Witnesses Describe Detention and Assault of Livno Civilians

Zdenko Andabak, Muamir Jasarevic and Sead Velagic have been charged with the detention, torture and murder of Serb civilians who were detained in the Ivan Goran Kovacic school building in Livno in 1992. The indictment charges them with 29 counts of detention, torture and murder.

Andabak was the commander of military police with the Croatian Defense Council for the operational zone of North-Western Herzegovina. Jasarevic was Andabak’s deputy. Velagic was a member the Croatian Defense Council’s military police in Livno.

They have been charged with participating in a joint criminal enterprise from April to September 1992, with the aim of forcibly and permanently removing the Serb population from the Livno area.

State prosecution witness Zivko Zdero testified at today’s hearing. He said the situation in Livno became tense at the beginning of April 1992, when the Duga Cafe was mined because the owner was a Serb.

“The local population began panicking. Two days later, I was told not to go to work, because a Serb couldn’t work at the gas station. Many Serbs left Livno then. Groups of people left the town via mountains in order to get to Glamoc,” Zdero said.

Zdero said houses that belonged to his family and to relatives in the village were set on fire. He said everyone moved into his house in the town.

“I remember the military police came to my house on August 8 or 9 and took me, Velibor and Marko away. Five or six of them came by in Braco Pazin’s truck. The truck stopped on the way to collect more people,” Zdero said.

He said they were taken to the Ivan Goran Kovacic school building, where between 200-300 Serb men and women were detained, according to witness estimates.

“People were driven by fear. You don’t know why you’ve been brought there. Individual mistreatment began. You were waiting for your turn. I watched beaten people being brought back to the hall,” Zdero said. He said he was also beaten several times.

Zdero said he was called into the biology or chemistry classroom on his first night of detention. He said approximately ten members of the military police were in the room. He said he recognized Mladen Duvnjak, Dalibor Dali (since deceased), a man named Svabo, and Babo Jasarevic. He identified Muamir Jasarevic as Babo Jasarevic in the courtroom.

“Babo [Muamir Jasarevic] told me to sit on a chair like a cowboy. He was left handed. It felt like your flesh would fall off your bones when he hit you. I was beaten by Babo, Jasarevic, Svabo. They hit my legs and my whole body, except my head, using cables. I was covered in bruises. When I fell off the chair, everyone there started beating me,” Zdero said.

Zdero said he was called out one more time during the same night. He said a man named Krivic hit him in the kidneys. He said he didn’t remember the others who mistreated him later on.

Zdero said he used to see Zdenko Andabak at school. He said he heard that he was the commander of the military police. He said he saw Sead Velagic in the hall of the school almost every day.

Zdero said he was detained in the school building for 7 to 15 days. He said he was obliged to report to the school after his release. He said he then had to report to the Elektra workshops in Livno. He said he and others were gathered there and taken to other locations to perform forced labour. He was exchanged in July 1993.

Ilja Lalic was the second witness to testify at today’s hearing. Lalic said his cafe, the Duga Cafe in Livno, was mined in April 1992. He said half of his family’s home was destroyed in the explosion, but nobody was injured.

“I don’t know who did it. Later on it turned out a bomb had been thrown [at the cafe], because they called the cafe a “Chetnik cafe.” It was one of the two Serb cafes in Livno. After that, members of the Orthodox church started leaving Livno out of fear,” Lalic said.

He said he and his Bosniak girlfriend were detained and taken to the Ivan Goran Kovacic school in August 1992. He said his father had been previously detained in another building.

“Nobody mistreated me physically. I saw them bring Grof Bajilo into the hall. Babo [Muamir Jasarevic] was beating him with a baton, I think,” Lalic said. He said he saw some people come back beaten after having had their names called out.

Lalic said he also used to see Zdenko Andabak at the school. He said he heard he was the commander of the military police.

Lalic said that after he was released from the school building, he had to report to the Elektra workshops. He said he was also exchanged in July 1993.

Both witnesses said a group called the Celavci (the Bald) were detained with them. They said they were called the Celavci because their heads were shaved. Lalic said he thought they were taken away when the Red Cross came to register the detainees.

Both witnesses said they knew a prisoner named Kovacic, who died during his detention. Both witnesses said they saw his body being carried out of the hall. They also said they heard about the murders of other Serbs in Livno.

The trial will continue on November 4.