Witness Say Croatian Defense Forces Responsible for Killing of Serbs in Trebecaj

Defendants Edhem Godinjak, Medaris Saric and Mirko Bunoza have been charged with committing crimes against Serb civilians and prisoners of war in the Trnovo area.

The indictments states they allegedly participated in a joint criminal enterprise with the aim of killing and detaining Serbs in villages in the Trnovo area. According to the charges, Godinjak was the chief of the public safety station in Trnovo, Saric was the commander of the Territorial Defense Headquarters, while Bunoza was the commander of Croatian Defense Forces units.

Witness Husnija Godinjak said there was no interethnic tension or crime in Trebecaj until the arrival of Croatian Defense Forces units. He said after the Bosnian Serb Army started shelling the village, Bosniaks tried to save their neighbours, the Elez, Vlaski and Knezevic families, who hadn’t managed to flee the village.

“The HOS tarnished the reputation of our village and our people. The local residents would have never killed their neighbours…They had the Croatian coat of arms on their uniforms when they arrived in the village. They killed 90-year old Andja Elez. They killed the Knezevics. They killed Desa Vlaski on the street. I gave two packs of cigarettes to some boys to bury her,” Godinjak said.

Godinjak said he didn’t know the soldiers, but knew Hamdo Ramic, a man who he described as “some sort of commander within the HOS.” He said he also knew of a man nicknamed “Hakala.”

He also confirmed that Edhem Godinjak was in the village during the shelling.

“I knew him from before the war. He used to come to the village and said civilians must not be harmed or else somebody would be held responsible. He told us to hold them, in case a [prisoner] exchange was organized,” Godinjak said.

A protected witness known as C said Godinjak ordered other fighters to tie up his wife, who was captured while trying to flee Rogoj.

“After they had tied her up, they separated her from the group and mistreated her. They fired bullets around her legs. She told me after having managed to run away,” said C, whose parents were killed in the village.

C said his neighbour Mladjan Knezevic told him his parents had been killed by members of the Croatian Defense Forces. He said he found some of their mortal remains in 1993.

“One could see my mother’s skull was fractured, while my father’s bones were burnt…My father’s leg and arm bones were fractured,” C said.

Witness Stana Knezevic said Croatian Defense Forces members detained her husband, mother and brother.

“My husband, Mladjan, told me they tied them up and beat them and stripped him naked in front of his mother…They beat him up in front of Jovo Elez’s house…Osman Krupalija met them and attacked them. He told them they should haven’t come there to kill their neighbours. He saved them,” Knezevic said.

Witness Milojka Vlaski said she stayed in Trebecaj with her mother and two sisters. She said several unknown men came to their house and beat them up. She said their neighbour, Suljo Ramic, came to them after the attack and took them to Ibrahim Dokara’s house. She said they hid in his house for seven days before they fled through the woods.

“They killed my mother. As we were departing, Dokara told us he would try to save her and if he couldn’t, he would at least bury her,” Vlaski said. She said she heard later on that Marko and Danilo Ivanovic, as well as two women, were killed in the village.

Witness Durmija Biber said he saved Milan and Desa Vlaski’s three daughters. Biber said he gave them harem skirts and kerchiefs to put on and instructed them in which direction to travel. He said Desa Vlaski was killed as he was escorting the girls out of the village.

“Some foreign soldiers killed them. They called them the HOS,” Biber said. He said that all the residents of the village said their neighbours were also killed by HOS members.

Mirko Bunoza’s defense attorney asked Biber if he had seen any Croatian Defense Forces soldiers commit murder of if he had any contact with them. Biber answered negatively on both counts, adding, “I didn’t want to have any contact with them. If I had wanted that, I would have been the same as them.”

The trial will continue on February 9.