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Trial chamber chair Vesna Jesenkovic said the chamber received Slavuljica’s guilt admission agreement and decided to separate the criminal proceedings against him.
Slavuljica was initially charged with Dragan Marjanovic, Sasa Gavranovic, Vitomir Devic, Zoran Sljuka and Dragomir Kezunovic with killing 28 civilian detainees on Mount Borje. The civilians were detained on the Teslic police premises and the nearby Pribinic prison. The defendants allegedly took them to Mount Borje on the night June 17 or 18, 1992, and killed them.
According to the charges, Marjanovic was the commander of the First Squad of military police of the Teslicka Brigade of the Bosnian Serb Army. The other defendants were members of that squad and also members of the military portion of the Mice paramilitary formation.
Three defense witnesses were also examined at today’s hearing hearing.
Defense witness Mehmed Kopic said the war in Teslic broke out on April 6, 1992. He said he heard “some berets” were coming and that there would be unrest.
“Police forces conducted an attack and between 15 and 20 people were killed. We were on a hill in the village of Barici and watched what was happening there. We didn’t know who came to the town of Teslic. The berets were given a stronger name, ‘Mice,’ later on,” Kopic said.
Kopic said he was taken to the village of Rankovici with approximately 40 other civilians by bus on June 9, 1992. He said that was when he had his first contact with the commander of the Red Berets. Kopic said he was told to address him as Mica Crnogorac, and that they had to persuade the local population to hand their weapons over.
“The arrests that happened were a consequence of the Mice’s actions. I heard about four or five names. I didn’t hear about Dragan Marjanovic. I didn’t hear that he did anything bad. As far as I’m concerned, Dragan is an innocent man,” Kopic said.
Kopic said he heard about the murder of civilians on Mount Borje and also heard rumours that detainees had been executed.
Jozo Martinovic was the second witness to testify at today’s hearing. Martinovic said he was arrested in his family home in Teslic on June or July 3, 1992. He said he was taken to the Secretariat of Internal Affairs in Teslic, where he saw some members of the Mice formation.
“Prior to the arrival of the ‘Mice,’ nobody was arrested in Teslic. After I was arrested, we were mistreated every day. We had to turn towards the wall. Then they hit us with batons, wooden bars. My right arm was broken,” Martinovic said. He said the Mice formation used to mistreat people in the town every day.
Ilija Ristic, the third witness to testify at today’s hearing, said he was mobilized by the police reconnaissance unit of the Teslicka Brigade in the spring of 1992. He said Drazen Jocic was the commander of that unit, while Dragan Marjanovic was the commander of a squad with the police company.
He said an armed group of people came from Doboj in June 1992. He said when they arrived, acts of torture, restricted movements and curfews were introduced. He also said he had never heard that Marjanovic had done anything bad.
The trial will continue on February 25.
