here - Humanitarian Law Center/Fond za humanitarno pravo

the indictment, the defendants, at the time members of the Special Purpose Units of the SUP in
the town of Beli Manastir, in the Republic of Croatia, unlawfully detained, physically abused,
intimidated, terrorized, tortured and inhumanly treated Croat civilians, between August and
December 1991. In addition, Zoran Vukšić, Slobodan Strigić and Branko Hrnjak were charged
with murdering the civilians. 153
As the evidence presentation process closed in 2011, during 2012 the parties presented their
closing arguments, after which the court delivered its judgment on 19 June 2012. The trial
chamber found the defendants guilty as charged. The court established that Zoran Vukšić and
Velimir Bertić, in the course of an attack against the village of Kozarac on 28 August 1991,
wantonly and without any military necessity shot at houses and in the direction of civilians who
were in their houses or yards. Indiscriminately shooting, Zoran Vukšić killed an elderly man, Ivo
Malek. Vukšić also shot Josip Vid, who was in his yard, in the leg, wounding him seriously.
Velimir Bertić, also shooting indiscriminately and randomly from his automatic rifle, wounded
Matilda Vranić.
The first-instance court also found that Vukšić and Bertić physically abused and intimidated a
large number of unlawfully arrested civilians, who were confined in the detention facilities of the
SUP in Beli Manastir. Vukšić and Bertić kicked Dragan Skeledžija and hit her with batons. They
struck Marko Tomić and Josip Ćosić with batons and made them slap each other’s faces. While
beating Ivan Belaj, Bertić placed his gun into Belaj’s mouth. The two men beat Stipe Abrišina
threatening to slit his throat and made him sing ‘chetnik’ songs. Also, they repeatedly hit Marko
Marić about the head and torso with rifle buts and stuck a gun into his mouth threatening to kill
him. Jovan Narandža sustained blows to the torso and was further beaten with a cable by Vukšić.
Over the same period, Vukšić physically abused many civilians who were unlawfully confined in
the Beli Manastir SUP detention facilities, by kicking them, striking them with his rubber baton,
a phone cable and other objects, whilst Bertić over the same period intimidated some of the
civilians. He made one civilian run across a stubble field 154 , running after him and kicking him
and then, after having seemingly let him escape, organized a ‘rabbit hunt’ for him, caught him
and beat him again. Bertić also hit one of detained civilians with a baton, threatened to cut his
throat because the civilian’s son was a member of the Croatian MUP, and made him sing
‘chetnik’ songs.
The trial chamber found that Vukšić, jointly with Zoran Madžarac, who had proceedings against
him suspended 155 , on 10 October 1991, killed Adam Barić by shooting him in the back of the
neck at point blank range and attempted to kill Ana Barić, Adam Barić’s wife, by stabbing her
four times in the neck, as a result of which the victim sustained life-threatening injuries.
153 Full text of the indictment is available on the TRZ website: www.tuzilastvorz.org.rs.
154 A field covered with stubble after harvesting (Merriam-Webster online dictionary).
155 Madžarac is out of reach of Serbian authorities.
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