Gasal et al: Last Prosecution Witnesses

Zeljko Lozic, a former member of the General Staff of the Croatian Defence Council, HVO, spent eight months in various detention camps in the Bugojno area in the course of 1993 and 1994.

The Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina charges Nisvet Gasal, Musajb Kukavica, Enes Handzic and Senad Dautovic with having participated, in the course of 1993 and 1994, in a number of crimes committed against Bosnian Croats, who were detained in detention camps in the Bugojno area. 

The indictment charges Gasal and Kukavica with responsibility for the detainees held in “Iskra” detention camp. It charges Handzic, 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 in Bugojno, with planning and participating in the detention of civilians in that town.

Lozic said that following the start of the conflict between the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the HVO in July 1993 he went to his friend Tomo Ivkovic’s place, where he hid.

“I wanted to surrender on the first day, but Tomo did not let me. He had a lot of weapons. He and Mario Subasic were shooting through the windows, while I was in the kitchen, hiding. After Tomo had been killed by a sniper, we surrendered to the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina,” Lozic explained.

He said he was taken to the gymnasium building. He stayed in the basement for about “twenty days”.

“Once, when we were going out for lunch, a Bosnian Army soldier hit Marijo Subasic with the butt of his gun on his forehead. Mario staggered. Blood started pouring from the wound. He screamed so loudly that they had to take him away. Later we heard him screaming from another room. He was saying that they had pushed out his eye,” Lozic said.

Lozic explained that he injured his leg on his way out of the gymnasium building by stepping on part of a can. He was transferred to a hospital, where he stayed for “nearly a month”.

“After that I was taken to the concentration center at Iskra stadium. On my arrival, a guard asked me if I had been hiding in Ivkovic’s house. After I confirmed this, he took me downstairs and hit me so hard that blood started pouring from my mouth. He broke my glasses. I started screaming. He probably got scared and he told me to wash my face and not tell anyone about this,” the witness said.

Lozic told the Court that he left Iskra detention camp in March 1994, after being exchanged. He said that during the course of his detention he was taken to Prusac to dig trenches, adding that after having been released he had to undergo medical treatment due to “horrible fear” for two years.

At this hearing the Prosecution listened to statements given by two former policemen from Bugojno, Bernes Gavranovic and Alen Slipac, who spoke about the detention of HVO soldiers during the conflict in Bugojno.

“In the course of the conflict, my group was deployed in Lamela building in order to protect the local population. After the end of the conflict, disarmed HVO soldiers were transferred to the gymnasium building. For some time they were held in the hall and then in the detention cells in the basement,” Gavranovic said.

He said the detainees were not mistreated. He said that living conditions were “good, because those people received the same food as the guards and they had the right to bathe”.

Slipac told the Court that, during the conflict in Bugojno in July 1993, he was deployed “at checkpoints located at the town entrances and exits”.

“Following the conflict, we sometimes detained felons in the detention unit in the police building. I know that there was a prison at the stadium, but I never went there. As far as I know, Nisvet Gasal was its Manager and Musajb Kukavica was his Deputy,” Sipac said.

The indictment alleges that, among other places, Croat civilians were detained in the gymnasium building, Slavonija DI furniture shop and Iskra stadium, where they lived in difficult conditions and were mistreated.

The next hearing is due to take place on May 13, 2009, when the Prosecution will start presenting its material evidence.