Trial of Zehrudin Scuk for Crimes in Jablanica Begins

Witness Dragan Zelenika said that he was working in the field with his brother, when the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina attacked Doljani village in the morning on July 28, 1993. As soon as the shooting began, they ran towards their house, where his mother Anica, brothers, grandmother Ruza Tutis and her sister Iva Pavlovic were.

“We did not feel safe, so we fled to Ivan Zelenika’s house. Grandmother Ruza and Iva stayed in the house. We were in panic so we forgot about them. Soon after we had come to Ivan’s house, we heard shouting. When we went out, we saw three or four armed soldiers in camouflage uniforms. One of them was of medium height and one-eyed. His eye was closed. There was no pupil in it. I used to see him in the town. I only knew that his last name was Scuk,” Zelenika said.

When asked by Prosecutor Vesna Pranic if he knew what was happening in front of his house at that moment, Zelenika answered negatively, adding that his grandmother Ruza told him later on that a one-eyed soldier killed her sister.

Defence attorney Nijaz Djuliman asked the witness why, when giving a statement during the investigation, he failed to mention that he knew that the one-eyed soldier’s last name was Scuk. Zelenika said that he found out what the soldier’s last name was from his cousin, when he saw him at his grandmother’s funeral about twenty days ago.

The Mostar Prosecution charges Zehrudin Scuk, also known as Zeho, former member of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina, ABiH, with having killed Iva Pavlovic in Krkaca hamlet during an attack on Doljani village.

Testifying at this hearing, Anica Zelenika said that, on July 28, 1993 she saw her mother sitting on staircase in front of their house, crying and shouting that Iva had been killed. The witness said that she saw the body next to the house later on.

“When we came to the house, I saw Iva in front of the house. She was bent over. I noticed blood on her chest area. Andja Zaric and I carried her into the house and covered her,” Anica Zelenika said. She told the Court that her late mother Ruza told her later on that Iva had been killed by a soldier with a damaged eye.

Third Prosecution witness Andja Zaric said that indictee Zehrudin Scuk and another soldier came to their house on July 28, 1993. Zaric said that she then went to Anica Zelenika’s hosue with her.

“I spoke to Anica. She told me that her aunt was killed by a one-eyed soldier. I asked her if it was Scuk. When we came to the house, we saw Iva. She was hit in her neck area. Later on we carried her into the hallway,” Zaric said, adding that Anica Zelenika told her that she had witnessed the murder.

Ivica Vlahovic, an investigator with the State Investigation and Protection Agency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, testified for the Prosecution at this hearing. He confirmed that Ivan Marijanovic gave him photographs made after the attack by the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina on Doljani village in 1993, depicting Iva Pavlovic’s body.

Due to difficulties related to appearance of witnesses, the trial continuation date will be set at a later stage.