Bosniak Fighter ‘Abused Croat Prisoners’ in Jablanica

Miroslav Soko, a wartime member of the Croatian Defence Council, recalled how defendant Dzeko and two other fighters he knew as ‘Nedzad’ and ‘Faruk’ came to his home in the southern Bosnian town of Jablanica on September 8, 1993.

“I opened the door and I was immediately insulted. Dzeko shouted and cursed my mother. Then he hit me twice in the face with his fist. These were heavy blows,” said Soko.

According to the witness, Dzeko and two other Bosnian soldiers took him and other Croat prisoners to army headquarters at Rogica Kuca near Jablanica.

“There were seven to nine Croats. We were forced to go into a small hole in the ground. It was an underground store for potatoes. Dzeko and Nedzad led us inside. No one said anything to us,” said Soko.

The witness said that he spent ten days in the underground storage space. He testified that prisoners were taken out to the nearby restaurant for meals, and that each time they were abused by members of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

“They beat us when we were passing by. Once Dzeko hit me and kicked me… He was not the only one who beat me, everyone who wanted to did so. Edin hit me with his hand in the head, I fell and then he and others kicked me in the kidneys and everywhere,” said Soko.

Dzeko, a former serviceman with the Zulfikar detachment of the Bosnian Army, is charged with participating in the illegal arrest of nine civilians in Jablanica. He is also charged with participating in the execution of several Croatian Defence Council soldiers and Croat civilians in the village of Trusina near the southern town of Konjic.

Soko recalled how once Dzeko arrived with Zulfikar detachment deputy commander Nihad Bojadzic.

“I think Nihad gave the order to kill us all, but the guards did not shoot. Shelling was underway and they made us stand there, not hide,” the witness said.

“They said if the guards refused to kill us, our own people will do it, because it was the Croatian Defence Council that was doing the shelling. A shell fell close to us and the Bosnian Army cook was wounded. Nihad and Dzeko took him away and we were beaten savagely by the guards,” he continued.

Bojadzic is being tried in two separate cases for war crimes in Jablanica and Trusina.

Dzeko’s trial will resume on April 23.