Alibi for Indictee Senad Hakalovic

Testifying at the trial of six former members of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina, ABiH, a Defence witness offers an alibi for indictee Senad Hakalovic, and claims that he was not present in Trusina village, Konjic municipality, on April 16, 1993, when crimes were committed in the village.

“While visiting the military positions, I saw him too,” said the witness, testifying in defence of Hakalovic. He said that none of those soldiers was given an order to participate in the operation in Trusina.

The witness, who was a member of the 45th Brigade of ABiH, just like Hakalovic, said that the conflict with the Croatian Defence Council, HVO, began on April 12 and that nobody could leave Buturovic Polje prior to April 16.

According to the charges, Senad Hakalovic, former member of the 45th Brigade of ABiH, told Ivan Drljo to go to Trusina with two soldiers and invite some local residents to come with him. Those people were allegedly later shot in Gaj hamlet.  

Hakalovic is on trial, along with Mensur Memic, Dzevad Salcin, Nedzad Hodzic, Nihad Bojadzic and Zulfikar Alispago, former members of “Zulfikar” unit, for the attack on Trusina village in which 18 civilians and four captured members of HVO were killed.

The witness said that he gave a statement to Hakalovic’s Defence attorney Kadrija Kolic after Hakalovic’s arrest in 2009 and also to the Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina two months later.

“I said the same thing. I said that he was in Buturovic Polje, not in Trusina,” the witness said.

Second witness Ismet Redzic, former member of the 45th Brigade of ABiH, said that he did not see indictee Hakalovic among the soldiers, who headed towards Trusina. 

He said that, one night prior to the operation, he kept guard on the nearby Marevac Hill and that he went to Gostovici village in the morning hours. While he was in Gostovici, he saw unknown soldiers, who, as he found out, were members of the ‘Zulfikar” Squad.

When the unknown soldiers had left for Trusina, the witness joined a group of soldiers, who went to a nearby hill as backup.

“We heard shooting down there soon. Some explosions could be heard too. It did not last long,” Redzic recalled, adding that somebody informed them that “everything was completed down there and that they killed everyone”.

He said that he began keeping guard on Marevac Hill about 15 days prior to the operation in Trusina, adding that they spent their free time in Gostovici village. As he said, he did not see indictee Hakalovic in that period, but he did see his brother Sead.

The trial is due to continue on July 1.