Former assistant interior minister Tomislav Mercep denied at the Zagreb County Court on Friday the charge of being responsible for the unlawful arrest, torture and killing of civilians from the Zagreb, Kutina and Pakrac areas in 1991, when he was the commander of an Interior Ministry reserve unit.
"I plead not guilty to every count of the indictment," Mercep said at his arraignment. He is charged with the unlawful arrest of 52 people, of whom 43 were executed by his unit, three are unaccounted for, while six survived the torture.
Before the arraignment, neurologist Vesna Seric said Mercep was fit to stand trial. He suffered a stroke four years ago and was transferred to a prison hospital as soon as he was arrested in December 2010. He was brought to court from the hospital.
The arraignment was followed by about 20 reporters, cameramen and photojournalists as well as about 20 of his friends and former fellow fighters.
After the arraignment, the deputy county prosecutor proposed calling 32 witnesses, including several survivors of torture at Pakracka Poljana. Defence counsel Marko Ujevic proposed 15 witnesses, including former government, parliament and Interior Ministry officials.
After the arraignment, the panel of judges adjourned to decide which witnesses to call and which evidence to admit.
Mercep is accused of ordering the unlawful arrest, torture and killing of civilians at Pakracka Poljana and in Zagreb from October 8 to mid-December 1991, as the commander of an Interior Ministry reserve unit, and of failing to prevent his subordinates from committing those crimes.
Among the victims were three members of the Zec family, killed on 8 December 1991. Although three of Mercep's men confessed to this crime before an investigating judge, they were not indicted because they were questioned without their lawyers present.
Mercep is charged with being at Pakracka Poljana when at least eight civilians were brought there and tortured, three of whom were killed and two went missing.
He is also charged with taking part in the questioning of Djordje Gunjevic, at the time the government's commissioner for the town of Pakrac, who was detained for six days, tortured with an electroshock weapon, beaten, and robbed of a large sum of money. Mercep eventually let him go with the explanation that they had the wrong person.
Mercep is also accused on command responsibility for crimes at Pakracka Poljana for which his men were already tried, and for the death of 27 unidentified people killed and buried in mass graves at four different locations.
Mercep has been indicted under the former Croatian penal code in which war crimes against civilians carried a prison sentence of five to 20 years.
