Brnjic Denies Membership in Croatian Defense Council

During his cross-examination, Marijan Brnjic told the Bosnian state prosecution that he wasn’t a member of the Croatian Defense Council in April and May 1992 – Brnjic claimed that the Croatian Defense Council didn’t exist during that period.

Brnjic, Martin Barukcic, Pavo Glavas and Ilija Glavas have been charged with the rape of Serb women in Odzak from June to August 1992. The indictment alleges that they were members of the 102nd Brigade of the Croatian Defense Council at the time.

On the second day of his testimony, Brnjic said he left Odzak in 1991 and went to Germany. He said he returned to Odzak in the week before Easter, in late March or early April 1992, in order to visit his hometown.

Prosecutor Miroslav Janjic asked Brnjic if he then joined Croatian Defense Council units in Odzak. Brnjic said he didn’t. He said he was briefly a member of the Territorial Defense of Bosnia and Herzegovina prior to returning to Germany in May 1992.

Janjic asked Brnjic why his name was listed in a registry of Croatian Defense Council members from late April to mid July-1992. Brnjic said he had no explanation as to why his name would appear on their registry.

“The HVO [Croatian Defense Council] didn’t even exist at the time. I think the HVO was formed in September, when Herceg-Bosna was established,” Brnjic said.

Brnjic said that although he was the president of the Posavska Mahala branch of the Croatian Democratic Union in 1991, he didn’t know about the establishment of the Croatian Defense Council until he arrived to Germany on May 10, 1992.

When asked why he remembered the exact date of his return from Odzak to Germany, Brnjic said he met his brother in Zagreb on that day. He said his brother had a newspaper with him, with a headline that read: “Odzak, the first free town in Bosnia and Herzegovina.”

Janjic asked Brnjic whether he left Germany after May 1992. Brnjic said he travelled to Switzerland and Austria for brief periods of time. He said that although he had a refugee visa he wasn’t stopped or searched at border crossings.

The trial will continue on June 23, when a status conference will be held in order for the defense attorneys of the three other defendants to present their evidence presentation plans.