Vranjes et al: A Big Event

During the course of his testimony Zoran Mihajlovic, a former member of “Starcevica” Second Light Infantry Brigade with the Republika Srpska Army, VRS, said that he was sitting in front of the Police Station in Kotor-Varos the night that the Grgic brothers were killed, adding that he saw indictee Milic driving them away.
 
“Somebody invited Milic and told him to drive the prisoners to the detention unit. I only saw the vehicle, which Milic drove, leaving protected witness S1’s house. I did not see who was in the car, because I did not focus on that,” Mihajlovic said.
 
The Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina charges Mladen Milic, former member of the “7551 Military Post in Banja Luka”, and Ljubisa Vranjes, former member of the Public Safety Centre in Banja Luka, with having come, on June 6, 1992, to a house where three civilians were detained and ordered them to come for an examination. The civilians carried out the order.
 
The indictment alleges that two of the detainees were killed next to a monument to the fallen soldiers of the Second World War, while the third was severely wounded.
 
Goran Markovic, former member of the “7551 Military Post in Banja Luka ”, was originally charged under the same indictment for shooting at the prisoners, who were brought to the monument. The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina separated his case from the case of the two other indictees.
 
Witness Mihajlovic said that, a few days later he heard about the murder of Grgic brothers, adding that Milic told him that he “just drove Markovic, Vranjes and Grgic brothers to the detention unit”.
 
“On the basis of what Milic said, I concluded that he was not present when the Grgic brothers were killed. (…) Milic drove them, because the vehicle was assigned to him on that day, and nobody else was allowed to drive it. Had this happened on some other day, someone else would have been there, maybe even me,” Mihajlovic said.
 
Zoran Popovic, former member of the Territorial Defence in Banja Luka, who testified in defence of Milic at this hearing, said that he knew the Grgic brothers, adding that he remembered them being taken away from the house in which they stayed.
 
“Somebody invited Milic and told him to drive the Grgic brothers to prison. He drove the car from the parking lot to witness S1’s house. I saw that Goran Markovic was with Milic. (…) A day or two later I found out that the Grgic brothers were shot. People talked about it, because it was a big event,” Popovic said.
 
The trial is due to continue on September 1, 2011 due to the upcoming summer break.