Djelilovic Defense Witness Said Hadzici Families Objected to Prisoner Exchanges

A witness testifying in defense of Mustafa Djelilovic said municipal authorities in Hadzici couldn’t handle problems related to the exchange of Serb prisoners.

Mustafa Djelilovic, Fadil Covic, Mirsad Sabic, Nezir Kazic, Becir Hujic, Halid Covic, Serif Mesanovic, and Nermin Kalember are charged with committing crimes against civilians at the Silos detention facility, the Krupa military barracks, and the 9 Maj school building.

The indictment alleges that Hujic was the manager and deputy manager at Silos and that Covic performed the same functions. Mesanovic was one of the deputy managers at Silos and the manager of the detention camp in the Krupa military barracks. Kalember was a guard at Silos. The other defendants were members of civil, military, and police authorities.

Mehmed Music, a former member of the municipal commission for exchange prisoners exchanges in Hadzici, testified at today’s hearing. Music said the families of the missing in Hadzici objected to the exchange of Serb prisoners who were detained in the area.

Music said the families requested that the prisoners not be exchanged until they found out what had happened to their family members, who had resided in the Serbian part of the municipality in 1992.

“Women and children organized a protest, which no authorities, neither the Army or anyone else, could prevent,” Music said.

Music said the families threatened to leave the combat lines if the prisoners were released.

“They threatened Mr. Mustafa [Djelilovic] and I and said they would create chaos. One couldn’t predict what they’d do,” he said.

The defense asked Music who could have resolved the situation.

“In my opinion only Alija Izetbegovic from Sarajevo, because his orders had to be respected,” Music said.

He said state-level bodies were asked to resolve the issue of prisoner exchanges in Hadzici. Music said when he became a member of the commission on prisoner exchange, more than 180 individuals from the Hadzici area were missing.

“We’re still searching for 92 individuals,” he said.

Music said criminal proceedings were conducted against some of the prisoners, but the families objected to them being tried in Sarajevo.

At the beginning of his testimony, Music described the situation in Hadzici right before the war and how he had been arrested.

He said following his arrest in May 1992, he was detained in several facilities, including the military barracks in Lukavica. While detained in the military barracks, Music said 46 prisoners were taken away from the facility. He said their fate is still unknown.

Music’s examination will continue on August 20.