A EX 52
District Court in Pozarevac, Serbia, Minutes of the
witness hearing of Mirko Mrkobrad, dated 13 March
1997
Kri.l4/97
MINUTES ON WITNESS HEARING
Taken on 13 March 1997 before the investigating magistrate of the District Court in
Pozarevac in the cri minai case against . . . . . . . . . for the criminal act punishable un der
Article ...... of the Criminal Code
Investigating Magistrate
Vukasin Stanisavljevic
Witness
Mirko Mrkobrad
------'Court-Recorder _____________ ___,~,T~h~ec_!h~e~ac!_lril!.!n.g was also attended by_,__: ______ _
Dragisa Jovanovic
Public Prosecutor
Defendant
Defence Counsel
The Court rose at ........ ..
The witness was warned that he was bound to tell the truth and that he should not hold
anything back; he was also warned against the consequences of giving false evidence and
that he should not respond to certain questions if he would thereby embarrass himself or
any next of kin seriously or cause damage or be prosecuted as a result of it (Article 229 of
the Criminal Procedure Code), so he replied to the general questions as follows:
1. Family and given names:
2. Father's name:
3. Occupation:
4. Address:
5. Place ofbirth:
6. Date ofbirth:
Mrkobrad, Mirko
Petar
detective inspector
temporarily resident of the village of Lucica, near Pozarevac
Karlovac
1961
7. Relationship to the defendant or injured party: ................... .
Asked to state wh at he knew about the case, the witness declared:
Ever since 1 was born until July 1991, 1 lived in Karlovac. After that, 1 lived until 8
August 1995 in the Crevarska Strana, in the municipality of Vrgin Most where my
parents had built a summer house. On that date, due to the operation conducted by the
Croatian army, we had to 1eave the place of our residence, namely, my parents, my wife
and 1. My parents headed in a convoy for Bosnia, while I remained on a hattie position
near the place called Tusilovacki Cerovac, in the municipality of Krnjak, in the territory
of the then Republic of Serbian Krajina.
77
At the beginning of August 1995, 1 think it was a Sunday, 8 August 1995 I was in a
refugee convoy. 1 was personally acquainted with a very few people from that convoy. I
only knew the Dokmanovic family. When the convoy reached the so-called Ravno Rasee,
the Croatian army staged its attack. The convoy was eut off from its left flank so that it
was halved. 1 found myself in the other part of the convoy heading for Glina. Before the
Croatian army attacked us, we had been bombarded by the artillery. The shelling Iasted
for sorne ten minutes. During the shelling, the Zastava truck owned by Vojko Madjericic
from Kmjak, took a direct hit. The truck burst into flames, because there was sorne fuel
loaded onto it. I can't tell whether there were any people in it, but 1 know that the burning
vehicle prevented the convoy from moving forward to Bosnia. Since the shelling
continued, there were a number of dead and wounded people in the convoy I was in,
______ ,.ll'eaning_the_seY.eoed_pact_oLiLLc~an~Lb_e_m_ur_e_sp_e_cifLc_ab_o_uLthe_d~ead_and_w~o~und_e~d,_hut _____ _,
my wild guess was that there were at !east 30 dead and many more wounded people. Ail
this happened before we saw the Croatian army. When the shelling stopped, we cou id see
a unit of the Croatian army of approximately 50 soldiers wearing sub-machine guns,
rocket launchers and stingers. Part of the convoy in front of the burning vehicle continued
its flight to Bosnia and the part of it I was in, was in disarray, turning back to Glina. The
Croatian soldiers used machineguns and mortars to fire upon this part of the convoy.
People were falling down as if they had been mowed down. It was hard to tell the number
of dead and wounded.
Regarding the Dokmanovic family that was in the convoy, and there were four of them in
ali, namely, Milan Dokmanovic, who used to live in Karlovac, his wife Ljubica and two
underage children, I am not aware if any of them died on that occasion. I only saw Milan
at a collective centre in Sisak, five or six days later. However, 1 didn't speak to him then
and, later on. I heard that he was probably exchanged, but 1 don't know his current
whereabouts.
When the convoy managed to get to Glina, which was sorne 15 kilometres away from
Ravno Rasee, the Croatian army had already taken control of Glina. The convoy was
allowed to get into Glina and, when it was in the centre of the town, it was surrounded
from ali sides by the Croatian army. I came to the conclusion that they had already been
in the town when the convoy entered. From the position I was on, roundabout near the
outpatient hospital in Glina, 1 estimated that there were sorne 600 refugees, women and
children, mainly civilians and a very small number of uniformed people. Ali of a sudden,
a small-arms fire was opened at them. People were falling down like flies. My wild guess
was that about 150 people were killed. Sorne individuals from the refugee column fired
back, but at random. After 10 to 15 minutes, the shooting stopped and the Croatian
soldiers appeared. There were sorne wounded people lying around. A nu rn ber of Croatian
soldiers shot them at close range into the head. They mostly used pistols. I can't tell how
many persans were killed or wounded. At the moment when the attack began, I was on
the periphery of the convoy. I had nowhere to run to. That was what saved my !ife,
because those killed were, as a rule, the ones to whom the Croatian soldiers came first.
Those of us who were somewhat farther had greater chances of staying al ive. 1 witnessed
to sorne Croatian soldiers lining up sorne refugees and painting guns to them at close
range and killing them. I was lucky to have been captured by a young Croatian soldier.
78
Two other soldiers came up to him immediately after that. The other two searched me
and took ali 1 had on me, which included my ID documents and about 1 00 DM. That was
what they confiscated from me. They also snatched a gold chain from my neck and took
it away. The young man put the barrel of his gun to my forehead, but had no guts to ki li
me. He was indecisive for a while and simply let me live. The others were not that lucky.
