Bosnian Ex-Fighter Denies Killing and Torturing Croats
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Dzeko, a former member of the Bosnian Army’s Zulfikar squad, denied claims that he shot Croats out of revenge after his comrade Samir Semsovic was wounded in Trusina in April 1993.
“I have never done that in my life,” said Dzeko, testifying in his own defence at the Sarajevo court on Tuesday.
He also denied that he killed two old woman and one old man in Trusina.
According to the indictment, Dzeko is charged with shooting three members of the Croatian Defence Council (HVO) and three civilians, after the end of the attack in Trusina on April 16 in 1993, together with other Bosnian Army servicemen.
The prosecutor questioned Dzeko about crimes in Jablanica in the second half of the 1993, and claimed that he was involved in the illegal arrest of nine Croats. Dzeko replied that he arrested only three man, following a command to do so, and that he thought all of them were combatants, members of the HVO.
He said that he only met prosecution witness Mirko Zelenika for the first time during the trial, denying that he extorted 3,500 German marks from him using threats.
Dzeko also said that he was not involved in the beating of a prisoner who was imprisoned in the Rogica Kuce complex in Donja Jablanica, which was the Zulfikar unit’s base.
The trial continues on January 21.
