Ordered to Jump Head First
Testifying at the trial of Josip Tolic, who is charged with crimes in Bosanski Brod and Odzak, a witness says that the indictee ordered him to fight with another detainee and jump head first.
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State Prosecution witness Vojin Milojevic told the Court that, during his detention in the school building in Novi Grad Tolic ordered him to fight with another detainee.
“We were taken out. We, the detainees, had to hit each other. I had to do it. Tolic forced us to do it,” the witness said.
He said that Tolic once ordered him to jump from a chair head first.
“We had to jump head first and show them how to swim. Other detainees were present there as well. I fainted after having jumped down and hit the floor with my head,” he said.
When asked by the Defence why he failed to mention, in a statement he gave last year, that Tolic ordered him to do it, but he said that two other guards did it, Milojevic said: “The mentioned gentleman is on trial now. When the other ones come here, I shall speak about them.”
Tolic, former member of the 102nd Odzak Brigade with the Croatian Defence Council, HVO, is charged with having participated in the abuse of Serb detainees in the Odzak and Bosanski Brod area from May to October 1992.
When the Trial Chamber insisted on hearing an explanation why he said different things during the investigation in comparison to what he said at this trial, the witness said that he was taken out and ordered to jump down head first three or four times, but Tolic ordered him to do it only once.
“My memory is impaired due to me having been a guest in those detention camps. Also, I have physical and mental problems,” the witness said.
The witness identified indictee Josip Tolic in the courtroom, adding that he had known him by sight prior to being detained.
The trial is due to continue on May 16.
