Commander for One Day only

Miroslav Hrstic said that he was an ordinary HOS soldier in 1992 and that he was tasked with taking care of the wounded and killed men, adding that he did not have a lieutenant colonel rank. After having been presented with a document signed by “Unit Commander Miro Hrstic”, the witness said that he performed that function for one day only.
 
“When General Blaz Kraljevic was killed, I was tasked with being on duty and act as a commander. I performed that function for one day only,” he said, adding that he got the task from the Party in Zagreb.
 
When asked by Trial Chamber member Mira Smajlovic how the Party could appoint an ordinary soldier a commander, the witness said that they did it because he was from Ljubuski. Indictee Buljubasic objected to Hrstic’s testimony.
 
“You are giving a false testimony. You want to mislead the Court and Prosecution. Documents exist. As you could see, they indicate that you were member of military police, that you were a major and lieutenant colonel,” Buljubasic said.
 
Buljubasic is charged, along with Ivan Zelenika, Srecko Herceg, Ivan Medic and Marina Grubisic Fejzic with having committed crimes in Dretelj. The indictment alleges that they participated in forcing prisoners to perform hard labour and tortured them.
 
The 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.
 
When judge Smajlovic said that some witnesses mentioned that Hrstic had committed illegal actions, the witness said that it was not known to him and that he had no comments.  
 
Hrstic said that he visited Dretelj a few times only, but he did not see the detainees on those occasions. Also, he said that he was not among the officers who established Dretelj.
 
Indictee Buljubasic said that Hrstic’s brother visited him in the Penal and Correctional Facility in Zenica and told him not to mention Hrstic, but the witness said that he did not know about it.
 
The witness said that Srecko Herceg was Commander of the Training Centre in Hardomilje and that he did not have a commanding function in Dretelj. He said that he did not see Ivan Medic in that building either, adding that he did not even know Marina Grubisic-Fejzic in that period.  
 
Testifying at this hearing, Mirsad Zahirovic said that he was not present in the Herzegovina area during the war and that he had nothing to do with Dretelj. Indictee Buljubasic said that he did not know what Mirsad Zahirovic from Dretelj looked like and asked the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina to help him find that person.
 
The trial is due to continue on May 13.