Memic et al: Unknown Soldiers
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Celija Andjelic said she was on her way to her sister Ana Kreso’s in Trusina on April 16, 1993, and had stopped at her neighbour Sima Kreso’s when she heard shooting.
“When the shooting began, it was horrible. I heard someone say: ‘Surrender’. The Army came to the village and I heard them asking Sima’s husband Ivica something. They forced us to go out and took us to Vida Drljo’s house. Sima said: ‘They killed my Ivica’. One of the soldiers pointed a gun to my head. Seid Padalovic told him: ‘Don’t kill her’. He listened to him,” Andjelic said.
Answering the Defence’s questions during the course of cross-examination, the witness said she concluded that Padalovic, who, as she found out, was later killed, was “a commander of that army” because he was able to order the soldier not to kill her.
She said that besides Padalovic, she did not know any of the soldiers who participated in the attack on Trusina.
“I did not know those soldiers. I think they were dressed in black uniforms and they had black bands around their heads,” Andjelic said.
The Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina charges Mensur Memic, Dzevad Salcin, Senad Hakalovic, Nedzad Hodzic, Nihad Bojadzic and Zulfikar Alispago with having participated in the attack on Trusina village on April 16, 1993, when 18 civilians and four members of the Croatian Defence Council, HVO, were killed.
The State Prosecution alleges that Alispago was Commander of the Zulfikar Special Purposes Squad with the Main Command Headquarters of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina, ABiH, at that time. He is charged with having failed to punish his subordinates who participated in the attack. Bojadzic, Alispago’s deputy, is charged with having commanded the attack on Trusina village.
The indictment alleges that Memic, Salcin and Hodzic were members of the Zulfikar Special Purposes Squad and Hakalovic was a member of the Neretvica 45th Mountain Brigade of the ABiH.
The witness said she noticed a dead civilian’s body on the side of the road on that day, but she did not know who it was.
The trial is due to continue on February 7 this year, when the Prosecution will continue presenting evidence.
A.S.
