Raped under Threat of Murder

“I felt disastrous. I was in a big shock, out of my mind,” protected witness D said.

While testifying at the trial of Nihad Bojadzic, former Deputy Commander of “Zulfikar” Unit of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina, ABiH, she said that a big tall blonde man, who was dressed in camouflage uniform, told her and protected witness H to come out of “The Battle of Neretva” Museum room. 

As she said, Croats from Doljani village, near Jablanica, were brought to the Museum by ABiH members. They were taken out during the first night. She said that the man, who called their names out, took them to an SUV, which, as she thought, was white. She said that they sat in the backseat.

“As far as I can remember the blonde big man sat in the driver’s seat,” she said, adding that another man got in the vehicle.

After having arrived to Rogica houses in Donja Jablanica, the man, who had told them to come out of the Museum room, took witness D into one of the rooms.

“I was scared…He said: ‘We shall do it or I’ll kill you’. He raped me,” she said, adding that he raped her again in another room.

Witness D said that, a few days later she saw the person, who had raped her, and heard that others called him Zuka. She said that she saw the person again on a bridge near Vrda village in March 1994, when the Croat detainees from the Museum were exchanged.

As she said, the man, who raped her, had an accent that was not characteristic of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The indictment alleges that Bojadzic raped protected witness D, while telling her: “I will either rape you or kill you”, while an unknown man raped witness H.

Defence attorney Residovic read a part of the witness’ statement given to a State Prosecution investigator, in which she said that she heard some Museum guards and local Jablanica residents addressing him as Zuka.

Responding to an additional question by Prosecutor Vesna Budimir, the witness said that the name Zulfikar Alispago meant nothing to her.

During the course of the examination the Defence attorney presented the witness with a few differences in comparison to a statement she gave to police after the rape. As she said, one of them was the fact that she said that only one man was with them in the vehicle when they left the Museum and that the other one went out of a building near the bus station in Jablanica.

The trial of Bojadzic, who is charged with other crimes in Jablanica, is due to continue on November 14.