Mice Paramilitary Group Terrorized Teslic, Says Witness

Defendants Dragan Marjanovic, Sasa Gavranovic, Vitomir Devic, Zoran Sljuka and Dragomir Kezunovic have been charged with abducting and killing 28 civilians detained on police premises in Teslic and the nearby Pribinic prison. The defendants allegedly took the detainees to Mount Borje on the night of June 17 or 18, 1993, and killed them.

According to the charges, Marjanovic was the commander of the First Squad of military police with the Teslic Brigade of the Bosnian Serb Army, while the other defendants were members of that squad and also members of the Mice paramilitary formation.

Testifying in defense of Dragan Marjanovic, Drago Antesevic said he was an assistant for ethical issues in the Bosnian Serb Army’s Teslic Brigade.

He said the political, military and police leadership in Teslic brought in the Mice paramilitary formation from Doboj, even though there was no need for their presence.

Antesevic said that until the arrest of the Mice formation, they were supported by the leadership. Until then, Antesevic said, everyone feared them.

“The Mice were a part of the Teslic Brigade but with no fixed position. They were part of the attack on Stjenjak and Tankovici. They said they were part of the cleaning raid on the village, but it was pure robbery. After the attack they killed and expelled citizens. They robbed Serb houses as well, more than 100 cars from Teslic in all,” Antesevic said.
Antesevic said that he was opposed to the Mice paramilitary formation and this is why an assassination was planned against him in June 1992. He said someone cut the brake pump in his car, and he slammed into a truck.

“I asked the authorities to deal with this issue, but they didn’t have time. I asked our judge Nenad Kovacevic and prosecutor Branko Peric to do something. They held a meeting in Banja Luka and asked for the Mice to be sent away. Stojan Zupljanin and Predrag Radulovic approved the arrest,” Antesevic said. The Hague Tribunal sentenced Stojan Zupljanin to 22 years in prison for war crimes.

He said Dragan Marjanovic was never part of the Mice formation, but saw defendant Zoran Sljuka with the group.

The defense teams of the other defendants said Antesevic was exaggerating the crimes committed by the Mice paramilitary formation. Antesevic said his subordinates told him about the crimes committed by the formation. He said some soldiers were afraid to leave their wives at home.

Antesevic was asked how five thousand members of the Bosnian Serb Army could have been afraid of approximately 20 members of the Mice paramilitary formation. Antesevic said they had the support of the authorities.

The trial continues on March 3.