Bundalo et al: Principal Writer

Zlatko Dugandzic, a graphologist, who appeared as an expert witness at the request of Djordjislav Askraba’s defence, examined a Book of Departures of detainees from “Barutni magacin” detention camp. He determined that the indictee was the “writer” of the names of people who were taken away and killed in early August 1992.

“Askraba and person ‘B’ are the principal writers in this notebook. There is also an occasional writer, who wrote down the names of five people on July 15, 1992. The names of 15 people who were taken away on August 5, 1992 were written down by Askraba, who also wrote the remarks pertaining to this date,” Dugandzic said.

The witness read from the Book of Departures of detainees that people were taken to other locations to perform work only if the Commander and the Kalinovik Police Station Chief approved it. He further read that on August 5, 1992 two groups of men were taken away from “Barutni magacin” allegedly to the Penal and Correctional Facility in Foca.

Djordjislav Askraba, Ratko Bundalo and Nedjo Zeljaja are charged with crimes against humanity committed in the Kalinovik area from April 1992 to March 1993. The indictment alleges that Askraba was directly subordinate to Bundalo and that he “managed” the “Barutni magacin” detention camp from July 7 to August 5, 1992.

“The notebook states that three people were sent to the Correctional Facility in Foca and two persons approved their departure. It further states that 12 people were then sent to the Foca Facility in three trucks,” Dugandzic read from the notebook, adding that writer “B” wrote down the names of the 12 other people who were taken away from “Barutni magacin”.

Among other things, the indictment alleges that, from August 2 to 5, groups of men were taken out of the camp in the direction of Kalinovik and Foca. Those men have allegedly been missing since then. The remains of a small number of prisoners were found later.

During cross-examination, Dugandzic responded to questions from Prosecutor Munib Halilovic, saying that Askraba wrote down the names and remarks pertaining to August 2, 3 and 4, 1992, when civilians were taken away from the detention camp.

“I was not told to analyze those dates, but I checked everything. My preliminary conclusion is that the names and remarks pertaining to those dates were written with the same pen and that this was done by the same writer, i.e. Askraba,” Dugandzic said.

The Prosecution alleges that Askraba took a small number of civilians from “Barutni magacin” on August 2, 3 and 4, 1992. It further alleges that some civilians were “handcuffed, using police handcuffs”.

The bodies of some of them were found in Rogoj and Foca Municipality. The indictment alleges that he handed over, on August 5, 1992, the remaining prisoners from “Barutni magacin” to a paramilitary group from Foca, who then took them to Foca and Kalinovik, where they were killed.

Dugandzic analyzed the signatures on a document entitled “Prison Rules and Discipline”, claiming that he could not confirm whether this was the signature of protected witness H.

In April 2008 protected witness H, a former member of the Kalinovik Tactical Group, testified for the Prosecution, confirming that the men were detained in “Barutni magacin”.

The trial is due to continue on Monday, June 1.