Memic et al: Ultimatum to Surrender

Witness Jure Kreso testified that during the attack on Trusina, members of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina, ABiH, told Croat soldiers on the frontlines to surrender or else their children and wives would be killed.

Kreso, a former member of the Herceg Stjepan Brigade with the Croatian Defence Council, HVO, was on the frontline when the village was attacked on April 16, 1993, and as alleged in the indictment, 18 civilians and four HVO members were killed.
 
“I finished my shift at six o’clock. We stayed a bit longer and had coffee together. I then left the place.

“When I was near Drenovci village, fierce shooting started all of a sudden. Milenko Mlikota came running and he said that Muslims had entered the village… Ilija Drljo said they told soldiers who were on the frontline to surrender or else they would kill the women and children in the village,” Kreso said.

The witness later heard that a few HVO members were shot in Gaj hamlet after having surrendered, he explained in his testimony.

Mensur Memic, Dzevad Salcin, Senad Hakalovic, Nedzad Hodzic, Nihad Bojadzic and Zulfikar Alispago are charged with having participated in the attack on Trusina village.
 
The indictment alleges that Alispago was Commander of the Zulfikar Special Purposes Squad with the ABiH Main Command Headquarters, Bojadzic was his Deputy, while Memic, Salcin and Hodzic were members of the Squad. It is alleged that indictee Hakalovic was a member of the Neretvica 45th Mountain Brigade of the ABiH.
 
According to the indictment, the men participated, together with other members of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in shooting captured civilians and HVO soldiers who had previously surrendered, in Gaj hamlet on April 16, 1993.
 
Witness Kreso told the Court he took his wife and children “to a safe place” and then went to Trusina. He said that on his way there he saw a dead civilian and heard that his neighbours Andja and Ilija Ivankovic had been killed.
 
“On that day I did not find out what had happened to my parents. We were not sure if it was safe to enter the village. (…) I saw Andja and Marko Kreso. Andja told me she had seen Sead Hakalovic and some woman, adding that Sead had gone into an old house used as a pen, which then started burning,” the witness recalled.
 
In September this year the Cantonal Court in Mostar pronounced a first instance verdict acquitting Sead Hakalovic of responsibility for crimes committed in Gostovici village, near Trusina.
 
The witness found out on the following day that his father had been killed during the attack. He said his father was 58 years old and was not a member of the HVO.
 
“I did not see anybody. I heard that some of them were dressed in camouflage uniforms, while others wore black ones and had black bands around their heads. They cursed their Ustasha mothers, telling them to hand over their weapons and money.

An old man told them he would hand over whatever they wanted, saying there was no need to insult them… He was shot behind the house,” Kreso said, adding he heard later on that his father had been killed by a man nicknamed Mrav.
 
The indictees’ Defence teams examined the witness about the conflict that preceded the attack, but the Prosecution objected.

Vasvija Vidovic, Defence attorney for Nihad Bojadzic, said it was relevant in view of the “justification of the attack against the regular and irregular army”.
 
The parties argued after indictee Alispago posed a number of questions to the witness, questioning him about details pertaining to the conflict in that area. His Defence attorney Dusko Tomic was upset by the questioning.
 
“I shall no longer take responsibility because I think this is detrimental to my client. I call on the Chamber to stop the examination until the next hearing, when the two other defence attorneys will be present. You can either dismiss me or suspend the examination,” Tomic said.
 
After that, Alispago posed, with Tomic’s consent, one more question out of a number of questions he said he would ask.
 
The trial is due to continue on November 30.

M.T.