Sanski Most Abuses Described at Vrucinic Trial

Testifying at the trial of Mirko Vrucinic, a Bosnian state prosecution witness said he didn’t receive any special treatment from Vrucinic during his detention.

Vrucinic, the former head of the public safety station in Sanski Most and a member of the local Crisis Committee, has been charged with participating in a joint criminal enterprise with the aim of persecuting the non-Serb population in Sanski Most and Prijedor.
 
He is charged with having commanded and coordinated police forces which guarded detention facilities where thousands of Bosniak and Croat civilians were detained following an attack on non-Serb villages, from April to until the end of 1992.
 
Adil Draganovic, who started testifying on May 13, said several prison camps for Bosniaks were opened in Sanski Most in 1992.
 
“Vrucinic was the police commander and there was a police prison, where I spent time,” Draganovic said. Draganovic said there were also prisons in the Betonirka and Krings buildings, as well as others.
 
Draganovic, who was president of the local court in Sanski Most, said Vrucinic became the chief of police on May 1, 1992.

From May 1 to May 15, when Draganovic was removed from his post and imprisoned, there were several explosions in the area.
 
“There was an incident in the Lav café, and a country house was mined near the Sana River, and another café in the Prijedor Street. All of that happened,” Draganovic said.

Vrucinic asked Draganovic if he felt that he had a more favoured position compared to the other prisoners. Draganovic said he didn’t.
 
Vrucinic asked Draganovic if he wondered why he was transported to the Manjaca prison camp after only 24 days in detention.

“I believe you and the Crisis Committee decided who would go when,” Draganovic said. Draganovic said some prisoners were taken before him.
 
Draganovic said prisoners had to sign a document which stated that they wouldn’t return to Bosnia and Herzegovina.
 
Fikret Muhic also testified at this hearing. Muhic said he was the director of the Famos Company and the president of the municipal union council in Sanski Most until Serb forces took over in April 1992.

Muhic said when Serb forces took over, barricades were put up in the town. He said he tried to go to a bank after the takeover, but an employee there told him he couldn’t withdraw funds since he was a Muslim.
 
According to Muhic, the barricades were built by the Sixth Krajina Brigade.
 
“There were also police on the barricades. The Crisis Committee allowed it.” Muhic said, adding that Vrucinic was a member of the Crisis Committee.
 
The trial will continue on June 10.