4] CRIMINAL BECOMES WITNESS FOR HAGUE TRIBUNAL
Novi Sad, March 27 (Tanjug) - In a piece entitled Criminal Becomes Witness the Novi Sad daily Dnevnik assessed that the Hague Tribunal suffered a moral setback when it called Dr Vesna Bosanac, notorious Director of Vukovar Hospital in the fall of 1991, to be a witness for the prosecution in the trial of three former Yugoslav Army (JNA) officers. Instead of being prosecuted by the International War Crimes Tribunal to account for the crimes committed against Serbs in Vukovar, Dr Bosanac arrived in the Hague as a witness, the daily said Tuesday. Dr Bosanac became the Director of Vukovar Hospital in July 1991, just before the beginning of Croatia's war of secession from former Yugoslavia. The euphoria of Croatian nationalism was at its highest then, and Dr Vesna Bosanac was appointed Hospital Director by the nationalist Croatian Democratic Community in Zagreb and the former director, Serb Rade Popovic, was dismissed without any explanation.
The crimes committed by Dr Bosanac against Serb civilians and JNA troops who at the time were being treated in Vukovar Hospital are grave and monstrous, the daily said. Witnesses who managed to escape the hospital run by Dr Vesna Bosanac, speak today about her. She was not alone, witnesses say. She had the support of Dr.Juraj Njavro, a certain Dr. Zujovic from Zagreb, Dr. Kratofil from Osijek and paramedic Marko Mandic. The Vukovar Hospital served as a warehouse for ammunition so that at one time there were 300 guns in the x-ray room.
Dr Bosanac and her team also helped Tudjman's troops kill Serbs outside the hospital. One of the witnesses said he saw Tudjman's troops enter the hospital with snipers, climb the roof, and shoot at Serbs and JNA troops.
When it was finally clear that Tudjman's guard would be defeated in Vukovar, around two hundred members of Croatia's Interior Ministry and of the National Guard, criminals from Vukovar, put on white hospital coats and tried to get out of the city as 'hospital staff'. The organizer of the evacuation was Dr Bosanac and Dr Njavro, Dnevnik said.
The following document is a translation of a deposition supplied and duly signed by Ikac Mile, from and in Vukovar, given on December 12, 1991.
I was transported urgently to the hospital, at my own telephone request, on September 27, 1991. I spent the time from September 27 to October 23, 1991 in that institution, from which I escaped on October 23, around 6:10 AM, by jumping across the wall [surrounding it].
During my stay in the hospital, I experienced what hell is like, so to speak. The top people were - Dr. Njavro, Dr. Bosanac, nurse Biba, Dr. Sadika, plaster man Miro and his assistant. I slept on an auxiliary bed since I was mobile, and as one of their torture forms, they used to push an M-16 gun in my back saying: "Shall I pull the trigger?", and another would answer: "Pull it, fuck your Serbian mother!". They used to put a knife at my throat saying they would be slitting it that night. I said: "Slit me, you won't slit all our throats". Knowing my brother was with the volunteers, I was exposed to planting a bomb [hand grenade] in my bed, but knowing about this "maggot's egg", as we Serbians called it among ourselves, I used to come back and quickly throw it into one of their beds. Their "MPs" would come and search our beds. When they found nothing, they would be angry.
During my stay, [Yugoslav Army] soldiers-reservists were admitted [to the hospital] and they received special treatment. When that happened, all others would be removed except that part of the hospital staff which was pro-fascist. According to guardsmen and staff stories, they used to say those reservists went "grass grazing" or "swimming to Novi Sad" [down the Danube]. Three soldiers were admitted, one of which stayed on in the hospital after I escaped. The remaining soldier was especially mistreated by Zeljko Jozo, Perkovic Damir and one Renato, who also mistreated old uncle Toma the plaster man, who was found murdered in "Borovo Commerce". Regarding the other two soldiers, they said that there were no more "chetniks".
When a Serbian soldier was admitted to the hospital and after surgery, Dr. Bosanac would say: "A wound on a dog heals on a dog" ("Na psu rana, na psu i zarasla"), meaning the Serbians. When one Bili or somebody else from the guard HQ was to come, they would remove everybody from the corridors and would go to Dr. Bosanac' office-HQ. I know for sure that that's where it was, and this can be confirmed by Dr. Manojlovic and Dr. Vesna Vasic, both of whom advised me to escape.
Marko the plaster man worked during daytime and at night, he took people to be liquidated in "Borovo Commerce". His assistant was one Dr. Hisam, who was on good terms with the Perkovic brothers, who he supplied with weapons, cigarettes, food and anything else they wanted. Belonging to the guard were also Andjelko Rora from Bapska, Voloder Vlado and Voloder Zoran, of the hard-liners, then Stanic Marko, Srenk Djuro, Vatroslav Pirika, Stevo Parcetic, Zajacko Miso (Mihovil), Zajacko Stjepan "Stevica" and Srenk Zeljko. Dr. Bogdanovic was a great supporter of the Croat National Guard.
