by Esad HECIMOVIC
In a written response to our questions about the explosive device planted under Sijamija's car, Midhat Zubaca, chief of Travnik cantonal police, says that the investigation is "ongoing". "The investigation is conducted by an investigative magistrate and includes members of both Federation BH and Cantonal Police". Zubaca confirms that "another assassination attempt on Sijamija has been registered". "All claims are being investigated; all information available to us will be used in the investigation," Zubaca claims. The Cantonal prosecutor's office says that from the start the magistrates have classified the incident as a murder attempt, but that it remains to be seen what is the truth. "During the crime scene investigation, Sijamija offered evidence about alleged war crimes committed in Bugojno and I issued verbal instructions to investigative magistrates to take over and check the offered evidence; additionally, I requested from the police to collect the needed intelligence and information about allegedly committed war crimes. In this specific case we are considering the disappearance of 21 Croats in Bugojno, but we'll also address other cases. We shall investigate all cases, regardless of the ethnicity of victims and perpetrators," Behaija Krnjic, cantonal prosecutor in Travnik, says. Minister Zubaca says for Dani that the police "has not conducted an investigation about this or any other cases from Bugojno. The investigation is conducted by other institutions".
Rejected warrant: At one point the registrar of the Cantonal Court in Travnik accepted the warrant against 440 persons allegedly responsible for war crimes against Croats in Bugojno, issued on November 24, 1994, by the court in Livno. In Travnik they rejected for a long time to accept documents issued by the prosecutor of the self-proclaimed Croatian Republic of Herceg-Bosna and the Republic of Bosnia-Hercegovina. These documents charged more than 1,000 persons for war crimes in central Bosnia. On August 8 of this year the Cantonal Prosecutor's Office in Travnik annulled the warrant regarding Bugojno, after the Hague Tribunal had determined that that case file lacked sufficient evidence for an indictment against the mentioned persons. Different interpretations surfaced, some claiming that the Hague Tribunal exonerated mentioned persons, while others argued that the tribunal has merely rejected the warrant from Livno due to lack of evidence.
It turned out that the rejection of one warrant does not absolve the prosecutor of his obligation to investigate alleged war crimes. Refik Hodzic, spokesperson of the Hague Tribunal Outreach Program, on September 17 in Sarajevo, at a weekly press conference of international organizations, emphasized that "the International Tribunal, within the mechanism of the Rules of the Road, does not issue instructions, warrants or suggestions to the local courts to stop collecting evidence of to block an investigation. Even if a case file is returned by the tribunal classified under 'B', prosecutors who work on that particular case can continue investigation and keep collecting evidence". The cantonal prosecutor in Travnik Krnjic, on the other hand, says that he is aware of such an obligation, but that "cantonal prosecutor's office will decide about future course of action after receiving information collected by the cantonal police". He was referring to a check of Simija's allegations that he had evidence of alleged war crimes, rather than a separate investigation. Minister Zubaca denies that an investigation into the disappearance of 21 Croats in Bugojno has ever been conducted.
From stadium to Rostovo: "I have evidence that includes orders for taking into custody and removal of Croats who were held at the 'Iskra' [local soccer club] stadium in Bugojno or were forced to dig trenches at the front line in Prusac. All individuals who were taken away in that manner are missing. None of the ethnic Croats who were taken to Rostovo came back," Sijamija says in a conversation with Dani. According to his testimony, orders were signed by Enes Handzic, deputy commander of the 307th Brigade of the Army of BH in charge of security, his deputy Nermin Alifendic and Haris Haznadarevic, subordinated to them and also in charge of security.
Rumors about "a group of 26 missing Croats" from Bugojno have been circulating for years. Later, it was established that 4 men from that list were dead, while one of them turned up alive. Earlier it was claimed that all of them were taken away on the same day and murdered. In the conversation with Dani Sijamija confirms that there was no group execution, but individual crimes that took place between July and end of November of 1993. The analysis of the database of the International Red Cross, most recently updated in June 2002, confirms that these cases are spread out over several months. Only in few cases several persons disappeared together and on the same spot.
Sijamija accepted to talk to Dani about concrete cases and evidence. "Based on verbal order by Enes Handzic, I brought Niko Dzaja, commander of the first company of the Croatian Defense Council [Bosnian Croat militia in the Bosnian war] (HVO) and Mihovil Strujic from Prusac. A driver was with me in the vehicle. Dzaja offered $25,000 and Strujic as much as $100,000 to let them go. I refused. We brought them to the Military Police base in the building of the BH Bank in Bugojno around four o'clock in the afternoon. Handzic requested that I bring them in for questioning. They were questioned for an hour and a half, and then were sent back to our cellar. That evening, around nine o'clock, Handzic took them to Rostovo in a black Mercedes. Besides Dazja and Strujic, Zeljko Milos and another prisoner were also in the car. During the trip, Zeljko Milos managed to escape. He is alive today, but it is not known where he is. He could testify. Upon return Enes Handzic roused the whole police to search for Zeljko Milos, but they failed to find him". Niko Dzaja and Mihovil Strujic are still listed as missing. One of Zeljko Milos' relatives, contacted by this journalist, said that he did not know where Milos is today.