At the time ofthe attacks on Ravno Rasee and Glina itself, I was not aware of the regions
of origin of the soldiers who carried out the attacks and committed the massacres. It was
only later that 1 found out that those were the Sisak military units, but 1 can't be more
specifie about the units in question and who was in their command.
-------'A--"'s"--"a..._,n'--"'e)!e witness to these crimes, I can only mention the above named Milan
Dokmanovic, who used to live in Karlovac at the time of the outbreak of war and, later
on, at Kusilovic, in the municipality of Krnjak.
After my capture, I was placed in a basement of a building in Glina. I spend the first few
days there. I was then transported to Petrinja where 1 spent one day and a night. From
there, I was moved to the collective centre in Sisak where 1 spent ten days and to
Karlovac where 1 spent just one day and finaliy, 1 was detained for six months in the
District Prison of Remetinac, in Zagreb. After that, I was exchanged. 1 cannat complain
about my treatment by the Croatian authorities in Zagreb during my six-month detention
there. My treatment there did not go beyond routine procedures except for a few slaps
here and there, which was more of an exception than the rule. The worse treatment 1 was
subjected to was in Glina and in Sisak. I was really and truly tormented and tortured
there. In Sisak, they left me without six teeth; they fractured two of my left side ribs and
broke the joints of my middle fingers on both hands. The treatment of the other prisoners
was no better. The only ones spared to sorne extent were elderly men who were frai!, but
not ali of them. 1 didn't witness any of the prisoners being ki lied, but I saw sorne people
being singled out like those in Petrinja. 1 never saw those people ever again. While 1 was
at these two collective centres, 1 could hear screams and yells from the adjoining
premises. It was the Croatian soldiers themselves who bragged about cutting the throats
oftwo or more Chetniks, this or that night.
1 can't give the names or nicknames of the persans who tortured either me or the other
prisoners. Since ali that happened in Sisak, I suppose that they are ali from that region. I
used to know Mijo Latin from Sisak before the war. He worked with me at the Secretariat
for Internai Affairs in Zagreb. He found me at the collective centre in Sisak and saw the
state 1 was in. After that, they stopped mistreating me and the maltreatment of other
people I was in contact with. 1 am not in possession of any medical documents
concerning the injuries I sustained. Wh ile 1 was in prison in Zagreb, I was investigated by
the military court of Karlovac. I was interrogated in Zagreb and prosecuted subsequently.
1 was sentenced at the main hearing to five years in prison. I was not given the
opportunity to appeal against this sentence. I am in possession of these documents and
will make a photocopy of them.
79
People from the International Red Cross visited us for the first time white we were at the
collective centre in Sisak. That visit came 5 or 6 days after our arrivai. 1 can vouch that
the camp authorities in Sisak hid sorne prisoners from the International Red Cross. I don't
know anything about these individuals. As a matter of fact, the delegates of the
International Red Cross were given precise hours when they could come to the camp. We
were ali placed in one big room and there were about 200 of us, on average. However,
sorne people were led away during the night and we never saw them again. Instead of
them, other people were brought in, also during the night. So, our nu.mbers were more or
Jess the same. Once, a group of 12 people was brought to the room white a delegate of the
International Red Cross was still in. The situation was a bit tense until spe was allowed to
register even the newcomers. I got the impression that those people had to be concealed
from the International Red Cross so that the number of inmates would not be increased,
because everything had to add up in the end. I can't tell the nam es or nicknames of tho se
people; they were ali unknown to me. I only know that they were Serbs.
White I was in Sisak, 1 was not aware that anyone died in the room we were detained in
nor was anyone dead in the cell, white I was detained in Remetinac prison. However, 1
found out, during the walks with other prisoners, that sorne of the elderly people had died
during the day. I can't give any more details about the people who died.
1 understand that there were no women prisoners detained m pnson, in Zagreb. The
inmates were only men aged between 18 and 80.
There were no women and children at the Sisak collective centre either. I heard, but didn't
see it for myself, that there were women and children nearby, in another room. I heard
women talk through the window or children crying, but I was never in close contact with
women and children. White 1 was in Glina and Petrinja, I was in a basement with two or
three men, and was not in contact with any other prisoners. I have no direct knowledge
about the fate of those who sought protection in UNPROFOR bases and who were later
handed over to the Croatian military or police authorities, because I was not in that
situation. Everything I know, I know from Dragan Kotur, who is from Veljun in the
municipality of Slunj, and whom I met in Remetinac prison. He told me that he had been
wounded at a place called Zirovac and that he managed to go to the UNPROFOR base
where the Russian battalion was stationed. He sought their assistance and was given only
the most urgent medical attention. He was later turned over to the Croatian authorities in
Glina. He was taken to the detention centre of Ozar, near Karlovac, and was subjected to
the same treatment as 1. I know that he was physically maltreated, but I don't know
whether he had any fractures or suffered more serious consequences. He is currently in
Pozarevac and resides in the vicinity of the women's prison. He is renting a place there.
r can't give any specifie details about the people who died, since r didn't know them weil.
I only knew people from the places 1 lived when I came from Karlovac. I didn't know
even by sight people who were in the convoy with me or in the detention camps, later on.
They told me that they suffered the same fate as r did. However, I don't know their names
or any other particulars. If necessary, 1 am willing to testify even before the International
Court of Justice in the Hague.
80
Th at is ali 1 had to say.
1 have been advised to read the minutes and 1 declare that I don't want to, because it was
dictated out loud.
Witness
Mirko Mrkobrad (Signed)
Court Recorder
Dragisa Jovanovic (Signed)
Investigating Magistrate
Vukasin Stanisavljevic (Signed)
81
Written testimony of Witness Mirko Mrkobrad *