Witness recalls murders in Glavaš trial

Mirko Sivic, a witness at the trial of Branimir Glavas, testified that he had witnessed the murder of a Serb civilian. Sivic said that he, his friend Josip Zdravcevic and one other man known as “Bozo” had taken a wounded Serb from Osijek to the banks of the Drava River. Witness recalls murders in Glavas trial “Bozo took him to the shore and said that we all had to fire. I shot over his head because my mother did not teach me to take people’s lives. I did not see whether the others fired at him,” Sivic said. "Bozo seemed like a man possessed and I was afraid that if I didn’t fire, I could end up in the Drava too,” Sivic said. Just like another defendant, Gordana Getos Magdic, Sivic said that his statement to the Osijek police had been given under duress and that he had been blackmailed. He said that the then commander of the Osijek police, Vladimir Faber, had called him to gather information needed for the arrest of Branimir Glavas, and that he had been offered the status of a protected witness for which he “had a guarantee from top state officials and Chief State Prosecutor Mladen Bajic." “They held me there for 70 hours and threatened to put me in prison for 20 years if I did not cooperate. That is why I admitted to the crime,” Sivic said, adding that Faber had brought him a lawyer too, stating that he would formulate the necessary paperwork for becoming a protected witness, before, on his lawyer’s advice, signing all the police documents given to him. Later he realized that he had been tricked, was put into custody and then into the dock. Glavas attended the trial yesterday, despite health problems relating to a hunger strike for which he had been admitted to hospital last week. He and six others are accused of war crimes in what has become known as the “sellotape case”. Glavas is accused of ordering the arrests, abuse and murder of ten Serb civilians in Osijek in 1991, whose legs and arms were tied and mouths covered in sellotape, before being thrown into the Drava River. Glavas has also been charged in the “garage case”, where he is accused of torturing and killing two Serb civilians in a garage belonging to the National Defense Secretariat.

Witness recalls murders in Glavaš trial

“Božo took him to the shore and said that we all had to fire. I shot over his head because my mother did not teach me to take people’s lives. I did not see whether the others fired at him,” Sivić said.

"Božo seemed like a man possessed and I was afraid that if I didn’t fire, I could end up in the Drava too,” Sivić said.

Just like another defendant, Gordana Getoš Magdić, Sivić said that his statement to the Osijek police had been given under duress and that he had been blackmailed.

He said that the then commander of the Osijek police, Vladimir Faber, had called him to gather information needed for the arrest of Branimir Glavaš, and that he had been offered the status of a protected witness for which he “had a guarantee from top state officials and Chief State Prosecutor Mladen Bajić."

“They held me there for 70 hours and threatened to put me in prison for 20 years if I did not cooperate. That is why I admitted to the crime,” Sivić said, adding that Faber had brought him a lawyer too, stating that he would formulate the necessary paperwork for becoming a protected witness, before, on his lawyer’s advice, signing all the police documents given to him.

Later he realized that he had been tricked, was put into custody and then into the dock.

Glavaš attended the trial yesterday, despite health problems relating to a hunger strike for which he had been admitted to hospital last week.

He and six others are accused of war crimes in what has become known as the “sellotape case”. Glavaš is accused of ordering the arrests, abuse and murder of ten Serb civilians in Osijek in 1991, whose legs and arms were tied and mouths covered in sellotape, before being thrown into the Drava River.

Glavaš has also been charged in the “garage case”, where he is accused of torturing and killing two Serb civilians in a garage belonging to the National Defense Secretariat.