No Force Used During Arrest of Bosniak Civilians, Maric Defense Witness Says

Maric, a former member of the Croatian Defense Council, has been charged with 25 counts of murder, torture and other inhumane acts against the Bosniak population in Prozor from November 1992 to October 1993.

Defense witness Stipo Bilic said he was a member of the Prozor military police as of February 1992. He said he and the defendant were members of the same unit.

“Our base was in the fire brigade station. Ilija Franjic was our superior. Bosniaks were detained on the premises for a day or two for their own security. The conditions were humane,” Bilic said. He said Croats and military deserters were also detained in the fire brigade station.

Bilic said he and Maric kept watch at the fire brigade station. He said the detainees weren’t insulted, interrogated or physically mistreated.

He said detainees were taken from the fire brigade station to the secondary school center in Prozor. He said he didn’t know anything about those premises, because it wasn’t under their zone of responsibility.

“I was sent to the field with Maric. We arrested Bosniaks from the villages of Gorica and Paros. We didn’t use force. Those arrests were conducted as per warrants and commands,” Bilic said.

Defense witness Darko Skarica said he fought on the frontlines and worked as a waiter at the 13 Cafe in Prozor during the war. He said all of the ethnic groups in the area frequented the cafe. He said the defendant once forced customers to leave the cafe for ridiculing the death of his brother Robert, who had been killed earlier that day.

“Esad Beganovic, Stipo Vlajcic, Rasa and some others sat together. Nikola Maric came later on. He was alone. He wore a camouflage uniform with a white belt. Rasa approached him to express his condolences, while Esad was laughing, flouting. Maric then grabbed them by their arms and forced them to leave,” Skarica said.

Responding to a question from the prosecution, Skarica said he didn’t hear either side insult the other. Although he said a gunshot was heard outside later on, he said he couldn’t say what happened.

Testifying as a prosecution witness in May 2014, Esad Beganovic said Maric entered the cafe, insulted his mother with an ethnic slur, hit him on the head with his pistol in front of the cafe and then fired a bullet.

The trial will continue on December 11.