Detention Worse than Hell

Testifying at the trial for crimes in Jablanica, a State Prosecution witness says that he will remember indictee Nihad Bojadzic for his “brutal, cruel and inhumane treatment of civilians and prisoners of war”.

Mirko Zelenika was captured on September 8, 1993. He was then taken, along with 11 other Croats from Jablanica, to the Rogica houses, where, as he said, the Special Purposes Squad of the Main Command Headquarters of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina was based.

“The conditions were horrible. They were worse than in hell,” said Zelenika, current President of the Association of Croatian Detainees.

According to his testimony, Marinko Dreznjak was brought later. He said that Bojadzic invited him to come out, took him to a nearby walnut tree and asked him some questions. The witness said that he watched this from a stable window.

“He fired several bullets in the direction of prisoner Marinko Dreznjak. Marinko went back to the stable. He was completely out of his mind. As far as I could see, he was not wounded, but he was totally mentally disturbed,” Zelenika explained.

He said that Bojadzic was Deputy Commander of the Special Squad and that he first saw him on a local Jablanica TV station and then also in the town. He described him as an athlete with blonde hair and round face.

According to the charges, in September 1993 Bojadzic took a prison from one of the buildings within the “Zulfikar” Squad base and fired several bullets from a pistol in his direction, causing the man to fear for his life.

Bojadzic’s Defence attorney Edina Residovic said that, in several statements previously given to The Hague Tribunal, Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina and other institutions, the witness did not mention that Bojadzic behaved in a bad manner.

“Nobody asked me, but I think I mentioned it to Hague investigators. (…) Bojadzic was never the subject of an indictment. It was absolutely impossible to mention everything, because it would be a novel, not a statement,” he said.

As he said, after having been released from detention in March 1994, Zelenika was a member of the Commission for War Crimes with the Herceg-Bosna Croatian Community and took statements from detainees, including Dreznjak.

Residovic said that, in that statement Dreznjak did not mention Bojadzic. The witness responded by saying: “He is mentioned in their stories. I did not conduct an investigation against Bojadzic”.

Zelenika told the Court that prisoners were once beaten up in front of the restaurant near the Rogica houses, while grenades were falling in their vicinity.

“Nihad Bojadzic appeared out of nowhere in a SUV. Bojadzic’s arrival was very noisy”, the witness said.  

As he said, he then ordered other soldiers to line the prisoners up and kill them. Instead of doing it, the soldiers hit them and forced them to go towards the Rogica houses. “By the time we came to the stable, we were beaten up,” he said.

Defence attorney Residovic said that the witness had never mentioned that event before. The witness said: “I cannot say for sure. I think I mentioned it”.

According to the charges, Bojadzic lined the prisoners in front of the restaurant, ordered them to stay still while grenades were falling around them, and ordered the guards to aim at them, bringing their lives into direct danger.

The trial of Bojadzic, who is also charged with other crimes in Jablanica, is due to continue on December 19.