Former Livno Prisoners Saw Defendants in School Used as Detention Facility

Zdenko Andabak, Muamir Jasarevic and Sead Velagic have been charged with the detention, torture and murder of Serb civilians who were detained in the Ivan Goran Kovacic school building in Livno in 1992. The indictment charges them with 29 counts of detention, torture and murder.

According to the indictment, Andabak was the commander of military police with the Croatian Defense Council for the operational zone of North-Western Herzegovina, Jasarevic was Andabak’s deputy, while Velagic was a member of the Croatian Defense Council’s military police in Livno.

State prosecution witness Velibor Arnaut said he was detained and brought to the Ivan Goran Kovacic school on August 9, 1992.

“I remember Garic, the policeman. He picked us up in a truck. Upon arriving at the school, we saw a few other people. Others started coming later,” Arnaut said. He said at one point, approximately 200 Serbs were detained in the school gym.

He said there wasn’t enough food for the detainees and described the living conditions in the school’s gym as bad. He said detainees were mostly beaten and interrogated at night.

“When I was taken out for the first time, I was beaten. Mate Ceko kicked me in the stomach…The third time I was taken to see Mr. Jasarevic and Zdenko Andabak’s younger brother. I didn’t know them before the war, but while I was at the gym I found out who they were. They didn’t beat me,” Arnaut said.

He said Jasarevic took a statement from him. He described Jasarevic as a military man who didn’t laugh.

“When he took my statement, I was pleasantly surprised, because he treated me fairly,” Arnaut said.

Arnaut said he used to see military police commander Zdenko Andabak in the school building. There, he said, Andabak beat detainees.

“You entered the room and gave some announcements…Considering your function, you knew about everything that was going on,” Arnaut said in response to questions from Andabak.

Arnaut said he also used to see Sead Velagic in the school. He said he was known as “one of the fiercest guys in the military police.”

Arnaut said he knew some of the detainees held in the school were killed. He said he was released from the school a month or a month and a half into his detention, but was obliged to report to the military police in order to perform civil duties. This continued until his exchange in July 1993.

Tihomir Zubic was also detained in the Ivan Goran Kovacic school and was the second witness to testify at today’s hearing. He said unknown assailants beat him during his detention in the school.

Responding to questions by Zdenko Andabak’s defense, Zubic said he possessed weapons, but not as many bullets as indicated in the criminal report presented by defense attorney Bajro Cilic. Zubic said he had obtained the weapons, but didn’t know who he handed them over to or how he did so.

Both Arnaut and Zubic described a group of detainees called the “Celavci,” who were held behind bars in the school building. Their bodies were found in a grave in a pit near the town.

The trial will continue on January 27.