Bosnian Croats’ Trial For Busovaca Killings Opens

Witness Zeljko Lastro told the court in Sarajevo on Thursday that he was a military police investigator in Vitez during the war and that he conducted a crime-scene inspection in Busovaca while investigating the murder of several civilians in 1993.

“When we arrived in the Juriceve Bare hamlet, I saw two corpses in front of one of the houses,” the witness said, adding that he took statements from several local residents.

He said the locals told him that they heard shouting followed by shooting on the day when the civilians were killed.

He said the locals named one of the defandants, Zoran Marinic, but did not know the name of the other alleged perpetrator.

Marinic and Zoran Milic are being tried for allegedly participating in the murder and wounding of Bosniak civilians during an attack on their homes in Busovaca on April 26, 1993.

A second witness at the hearing, Enver Prolaz, who lived in Busovaca in 1993, said that he knew the people who were killed, naming them as members of the Topalovic family.

He said he usually worked as a gravedigger and was asked by a doctor to look at the corpses.

“I remember having seen a big injury caused by a knife on Ahmet’s [Topalovic’s] body. Sabrija had two injuries on his body, while 17-year old Adil was riddled with shotgun bullets,” the witness said.

Witness Prolaz said that he thought that “Zoran Maric” was responsible for those murders, pointing at defendant Zoran Marinic.

The trial is due to continue on May 23.