Memic et al: Witnessing the Shooting of Captives

Protected witness B, a former member of the Zulfikar Special Purposes Squad with the Main Command Headquarters of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina, ABiH, said that he participated in an attack on Trusina village on April 16, 1993 and saw several people being killed.

“When we came to the houses, I saw six members of the Croatian Defence Council, HVO, who had been captured. They were facing the wall with their hands against the wall. People were shouting… At that moment one of the captives, who had long hair, started running away. Menta, Hodzic and Struja started shooting at him and the other captives who were lined-up,” the witness said.

The Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina charges Mensur Memic, known as Menta, Dzevad Salcin, known as Struja, Nedzad Hodzic, known as John Wayne, Senad Hakalovic, Nihad Bojadzic and Zulfikar Alispago with the murder of 22 people, including four HVO members and 18 civilians, in Trusina village on April 16, 1993.

The indictment alleges that Memic, Salcin and Hodzic, former members of the Zulfikar Special Squad, and Senad Hakalovic, former member of the Neretvica 45th Mountain Brigade, participated in an attack on Trusina village and the murder of civilians and prisoners of war.

The State Prosecution alleges that Bojadzic, former Deputy Commander of the Zulfikar Squad, commanded the attack. Alispago, former Commander of of the Zulfikar Squad, is charged with having failed to punish the soldiers who participated in the murders.

Protected witness B said that Deputy Commander Bojadzic and a Samko, who “commanded the operation”, lined up members of the Zulfikar Squad one day prior to the attack on Trusina.

“When we came to ABiH positions, we were assigned a guide, who was a village resident. He guided us, because we did not know the area. His task was to show us Croat houses,” witness B said, adding that the guides were members of the Neretvica 45th Mountain Brigade with ABiH.

Witness B recalled that, upon entering the village, members of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina searched a few houses and found “Bosniak and Croat civilians hiding in them”.

“We came to a house, whose door was stuck, as something was put against it. When we managed to open the door a little bit, someone fired a bullet at us. A guy named Gezo then fired a burst of bullets inside the house. One man was killed in the corridor. We heard screams and we saw that a bullet cut a girl’s thumb. My colleague and Idressed the wound,” the witness said.

Witness B said that members of the Zulfikar Squad took a few civilians out of Croat houses in Trusina. He said that the civilians were “then killed”, but he did not see who did that.

The protected witness said that HVO forces then attacked Trusina from Obri village, adding that Samko was killed and an order was given to withdraw. While they were withdrawing, the witness said that he saw indictees Memic, Salcin and Hodzic shooting six persons next to houses in the village.

“A few days later I saw Zuka in Lisicici village. He said that some civilians had been killed and he had a piece of paper about it. I saw Bojadzic with him, but I did not know what was written on that piece of paper,” the protected witness said, adding that nobody asked him during the war about what had happened in the village.

Cross-examination of witness B is due to take place on April 18 this year.

D.Dž.