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Osmic: Soldiers Tied Up and Beaten

Alija Osmić

11 March 2010  Mario Franjic tells the Trial Chamber he heard from others that indictee Alija Osmic beat Vlatko Kapetanovic.

"I saw Vlatko inside the garage. He was lying on the ground. He was tied up. I noticed right away that he had been beaten. His eyes were swollen and he was half-naked. I saw other soldiers, who had been beaten and swollen. I was scared, as I did not know what was happening. Ivan Kapetanovic told me the indictee had beaten him more than others," Franjic said.

Ivan Kapetanovic testified for the State Prosecution at the trial of Alija Osmic in January this year, when he said the indictee had taken his brother Vlatko away. He said he had never seen his brother again.

The Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina charges Osmic, a former military policeman with the 307th Brigade of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with having participated in the murder, torture and detention of Croat civilians in "basement and garages", "Marxist Center - Cloister" and "Iskra" stadium detention camp during 1993 and 1994.

The indictment alleges that, in late July 1993 Osmic beat Vlatko Kapetanovic in a garage in Donjici village, took him out of the Marxist Center - Cloister premises and, after having beaten him, loaded him into a black Mercedes trunk and drove away in an unknown direction.

Mario Franjic, a former member of an Anti-aircraft Defence Squad with the Croatian Defence Council, HVO, said the conflict between the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina and HVO in Bugojno began on July 17, 1993, adding that he "joined the other Croat civilians, who surrendered" a few days later.

"We were taken to a house in Donjici. I stayed with the civilians for two or three days. After that a soldier came and took me to a private garage, where I saw detained HVO soldiers. Members of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina used to come at night, call out Vlatko Kapetanovic's name and beat him," Franjic said.

As stated by this witness, a few days later the detainees were taken to the Marxist Center - Cloister, where they stood in a classroom and "went out one by one to provide them with our personal details".

"I remember Vlatko sitting on a bench and somebody calling out his name. This was the last time I saw him. When my turn came, they called out my name and took me down to the basement, but Vlatko was not there," Franjic said.

The witness said he stayed in the Cloister basement for about ten days, adding that the detainees were taken to other locations to perform forced labour.

"A day or two later guards came. They wanted to take me somewhere to exhume corpses. However, Alija came and told the guard: 'Why do you select the wrong people?'. He told me: 'You, neighbour, sit down'. He probably said that because we used to live in the same street. I did not perform labour, but others did. When they came back they told me that Mario Zrno had been beaten and died. It turned out to be true, because he did die after the beating," Franjic said.

The indictment alleges that Osmic took a group of detainees, including Mario Zrno, from the Cloister. Those men then allegedly buried corpses in Vrbanja settlement. It is further alleged that detainees were physically and mentally abused while performing labour, while Zrno was beaten with "hands, feet, pipes, shovels and stones".

The witness told the Court he was taken to the "Iskra" stadium detention camp in Bugojno ten days later. He stayed there until March 1994. He said he did not see indictee Osmic in the mentioned period of time.

The next hearing is due to take place on March 18 this year, when the Prosecution will examine two new witnesses.