Jail Urged for Atrocities in Bosnia’s Prozor

The prosecution told the Sarajevo court in its closing arguments in the case on Thursday that it had been proven beyond any reasonable doubt that former Croatian Defence Council fighter Jukic was guilty of participating in war crimes in a brutal and inhuman way.

“The witnesses talked about details which only eyewitnesses could know and that is why there is no doubt in their claims. They testified without vengeful spirit, because they only wanted justice and truth,” said prosecutor Sanja Jukic.

According to Jukic, after Croatian Defence Council units seized the town of Prozor in October 1992, there was destruction, arson and plunder of property owned by Bosniak civilians.

“Members of the Croatian Defence Council arrested men and took them to various camps… The implementation of this obvious campaign of terror against Bosniak civilians is a clear proof of a systematic attack,” said the prosecutor.

She emphasised that prosecution witnesses recognised Jukic as the person who participated in the expulsion of Bosniaks from the villages of Duge, Lug and Lapsunj, as well as in the expulsion of women and children to Bosnian Army-controlled territory in August 1993.

“The witnesses clearly talked about Jukic as being one of the members of the Croatian Defence Council who escorted a bus carrying Bosniak civilian men from the high school centre in Prozor to the Dretelj [detention] camp. The defendant’s brutality is obvious from the fact that in the course of that ride, during one of the breaks, when one of the soldiers asked where the prisoners were being taken, Jukic replied by saying: ‘We are taking them to be slaughtered,’” said the prosecutor.

She said that Jukic should also be found guilty of the murder of a man called Uzeir Sabitovic, as well as forced disappearances of four men who were taken from the high school centre where they were being held and then disappeared without trace.

“This is an especially painful count of the indictment for the victims. The prosecution believes it has proven without any doubt Jukic’s responsibility for the disappearances, but failed to find the bones of the missing for their families, which is especially devastating for the prosecutor,” she said.

The prosecutor said that Jukic’s involvement in beating up civilians had also been proven beyond doubt.

“The beatings were brutal and inhuman and aimed at the attacking human dignity of the plaintiffs in a premeditated fashion,” said the prosecutor.

The defence will present its closing arguments on December 19.