Gasal and others: Friend in Trouble

Vinko Pavic, a former member of the Croatian Defence Council (HVO), testifying as a witness for the Prosecution, described how he was detained in Bugojno, and recalled the things he had to go through during his detention.

“During the conflict I was at home, preparing to go to my family in Split. A neighbor knocked at noon and told me that I should leave my weapon if I had any, and stay put. Later some sort of Military Police or police arrived and said that we should go to take part in an exchange. They took the three of us to KSC, which was under the supervision of the BiH Army,” the witness said.

“I saw that the others were collecting pieces of glass and concrete that were across the floor, and that they were barefoot. I asked what they had done wrong, and then a young man hit me with the butt of a gun and ordered me to take my shoes off. After approximately half an hour or an hour, their superintendent arrived, so they ordered us to put our shoes back on and then they locked us in the cellar,” Pavic continued.

The State Prosecution charges Nisvet Gasal, Musajb Kukavica, Enes Handzic and Senad Dautovic with crimes committed against Croats who were detained in garages and camps in Bugojno.

Pavic said that he was in the KSC cellar for “some ten days”.

“They took me to the floor and I gave my statement to mister Handzic. The man investigated in a normal fashion. A few days later I saw him again, when a friend of mine, Necko Hozic, was with him, asking him whether he could let me go. In half an hour I left KSC,” he said.

Under the indictment, Handzic, a former Assistant Commander for Security with the 307th Brigade of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Dautovic, a former member of the Joint Staff of the Bosnian Army for Bugojno town, are charged with participation in the planning and capture of civilians in that town.

The witness added that after having been freed from the camp he spent some time with his friend Hozic and then returned home.

“One night a drunk man came with a wooden stake and without any reason tried to beat me. I know exactly who that was but I will say nothing. I jumped out of the window and ripped my ligaments as I fell,” Pavic said.

The witness explained that after that incident he tried to leave Bugojno but he was arrested and taken to Bugojno police station, where he remained in custody.

“Once again Hozic came for me and freed me,” Pavic said, explaining that he was to come to report to police every day.

“On one occasion I was late because my foot and ligaments had been injured and I used crutches. A man told me that if I didn’t come the next day I would be sent to a camp. The next day I was two hours late on purpose,” the witness said, adding that after that he was taken to a camp in the stadium where he stayed “from the eighth/ninth month of 1993 until April, 1994.”

According to Pavics statement the conditions in the camp were “miserable”, since more than 300 people slept “one over the other”.

“We lay down like sardines in a tin, one next to the other, and down there were some planks. On one occasion they took me to chop some wood while my foot was still bandaged,” the witness said.

Answering a question from the indictee Nisvet Gasal, the witness said that the indictee was in that camp, but that he did not know what his function was.

The indictment accuses Gasal and Musajb Kukavica of being responsible for the functioning of the camp at the stadium, which “detained in inhumane conditions more than 300 men of Croat nationality.”

Jasmin Ivkovic, a policeman and the second Prosecution witness, said that starting from October 1993 he was in the Military Police stationed in the “BH Bank” building.

“There was no detention or isolation unit in the BH Bank building,” he said, adding that he did not know if people were detained in the cellar.

The indictment alleges that premises of “BH Bank” were used for interrogation, and that the detainees were tortured by members of the Military Police hitting them with fists, feet, and blunt objects across their bodies.

The next hearing is on May 6.