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Maric, a former member of the Croatian Defense Council, has been charged with 25 counts of murder, torture and other inhumane acts against the Bosniak population in Prozor from November 1992 to October 1993.
Miroslav Dolic, a former member of the Jastrebovi Commando Squad of the Rama Brigade, testified at today’s hearing. He said a few Bosniaks were also members of the Rama Brigade, but they left the combat lines and took their weapons with them. He said the others left on October 23, 1992, when members of the Muslim Armed Forces killed a soldier named Franjo Zadro.
“Open conflicts occurred at the time. Muslims fled and came to us in the village of Dole, asking for protection,” Dolic said.
He said able-bodied members of the Bosnian Army and the Croatian Defense Council who deserted were detained in the secondary school, fire brigade station and fallout shelter in Prozor.
“In my opinion, they were safest in those facilities,” Dolic said. He said he found out that the detainees were taken to other locations to perform forced labour after the war through online sources.
Dolic said Maric was a military police officer and that they participated in a joint operation in Uzdol on September 14, 1993. He said he hadn’t heard that Maric participated in any acts of persecution or murders. He also denied having seen him in a black uniform.
“The murder and theft of Croat civilians happened during that period of time,” Dolic said.
The state prosecution asked Dolic whether he’d heard about the murder of more than 180 Bosniak civilians in Prozor. Dolic said this was a misinformation.
Branko Dijakovic, a former member of the Rama Brigade’s military police, also testified at today’s hearing. Dijakovic said he and Maric apprehended deserters and able-bodied Croats and Bosniaks. He said they didn’t differentiate between the two ethnicities.
“We would take some of them to the fire brigade station for examination. Some would be kept in detention, while others would be sent back to the combat lines…Nikola Maric did not mistreat anyone,” Dijakovic said.
New defense witnesses will be examined on October 30.
