Testimony of a prisoner from Morinje: I will prosecute Gligić while he is alive

Former prisoner of war from the Nikša Matijaš camp said yesterday in the Podgorica High Court that he came to testify because of Boro Gligić, who, he said, will be prosecuted as long as he is alive.

Gligić, along with several other former members of the JNA, was accused of war crimes against Croatian prisoners in the Morinj camp.

Matijaš said that Gligić beat him while he was in captivity. He then turned towards the accused, for which Judge Milenka Žižić warned him.

"You pamper them here, and when we commit a crime, we put them on the gallows. For two and a half months, Boro beat us and threw us from the terrace. While he was gone, there was peace in Morinje. Peteranec left the camp with 24 fractures. Whenever there was a celebration in that place, he brought civilians to beat us. I was captured in Mostar and brought to Morinj when I was just 19 years old," said Matijaš.

When asked by lawyer Vladimir Vuleković, Ivo Menzalin's defense attorney, Matijaš stated that he was a member of the HOS from Bosnia and Herzegovina, and that he borrowed weapons.

Lawyer Raško Radonjić, Gligić's defense attorney, objected to his testimony, saying that he did not recognize Gligić from the photographs in the investigation in Šibenik.

"Boro Gligić is too stupid to be a commander, and I found out about him because he introduced himself. I can say what I want, because he beat me. I didn't recognize him now, because he dried off, sewed himself up," said Matijaš, and the judge warned him that she could punish him because he must not insult anyone in court.

In January 2012, four former members of the JNA were sentenced to a total of 12 years in prison for the criminal offense of war crimes against prisoners of war in the collection center in Morinje in 1991 and 1992.

Ivo Gojnić was sentenced to two years, Špiro Lučić and Boro Gligić to three years each, while Ivo Menzalin was sentenced to four years in prison. The court acquitted Mlađen Govedarica and Zlatko Tarle.

The appellate court confirmed the acquittal and annulled the conviction.

The trial continues on June 10.