Glavas Beat Arrested Serb

In the hall of the Center, close to the kitchen, I encountered Branimir Glavas, then Franjo Masic, the head of the Monitoring and Information Service, and the man who was known to me as Colonel Beli [white]. A man whose questioning had just been finished was next to them. I realized that he was a Serb, after spotting a Serb flag, a badge with the Serb coat of arms, and a picture of Slobodan Milosevic next to him. He was about forty. He had been totally beaten, and when I entered the space stank horridly, as he had both pissed and shat in his pants, probably out of fear, while they were hitting him

by Ivica DJIKIC

Feral Tribune, Split, Croatia, July 11, 2003

Forty-eight-years-old Ivan Ferenec, currently living in a small house in the part of Osijek known as Visnjevac, has been reliving the scenes he saw in November of 1991 in the Osijek Monitoring and Information Service building for the last twelve years. The main hero of those scenes is called Branimir Glavas, and Ivan Ferenec hasn't spoken about what he witnessed on that day to anyone until now. "I did not tell that even to my close relatives, one of whom worked for the Monitoring and Information Service. He found me a job there, even though I am not considered capable of doing military duty because I had polio as a child. My job was to maintain emergency sirens, as I was a mechanic. But, I do not want and cannot keep quiet about what I saw on that day in November 1991, especially after the most recent statements by Branimir Glavas, who was, by the way, my colleague in high school," Ferenec says. Before the war he worked for the, today bankrupt, company Patent, which manufactured electronic equipment.

"I do not recall the exact date," Ivan Ferenec starts his story, "but I do know that it was mid-November". "It was around 5 p.m. when I was coming down towards the Monitoring and Information Center, which was at the time located in the same building as the city defense headquarters. I was going to eat something, because we had guaranteed three meals a day there. In the hall of the center, close to the kitchen, I encountered Branimir Glavas, then Franjo Masic, the head of the Monitoring and Information Service, and the man who was known to me as Colonel Beli [white] (this is a former Glavas' bodyguard, author's remark). A man whose questioning had just been finished was next to them. I do not know his name, but I am convinced that he was a Serb from Osijek. I realized that he was a Serb, after spotting a Serb flag, a badge with the Serb coat of arms, and a picture of Slobodan Milosevic next to him. He was about forty. He had been totally beaten, and when I entered the space stank horridly, as he had both pissed and shat in his pants, probably out of fear, while they were hitting him. By the way, he was wearing plain clothes."

Ferenec did not ask anything, because he immediately realized what was going on. "I immediately realized what had happened, but I did not dare ask Glavas why they had taken that man apart. Listen, it was November of 1991 and I would like to see someone who dared at that time ask Glavas something like that," our collocutor says. He continues: "Soon I left the defense headquarters building and I was dumbfounded. I lost it, as they say. A few days later I left Osijek, because I could not sleep after seeing that. The scene I witnessed kept coming to me in dreams. Namely, I thought that we were defending our city and our homes and could not understand why such things were happening, that our side was using the same methods as those who were attacking Osijek. If Serbs did that, why some people on our side had to do the same? I will never understand such sadism."

Branimir Glavas realized that Ivan Ferenc had seen what had happened to the interrogated man, but did not say anything. "We looked at each other, the way you and I are looking at each other now, for a few moments, but neither of us said anything. The others pretty much did not pay attention to me. I guess they thought that I was on their side and did not have a problem with torture of Serbs. I do not know what later happened to that man," Ferenec says. Soon after the described event, on November 23, 1991, Ferenec left Osijek and went to Varazdin, where his mother lived at the time. He returned in late December of 1991, but requested to be dismissed from the Monitoring and Information Center and to get a post at the Patent company. As a disabled person, he was spared military service, and work at Patent was his official assignment during the war. However, his request was rejected and he was re-assigned to the Monitoring and Information Service, where he stayed until April 30, 1994. "I know that after this interview Glavas will claim that I am a deserter, because I was outside Osijek for a month," Ferenec says, "but that's nonsense. I went to Varazdin to see my sick mother and because I was sickened by what I saw in the defense headquarters building. Besides, I cannot be a deserter because, as a disabled person, I was spared military duty. Glavas cannot deny what I've just told you because I saw it with my own eyes and he knows very well that that's the truth."

Ivan Ferenec has no doubt that many people, who during wartime roamed the halls of the city defense headquarters, could testify about similar scenes of sadistic torture of arrested Serbs by the Slavonian despot and his henchmen, but he adds that it is unlikely that anyone would be willing to talk due to all-pervasive fear that still rules the city. "This city and people in it today live in fear from Branimir Glavas, because he is still powerful and can make everyone's life difficult," Ferenec says," but I do not fear him because I have nothing to lose and because, after all, I don't care. My health is gone, I won't be alive much longer... I only have the truth and a need to relieve my conscience. I am sorry that I had not spoken about this incident earlier."

Translated on February 17, 2004