Prosecutor Demands Convictions Over Bugojno Jail Camp

Prosecutor Slavica Terzic dedicated her closing arguments at the retrial on Thursday to all those killed in the “chaos of war” in Bugojno and insisted that it had been proved beyond reasonable doubt that the defendants were guilty.

According to the indictment, Nisvet Gasal and Musajb Kukavica are responsible for running the detention camp at the Iskra stadium in Bugojno, where over 300 Croat men were locked up in 1993 and 1994, while Senad Dautovic is accused of illegal arrests and other crimes against prisoners of war in the town.

Terzic said that Gasal and Kukavica were “small fry”, but that Dautovic –the former chief of police in Bugojno – was a “big fish” who participated in the planning and implementation of a criminal plot against the Croat population.

According to the prosecutor, Dautovic was responsible because he was also a member of the Bosniak wartime presidency, which in 1993 and 1994 decided “who would live and die” in Bugojno.

“The keys to understanding the guilt of Dautovic are the goals of the joint criminal enterprise and they were stated clearly in the diary of Dzevad Mlaco, former president of the wartime presidency,” said the prosecutor.

“The diary clearly says that professor Mlaco was assigning his pupils with tasks – among them Dautovic. The tasks included crimes, captivity and hard labour,” she said.

Terzic added that Dautovic was the person who members of the Croatian Defence Council surrendered to after clashes with Bosnian Army.

“Dautovic called on them to surrender, promised them that no harm would befall them. And it did not, but they had a shortage of water, food and blood, and they had an abundance of bruises,” she said.

She also said that the retrial had made clear that Gasal and Kukavica had committed crimes against Croat prisoners of war in the Iskra camp.

“I heard Kukavica wonder aloud how he ended up in the dock. The answer is that you were in that camp, you watched people with bruises, you called out their names when they were sent to do hard labour, with Gasal’s consent,” said Terzic.

In November 2011, Gasal was sentenced to six years in prison and Dautovic to 13, while Kukavica was acquitted of the charges, but the appeals chamber quashed the verdict last December and ordered a retrial.

Gasal’s lawyer Senad Kreho also began his closing arguments on Thursday, saying that people were taken to do hard labour and beaten up at the Iskra stadium in the summer of 1993, before Gasal became its warden.

“All witness testimonies indicate that prisoners were called to do hard labour from lists made by the military police, and Nisvet Gasal had nothing to do with that,” said Kreho.

He added that Bosnian Army officer Enes Handzic –  who confessed to the crimes and was sentenced to eight years in prison – was the man who directly controlled the military police and activities in the Iskra camp.

“Gasal could do nothing against the orders from Handzic. Even if Gasal had a mother in Iskra, he could not have released her, he may have even been killed in the war if he tried to do anything. Handzic was the only true master of life and death in Bugojno,” said Kreho.

The defence’s closing arguments will resume on October 23.