Mico Stanisic and Stojan Zupljanin in the courtroom

At the trial of former Bosnian Serb police leaders Mico Stanisic and Stojan Zupljanin, the prosecution called its last witness. A Bosniak from Teslic testified with image and voice distortion under the pseudonym ST-008. Stanisic and Zupljanin are charged with crimes against non-Serbs in 20 BH municipalities in 1992.

The witness was arrested in early June 1992 and was taken to a police station. There the witness saw a large number of detained civilians and recognized market inspector Asir Popic among them. Popic was standing up by the wall with his legs apart and holding up three fingers. The witness was then taken to a cell in the police prison. During the two weeks he stayed there, up to fifty prisoners – mostly rich and prominent Muslims from Teslic – were crammed together into a single prison cell. Because of lack of space they were forced to ‘stand up like statues, in the reek of ammonia from the urine’. As the witness is physically disabled, he had to lie down; other prisoners trod upon him. The prisoners received their first food rations a few days later, and enough water to ‘wet our mouths’. Every time a soldier or a paramilitary entered the prison, the detainees had to sing Serb songs.

Two weeks later, the witness was transferred from the police prison to a hangar held by the Territorial Defense. The witness saw about 250 local Croats and Muslims there. Various people in police and military uniforms came in and ‘beat the detainees up until they got tired’ and then they left threatening that ‘all Balijas and Ustashas must be killed’, the witness recounted. According to the witness, ‘the most blood-thirsty’ among them was reserve police officer Tomo Mihajlovic. He took out Professor Asim Gilic, who was later beaten to death with batons and chains and ‘dragged out like a sack’ from the warehouse.

On one occasion, when the witness was taken to the first aid station, he saw Piko (Miroslav Pijunovic) and Rakic – members of the notorious Mice group. The two went behind a screen, where Fadil Isuc, president of the local SDA, lay. Piko took out his gun and a shot rang out. The witness was then taken to the police station for questioning. He was asked to give money, and was released after he paid several thousand Deutsch Marks. Some days later, the witness was rearrested, and taken to the detention center in Pribinic.

The witness was detained for 50 days, until mid-July 1992. In the meantime, the municipal authorities allowed some Serb refugees from Daruvar to move into the witness’s house. The witness was banned from entering the house and he was not able to retrieve his ‘orthopedic shoes and the wheelchair’.

In a brief cross-examination, Stojan Zupljanin’s defense lawyer referred to the statement the witness gave to the Serb authorities in late 1992 before he left. He was questioned as part of the investigation into the workings of the Mice group. The witness claims the investigation was a ‘farce’. As the defense counsel noted, today the witness said he had given thousands of Deutsch Marks, while in his 1992 statement he talks about 140,000 dinars being seized from him. The witness explained that he was told by the investigating judge ‘in a friendly conversation over a glass of brandy’ to put down a smaller amount. The judge also advised him not to press charges for the seizure of his house because there might be retaliation for that.

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