Defense Witness Says Martic Never Had Military Assignments

A defense witness testifying at the Mato Martic trial said Martic was tasked with taking care of cattle during the war, and wasn’t uniformed or armed.

Martic, a former member of the Croatian Defense Council, has been charged with escorting a group of ten Bosnian Army captives from a school building in Perkovici to combat lines in the Zepce area. There, he allegedly forced the captives to crawl in the mud while he beat them. Two captives were allegedly wounded.

Ivo Juric, a former captain with the Croatian Defense Council, told the cantonal court in Zenica that he saw Martic every day during the war and said he knew that he was never given any military assignments.

“I call it logistics. They were civilians who were tasked with herding cattle, chopping firewood, cooking and so on. They had their superiors. I had nothing to do with them,” Juric said.

Juric said Croatian Defense Council units never took over the Zepce crossroads, and said no prisoners of war ever dug trenches in that area.

The trial will continue on June 15.