Testimony about Bojadzic’s Stab with a Knife

The former member of the Croatian Defence Council, HVO, who testified under the pseudonym of C, said that a rather big uniformed man, whom he did not know, came together with two other people.

“At that moment I did not know who Nihad was. I saw a blonde big man in uniform,” the witness said, adding that he found out that his last name was Bojadzic.

As he said, he was supposed to be exchanged after that event. Nihad escorted him from “The Battle of Neretva” Museum to the Spanish UNPROFOR Battalion. He heard him telling someone over a communication device: “Lieutenant Colonel Nihad Bojadzic speaking”.

The witness explained that Sejo Brankovic examined him in the premises of civil or military police in Jablanica and that he asked him about the number of HVO soldiers present in the area, where he had been captured. As he said, Salem, whose last name he did not know, came soon, followed by the indictee, who took a knife from a person, who came with him, and began waving the knife above his head and threatening him.

“He then stabbed the knife into my left leg, above my knee,” he said.

The witness said that the examination continued after Bojadzic had left the room and that he was eventually transported to a hospital in Jablanica, where he received medical assistance. After that he was detained in the basement of the Museum premises.

Following several questions by the Defence, the witness said that a person named Dedo, Manager of the prison in the Museum, might have been present in the room as well, but he did not stab him with the knife. Defence attorney Edina Residovic said that medical documentation about the witness from 2005 indicated that he was “injured with a knife by the Manager”.

The witness recalled an event that happened in front of the Museum, when a friend of his visited him. As he said, several people, including Bojadzic, were present there. He said that Bojadzic told a woman to take a shovel and hit me, but she refused to do it. He then pointed a pistol towards his head and pulled the trigger, but there were no bullets in the pipe.

“He was always domineering and arrogant,” the witness said.

Bojadzic, former Deputy Commander of the “Zulfikar” Unit of ABiH, is charged, among other things, with inhumane treatment of Croat civilians and prisoners of war in Jablanica.

Witness C said that he was once loaded into a trunk and transported to some building in Jablanica.

“Nihad asked me whom I knew. He then hit me between my legs with his knee. I said I knew Arif Pasalic, Safet Orucevic and Sejo Brankovic. I was taken out and tied to a steel pillar. Zuka’s soldier Deba did that to me. They hit me on my back, but I do not know who,” he said.

The witness said that, while he was held in the Museum, his exchange was mentioned several times, but it happened in March 1994, when other detainees were exchanged as well.

The public was excluded from the hearing, when he spoke about the events that happened in late July 1993, after Croats from Doljani village, near Jablanica, had been brought.

The trial is due to continue on June 27.