Mostar outraged at judiciary: Judge Marin Zadrić in Vranica case is former HVO officer

By Haris Ljevo

After 18 years since the process began and 25 years since the crime, the "Vranica" case has received a judicial epilogue.

The Municipal Court in Mostar today issued a guilty verdict against Mato Aničić and Erhard Poznić, while Ivan Škutor was acquitted of charges. Mato Ančić and Erhard Poznić were sentenced to one year in prison each.

The fourth defendant in the "Vranica" case, Željko Džidić, is on the run in the Republic of Croatia. The proceedings against him have been separated, given that he fled to Croatia in 2011 and is still not available to Bosnian law enforcement agencies.

The verdict was awaited for a full 18 years from the initiation of the proceedings.

This was the fourth, repeated trial. Three verdicts were acquittals, and after appeals to the Supreme Court of the FBiH, the case was returned to the Municipal Court Mostar.

The verdict was delivered by judge Marin Zadrić. He came to the position of judge at the Municipal Court in Mostar in 2016, and until then, he served as the president of the Municipal Court in Mostar. During the war, he was a high-ranking HVO officer.

In May 1993, HVO members captured 13 members of the Army in the command of the 4th Corps of the ARBiH in the "Vranica" building in Mostar. All were killed, and the bodies of three are still being searched for.

The bodies of Hasan Balić, Šefko Pobrić, and Feđa Husković are still being searched for, while the bodies of the other ten were buried at Mostar's Šehitluci on May 9, 2008.

The moment of their capture was even filmed by HTV cameras with an euphoric public announcement of this "major military undertaking" from the report of reporter Dijana Čuljak, and it was all broadcast in the central news programs of HRT.

Citizens of Mostar and Herzegovina, primarily the families of those killed in Vranica, received the verdict with outrage, after waiting for a full 18 years.

Mostar residents believe that justice has not been served, and many believe that it was not realistic to expect justice to be served when the judge in the process was a former HVO officer.