Witness Describes Identifying Sanski Most Bodies at Mirko Vrucinic Trial
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Mirko Vrucinic, the former chief of the public safety station and member of the crisis committee in Sanski Most, has been charged with participating in a joint criminal enterprise aimed at persecuting the non-Serb population from April to December 1992.
Vrucinic has been charged with persecuting the Bosniak and Croat civilian population with acts of murder, forcible resettlement, unlawful detention and forcible disappearances.
Zoran Despot, a former crime technician with the Police Station in Sanski Most, testified at today’s hearing. Despot he was a member of a team that identified bodies in Vrhpolje and Hrustovo after military operations in June 1992.
“These people were dressed in military and civil clothes. It was determined that they died a violent death. After they were identified, they were buried,” Despot said. He said an investigative judge led the crime scene inspection.
Despot said interrogations with Bosniaks and Croats were conducted in order to determine whether they possessed weapons and whether they belonged to a military unit.
According to Despot, a certain number of Muslim and Croat civilians were detained on the premises of Krings and Betonirka factories and a secondary school.
“Arrests were conducted by the police. In some cases soldiers apprehended some people in order to be interviewed,” Despot said. He some incidents of mistreatment happened at the detention centers.
Despot said interrogations were conducted at the police station and in a room at the Betonirka building.
“A certain number of people were released, while some were sent to Manjaca. I went to Manjaca as an authorized person on two occasions,” Despot said.
Despot said that on his first visit to Manjaca he handed over documentation on interrogations. He said that on his second visit he brought a group of detainees to Manjaca. He said he also took on a group of detainees from Manjaca, most of whom were elderly and minors.
Vrucinic said one of the groups consisted of leaders of the Party of Democratic Action.
“Had they not been held at the station, they would not have stayed alive,” Vrucinic said.
The trial will continue on November 27.
