Gasal et al: Mistreatment of Bosniak Civilians

At the trial of four indictees charged with crimes committed against Bosnian Croats in Bugojno, Senad Dautovic’s defence witnesses speak about the arrest and mistreatment of Bosniak civilians from Vrbanja and the surrounding area.

Witness Abdulah Bevrnja told the Court that, in July 1993, when the conflict between the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatian Defence Council, HVO, began, 46 civilians were taken to the Akvarijum motel in Bugojno, where they were mistreated regularly and taken to other locations to dig trenches.

As stated by the witness, Bosniak residents of Vrbanja were tortured, adding that Slavko Sakic stood out among those who committed the abuses against Bosniaks.  
 
“He threw a cigarette on the floor and told me to take it with my mouth. He then told me to lick his shoe as it was dusty. He spit on it, telling me to lick it. I missed one drop and he hit me with a baton on my ear…

“He hit all the others on their noses and forced them to lick blood,” the witness said, adding that “54 people were killed” in Vrbanja in that period.
 
After having admitted his guilt, Slavko Sakic, a former HVO member, was sentenced by the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina to eight and a half years in prison for crimes committed in the Akvarijum motel.
 
Bevrnja testified on Wednesday in defence of Senad Dautovic, who is charged with having detained Croat civilians in several buildings in Bugojno, where they were held in inhumane conditions, tortured and murdered.  Nisvet Gasal, Musajb Kukavica and Enes Handzic all face the same charges.
 
The indictment alleges that Gasal was Manager of the Iskra stadium detention camp, Kukavica was Commander of the Detention Camp Security, Handzic was Assistant Commander for Security with the 307th Brigade of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Dautovic was Commander of the Joint Command of the Army in Bugojno and Chief of the Public Safety Station.  
 
Witness Pavo Dragun, former Chief of the Defence Office in Bugojno, said that Bosniaks detainees from Vrbanja were held in the Akvarijum motel for about ten days before being exchanged for Croat prisoners.   
 
“Pastor Jakov met me and proposed that we exchange the wounded HVO members with civilians who were detained in the motel,” Dragun said, adding he noticed that the detained civilians had been mistreated.
 
The trial is due to continue on November 3, when four witnesses will testify in defence of Dautovic.

M.T.