Witness Saw Ilija Juric Physically Abuse Children in 1992

A state prosecution witness testifying at the trial of Ilija Juric said the defendant banged children’s head against a concrete pole in front of a school building in Odzak in July 1992.

The indictment alleges that Juric, a former member of the 102nd Brigade of the Croatian Defense Council, raped and sexually abused a Serb woman in a house in the village of Posavska Mahala in the municipality of Odzak on the night of June 4 or 5, 1992.

The state prosecution has also accused Juric of intercepting and mistreating two Serb women headed towards a school building in Odzak, where their husbands were being held in detention. The women were accompanied by their children. Juric allegedly banged the children’s heads against a concrete pole. The state prosecution claims Juric was accompanied by other soldiers.

State prosecution witness Marinka Lesic said she was in an apartment she had been brought to with her sister, sister-in-law and children, when she heard screaming.

“When I opened the balcony door, I saw Bekrija [Ilija Juric] banging children against a concrete pole…He turned my sister’s child, who was two at the time, towards the pole and banged him against it…He then approached another boy and hit him several times,” Lesic said. She said she found out from her sister that Bekrija was defendant Ilija Juric.

Lesic said that after he hit the children, Juric, a man named Jozo (also known as Koza) and another man entered the apartment, closed the door and pulled the blinds down. Lesic said “chaos began” at that point. The public was excluded from this part of her testimony.

Lesic said after the incident that took place in the apartment, Croat fighter Anto Golubovic took her to the school building in Odzak and then to a location in the vicinity of Odzak.

Responding to questions by the defense, Lesic said Juric was dressed in civil uniform and was completely sure he hit the children. She said she didn’t notice any injuries on the children, but heard their cries of pain.

The next hearing will be held on July 6.