Shot at Barefoot Civilian

Dajic and Vahid Hadrovic are charged with having mistreated and killed a Serb civilian in Plandiste, near Kakanj.

Witness Jozanovic, former policeman, said that he was deployed to Plandiste, along with his colleagues, in order to search the terrain and find members of the Croatian Defence Council, HVO, and weapons.

“I and Ivica Beslic were the only Croats. I was with him at the end of the line most of the time. We were about thirty metres away, when that happened. I did not even pay attention until I heard somebody shouting: ‘Bring him here’,” Jozanovic said.

He said that a barefoot civilian came out of the house followed by two policemen.

“I saw that Fadil Dajic approached him to a distance of about a metre-and-a-half and shot at him. He fired three or four bullets. As he was hit by the bullets, he fell down. I heard the bullets hitting the shed or garage behind him,” the witness said.

Jozanovic said that he did not see anybody hitting the civilian before the shooting.

“There was a fuss later on. I heard Vahid Hadrovic saying: ‘Why did you do it? Are you normal? You killed the man.’ At that time I did not know who the killed man was. About ten minutes later the Assistant Commander came by and transferred the two of us to another, more distant place,” Jozanovic said.

Witness Kemal Sljivo, another policeman, who was deployed to Plandiste, was not an eyewitness to those events.  

“During that day I heard people say that a military policeman, whose last name was Dajic, had killed a Serb who happened to be in the house,” Sljivo said.

The trial is due to continue on December 23.