Zelenika Witness Says He Didn’t See Abuse of Injured Party

Zelenika, a former member of the Croatian Defense Council, has been accused of physically and mentally abusing Heliodrom prisoner Almir Lalic while he was performing forced labour on Santiceva Street in Mostar in November 1993. He has also been charged with the severe physical abuse of Muhamed Lalic, Almic Lalic’s father, in his apartment in Mostar on the night of May 6 or 7, 1994.

Elvedin Tanovic, a former prisoner at the Heliodrom detention camp, testified at today’s hearing at the cantonal court of Mostar. Tanovic said he and other prisoners were taken to Santiceva Street or a swimming pool in Mostar to perform forced labour.

“Almir Lalic was with me a couple of times. They didn’t beat me while I worked on Santiceva Street, but they did insult me. I didn’t see them hit Almir. He didn’t talk to me about it either. I didn’t hear from anyone that Ivan Zelenika mistreated Almir,” Tanovic said.

Tanovic said he was detained in Heliodrom from May 9, 1993 to March 1994. He said Almir Lalic was detained with him.

When asked by the prosecutor whether Lalic could have been mistreated without him witnessing it, Tanovic said this was possible.

Zelenika has also been charged with entering Muhamed Lalic’s apartment in Mostar on the night of May 6 or 7, 1994. He allegedly kicked and punched Lalic, and also struck him with a glass bottle, breaking his ribs. Muhamed Lalic died during the course of the trial. His son, former Heliodrom prisoner Almir Lalic, testified on his the circumstances of his father’s death.

“I lived with my father until his death on July 27, 2005. A year before his death it wasn’t possible to communicate with him. He was admitted to the psychiatric ward on May 13, 2005. He had been at the old psychiatric hospital before. He went there for the first time in 1992,” Lalic said.

The trial chamber asked Lalic how his father could have given a statement in March 2005, since he couldn’t communicate with anyone a year prior to his death.

“My brain is blocked now, because I’ve given so many statements. He was sane when he gave the statement. We were together and I gave a statement on that occasion as well. He had mental problems after that,” Lalic said.

The defense asked Lalic if he knew a neighbour of his father’s named Ivan Zelenika, nicknamed Zela. Lalic said he didn’t.

The defense asked Lalic why he hadn’t reported his abuse on Santiceva Street to anyone. Lalic said there was no one he could have reported the abuse to, and said he would have been beaten again because of his ethnicity.

Zelenika asked Lalic why he would have mistreated him. Lalic said it all began when he asked Zelenika if he could retrieve some belongings from his apartment while he was a Heliodrom prisoner, but Zelenika then interrupted him.

Responding to questions from the prosecution, Lalic told the court that he once asked Zelenika to let him go to his apartment. He said Zelenika got angry and began “cursing his Balija mother” [the term ‘Balija’ was used pejoratively for Bosnian Muslims].

According to Lalic, Zelenika and others once sat in a cafe in front of his building and told each other that he should be liquidated, because he knew too much.

Lalic said his father told him about this conversation, which his father heard from a man who had overheard their conversation. He said his father hadn’t told him the man’s name to protect his identity.

The trial will continue on October 9.