Witness Describes Detainment and Abuse at Vrucinic Trial

Vrucinic, the former public safety station chief and former member of the crisis committee in Sanski Most, has been accused of participating in a joint criminal enterprise aimed at persecuting the non-Serb population in Sanski Most and Prijedor from April to December 1992.
 
Vrucinic has been charged with the persecution of the Bosniak and Croat population, which included acts of murder, forced resettlement, unlawful detention and enforced disappearances.
 
Witness Adil Draganovic said that on May 15, 1992, he was forcibly removed from his post of president of the court in Sanski Most and that he had to leave the building under threat of violence.
 
According to Draganovic, police came to his office and told him to go to the courtroom. There he was read a decision by the local crisis committee, which announced that he was fired along with three other Bosniaks employed by the local judiciary.
 
He said that prior to his removal from office he had received an anonymous letter which said he would be killed unless he left Sanski Most.

“You are an Ustasha and you will not try us. We will kill your wife and children before your eyes and we will grill you,” Dragnaovic said, quoting the letter.
 
Draganovic refused to leave, he said, since he respected citizens regardless of their nationality and was in favor of coexistence and peace. He told his family to move to Croatia.
 
After being removed from the court, he no longer slept in his home. Draganovic said he resided with his neighbours in the Mahala settlement, until his arrest on May 25, 1992.
 
“I was arrested by a group of armed Serbs who I knew from before and they took me to the prison near the police station. I saw four men in the cells, and later there were nine,” Draganovic said. He said there were seven people in the cell next to his.
 
According to Draganovic, people were released from their cells only once or twice per day to go to the bathroom or eat.
 
“The conditions were horrible. Nine people in a two by two meter room. We had no air. I don’t know how I survived, I had hallucinations, I thought it was a dream. They took us out for questioning. I was beaten once or twice, but it’s not worth mentioning, compared to what others lived through,” Draganovic said.
 
Draganovic said he remembered seeing Mirko Vrucinic when he was taken away for questioning.

Draganovic said he asked Vrucinic, “What are you doing to us Mirko, for God’s sake?”

Draganovic said Vrucinic’s response was, “What comes from Banja Luka.”

“Vrucinic is this gentleman here, we are looking into each other’s eyes. We know each other well. I know he was a member of the Sixth Krajina Brigade in the war in Croatia. He was a well-known member of the Serb Democratic Party, as the secretary for municipal planning,” Draganovic said. He said Vrucinic helped set up the Serb power structures in Sanski Most.
 
According to Draganovic, Vrucinic was appointed police commander because the Sanski Most Crisis Committee noticed that he was willing to implement their demands.
 
“I think he was the third man on the Crisis Committee,” Draganovic said.
 
Draganovic was released from his cell on June 17, 1992 and was transferred to the Manjaca camp, where he was beaten upon arrival.
 
“I was beaten many times there. I don’t know how I survived,” Draganovic said. He said he was questioned by inspectors from Sanski Most.
 
Draganovic was released from the Manjaca camp on December 14, 1992.
 
The trial will continue on May 27.