Memic et al: In Line for Shooting

Dragan Drljo, who was 13-years-old in 1993, said before the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina that members of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina ordered him to stand in a line on April 16, 1993, when his brother and uncle were killed, but a soldier pushed him and told him to join the column of women and children.
 
“They started separating women and children. A soldier pointed his finger to me and told me stand in front of the wall. After they had separated the women, another soldier pushed me and told me to join them,” Drljo said.
 
He said that he then heard shooting and saw four or five soldiers shooting at the people, who had been lined up. He said that his brother Ivan and uncle Franjo Drljo were among those men.
 
The State Prosecution charges Mensur Memic, Dzevad Salcin, Senad Hakalovic, Nedzad Hodzic, Nihad Bojadzic and Sulfikar Alispago with the murder of 18 civilians and four members of the Croatian Defence Council, HVO in Trusina village on April 16, 1993.
 
The indictment alleges that Memic, Salcin and Hodzic, former members of the “Zulfikar” Special Squad, and Hakalovic, former member of “Neretvica” 45th Mountain Brigade, participated in an attack on Trusina village and the murder of civilians and prisoners of war. Bojadzic the then Deputy Commander of “Zulfikar” Squad, allegedly commanded the attack. Indictee Alispago, the former Commander of that Squad, is charged with having failed to punish the soldiers who participated in the murders.
 
Witness Drljo said that members of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina captured him in the morning on April 16, 1993, adding that they then used him as “a human shield”, while members of the ABiH searched Croat houses.
 
“I heard them say: ‘Stop, or we will shoot’. I stopped and they captured me. They asked me where other people were hiding. I walked in front of them as a human shield. I went with them when they searched houses – they used to take me with them wherever they went. I would walk in front of them. They said: ‘If anyone shoots, he will shoot at you’,” Drljo said.
 
According to Drljo, he saw the dead bodies of his brother and uncle again on April 17, 1993. “I saw many bullet injuries on my brother’s body. His little finger was cut off. My uncle Franjo had knelt down and stayed in that position,” he recalled.
 
Drljo said that the events, which he experienced, had left permanent consequences on him.
 
“Some time after that my legs no longer functioned. I was not able to walk. Later on it was determined that I got that disease because of stress,” the witness said.
 
The trial is due to continue on July 11 this year, when the cross-examination of the witness will continue.