Brigade Didn’t Want to Go Into the Field, Says Expert Witness at Andabak Trial

Andabak, a former member of the Croatian Defense Council’s military police, has been charged with leading an operation in the village of Grborezi on July 21, 1993. During the operation, members of the Second Light Assault Battalion of the Croatian Defense Council’s military police, killed one person and wounded another. According to the indictment, members of the Second Light Assault Battalion then wounded another person, whom Andabak killed.

Expert witness Franjo Cvitkovic previously said that in his capacity as assistant chief of the military police directorate for the North-Western Herzegovina operational zone within the Croatian Defense Council (HVO), Andabak had “a coordination role only.”

During cross-examination, Cvitkovic said he spoke to the defendant about the case approximately ten times. He said he did not provide him with any guidance on how to respond, adding that he personally “invested effort in obtaining a large number of documents.”

Cvitkovic also said Andabak was not in Grborezi in 1993 and did not have direct findings on the event itself or the actions taken by certain individuals.

Responding to additional questions by the defense, Cvitkovic said he had obtained data on the situation in the Livno area through reports made by the Petar Kresimir IV Brigade.

Cvitkovic said “all the reports indicated that the Brigade did not want to go to the field or performed a limited set of actions.” He said 25 percent of the brigade’s members were Bosniaks, and thus it would have been considered immoral to deploy the brigade anywhere.

“On the basis of all this one can see that they were forced to execute the order after all and disarmed the Muslim members of the HVO,” Cvitkovic said.

The trial will continue on January 20, when the defendant will testify in his own defense.