From the Helsinki Watch "Prijedor Report"
Disappearances
IPTF investigations of the "disappearance" on the September 19, 1995 of the
Roman Catholic parish priest for Prijedor, Father Tomislav Matanovic, have
revealed that the local Prijedor police authorities were directly involved
in his "disappearance". According to an official IPTF monitor's report
provided to Human Rights Watch/Helsinki by a third party, Father Tomislav
was originally arrested at 10:00 p.m. on August 24, 1995 and was taken to
the Prijedor police station #2. At 2:00 am on the 25th he was taken to his
parents' home in Prijedor, where all three were placed under house arrest.
That night his house and the parish hall were looted and destroyed. He
remained under house arrest with his parents, with two local policemen
standing guard outside at all times, until September 19, 1995. During the
twenty-six day period Matanovic and his parents were under house arrest,
they were sometimes permitted to have visitors. Father Matanovic reported
to visitors that he was afraid for his safety and that of his parents,
especially since some persons had come into the house demanding money,
jewelry, and other things of value, despite of presence of the police
outside. A witness reported to IPTF that in mid-September a policeman
named Lakic came to the house and harassed the family, wanting money and
valuables. Two days later, a truck and a number of private cars, driven by
uniformed policemen, came to the house, and looted various items from the
house. Guards present at the house, according to the IPTF's source,
included policemen named Savic, Cado, Rakovic, and Milan Rodic. One of
these guards told the witness later that his superior officer had told him
to go home the night Father Tomislav "disappeared" "because ICRC was coming
to collect the family." The guard, who had the key to the house,
reportedly gave it to his superior.
The current commander of the Prijedor police station #2, Ranko
Jakovljevic, according to the IPTF a trusted ally of Simo Drljaca, was the
commander of the station during the arrest and detention of Father
Tomislav.
Father Tomislav asked the other priests who came to visit him to
ask for Simo Drljaca and Srdjo Srdic's help, as he knew both men, but
neither man responded to requests for assistance. Later, when one of the
priest who had visited previously tried to visit again, he was initially
denied entrance by the police guards, who relented at the behest of Father
Tomislav. On September 19, two cars arrived at 2:00 a.m. at the house, and
removed Father Tomislav and his parents, Bozena and Josip. They haven't
been seen or heard from since.
Despite all the evidence to the contrary, former police chief Simo
Drljaca claim he knows nothing about Matanovic's fate. In June, Drljaca
told ECMM (European Community Monitoring Mission) monitor that on the day
Matanovic was arrested, Prijedor had only eighteen police officers and they
couldn't have arrested him because there were so few police available. He
mentioned that Arkan was in the area at the time, and implied that it was
possible that Arkan's men might have taken the Matanovic family to Serbia.
Drljaca denied to ECMM that the local police knew anything about the
disappearance."
Drljaca told various international monitors that Matanovic had been
released to the Red Cross on October 10, 1995 and was probably "in Croatia
somewhere." He also claimed that Matanovic had boarded a Red Cross bus
toward Teslic (in central Bosnia), and even provided a license number to
the bus to IPTF. He did not repeat his story to the U.S. Congressional
delegation sent by the Chair of the House Committee on International
Relations, Benjamin Gilman, to look into the matter in September 1996.
Local Red Cross officials denied that they ever had ant contact
with the Matanovic family, although it is clear that these Red Cross
sources are not reliable given their alleged involvement in "ethnic
cleansing" activities. Srdjo Srdic, an original member of the Crisis
Committee, was acting mayor of Prijedor and Precedent of local Red Cross at
the time of Matanovic's "disappearance." Nonetheless, it is considered
highly unlikely that Matanovic left on a Red Cross convoy and made it to
safety, as it is believed he would have contacted the Catholic church
immediately.
Mayor Static told and IFOR Major making inquiries into the
"disappearance" that he "recognized the name" of Prijedor's parish priest,
Tomislav Matanovic, and that Matanovic "might have been on a Red Cross list
for Croatia and might have left in September 1995." This statement was
obviously misleading; Static knew Matanovic well because Prijedor is a
small town and there was only one parish in the town.
Witnesses present at the time of the initial arrest of Matanovic by
the Prijedor police claim that Momcilo Radanovic, (a.k.a. "Cigo") the
current Deputy Mayor of Prijedor, was also present. Matanovic's name
appeared on an exchange list issued by the Bosnian Serb authorities in
December 1995, and has appeared on one or two lists since then, according
to Croatian prisoner exchange authorities.
An international source close to the case confirmed that
Matanovic's name appeared on an exchange list for October 1995. The ICRC
visited the family during the period they were under house arrest. In a
letter to a concerned person on January 17, 1996, the ICRC noted that "The
authorities which are repeatedly addressed concerning their "disappearance"
have so far not provided ICRC with any satisfactory information."
