The trial of Dževad Mlaćo and Selmo Cikotić for crimes against prisoners of war committed in the area of Bugojno in 1993 began with the reading of the indictment and the opening statement of the State Prosecutor’s Office.
Mlaćo was accused in his capacity as the president of the War Presidency of Bugojno, and Cikotić as the commander of the Operative Group West of the RBiH Army.
Mlačo is accused of ordering the murder of prisoners of Croatian nationality, demanding that a list of 23 to 26 extreme prisoners be drawn up to be murdered. As stated in the indictment, the Military Police of the 307th Brigade first took a group of prisoners to the premises of “BH Bank”, where they were tortured and beaten, as a result of which three of them died, and the others were taken to Mount Rostovo, where they were killed in October 1993.
Dževad Mlačo ordered that the prisoners marked as extreme be separated and taken to a special location, to the premises of a motel in Rostovo, which he personally designated and to which, during the period when the prisoners were beaten and killed, he used to come, according to the indictment.
It is added that one prisoner in Rostovo died from the beating, and one managed to escape while being transported to the motel, while the others were shot dead. The remains of most have never been found.
Prosecutor Mladen Vukojičić pointed in his opening statement to the personal diary of the accused, in which it is stated: “Officially: We must not have civilian prisoners, secretly – an extreme part of the captured soldiers to be murdered”. He added that in the notes from August 1993, it was stated that the extremists are singled out and destroyed, and that they are not reported to anyone.
According to the indictment, Mlačo stopped the transport of prisoners to Zenica for, allegedly, security and technical reasons.
Vukojičić said that the War Presidency and Mlaćo made decisions that exceeded their authority and excessively influenced the work of the military security service.
“The President of the War Presidency is not authorized to issue orders to any member of the military authorities,” said the prosecutor, pointing to the witness’ statement that “nothing could have been done” without Mlaco.
The indictment accuses Cikotić of failing to prevent subordinate members of the 307th Brigade from committing criminal acts, as well as failing to take measures regarding the torture and murder of prisoners of war. Vukojičić pointed to several documents on the basis of which Cikotić knew that there was a problem with the prisoners, among which was the order of the commander of the Third Corps to transfer the prisoners to Zenica.
“This would be a more than alarming situation for any commander to check what is happening,” said the prosecutor.
The indictment also accuses Cikotić of issuing orders to subordinate members of the 307th Brigade from September to December 1993 to take prisoners of Croatian nationality to forced labor on the front lines, where they dug trenches and were used as “human shields”. During the work, as stated, three prisoners were killed and several were wounded.
The defense stated that they will not make opening statements at this stage. Defense attorney Edina Rešidović noted that an investigation was conducted against Cikotić from 2006 to 2018, and that this indictment was brought on the same grounds.
The hearing of the first witnesses is scheduled for April 26, announced the Balkan Research Network of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIRN BiH), Birn reports.
