Croatian Defense Forces in Trnovo Acted with Impunity, Witness Claims

Bunoza, Godinjak and Saric have been charged with participating in a joint criminal enterprise aimed at killing and detaining Serb civilians in the Trnovo area.

The indictment alleges that Bunoza was the commander of Croatian Defense Forces (HOS) units in the area, Godinjak was the chief of police in Trnovo and Saric was the commander of the Territorial Defense in Trnovo.

Asim Zulic, a former staff member of the public safety station in Trnovo, testified at today’s hearing. He described the Croatian Defense Forces units in Trnovo as an organized and powerful unit which he’d heard was led by Mirko Bunoza. He also said that Croatian Defense Forces members participated in the murder of the Serb population in the Trnovo area.

Zulic described the murder of four Serbs in the village of Trebecaj in the summer of 1992. He said he spoke to a local merchant while investigating the crime.

“At that time he told me the crime had been committed by a HOS unit,” Zulic said.

Bunoza’s defense attorney, Midhat Koco, said 90 percent of the information Zulic obtained wasn’t true. “Let the court determine that,” Zulic responded.

According to Zulic, military units in the Trnovo area were formed in the village of Trebecaj in the summer of 1992 and they began to organize with Saric’s arrival.

He said police forces, led by Edhem Godinjak, and the Territorial Defense didn’t have any authority over HOS units. Zulic said Saric and Godinjak had a bad relationship.

“Soldiers gossiped about it,” Zulic said.

Zulic told the court there was no command hierarchy in military units in 1992, and mentioned an example of local units in the village of Sabici, which refused to join the Territorial Defense.

The trial will continue on September 8.