Peric at al: Imprisoning a model of behaviour

Munib Halilovic, prosecutor for the Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, stated as aggravating circumstances for the indictees that their action “helped the expulsion of an ethnic group from the territory under their rule, which had permanent consequences.”

“It was not happening by accident, a pattern of systematic attack is visible. The perpetrators knew about the attack. Public Security Station carried out all the activities – arrests, incinerations, imprisonments,” said Halilovic.

According to the indictment, Peric, Doder, Terzic and Cerovina, as policemen of the Kalinovik Public Security Station, between June and September 1992, assisted in the expulsion of Bosniaks from the municipality of Kalinovik. Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina believes that the indictees illegally arrested civilians and took them to the Miladin Radojevic primary school and Barutni magacin [Gun Powder Storage] camp in Kalinovik, where most of the imprisoned people were killed.

“When mass imprisonments began, by early August there were practically no free Bosniaks. (…) They [the indictees] accepted orders as a model of behaviour. It was not mere acting on orders, but identification [with the cause]”, said the prosecutor.

Speaking about the arrest of men in front of the Kalinovik municipal building which happened on June 25, 1992, Halilovic said that the action was led by indictee Doder. According to the prosecutor, indictee Peric joined in, and the men were taken to the Miladin Radojevic primary school, while Terzic and Cerovina searched them before they entered.

“They are policemen, they know that a gym is not the place for locking up people,” said the prosecutor.

The prosecutor said that in late July, 1992, policemen set off to the village of Vihovice, because they knew that around a dozen civilians were still free. A large number of witnesses, said the prosecutor, confirmed that indictees Terzic and Cerovina took part.

The prosecutor said that the brutal attack on the village of selo Jelasca on August 1, 1992, was led by indictee Peric, while indictee Cerovina particpated.

“You have only children, women and elderly and you still use such excessive force. All the houses in the settlement of Karaula were set on fire,” said the prosecutor and added that civilians were taken to the Barutni magacin camp.

At the end of his closing argument, the prosecutor asked for the verdict that will sentence them, and that upon the passing of the first instance verdict the indictees be remanded in custody until the verdict is confirmed.

The Defence of Peric and Doder will make its closing argument on March 6.A.J.