Mostar awaits verdict for Vranica crime after 25 years

MOSTAR, (Patria) - A full 25 years after one of the most severe and cruel war crimes in the city of Mostar, and over 18 years since the judicial unraveling of the case known to the public as the „Vranica Case“ has been ongoing before the cantonal judiciary, the results of the trial – the fourth in a row, will be known today at noon when the verdict will be announced to the accused Mate Aničić, Erhard Poznić, and Ivan Škutor.

The fourth accused in the „Vranica“ case, Željko Đidić, has been on the run in the Republic of Croatia for some time.

This decision was announced by the Trial Chamber of the Cantonal Court in Mostar, presided over by Judge Marin Zadrić, a former HVO officer. Closing arguments were held on Tuesday, Vijesti reports.

The Prosecutor's Office of HNK, represented by prosecutor Maja Ćišić, stated its conviction that the guilt of the accused trio was unequivocally established and proven before the Court during the proceedings. She stated that convincing facts were presented and numerous pieces of evidence of the commission of the criminal offense were presented, supported, among other things, by the testimonies of numerous witnesses, which she recalled in detail, describing the key moments of the criminal offense itself – starting from the surrender of the soldiers and their capture, to the traumatic events in the basement of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, up to their brutal execution.

She stated that based on the testimony of witnesses and material evidence from The Hague, it is undeniable that the accused committed the acts they are charged with, that they acted with conscious inhumanity, killed and tortured, and that their guilt can be proven from all of the above. She recalled the testimony of the only surviving witness, Emir Ćatić, who described in detail the events of May 10 and 11, 1993, at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering. She also recalled the testimony of the key witness Džemal Arnaut, who recounted how Erhard Poznić beat and abused him.

Prosecutor Maja Čišić requested the Court to declare the accused trio guilty and to punish them appropriately in accordance with the law, while the lawyers for Mate Aničić, Erhard Poznić, and Ivan Škutor reject all prosecution allegations, qualifications, and evidence, asking the Court to dismiss the charges and acquit the accused.

The representative of the injured parties, Edina Rašidović, appealed to the Trial Chamber to take into account the instructions of the Supreme Court, stating that the courts that previously issued acquittals aimed to renew the proceedings, to which the presiding judge of the Trial Chamber reacted sharply, claiming that the Court had no intention of prolonging the process.

We remind you that this refers to the massacre of captured members of the Army of BiH, which was undoubtedly committed by HVO members after the military operation to capture the Command of the 4th Corps of the Army of BiH in the „Vranica“ building (May 9, 1993) in the western part of Mostar.

HVO members in the Vranica building in Mostar captured, and later, after repeated torture and beatings in the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering building in the western part of Mostar, brutally liquidated 13 members of the Army. The bodies of three are still being searched for.

The indictment was filed back in December 1999, and the accused are Željko Džidić alias Džida, Mate Aničić, Ivan Škutor, and Erhad Pozbić alias Šapa – all from Mostar. The indictment charges former members of the Croatian Defence Council (HVO) with war crimes committed against civilians and prisoners of war. The first accused, Džidić, has been on the run since 2011, which is why the trial is being conducted for the fourth time based on a separated indictment, meaning the process is being conducted against the other three from the indictment.