Bundalo et al: Saved By an Acquaintance

Defence witness Smajo Nezir said Nedjo Zeljaja helped his parents get out of “Barutni magacin” (“Gunpoweder Depot”) detention camp in Kalinovik in 1992. 

“My parents told me that some Serb soldiers stopped them in Dobro polje as they were trying to escape. Then they took them to Kalinovik. Some man, whom she did not know at the time, asked my mother some questions about me. He told her that his name was Nedjo Zeljaja and he would try to help them,” Nezir said.

Nezir told the Court that he had known Zeljaja before the war, when they worked together in the traffic police in Sarajevo. 

Nedjo Zeljaja, Ratko Bundalo and Djordjislav Askraba are charged with crimes against humanity committed in the Kalinovik area in 1992 and 1993.

The indictment alleges that Zeljaja was Commander of the Pubic Safety Station in Kalinovik, Bundalo was Commander of the Kalinovik Tactical Group and Askraba was Warden of ‘Barutni magacin’ detention camp at that time.

Witness Nezir also said that after his parents were captured they were taken to ‘Barutni magacin’, where they stayed for 25 days before being released with Zeljaja’s help.

“They said that some people came there and called their names out. They blindfolded them and took them towards Rogoj. One of them said that they would release them, asking them who they were because Zeljaja wanted to help them in that way,” Nezir said, adding that Zeljaja also facilitated the exchange of his cousin, Mustafa Hodzic, after he had been captured on Mount Treskavica, in 1994.

The second Defence witness, Huso Dervisevic, said that he had known Zeljaja before the war. He said that he faced “many unpleasant situations” after having been invited to testify in his defence.

“I received several phone calls from people who wanted to know why I would testify in Zeljaja’s defence. I told them that I would tell the truth and describe how Zeljaja treated me. He did help me. Every time he saw me, he would invite me for a drink and ask me how I was,” Dervisevic said.

This witness said he lived in Varos village, whose residents were moved by the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina to Vujinovici village “due to an attack on Trnovo”. The witness said he did not see Zeljaja during the course of the conflict in the Kalinovik area.

The Defence of Bundalo and Askraba did not have any questions for these witnesses.

The trial is due to continue on Thursday, April 30.