Beating and Murder of a Civilian in Kakanj

Witness Jasmin Mehinagic said that he and a few other persons saw Sekula Poletan in a house yard in 1993.

“Vahid Hadrovic stepped out of the group of us, who were standing in front of the house, and said: ‘Haven’t you left’. Sekula did not respond. Vahid moved the gun from one hand to the other, jumped up and hit him on his head with his fist. Sekula staggered…Vahid grabbed the rifle barrel with one hand and hit him in his head with the rifle butt. Fadil Rajic, who was standing behind Vahid, approached them and fired a short burst at Poletan. Sekula fell down on his back, gasping, and then died,” Mehinagic said.

Mehinagic said that he told Dajic that Poletan was a civilian.

“I took a red blanket from the house and covered the corpse… An hour later a car came. The car driver, I and another man carried the body to the car. My colleague Jozo Jozanovic then told me that Dedo had locked an old man and woman in a barn, so I went without weapons to a garage and released them,” Mehinagic said.

The Defence of indictee Dajic objected, saying that it was unbelievable that Mehinagic remembers the happenings from 20 years ago in detail. The witness responded by saying that he was known by his ability to remember things.

Indictee Hadrovic said that Mehinagic was lying, adding that he gave his testimony in order to avenge him, because he was once a member of a disciplinary commission, which sanctioned him.

The Zenica Cantonal Prosecution charges Fadil Dajic and Vahid Hadrovic with having killed a Serb civilian while searching houses in Plandiste village, Kakanj municipality.

Testifying at this hearing, witness Hasan Haracic said that he was not in killed Poletan’s yard, adding that he saw the corpse and colleagues standing around it from a distance.

Witness Fedzad Jasarspahic said that he arrived to the house yard after having heard a burst of fire.

“I saw a dead man on the grass. He had injuries on his stomach and head. Dedo had an automatic gun in his hand. He was standing near the killed man. Everybody, including me, was shocked. Mehinagic pointed his head towards Dajic, when I asked him what had happened. I asked Dajic what had happened. He told me that somebody had opened fire from that house. I tasked Mehinagic with guarding the crime scene, while I went somewhere else, because we were supposed to set a military line. There was shooting all over the place,” Jasarspahic said.

The trial is due to continue on February 14 this year.