Witness Changes Statement at Zdenko Andabak Trial

The witness, Josip Kasalo, said he joined the military police of the Second Light Assault Battalion of the Croatian Defense Council in August 1993, and that Muamir Jasarevic was his superior officer.

The prosecution presented Kasalo with a statement he had given to SIPA in 2014, in which he had said that his chief commander was Zdenko Andabak and Jasarevic was his deputy.

Kasalo said he was wrong at the time, and that “when they asked me whether Jasarevic or Andabak was the commander, I didn’t know.”

According to the indictment, Andabak allegedly commanded an operation in the village of Grborezi in the municipality of Livno on July 21, 1993. Members of the military police of the Second Light Assault Battalion of the Croatian Defense Council killed one person and wounded another by opening fire at them, in Andabak’s presence.

Members of the Second Light Assault Battalion then allegedly wounded another person, whom Andabak killed by firing a bullet in his head.

The indictment alleges that Andabak then physically abused a civilian, by ordering him to lie down on the ground and jumping on his stomach. Andabak allegedly broke two of the victim’s teeth with a rifle butt.

The prosecution presented Kasalo with a statement in which he said he learned about the incidents that took place in Grborezi after the war and that Zdenko Andabak’s unit was associated with the crimes that took place there. Kasalo said he wasn’t in Grborezi at the time of the alleged crimes. He said he had told SIPA that he didn’t know who was responsible for the attack on the village.

Prosecutor Lejla Konjic asked Kasalo whether anyone had influenced his testimony. Kasalo denied this.

Andabak is also charged with war crimes in the Livno area in 1992 and 1993, along with Muamir Jasarevic and Sead Velagic.

When asked by the defense whether non-Croat members from Sector 1 were disarmed, Kasalo said he “didn’t know of any cases like that.”

Andabak asked Kasalo to describe uniforms worn by members of the light assault unit. Kasalo said they dressed in green pants, a shirt and combat vest, wore green belts, held a pistol and semi-automatic rifle, and wore red caps.

The trial will continue on May 6.