Town Hall

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Town Hall
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Town Hall in Bosanski Brod1
General information
The Municipality of Bosanski Brod is situated in the far north of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), on
the right bank of the Sava river. According to the 1991 census of the Socialist Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia, the municipality of Bosanski Brod had a population of 34,138 living in 23
neighbourhoods. The population included 13,993 (40.98 per cent) Croats, 11,389 (33.36 per cent)
Serbs, 4,088 (11.97 per cent) Muslims, 3,664 (10.37 per cent) Yugoslavs, and 1,004 (2.96 per cent)
others.2
In late February 1992, members of the Serbian Volunteers’ Guard and “Beli Orlovi” (White Eagles)
arrived in Bosanski Brod and settled at the village of Vinsko. The unit commander was Aco Lazid
from Kragujevac, an employee of the Ministry of the Interior of Serbia, and his deputy was Dragan
1
Photo: Blog on creation, culture and arts, 18.1.2013, blograst.blogspot.com/2013/01/prilozizaistoriju-biblioteka.u.html
2
State Institute of Statistics of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Census of population, households, dwellings
and farms of 1991, Ethnic composition of population – Results for the Republic by municipalities, populated places for
1991, Sarajevo, December 1993, Statistical bulletin no. 234.
Mičid a.k.a. “Deda” (Grandpa) from Kraljevo.3 Nenad Miličid: “I arrived at the village of Vinsko,
where my parents live, on approximately 10 or 11 March 1992. Upon the arrival, I saw that Serbian
army had been formed in my village, as well as in the neighbouring Serbian villages.”4
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In April 1992, Croatian forces controlled a large area of Bosanska Posavina (which has a population
of 260,793 until 1992, including 51 per cent Croats, 29 per cent Serbs, 12 per cent Muslims and
seven per cent others), but Serb forces brought up reinforcement from the region of Krajina
(Republic of Croatia) and launched an offensive on Bosanska Posavina. At the time, a certain
number of the Croatian Army (HV) units from the entire Republic of Croatia (RH), from Sinj,
through Rijeka and Zagreb to Osijek, were also engaged at the BiH war theatre. Out of the units of
the Croatian Defence Council (HVO, units from BiH), the 101 st brigade from Bosanski Brod and the
103rd brigade from Derventa constantly participated in the clashes. The Serb forces’ offensive on
Bosanska Posavina lasted from mid-July to early October 1992, when Serb forces took control over
the corridor and finally conquered Bosanski Brod, on 7 October 1992.5
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While Bosanski Brod was controlled by Croat forces, a few detention facilities were formed where
Serbian civilians and prisoners of war from municipalities of Odžak, Modriča, Derventa and
Bosanski Brod were detained from March to October 1992.6
Detainees were confined in the following facilities: high-school centre “Fric Pavlik”, warehouse of
“Beograd” department store in the neighbourhood of Tulek, building material warehouse “Gik”,
Kayak club, workshop of the “Bosna” hosiery factory, building of “Jugobanka”, town stadium of
football club “Polet”, police building and in private houses.7
Management
The facility was under the control of the Military Police of the HVO commanded by Blažan Kljajid. 8
He was 21 at the time. He wore a hat with the letter „U“ inscribed on it.
Guards included HVO members: Ante Štuc, Nikola Garid, Armin Pohara, Ivan Brizid, Nedžad
Omirovid and Josip Čičak.9
3
Dragan Lukač, Ratni zločini u Bosanskoj Posavini (1992-1995), p. 30.
Croatian Republic of Herceg-Bosna, Ministry of the Interior, Police administration Derventa, Department of crime
police, Nenad Miličid's deposition of 18.5.1996.
5
Report by the Committee of the Defence Council of the Republic of Croatia. General-colonel Ivan Čermak was the
chairperson of the Committee and its members included general-major Josip Lučid and deputy minister of the interior
Željko Tomljenovid. The Committee's task was to establish the circumstances of the fall of Bosanska Posavina, which is
even today considered as the biggest failure of the Croatian Army during the Croatian War of Independence. The
report was kept secret for years and it was only 15 years after it had been written that it was published by Zagrebbased magazine „Nacional“, on 6.1.2010. The Committee was founded in October 1992 by the decision of the
President of the Republic of Croatia dr. Franjo Tuđman.
6
CDTP, S.G. and S.P.'s deposition to CDTP, 7.4.2014.
7
CDTP, S.Gr. and S.G.'s depositions to CDTP, 22.5.2015.
8
CDTP, S.G.'s deposition to CDTP, 22.5.2015.
9
CDTP, S.Gr. and S.G.'s depositions to CDTP, 22.5.2015.
4
Conditions
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The Town Hall in Bosanski Brod served for detaining Serbian soldiers from March to October 1992.
