Defense Witnesses Describe Search and Arrest in Kiseljak at Maric Trial

Retired policeman Ivica Odak told the cantonal court in Novi Travnik that he was driving back from Kobiljaca with his colleagues Mladen Stanisic and Pero Ljevak on June 15, 1993, when they noticed a man waving with a white handkerchief.

“We turned around, searched him and took him to the police station in Kiseljak. We handed him over to a duty officer, who took down his personal information. After that two other men took him and drove him to a hospital within the military barracks,” Odak said.

Odak told the court he didn’t see anyone else in Han Ploca, and said defendant Josip Maric wasn’t with them on that day, because he had an engagement at the newly-formed police station in Gromiljak, near Kiseljak.

Josip Maric, the former police commander and deputy commander of the security and information service of the Croatian Defense Council in Kiseljak, has been charged with beating prisoners of war and civilians in Kiseljak during the summer of 1993.

Testifying for the defense, witness Mladen Stanisic confirmed having seen “a man with a white cloth” in June 1993. He said the man was handed over to duty police officer Dragan Gorta in Kiseljak.

Stanisic also said Maric wasn’t with them, because he was at the police station in Gromiljak.

Nenad Drmac kept watch in front of the police station in Kiseljak on June 15, 1993.

“Ivica Odak brought a man, whose left leg was injured. The head of our shift took his personal information and ordered me to take him to the military hospital. We handed him over to hospital staff,” Drmac said.

Drmac said that, according to his findings, Maric didn’t work with police at all at that time.

During cross-examination Drmac said Maric didn’t come to the police station in Kiseljak, because he was retired.

The trial will continue on Tuesday, May 19.