Wicked Young Man

Witness Marinko Ljoljo said that he was arrested on September 8, 1993, when a soldier appeared at his door. He said that he found out soon that the soldier’s nickname was Popara. The soldier allegedly told him that he had to come with him for an interview. According to Ljoljo, the soldier was accompanied by three other soldiers, one of whom was called Nedzad while another one was a military policeman. After the witness had climbed up onto the rear part of a pickup truck, he “saw the Zelenika brothers”. The witness said that other Croats, whose names were read from a list, were arrested afterwards.The witness said that, during the arrest of Miroslav Sokol he saw a young man coming from the direction of his house,cursing the prisoners’ “Ustasha mothers”. The witness described the young man,who was dressed in civil suit, as “a wicked man”. He said that one of the persons standing on the road said that it was Dzeko. Defence attorney Edina Residovic said that the witness did not mention Dzeko in his statement given to the Commission for Investigation of War Crimes on the territory of the Croatian community of Herceg-Bosna. Dzeko, former member of “Zulfikar” Unit with the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina, ABiH, is charged with having participated in the unlawful arrest of nine Croat civilians from Jablanica and their detention in an underground silo next to the Rogica houses in Donja Jablanica.Ljoljo told the Court that the prisoners were detained in the underground silo next to the Rogica houses, where the“Zulfikar” Unit base was situated.“We were shocked and afraid when they left us in the underground silo,” the witness said, adding that a man with a flashlight came into the narrow silo at night and asked the prisoners to give him their personal data.Witness Ljoljo said that prisoner Marko Zelenika said that the man, who collected the data, could have been Dzeko.Residovic said that, in his previous statements the witness did not mention that Dzeko had entered the silo.Ljoljo told the Court that the prisoners performed labour at requests by soldiers in Rogica houses, adding that they were taken to the nearby Prenj restaurant to eat. As he said, while being escorted to the restaurant, they would pass by other soldiers, who were standing in front of a nearby building.“They hit us with wooden rods, rifle butts. It was dark, so we could not recognise them,” the witness said, adding that this happened on a regular basis whenever they were going for supper.The witness said that, while they were going to the Prenj restaurant on one occasion, the place was shelled. He said that a cook was wounded in the shelling. An SUV arrived soon after that. Nihad came out of it and shouted something like: “Stay there. Let them kill you, so we don’t have to do it”. The witness told the Court that he saw Dzeko too on that occasion, but he did not know whether he came by the SUV or what he did. According to the testimony of the witness, the cook was loaded into the SUV and driven away, while grenades continued falling.According to the charges, Dzeko, who was accompanied by Nihad Bojadzic, Deputy Commander of “Zulfikar” Unit, ordered prisoners to line up alongside the road, while grenades fired from the Croatian Defence Council, HVO, positions were falling around them, and shouted: “If you move, we shall kill you. If you do not move, let the HVO kill you”.During an additional examination by Prosecutor Vesna Ilic the witness said that, once this case had been activated, here called some details related to Dzeko.The trial of Dzeko, who is also charged with other crimes in Jablanica and murders in Trusina village, near Konjic, is due to continue on April 9.