Detainees were taken for interrogation during which they were beaten. They were then detained
in a few different rooms in the Town Hall, sized approximately six square metres.
Some detainees were taken from the Town Hall to the Bosanski Brod police building over night. All
detainees in the Town Hall were men. They were mostly beaten in the rooms where they were
detained. Guards would most often take one by one and held them in separate rooms. It is for this
reason that the detainees do not know how many people exactly were detained in the Town Hall
in this period.10
Detainees were given one meal a day, which consisted of a fish can „usually bad“ and a slice of
bread. They slept on the floor or on a chair.
There was a toilet in the building which they could use under guard's escort. 11
Abuse
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On 17 March 1992, Sreto Gavrid was arrested by members of the Croatian Defence Council. At the
time, he worked as a guard in the Stadionska Street in Bosanski Brod. He was going home to
change when he was arrested in front of his flat. He was taken to Bosanski Brod Town Hall and
held there for two days. Overnight, they would take him to the police station in Bosanski Brod. In
the Town Hall, he was beaten all the time during interrogation.
He was most abused by Blažan Kljajid, commander of the HVO Military Police. Kljajid kicked him
with boots, and beat him with the rifle butt and fists. Ante Štuc a.k.a. „Britva“ (Razor) forced him
to drink with him, saying that he would better slaughter him in that way. He was in a poor health
condition as a result of beating. After two days spent in the Town Hall, Gavrid was taken home in a
van by Zlatan Buzek, a member of the HVO. From home, he was transported to hospital in Doboj.12
Slavko Grabovac was arrested at the entrance to Bosanski Brod, at Brodsko Polje, at 12 o'clock on
30 March 1992. He was arrested by members of the HVO. A friend of his, Slavko Čerek, was
arrested together with him, and both of them were detained in the Town Hall in Bosanski Brod.
Grabovac was held there for four days, and became 90 per cent disabled as a result of abuse.
The Town Hall was visited by Croats from Pula and Trieste who abused detainees. Grabovac was
detained in room number 30. During his detention, he listened to yowls of pain by detainees in
other rooms. On one occasion, Ante Štuc a.k.a. „Britva“ (Razor) shoved a gun into his mouth. Josip
10
Ibid.
CDTP, S.Gr.'s deposition to CDTP, 22.5.2015.
12
CDTP, S.G.'s deposition to CDTP, 22.5.2015.
11
Killing
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Čičak burnt him with cigarettes. Nedžad Omirovid banged his head against a strong-box. According
to Grabovac, guards had a spit for „body stabbing“. He was beaten with a chair, „they played a
round dance on my back“. They knocked out all his teeth during beating. After his detention in the
Town Hall he was transferred to the „Polet“ stadium, where he was taken before a firing squad on
4 April 1992. He then managed to flee „to Serbian side“, and was immediately transported to
Doboj hospital, and then to Banja Luka.13
Slavko Čekrk died as a result of beating in the Bosanski Brod Town Hall. He was detained in room
number 31.14
Forced labour
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Detainees from the Bosanski Brod town hall were not taken to perform forced labour. 15
Visits by the International Committee of the Red Cross
No delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross visited the Town Hall in Bosanski
Brod.16
Transfers and exchanges
Detainees of the Bosanski Brod Town Hall were never exchanged. The detainees were transferred
from this site to other detention sites in Bosanski Brod. Most detainees were transferred to the
„Polet“ stadium.17
Processing persons responsible for war crimes
Doboj District Court upheld the indictment against Anto Štuc, a former member of the Croatian
Army. The indictment charges him with psychological and physical abuse of civilians, inhumane
treatment and infliction of grave bodily and mental pain and suffering, as well as injuries of bodily
integrity and health, in Bosanski Brod in 1992.18
13
CDTP, S.Gr.'s deposition to CDTP, 22.5.2015.
Ibid.
15
CDTP, S.G.'s deposition to CDTP, 22.5.2015.
16
Ibid.
17
CDTP, S.G.'s deposition to CDTP, 22.5.2015.
18
Doboj District Prosecutor's Office, Case Anto Štuc, www.justice-report.com/bh/struktura-predmeti/štuc-ante-vijestianalize-i-stavovi
14
Doboj District Prosecutor's Office filed an indictment against Miroslav Kopljar a.k.a. „Balo“
(Snotty), since during the armed conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the period between April
and October 1992, he unlawfully arrested, beat with a truncheon and kicked detainees in the
Bosanski Brod Town Hall, together with other members of the HVO.19
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(29.5.2015.)
19
Doboj District Prosecutor's Office, Case Miroslav Kopljar a.k.a. „Balo“ (Snotty) (T15 0 KT 0005019 93), Indictment.