Indictee Maric’s Beatings

Witness Ibro Lapo said that, after having been captured in the Prozor area, he was brought to the fire brigade station, where he saw the indictee.

“Three soldiers, who were standing in front of me, entered a room. When I appeared at the door, Mr. Nikola Maric said: ‘You are the one I need’,” the witness said.

He mentioned that he had known Maric from before the war and that, shortly before his capture, they had coffee together in the witness’ house. Lapo said that, on that occasion he told Maric that he should not wear the letter U on his cap.

“Maric took me into the room and asked me whether I remembered having told him to remove the U. I said I remembered it. He then hit me. He took a wooden bar and hit me on my back. I then fell down,” he said.

Nikola Maric, also known as Nidzo, former member of the Croatian Defence Council, is charged with having participated in murders, torture and other inhumane acts in the Prozor area from November 1992 to October 1993.

Witness Lapo said that Maric hit him during an examination at the Fire Brigade Station as well.

He showed an injury on his head, saying that he did not know who caused it, but he got it during his detention.

Witnesses Edin Begluk and Edin Sojic, former members of the Army of BiH, said that they were captured and taken to the Fire Brigade Station in March 1993. They said that they were examined after having arrived in the Station.

“Then they asked us to write statements. I saw that they hit my colleagues. I could see a little bit, looking from aside, but I heard it. Nidzo was not there when the beating began, but he appeared later,” he said.

Witness Begluk told the Court that, following the examination, he was taken to the Station ground floor, where a group of persons came and beat the prisoners.

“This is where the mistreatment and humiliation began. All those things that ruin a man’s dignity,” he said.

He said that a person, whose name, as he heard from others, was Nidzo, hit him on that occasion.

“He hit me on my plexus with his knee two or three times. He then asked for a knife in order to slaughter me. I heard that after having been knocked down on the floor,” he said, adding that Nidzo had a black hat and uniform.

The trial is due to continue on December 18.