Local Justice – Mostar: Heard that Indictee was Shooting

After the indictment had been read, six witnesses were examined. Muharem Konjaric said that members of the Croatian Defence Council, HVO took his young son away. His son’s remains were exhumed in 1998.

“Members of HVO came to our house in Donji Visnjani on August 28, 1993 and took my son Elvedin, who was 15 at the time, to some other location in order to perform forced labour. I heard that my son was killed in a forest, near Zahum village, while they were cutting woods. I heard that he was killed by Ivan Jakovljevic, known as Vrana,” Konjaric said.

When asked by Trial Chamber Chairman Slavko Pavlovic who told him that the indictee shot at his son, the witness said that he received the information from “the guys, who were with him”. Those men too were examined as witnesses at the hearing today.

The Mostar Cantonal Prosecution’s indictment alleges that Jakovljevic, former member of Rama Brigade of HVO, is charged with having treated an imprisoned civilian – the young Enes Konjaric, in an inhumane manner in the Zahum village area and at Zvirnjaca locality and murdered young civilian Elvedin Konjaric.

Witness Dzemal Konjaric, who was 16 at the time, said that HVO soldiers forced them to leave their house in Donji Visnjani and took him to the school building in Prozor. As he said, Amir Konjaric, Elvedin Konjaric, Ibrahim Lulic, Enes Konjaric and Haso Tabak were with him.

“We stayed in the school building. We were taken from the building to Zahum village in order to perform forced labour. We were cleaning a part of the road, while being guarded by two policemen. All of a sudden we heard shooting. Ibrahim Lalic was standing next to me. We lied down on the ground… The man, who had shot, approached us, but I could not see his face, because they did not allow us to look at them,” Konjaric said.

He said that they lined them later on and noticed that one person was missing. However, he said that he did not personally see Elvedin’s dead body.

Witness Ibrahim Lalic recalled the shooting, but he too said that he did not see the man who had shot at them.

“When the shooting began, I fell down on the road. Then I saw Arif and Elvedin running. Elvedin fell down on a road curve. As soon as the shooting stopped, our guard came and took us to a dugout. I heard one of the guards telling someone via walkie-talkie that Vrana had opened fire at us,” he said.

Witness Dragan Zecevic, who was Commander of the Third Company of Novices, which was in charge of the prisoners, who worked on the road near Zahum village, in 1993, said that, after Elvedin Konjaric had been killed, one of the soldiers called him and told him that “somebody opened fire from a nearby bush” and that he saw that it was Jakovljevic.

Witnesses Zecevic and Ivan Baketaric said that the indictee was not member of HVO. Zecevic said that he used to see Jakovljevic “shepherding sheep”, but he knew that he was armed.

The main trial is due to continue on Thursday, June 14.
S.G.