Watching Murders from Plum Orchard

Witness Zeljko Cvijanovic was mobilised by the Croatian Defence Council, HVO, at the beginning of the war. As he said, a military operation was conducted in Dusina village, Zenica municipality, on January 26, 1993.

“We attempted to negotiate with the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina, but it did not succeed,” he said.

The witness told the Court that ABiH members then captured a few members of the HVO and took them away while he was in ‘a plum orchard’ together with another group of soldiers.

“Serif Patkovic pulled a Scorpion gun and fired a burst of bullets at Zvonko Rajic. We watched that from ‘the plum orchard’,” Cvijanovic said.

He explained that he surrendered, along with the other soldiers. They were then taken to a nearby school building, where he saw the indictee, whom they called Geler. The witness said that Geler had problems with his eye.

He said that, during their stay in the school building they were beaten and mistreated, adding that. After having been beaten up, he slipped into a coma. He woke up in the Penal and Correctional Facility in Zenica.

“I spoke to Ivica Kegel, who told me that Vehid Subotic killed Radosa, known as Cica. He told me that he participated in the shooting of other prisoners too, adding that he and Franjo Batinic were the last survivors and that they were ordered to collect the corpses,” Cvijanovic said.

The indictment charges Vehid Subotic, former member of the Second Battalion with the Seventh Muslim Brigade of ABiH, with having intruded on Dusina village, along with other Battalion members, and gave an order to arrest about 40 civilians and a few disarmed HVO members. After that he separated eight Croat civilians and escorted them to a house. He then ordered members of his Company to kill one civilian each.

Witness Perica Rados said that he found out from Ivica Kegel that the indictee killed his brother Augustin. Rados said that he was detained in the school building, where he met Subotic, known as Geler.

“A soldier came and said that another man would come and that we had to greet him with a Bosniak greeting – Assalamu Alaikum. He then came and we greeted him,” the witness said, adding that Subotic called out ten “extremists”, including Dragan Rados and Viktor Rajic and began beating them.

The witness said that he broke Viktor’s brow bone and then began beating Dragan.

“We tried to stop Viktor’s blood from pouring. Later on Dragan Radosa said that the person’s name was Vehid Subotic,” the witness explained.

Witness Paso Hakanovic told the Court that, following the attack on Dusina village, he met a man, who told him that he ‘killed ten people’.

“He had a skewed eye. He was grey-haired, aged about 30. I realised that it was Geler, because people said later that Geler had killed Croats,” Hakanovic said.

When asked by Defence attorney Vukica Marjanovic whether the witness recognised Vehid Subotic in the courtroom, he said that the person was not known to him at all.

The trial is due to continue on November 1.