Protected Witness Saw Defendant In Museum

The protected witness code-named E told the court that 37 days after she gave birth, in mid-1993, she fled from Konjic to her parents’ home in Doljani with the baby and older daughter. Not long after that, the neighbours told them they should run because the army was coming.

“I hid with the baby in an abandoned house, while my mother with my daughter and sister fled to the other side. The army entered shouting: ‘Allahu akber’ and drove us out,” said witness E, adding they were moved to the museum in Jablanica. She recalled how on July 28, 1993, a uniformed soldier and civilian – who was “tall, strong, muscled and blond-haired” – came to their room.

“They pointed to witnesses code-named H and D and told them to come with them. They took them away by car and returned them at night. When she entered the room, D fell to her knees and cried, while H was pale, silent and looking around the room,” said E.

She added that H and D never actually said what happened to them, but that the other prisoners knew they were raped. E said that the name “Nihad” was mentioned often, and in response to question from lawyer Edina Residovic, she said that “she saw Nihad during an exchange in March 1994 and that it was the same person who came in civilian clothes to the museum.”

She said that one time while the prisoners from the museum were outside Nihad came and cursed them. “He cursed our Ustasha mother and told us to get back inside. It was this gentlemen over here,” said the witness pointing to defendant Nihad Bojadzic in the courtroom.

The Prosecution charges Bojadzic with war crimes against Croat civilians and members of the Croatian Defence Council imprisoned in the Battle of Neretva museum in Jablanica. Bojadzic and others are charged with torturing, inflicting bodily harm, forcing into hard labour, sexual abuse and rape of Croat prisoners.

The prosecution also entered 17 exhibits into evidence, two of which relate to events in Jablanica, and 15 to the events in the museum. The defence would state its opinion on the evidence at a later date.

The trail will resume on October 31.