, has been charged with participating in acts of murder, persecution, torture and other inhumane acts from November 1992 to October 1993.

Muharem Konjaric said he was a member of the Bosnian Army until Prozor was taken over by the Croatian Defense Council in October 1992. Konjaric said after the fall of Prozor, Croatian Defense Council soldiers went to his village of Donji Visnjani on a daily basis. He said local residents of the village hid in the woods out of fear.

Konjaric said he saw Maric, also known as Nidzo, in Donji Visnjani for the first time in July 1993.

“I was in the woods. My wife Sabiha told me he was in front of Suljo Konjaric’s house and said the men should surrender or else soldiers would come and mistreat the women and children,” Konjaric said.

He said he then went to Suljo Konjaric’s house, where he saw Maric. Konjaric said the men of the village surrendered on the following day and were transported to a secondary school center in Prozor which served as a detention camp.

“I was there for 12 days. After that some people who knew me released me,” he said.

He said he saw Maric again on August 28, 1993, when women and children were deported from the village.

According to Konjaric, his son Elvedin, who was a minor at the time, was separated from his family.

“I heard that Ivan Jakovljevic killed him,” Konjaric said. He said following the deportation of Bosniaks from the area, he fled to territory under the control of the Bosnian Army.

In response to a question from the defense, Konjaric said he hadn’t heard that Maric committed any crimes in Donji Visnjani, but had heard rumours about his activities in other villages.

Sabiha Konjaric, Muharem Konjaric’s wife, also testified at this hearing. She said she informed her husband in July 1993 that Nikola Maric conveyed a message that all men should surrender and told the other civilians they were safe.

“He deported us, but he left my heart there…Another soldier killed him [Elvedin], but he [Maric] was the one who separated him [from his family], although he was a minor,” Konjaric said. She said Maric had declared that he was in charge of their village, so she considered him responsible for her son’s death.

She said a soldier named Ilija shouted at her son, and told him to get off a truck which was deporting civilians from Donji Visnjani and Gornji Visnjani. She said she heard that they took her 15-year old son Elvedin to the secondary school center in Prozor and was killed a month later.

“I wish I hadn’t come to the trial, but my heart couldn’t resist, because that was my child,” Konjaric said, crying.

Himzo Konjaric, the third witness to testify at the hearing, said he was with Maric in front of the home of his father, Suljo Konjaric, on July 12 or 13, 1993. On that day, Konjaric said, Maric ordered the men in the village to surrender.

According to Himzo Konjaric, after he surrendered, he was taken to a detention camp in Prozor and then to Ljubuski, Dretelj and Gabela. He spent a total of 100 days in detention camps.

The trial will continue on May 21.