Bosniak Commander’s Trial Resumes after Four-Year Break
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Zulfikar Alispago’s trial got under way again on Monday, four years after proceedings against him were suspended when he fell ill with stomach trouble.
Medical experts declared him fit to stand trial, then the indictment from 2010 was read out in court, detailing how Alispago is charged with failing to undertake actions to sanction the perpetrators of crimes in the village of Trusina near Konjic in 1993.
According to the charges, members of the Bosnian Army’s Zulfikar Unit attacked the civilian population in Trusina in the morning on April 16, 1993 under the command of his deputy Nihad Bojadzic.
It is alleged that ten civilians and one soldier were killed and four civilians severely wounded in the attack.
The indictment also claims that after the attack ended, members of the Zulfikar Unit shot Croatian Defence Council fighters who had surrendered and civilians in the hamlet of Gaj.
Alispago was originally charged along with five other members of the Bosnian Army troops – Mensur Memic, Dzevad Salcin, Senad Hakalovic, Nedzad Hodzic and Nihad Bojadzic.
However, due to his illness the proceedings against him were separated from the others in March 2014.
Memic, Hodzic and Bojadzic were sentenced to 37 years in prison for the murder of Croat civilians and captured soldiers in Trusina, while Salcin and Hakalovic were acquitted.
Alispago’s trial continues on May 22.