The Serb authorities themselves have admitted, however, that
Matanovic's name appeared on their exchange lists. Radovan Glogovac, the
"Exchange Commissioner" in Banja Luka, told Human Rights Watch/Helsinki in
April 1996 that "I went to the Ministry of Defense in Prijedor and they
showed me a list that he [Matanovic] was exchanged in Teasing. He is right
now in Muslim territory in central Bosnia. Glogovac then said, ""I located
the place where Matanovic was held, and I informed the police, and Karadzic
personally intervened as did the Minister of Religion, Davidovic." He
continued, "As soon as we find out where he is, he will be exchanged. I'm
sorry about Father Matanovic, but the problem is that no attention has been
given to the missing Serbs." Human Rights Watch/Helsinki believes that
Glogovac and Minister Davidovic may have information about Matanovic and
should be pressed by the international community to reveal his whereabouts.
At least one private party offered to exchange Matanovic for his
relative, a Bosnian Serb soldier they believed held by Bosnian Croats.
Serb informants have claimed that he was held in "private detention,"
probably under the authority of Pero Colic, former commander of the 5th
Kozara brigade based in Prijedor (one designated as the replacement for
Ratko Mladic as leader of the Republica Srpska Army). Colic and his
liaison officer Miroslav Grsic have denied any knowledge of the case.
Grsic told an ECMM monitor in June that it was only a rumor that Matanovic
had ever appeared on an exchange list, although Human Rights Watch/Helsinki
has in its possession a copy of an official RS exchange list, dated
December 1995.
A letter written to U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher by
Chairman Benjamin Gilman of the House Committee on International Relations
following the delegation visit to Prijedor and Banja Luka states the
following: ... "the military and civilian police of the "Republica Srpska"
in and around the town of Prijedor appear to be actively conspiring to
cover up the "disappearance" of Father Matanovic. After assembling the
results of various investigations into the Matanovic case, it is clear that
the former police chief of Prijedor, Simo Drljaca, and the former commander
of the Fifth Kozara brigade, Col. Pero Colic, are not being forthright
about their lack of knowledge about the Matanovic case." The delegation's
formal report of the investigation states that "Numerous witnesses directly
contradicted Drljaca's statements. It is clear from these witnesses that
1) the Prijedor police arrested the Matanovic family, 2) Matanovic was held
in Prijedor police station #2 for some period of time, and 3) the Prijedor
police know more about Matanovic's later movements than they admit.
Drljaca and all local observers agreed on one thing: little happens in
Prijedor without Drljaca's direction or knowledge."
An IPTF source claimed that he had received confidential
information on July 22, 1996 from a "very well-placed source" that Father
Tomislav was being detained in a camp in the Kozara hills run by Milan
Martic, leader of the Krajina Serbs from Croatia. Human Rights Watch
/Helsinki has received information from other sources that such a camp
exists, but has not been able to confirm its existence.
There are many other unresolved cases of "disappearances" from the
period of 1992-1995. Many persons were taken from the concentration camps
or from their homes in 1992 and are thought to be dead. The Matanovic case
is somewhat different from these other cases in that there is clear
information that he was kept alive for a period of time (while under house
arrest) and then appeared on an exchange list. Further, there is thought
to be reliable information on who was responsible for his "disappearance."
To date, efforts by Human Rights Watch/Helsinki, IPTF, ECMM, a
special Congressional delegation fro the House Committee on international
Relations, and others to locate Matanovic in Prijedor have failed. Since
their "disappearance," neither Matanovic nor his parents have communicated
with anyone and are feared dead, although no definitive information has
surfaced about their deaths. In late December 1996, Human Rights
Watch/Helsinki was informed of a rumor that Father Matanovic's father Josip
had recently been beaten to death. The Bosnian Serb authorities also
reportedly established a commission of inquiry relating to the Matanovic
case. It is the opinion of Human Rights Watch /Helsinki that the Bosnian
Serb authorities are already quite aware about what happened to the family,
and have withheld information from the international community.
Unfortunately, there have been recent cases of "disappearances" as
well. according to IFOR sources. AN IFOR source told Human Rights
Watch/Helsinki in early November that two men had come separately to the
IFOR CIMIC (Civilian-Military) Center in Prijedor to tell IFOR that they
expected to be killed soon by (previous Chief of Police Simo Drljaca and to
reveal what they knew about his organized crime activities, including his
involvement in forcing people to pay protection money. Both men said they
wanted to speak to someone so that the truth would be known if they were
killed. One man confirmed to IFOR information about Drljaca's
participation in "ethnic cleansing." Both men, according to IFOR, have
since disappeared.
Another interesting text about the ethnic cleansing in Prijedor can be found at Salon Magazine.