Radic et al: Nobody starved in Vojno
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Ranko Gacic, defence witness for indictee Marko Radic at the trial for war crimes committed in Vojno near Mostar, said that the detained women and children did not complain about the diet and that nobody was starving when he visited the detention camp as a medical doctor with the ambulance of the Second Brigade with the Croatian Defence Council (HVO) from July to October 1993.
“The civilians, including one and a half year-old children, stayed in two houses. I think that those houses were not guarded. Most of my medical assistance was related to children, who had digestion or respiratory problems,” said Gacic.
The Prosecution of BiH charges Marko Radic, Dragan Sunjic, Damir Brekalo and Mirko Vracevic with the happenings in Vojno detention camp in which Bosniak civilians were detained in the course of 1993 and 1994. The indictment alleges that the civilians were abused, beaten, killed, raped and forced to perform hard labour.
Describing the rooms in which women and children stayed, the witness said that “there was no furniture, but they had sponges, mattresses and some mats on the floor, and the house was not devastated.”
During examination, Gacic said that he knew that men were also detained in there,but he did not know where exactly. He explained that he once saw them “working on a pontoon bridge.”
Teo Tomic was then examined as Marko Radic’s second Defence witness. Tomic also worked in the ambulance of the Second HVO Brigade in 1993.
“I contacted Bosniak women when they had health problems. I never entered the rooms in which they were detained and I never saw any children with them. I found out that men were also detained there when Dr Kreso’s parents came to the ambulance. They were then exchanged,” Tomic explained.
In the course of cross-examination, the witness said that he provided a Bosniak, who had been shot from firearms, with medical assistance. He said that he “never treated anybody who had been beaten up.”
The trial is due to continue on May 14, when the Defence will continue presenting evidence.