The sick and injured were treated on a national basis, so that the Croatians were looked after by Dr. Njavro and a selected team, while Serbians and soldiers were looked after by Dr. Manojlovic and Dr. Vasic.
After escaping from the hospital, I visited my son's best man Stevo Luksic, who was wounded by a grenade, and on that occasion I heard from him and other people that his brother was taken in - captured. They said he walked and swore at their ustasha mothers. He was injured in his left leg and thigh, meaning badly. They beat him up there and MPs Vulic Zvonko and Pap Tomislav came and took him away someplace.
I was at the hospital once again on December 9 1991 and a woman working on the surgery told me that a young man was admitted who appeared known to me. I told her that this must have been my youngest brother. She knew nothing else, since they used to hide such people, and these jobs were done by teams, specially charged with soldiers. The [hospital] staff behavior was terrible, starting from communicating to the food. I asked for a blanket to put over my canvas cover - because of the cold - and I got none from Dr. Bosanac, while the guardsmen had several [blankets] each. I spent two week in the passage to the Atomic shelter and saw horrible things during that time, from verbal mistreatment to physical attacks. All this was done by Zeljko Jozo, Mato Vlaho, Marko the plaster man and wounded guardsmen, the Perkovic brothers Renato and Damir, one Jozic and a man from Zagreb, tattooed all over his neck and with a chest wound, who had "Ustasa" written in tatoo, and I couldn't read the rest of it.
The wife of Zeljo Joze at first was a prominent adversary of everything Serbian and the army. Nurse Zlata helped and provided everything the guardsmen wanted. She also wore a chessboard badge very obviously on her chest. She was 38-42 years of age. While there, I saw the following people come and go to the hospital:
Ivica Fabijanovic - Guardsman (HDZ - "Croat National Guard")
Zdenko Potocic - Guardsman
Stevo Parcetic - Guardsman
Sebesta Boro - Guardsman
Marko Stanic - Guardsman
Ivica Antolovic - Guardsman
Zdenko Kutina - Guardsman
Marko Lucic - Guardsman
Stijepan Nikolic - Guardsman
Djuro Srenk - Guardsman
Zeljko Srenk - Guardsman
Djuro Juricic - Guardsman
Mihovil-Miso Zajacko - Guardsman
Stjepan-Stevo Zajacko - Guardsman
Drago Horvat - Guardsman
Josip Duraj - Guardsman
Damir Adzaga - Guardsman (transport of injured and supplies)
Vlado Kovac - Guard associate
Tihomir Kovac - Guardsman
Josip Bracic - Guardsman
Pero Baran - Guardsman
Oliver Jovanovic - Guardsman
Djuro Jovanovic - Guardsman
Antun Depisol - Guardsman
Vatroslav Pirika CDA
Josip Lovrincic CDA (betrayed 4 soldiers hidden on his cellar, who suicided to prevent being captured)
Ljubica ? ethnic Serbian
Antun Dugan Guardsman
Drago Markobasic Guardsman
Branko Madjarevic Guardsman (Borovo naselje)
Ivica Madjarevic Guardsman (Borovo naselje)
Dragan Stajin Police (interrogation with a hammer)
Nikola Tarle Police
Zeljko Tarle ?
Josip Tarle ?
Drago Vlaho Hospital driver
Dragan Gavric Hospital driver
Zlatko Jarabek Hospital driver
Djuro Juricic Guardsman
Josip Mazar ?
Zvonko Vulic (arrests and liquidation)
Tomislav Pap (arrests and liquidation)
On the occasion of discovering soldiers on the cellar of his house in the "Pionirsko naselje", Lovrinic bragged about finding four soldiers and calling the guardsmen. They called to the soldiers to surrender, but the soldiers wouldn't. They sang a song and shots were heard after that, and it is said that their officer killed them and suicided after that. The house was set afire and the corpses were taken into the yard, two of them being badly burned.
According to what Jovanovic [Dzoga] told me while he was in the hospital with me, and who also escaped on or around October 30, he was taken to the Croat military department for interrogation and was assigned for throat slitting that same night, as were Tomo the plaster man, Cvetislav from Negoslavci and two more ethnic Serbians. They were taken away by Marko (Martic) and were found later: the first was murdered, and the other had their throats slit in "Borovo Commerce".
I request that something be done for *ILLEGIBLE*'s children, because he was with me and my lady neighbor Mara Nikolic in the cellar of the house in Gajeva 33. He is now in the Novi Sad hospital - quite clear of all this.
I guarantee for the above data and recognizing of the people noted above, and I accept all responsibility and place myself at the disposal of military and civil authorities.
Mile Ikac
Vukovar December 12, 1991.