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Radic et al: Assistant distillers

14 July 2008  Two Defence witnesses speak about the detainees in Vojno prison and the conditions in which they lived.

Vladimir Zadro, who appeared as indictee Dragan Sunjic's Defence witness, claims that two detainees, who were held in Vojno, "helped" him pick grapes and make brandy.

Zadro said that he did not ask for those detainees, adding that he did not know who had told them to help him out. He said that they watched him make brandy, "because they were interested in it."

"They wanted to know what the brandy-making cauldron looked like, so I let them see it. These detainees were not guarded by any soldiers," Zadro said, adding that he "did not notice" any injuries on the detainees' bodies, which might have been caused by beating.

The State Prosecution charges Dragan Sunjic, Marko Radic, Damir Brekalo and Mirko Vracevic with the events in Vojno prison, in which Bosniak civilians were detained. The indictment alleges that detainees were beaten, mistreated, raped, killed and forced to perform hard labour.

Zadro said that the garage, in which men were detained, belonged to his brother, who lives in Germany. He said that he entered the garage only after all detainees had left it.

"There were many blankets and sponges, which were placed on palettes, in the garage. There were no blood stains on the walls. You could see that some people lived in there," Zadro said, adding that he burnt the blankets and sponges, after the detainees had left, as he found it inconvenient to wash them.

Witness Zadro said that some soldiers, or actually the Staffs of the First Bijelo polje Battalion with the Croatian Defence Council, HVO, were situated in one wing of his house in Vojno. In the course of cross-examination he said that Marijo Mihalj was their commander.

The indictment alleges that Marko Radic was commander of the First Bijelo polje Battalion, while all other indictees were members of that same Battalion.

The State Prosecution considers that Mihalj, who has since died, was commander of the Vojno prison and Dragan Sunjic was his deputy.

"I used to see Sunjic on check-points in Bijelo polje. He was member of the Military Police Unit with the First Bijelo polje Battalion," the witness said.

Bozidar Novak, former driver of an ambulance with the Second HVO Brigade, appeared as the second witness for Dragan Sunjic's Defence.

Novak said that he saw some prisoners in Vojno when he drove a doctor there, who was supposed to examine them or give them some medicines.

"There were some children among the detainees. They were situated in two houses. I must say that my living conditions were not any better than theirs. I thought they were civilians. Later on my colleagues told me that they were prisoners," Novak said, adding that he did not notice any guards in front of those houses.

The witness added that he knew Sunjic, as he met him on the checkpoints controlled by military police members.

The trial is due to continue on July 18.