Herceg Performed no Function in Dretelj

Herceg said that he was a driver with the Croatian Defence Forces, HOS, and Commander of the Training Centre in Staro Hardomilje in 1992.

“I once drove Blaz Kraljevic to a meeting in Dretelj. I usually came to that place, because a warehouse, containing necessities for the camp, was located in it. I did not perform any functions in Dretelj,” the indictee said, adding that he once saw detainees in Dretelj.

Herceg is charged under the same indictment as Ivan Zelenika, Edib Buljubasic, Ivan Medic and Marina Grubisic-Fejzic. According to the charges, they participated in forcing detainees to perform hard labour and torturing them.

The State Prosecution alleges that Zelenika was a HOS officer, Herceg was Commander of Dretelj, Buljubasic was Deputy Commander of the military barracks in Dretelj, while Medic and Grubisic-Fejzic were guards.
Herceg said that he did not kill, rape or hit anybody in Dretelj. Also, he said that he once drove Miro Hrstic to Dretelj and saw detainees boarding buses. After that they went to Grabovina, where he collected some documents for Hrstic. He said that he left HOS and joined the Croatian Defence Council, HVO, on August 1, 1992.

“I was subjected to pressure by my family, because my brother was member of HVO. Although we were brothers, we were members of two different armies,” the indictee said, testifying in his defence.

He told the Court that he was wounded on May 11, 1992 and that he underwent medical treatment in Ljubuski, adding that he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of wartime happenings and that he was on medications. The Defence presented voluminous medical documentation about the indictee’s health condition.

Testifying as the last witness of Herceg’s Defence, Marinko Spajic said that the indictee was Commander of the Training Centre in Staro Hardomilje and that he was wounded. Also, he said that he had never seen him in Dretelj.

“I think that we joined HOS at the same time, in late 1991. Herceg then left and joined the HVO. I think it happened in late July 1992,” Spajic said.

By presenting its material evidence, the Defence of Herceg completed the presentation of evidence.

At the beginning of the hearing indictee Buljubasic requested the Court to dismiss his Defence attorney Senija Porporat from duty, because “no communication” between them existed. The Trial Chamber said that it would accept the indictee’s request to be represented by a new Defence attorney, whom he had chosen. Defence attorney Porporat was appointed to represent the third indictee late last year after he had requested the Court to dismiss his first Defence attorney Todor Todorovic from duty.

The trial is due to continue on February 18.