Notorious "Miće": Killed Bosniaks and Croats, Arrested Only After Raping the Wife of a Serbian Soldier

At the trial for crimes committed in the Teslić area, Defence witnesses identified Zoran Šljuka and Ljubiša Petrićević as "the most responsible in the 'Miće'" during the action of Serbian military and police formations in disarming the villages of Stenjak and Rankovići in June 1992, reports the Patria news agency.  

Miroslav Lazić, a Defence witness for Dragan Marjanović, stated that he met Šljuka in February 1992, when he came to the barracks and offered to procure weapons for the then Territorial Defence.

After, as he stated, the barracks commander threw Šljuka out, he did not see him again until May 1992. They were then told that the "Miće", of which Šljuka was a member, had come to town to help with mobilisation. However, the witness said, this soon turned out to be untrue.

"Local criminals immediately joined them. They broke into municipal and police offices, looted the property of Bosniaks and Croats, and harassed junior officers. Later, they also began looting the property of Serbs," said Lazić.

Describing the events in the village of Ranković, the witness said that the Miće, together with the military and civilian police and parts of the Teslić Brigade of the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS), participated in the attack on the village, which lasted four days and resulted in the surrender of part of the population. "About 30-35 Bosniaks were captured then. The rest fled," he said.

Asked by the Prosecution whether he knew that prisons existed in Teslić and Pribinić, Lazić replied that he did, adding: "The prison in Pribinić was secured by the Military Police."

The witness said that the Miće, although they participated in the attacks, were not under the command of the Teslić Brigade. They operated in combat until they raped the wife of a Serbian soldier who was on the front line. It was then decided to arrest them and disband them.

"Until that rape, no one opposed them. When they were arrested, they resisted. They killed my relative, and there were also wounded," described witness Lazić, adding that the "Miće" were imprisoned in the basement of the Department Store and beaten there.

He heard about the executions on Mount Borja but never knew the details. He says that during and after the war he worked with Dragan Marjanović, but only learned of the crime after his arrest.

"The town was in shock; no one could even imagine that Marjanović had anything to do with that," said Lazić.

Dragan Marjanović, Saša Gavranović, Vitomir Dević, Zoran Šljuka, Dragomir Kezunović, and Dario Slavuljica are on trial on charges that on the night of 17-18 June 1992, they took 28 civilians, who were imprisoned in the police station in Teslić and the nearby Pribinić prison, to Mount Borja and killed them.

According to the indictment, Marjanović was the commander of the First Platoon of the Military Police of the Teslić Brigade of the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS), and the other accused were members of that platoon, and simultaneously members of the military part of the "Miće" formation.
Defence witness Radomir Mijić, a wartime officer of the Teslić Brigade, recounted how he was transferred from the town after a conflict with Ljubiša Petrićević at a meeting in the brigade command.

"He said that the Croats are our greatest enemies, and that as soon as we see a Ustasha, we should execute him immediately. I opposed that and was removed because Petrićević would surely have killed me later," the witness recounted.

He met the "Miće" later, when, as he said, they were lining up officers of the Teslić Brigade. They slapped soldiers and junior officers, and Zoran Šljuka was then called a sergeant.
"They assumed authorities they had no right to; I didn't hear that anyone could oppose them then," said Mijić.

He explained that he only learned of the crime committed on Borja in 1995. While talking to a colleague, he said he was glad there were no war crimes in Teslić.

"He turned around and told me that, unfortunately, there were, and then he told me that Borja had happened," stated Mijić, adding that he never heard from anyone that Marjanović was linked to that crime, writes BIRN.