Nowhere near the crime scene

The defence team for Zijad Kurtovic completed their three-month presentation of evidence on April 24.

The former commander of the Military Police Squad with the Dreznica Independent Battalion of the Fourth Corps of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina is charged with having committed war crime against civilians and prisoners-of-warin October 1993.

Witnesses in Kurtovic’s defence tried to provide him with an alibi for the first days of October 1993 and reconstruct his activities and whereabouts during those days.

The prosecution charges Kurtovic with having on several occasions physically and mentally tortured Bosnian Croat civilians and prisoners-of-war detained in All Saints Catholic church in Donja Dreznica, in Mostar municipality.

The indictment alleges that among other things he struck them with sticks, crosses and statues and forced them to swallow pages of bibles.

The prosecution also says that in the same period Kurtovic and a person named Hasan Delic forced two detained members of the Croatian Defence Council, HVO, to have oral sex with each other.

Appearingas his own first defence witness, Kurtovic said he was “nowhere near” the church where the captured Croats were detained, and only became commander of the Dreznica Battalion’s Physical Security Unit, also known as the Military Police Unit, in early December 1993.

“I heard some people were captured in Donja Dreznica,” Kurtovic said, suggesting this was all he knew about this case.

The indictee said several prosecution witnesses had identified him as the person who had maltreated them in the church simply because he happened to be sitting next to the lawyer.

Kurtovic suggested they might dislike him also because he was known for having “burnt the Croatian flag on two occasions”.

He gave a detailed account of his whereabouts on the evening of September 30 and the first ten days in October, 1993, mentioning various military operations in which he took part and adding that he was in Mostar from October 6 to 11.

Ahmed Kurtovic, the indictee’s brother, and a former member of the Civil Protection Unit, whohad guarded the prisoners in the church in Dreznica in October 1993, said nobody had maltreated them.

He even maintained that the Croats had left the church with regret, some of them saying: “You do notknow what will happen to us now.”

The witness said a man named Zijo was among the Bosniak soldiers who had brought the Croat captives to the church, telling the others to “keep an eye on those fascists”. The same witness claimed that his brother Zijad had taken part in a military operation in Gornja Dreznica at the time and after that had gone to Stolac to look for his sister on October 6.

Witnesses Ramiz Macic and Amir Hadzic also said Kurtovic had gone to Mostar in the first week of October 1993. They said that on October 6, 1993, they all went to Bijelo Polje, near Mostar to buy food and cigarettes. The three of them had stayed there over night, after which the two of them left Kurtovic who headed towards Mostar “to look for his sister”.

Hadzic claimed here called the exact date of the trip because a “military operation in Vrdi” had taken place a day or two earlier. He said he taken part in that operation together with the indictee, although in the course of prosecutor Vesna Tancica’s cross-examination, the witness could not remember any other military operations conducted in 1993.

Several witnesses, including Zijad Music, Safet Boric, Amir Hadzic and Edin Kajic, said there was no military police squad with the Dreznica Battalion but a “Battalion Physical Security Unit” to which Kurtovic belonged.

“Zijad Kurtovic was a member of that Unit,” said Zijad Music, the former deputy commander of the Dreznica Independent Battalion. “The Unit participated in all attacks together with the Reconnaissance Unit.”

Omer Pinic, Edin Kajic, Enes Pendic and Jusuf Cokic, former members of the Dreznica Battalion, spoke about the events on October 1, 1993, when they participated together with the indictee in “a simulated attack” on the village of Batacke Lazine, while Pinic had been with him in the course ofthe operation in Vrdi, which followed the practice assault.

“Only after the end of the second operation were we free to go; I stayed overnight at Zijo’s and the next morning he went to Mostar and I returned home,” Pinic said.

Witness Ibrahim Kulak maintained that the indictment against Zijad Kurtovic was a “setup” – the work of one Mili Karacic, from Zagreb.

Kulak claimed he had heard Karacic saying he would “set up” Kurtovic allegedly because when a court case was opened against Karacic, the indictee had failed to aid him.

“I have established contacts with some friends here in Zagreb who were detained in Dreznica and will use them to set up Kurtovic so he is arrested,” Kulak said, recalling Karacic’s alleged words. “I want him to know who Mili is”.

At the end of the evidence presentation process, the defence lawyer, Fahrija Karkin, as material evidence, presented documents related to “Mili Hrnjez Karacic’s personality”, includingan indictment filed against him by the Cantonal Court in Mostar, charging him with kidnapping.

After the prosecution had presented its own evidence, countering the defence claims, Karkin examined additional witness Sedin Mahmic, member of the Special Purposes Squad with the General Staff of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina. He also insisted Kurtovic had not participated in the maltreatment of detainees in the church.

He said a man named Zijo, “a member of the Handzar Division”, and Hasan Delic, a member of Dreznica Civil Protection Unit, had maltreated the detainees, while Sedin Mahmic was allegedly standing in front of the church.

“I know they told one prisoner to lie down and roll like any animal, like a crocodile,” Mahmic recalled.

“Delic forced two detainees to have oral sex with each other. I told them to leave the man alone. As I could not watch it any longer, I left the place,” Mahmic said. He added that the Bosniak soldiers came to the church “just to have some fun” that day.

The same witness said that Kurtovic was nowhere near the church at that time, as he “was not a man who would be interested in going to a church to maltreat somebody”.

On the basis of the presented facts, the prosecution has “specified” the indictment. The defence is due to respond at the next hearing on April 29. After that, both parties will present their closing arguments.

Merima Husejnovic is a journalist with Justice Report. Justice Report is the online publication of BIRN Bosnia and Herzegovina.