Hodzic Maintaining Façade of a Scoundrel

Kemal Suljevic said that he became a member of the “Zulfikar” Special Purposes Squad with the Main Command Headquarters in April 1993. He said that he had come to Igman almost every day even before that in order to perform some tasks and visit friends.
 
“At a request by Zulfikar Alispago, I advised him about military issues, because he did not have any military education,” the witness said.
 
He said that he noticed prisoners on Igman, who moved freely, had lunch at the same restaurant as members of the Special Squad and ate the same food. Also, he said that the command staff treated them in a professional manner.
 
“When I came in Zulfikar’s office, a prisoner nicknamed Vojvoda was there, having lunch with him. He even asked Zulfikar to make a telephone call and speak to his family, which he did,” said Suljevic. During the cross-examination he said that he did not notice that Vojvoda’s ear was injured, but he heard about it from the media.
 
Suljevic pointed out that he had neither saw anyone mistreating the prisoners on Igman nor noticed any visible injuries on them.
 
“I know Nedzad Hodzic. (…) At that time he was a scoundrel, so to say, but that was a façade masking his sensitive nature, about which I found out later on, when he described having been abused during his detention in the ‘Morinje’ detention camp,” the witness said.
 
Responding to a Prosecution’s question, he said that Hodzic surely did not have a scar in 1993, adding that he was present when he was wounded in his head in Kozlovac in 1995.
 
“He was a soldier without any command role. He performed the function of a driver. (…) He could not drive the Unit’s vehicles without permission,” Suljevic said.
 
He said that Hodzic, who used to call himself Johnny and John Wayne, most frequently wore black overalls and that he had an M-16 rifle and pistol, but he did not know that he wore a hat. According to the witness’ testimony, Hodzic was not a military policeman. He said that the Special Purposes Squad did not have military police in its composition.
 
The witness said that Hodzic had a car accident in Tarcin in January 1993 and that he saw him again on Igman in the second half of March. As the witness said, Hodzic stayed in Jablanica from April to July 1993.
 
“At that time travelling to Igman, especially on a daily basis, was almost an impossible mission. One litre of petrol cost 60 Marks and movement was restricted,” the witness said.
 
Reading from a paper, Prosecutor Vladimir Simovic quoted Zulfikar Alispago’s words: “Sefer, I can no longer lead the unit in this way. (…) I am struggling with 300 refugees and thinking whether Johnny will enter that place in order to beat someone.” The Prosecutor was not able to say from which report the quoted text originally came, so the Defence objected to authenticity and “illegal” presentation of the words. The Chamber allowed the quoting.
 
Suljevic commented by saying that, in October 1993 he advised Zulfikar Alispago to report all crimes to the Brigade, because he had no other competencies. He said that Alispago did that.
 
Hodzic is on trial, along with Dzevad Salcin, for crimes on Igman. The Prosecution of BiH charges the former members of the “Zulfikar” Squad of ABiH with having tortured, beaten and sexually abused prisoners, cut parts of their bodies of, intimidated them and participated in other inhumane acts. 
 
The witness said that he knew Salcin as an extraordinary soldier and that alcohol consumption was the only instance of him violating the disciplinary rules.
 
The witness said that he knew that Salcin left Igman in mid-April and that he participated in military activities in Klis and Dreznica.
 
The trial is due to continue on December 11.