Dretelj Crimes Trial to Begin mid June

Prosecutor Remzija Smailagic said at a status conference before the Bosnian Court that during the evidence hearing, the prosecution plans to call 32 witnesses and one expert witness and requested 25 workdays to present all the evidence.
 
The Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina charges Ivan Zelenika, Srecko Herceg, Edib Buljubasic, Ivan Medic and Marina Grubisic-Fejzic with crimes committed against several hundred Bosnian Serbs in 1992 in the Dretelj camp. 

The prosecutors believe that imprisoned Serbs from the municipalities of Mostar, Ljubuski, Capljina and Stolac, were held in inhumane conditions in the Dretelj camp, where they were abused, forced to hard labour and tortured.

According to the indictment, as a consequence of the abuse, several prisoners died and some were taken away in an unknown direction where they disappeared.
 
The indictment says that Zelenika was an officer of the Croatian Defence Forces, HOS, Herceg was the former commander of the Dretelj camp, Buljubasic was his deputy, while Medic and Grubisic-Fejzic were former camp guards.

Zelenika, Herceg, Medic and Grubisic-Fejzic are all Bosnian Croats, while Buljubasic is a Bosniak. Marina Grubisic-Fejzic is one of a few women being charged with war crimes during the Bosnian war.

The Croatian Defence Forces, HOS, was a joint Croat and Bosniak paramilitary unit formed at the beginning of the Bosnian conflict. They fought Bosnian Serb forces in southern Herzegovina.

Zelenika, Herceg, Medic and Grubisic-Fejzic have remained in custody since February. Buljubasic is serving a sentence in the Zenica prison for 4 murders committed before and after the Bosnian war.

The defence teams did not present details of their plans at the status conference, and announced they would not give their opening arguments at the beginning of the trial, but would wait for the prosecution to conclude the presentation of its evidence.