Dzeko: Witnesses Recall Trusina Attack

Mara Drljo, who lived in Trusina with her husband Franjo and her family, said that she had heard gunfire in the morning on April 16, 1993 near her home.

“My brother-in-law Ivan jumped out a window and went to the Croatian position, while the rest of us went down to a basement to hide. There were several of us in the basement– my husband and I, and my sister-in-law with her two kids. We were not there for long when some unfamiliar soldiers called us out and lined us in front of the house,” said Drljo.

According to the witness, the soldiers forced her neighbour, Milka Drljo, to go to the positions of the Croatian Defence Council, HVO, above the village of Trusina and tell the soldiers to surrender.

“She came back with several [HVO] soldiers. The [Bosniak] soldiers lined up six men. The rest of us were placed in a house. We heard shooting and knew they were killed. There were many uniformed men but I did not know any of the soldiers who did the shooting,” said the witness, adding her husband was one of the victims.

Drljo also said that as she briefly entered her home, before being sent to the village of Buturovic Polje, she saw the bodies of her nephew Ivan Drljo and her neighbour Stipo Ljubic.

The prosecution charges Edin Dzeko, as a former member of the Zulfikar Unit with the Bosnian army, with taking part in the attack on the village of Trusina on April 16, 1993, as well as participating in the murder of six Bosnian Croat civilians and three prisoners of war. He is also charged with crimes committed in Jablanica.

Dzeko was extradited to Bosnia from the United States of America in December, and has been held in custody ever since.

The prosecution also called Mara Drljo’s daughter, Cecilija Simeunovic, to testify at Tuesday’s hearing.

Simeunovic confirmed that her father Franjo – and several other Croat men – was killed on April 16, 1993 in Trusina.

Simeunovic said that soldiers she had never seen before forced her and her family to leave the basement where they were hiding.

“When Ivan and Zdravko Drljo and the others from the hill came down and surrendered the men were lined up for shooting. The rest of us were taken to the house of Marko Drljo. We just heard shots, nothing else. It lasted several minutes,” said Simeunovic.

The trial will resume on November 27.