A Package of Bananas the Only Incident
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Military expert Asim Dzambasovic, who presented his findings and opinion at the request of the Defence of Nedzad Hodzic, explained that, on the basis of all of the documents that were made available to him, he could not find proof that the indictee committed any crimes.
As he explained, the only incident related to Hodzic, as former member of Zulfikar Special Purposes Squad with the Main Command Headquarters, was registered in a document from April 1993.
This document alleges that a package of bananas was found in a military vehicle, which Hodzic was driving at that moment. It further says that the package was confiscated and that his superior officer was informed about this case, Dzambasovic said.
Speaking about the Zulfikar Special Purposes Unit of the Main Command Headquarters, the court expert said that, as of November 1992 the Unit was part of the Eight Mountain Brigade of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina, ABiH, and that, in late January 1993 it became an independent unit commanded by Zulfikar Alispago.
Although its name suggests otherwise, according to the documents I have reviewed, this Unit was neither a special one nor did it have any special purpose. Its command and military staff did not undergo trainings for any special operations. It was a common, manoeuvere unit, which did not even have a defined zone of responsibility, Dzambasovic said.
Nedzad Hodzic is on trial, along with Dzevad Salcin, for crimes committed on Mount Igman.
The Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina charges the two former members of ABiHs Zulfikar Squad with having tortured, beaten and sexually abused prisoners, cut parts of their bodies, intimidated them and participated in other inhumane acts.
After having analysed the military documents, court expert Dzambasovic concluded that detention facilities evidently existed on Mount Igman during 1993, but it was impossible for any of the soldiers to take prisoners away by themselves.
There are official documents about the taking of prisoners to other locations, where they performed physical labour. This is not disputable. According to the records, all those prisoners were brought back to the detention facilities. As I found in one of the documents, a group of prisoners, who did not return, actually ran away, the court expert explained.
In the end Dzambasovic explained that the mentioned period in 1993 was very hard for ABiH, particularly in terms of material and technical resources. As he said, such situation was mainly caused by the blockade of roads by the Croatian Defence Council, HVO, and the opening of new fronts.
During the next hearing, which is scheduled for Thursday, December 18, court expert Dzambasovic will respond to questions by the Prosecution and Defence of indictee Salcin.
