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The Bosnian state prosecution has charged Coloman, a former member of the Seventh Muslim Brigade of the Bosnian Army, with killing civilians who were detained in a center in the village of Poculice with an automatic weapon on April 24, 1993. Coloman allegedly killed three civilians and wounded nine more.
Testifying in his own defense, Coloman said he heard about certain murders that were committed after Fehim Mujezinovic, the commander of the Reconnaissance Squad of the Seventh Muslim Brigrade, had been killed.
“We did not know about that detention camp. Our brigade didn’t have a detention camp…I heard that a cousin of Fehim’s got mad after his death and came with someone, a woman was there as well, and that they shot at those people out of revenge. This rumour circulated among the local residents,” Coloman said.
Coloman said he was recruited by the Bosnian Army at the age of 16 and served in the Reconnaissance Unit. He said that in April 1993 he was on Mount Vozuca, on elevation point 715. Following the massacre in Ahmici, he was transferred to a location next to the village of Krcevine village in the vicinity of Poculice.
He said that his unit, like others, was tasked with preventing the Croatian Defense Council from blocking the road between Travnik and Zenica. According to Coloman, combat occurred every day until the end of April. He said his unit sometimes went back to the military barracks in Zenica in order to sleep there.
Speaking about his life, Coloman said he grew up with his grandmother, because his mother left him in the snow while he was still a baby and his father started a new family with a neighbour of his.
Coloman said his father would beat him when they met. He said saw his mother and stepbrothers two years ago. Coloman said he is now married and has two children, aged three and four. He works as an iron picker.
Coloman’s defense introduced approximately 20 pieces of material evidence, including reports from the investigation, entries from military records and photos of Poculice’s local community.
The prosecution will present its closing statement on June 10.
