Witness Recalls Dancing With Mt Igman Prisoners

The protected witness, codenamed “X”, said that in 1993 he was a member of the 8th motorized brigade of the Bosnian Army, which was located in the Hotel Igman.

According to him, his unit was stationed on the first floor of the hotel while the prisoners were on the ground floor.

“We did not know they were prisoners because they looked normal and were moving freely. They were eating just like us and getting food from the same cauldron,” he said.

“I remember they once danced a ‘kolo’ [folk dance] with us, when there was a party on the mountain. It seemed to me more like a working squad than prisoners,” the witness said, adding that he never saw or heard of anyone abusing them.

The defence for Nedzad Hodzic presented him with footage on which he recognized soldiers of the 8th motorized brigade and several prisoners at the party.

Hodzic and Dzevad Salcin, also a member of the Zulfikar squad, are charged with the torture, beating and sexual abuse of Croatian and Serbian prisoners at Mt Igman in the first half of 1993.

The protected witness said he saw Hodzic and other members of the Bosnian Army’s Zulfikar squad at Mount Igman at the beginning of 1993.

“Hodzic was sociable, had a sense of humour and everybody liked him. He was short and very skinny. He was nice looking and had no scar,” the witness said.

He also said that several other soldiers called Nedzad were at Mt Igman, and that one had the nickname “Pjevač” [“Singer”] and was “quarrelsome and big”.

Some prosecution witnesses who claimed that they were beaten and abused by Hodzic said he had a scar on his face and was a big man.

Asked whether he heard that Hodzic had taken part in crimes, the witness replied: “Never, I would give my right arm that he did not.”

The witness said that he went to Jablanica in the summer of 1993, where he also saw Hodzic.

“He was later wounded there. I remember I saw him after he returned from medical treatment. He could not recognize me. He could not do anything, even read or write. After that I used to see him with his wife, because I don’t think he could do anything by himself. She was driving him and taking him everywhere. He could barely make a sentence,” the witness said.

Asked by the defence attorney, Kerim Celik, the witness said he knew defendant Salcin as a “decent guy” and never heard he had taken part in crimes.

The trial continues on December 4.