Gasal et al: ‘Courage Needed’ for Position of Authority

On the fourth day of his presentation of findings and opinion at the trial for crimes committed in Bugojno, military court expert Fikret Muslimovic says that the four indictees “were not associated with crimes by nature”.

When asked by the Trial Chamber if the indictees, as inexperienced soldiers, were under the control of a superior command, Muslimovic said: “It took great courage to take up a position or become an authority in the chaotic situation in Bugojno at that time, considering that there was no army and no weapons.

“These people took the authority over and they were brave and moral. They were raised in such way that they had no association with crimes by their nature,” Muslimovic said. He presented, at the request of Handzic’s Defence, his findings about the relation between military security and civil authorities in Bugojno.

The State Prosecution charges Nisvet Gasal, Musajb Kukavica, Senad Dautovic and Enes Handzic with having participated in robbery, forcing people to perform labour, and the torture and murder of Croat civilians and members of the Croatian Defence Council, HVO, who were held at the Iskra stadium, garages, schools and other buildings in Bugojno in 1993 and 1994.

The Prosecution considers Gasal and Kukavica responsible for the functioning of the Iskra detention camp, where about 300 Croats were held in inhumane conditions. Handzic, former Assistant Commander for Security with the 307th Brigade of ABiH, is charged, along with Dautovic, former Chief of the Public Safety Station in Bugojno, with planning and participating in the capture of civilians.

Court expert Muslimovic said that “no members of the military or civil authorities” could issue an order to take Croat detainees from Iskra stadium to other locations to perform forced labour.

“Such a thing could not have been done, because it would imply violation of the international conventions. If someone did that, he violated the laws and regulations. (…) Such an order could be refused. It should not have been executed, but a surperior command should have been informed about it,” the court expert said.

The indictment alleges that, as of mid November 1993, indictee Handzic “ordered and approved” the taking of many detainees from Iskra to other locations in Bugojno, where they performed forced labour, which included cleaning streets, cutting woods for the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina and digging trenches on frontlines, where they were also used as “human shields”.

Responding to questions about the alleged abuse of detainees at Iskra stadium, the court expert said that commanders of military police companies and commanders of battalions and brigades with the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina should have conducted an investigation into those events, adding that assistant commanders for security with brigades did not have “the competencies to order disciplinary measures”.

The presentation of evidence at the trial of Gasal, Kukavica, Handzic and Dautovic, which began in February 2008, has been completed with the examination of court expert Muslimovic.

At the next hearing, scheduled for April 20, the Trial Chamber will invite Selmo Cikotic, former Commander of the Western Operational Group with the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina, who testified in April last year, to testify again.

D.Dž.