Sijamija testifies also about the disappearance and murder of Vinko Ivkovic. According to Sijamija, he was murdered by a Bosniak from Bugojno, whose brother had died in the clashes with the HVO. "With permission from Enes Handzic, he put Ivkovic in a car and drove him away. I went to the spot and cursed him for doing that. He responded that he had murdered Ivkovic because he had killed his brother. He said that Enes had given Ivkovic to him," Sijamija says. Ivkovic's body was found and exhumed four years ago. This journalist was not able to reach the person accused by Sijamija of murdering Ivkovic. No investigation has ever been conducted in this case, even though the alleged murderer lives in Bugojno.
Besides Sijamija, there are other witnesses, some of which testify that murders even took place in the street, in front of the Military Police base in the BH Bank building. One of them, who was at the time serving with the Army of BH, even today is afraid to reveal his identity. "I saw the murder of Nikola Grabovac. The murderer took him out of the building and killed him in the street, saying that he had 'killed the worst Ustasha'. Grabovac's dead body lay in the street for hours. I saw the murderer's face as well. The police drove him away and released him thirty minutes later. Until recently the murderer worked for the police. I do not trust either the police or the court in Travnik. That is why I want to remain anonymous, but myself and many others are prepared to testify provided we are guaranteed safety and a regular trial". This journalist indirectly requested to talk to the alleged murderer, but failed to contact him.
Sijamija lists several reasons for his decision to testify about war crimes in and near Bugojno. The first reason are repeated assassination attempts on him, but there are other reasons as well. "I have nothing to hide, nor am I afraid. They are today rich, and I am, after 32 years of work, unemployed and live in a rented apartment". Last year Sijamija retired from the Federation BH Army. His name was included on the list of 440 persons accused of participation in war crimes in Bugojno by the local Croats. Besides charges for arbitrary arrests of local Croats in Bugojno, Sijamija is also accused of murdering Marko Bartulovic. According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, Bartulovic was seen for the last time on July 27, 1993 between Porice and Bugojno. "Bartulovic killed my father for a cabbage on November 23, 1971. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison in Banja Luka and served his prison sentence in Zenica. He was a commander of Domobrans. People believe that I killed him to avenge my father, but that is not true. If someone has evidence that I killed Bartulovic, I am prepared to show up in court," Sijamija says.
Sijamija recalls a visit by Dragica Galic, the wife of the missing Zoran Galic. "She came and asked me what I knew about her Zoran. She had a document confirming that he had been taken away from the stadium. I only knew that he had been taken to Rostovo. I went to see Enes Handzic, who was the police chief in Travnik at the time. I told him about the visit by Dragica Galic, but he made fun of the whole thing. That is when Handzic and I parted our ways. I told him that I would bring every future visitor to him, so that he can explain to them what had happened to their loved ones".
Handzic denies accusations: Sijamija charges political, police and military officials in wartime Bugojno, and above all Enes Handzic, the then deputy commander of the 307th brigade of the Army of BH, claiming that he personally signed orders for arrest of Croats who later disappeared or were killed. Charges against wartime political leaders are circumstantial and based on their links with Handzic. Sijamija claims that at the time all the key officials in Bugojno visited the Military Police Base in the BH Bank building every other day at 5pm, so that Handzic could tell them what was going on. "Handzic did not do anything without their knowledge and approval," Sijamija claims. The list of people who, according to Sijamija, had to know about the crimes includes individuals who were then and are still at leading positions in Bugojno and Central Bosnian Canton. This journalist, despite several visits to Bugojno and Travnik, ultimately was unable to contact them.
Enes Handzic graduated with an economics degree from college. He is originally from Donji Vakuf and has been working for the police since 1988. Before the war he was the police chief in Donji Vakuf. After occupation and expulsion of Bosniaks from this town, Handzic arrived in Bugojno as a refugee. He was a deputy commander of the 307th brigade, in charge of security, and as a commander of the Military Police company, Enis Sijamija's superior officer. After the war he was the head of the Central Bosnian Canton Police. Between September 1, 1999 and March 12, 2002, he was the chief of the Federation BH Police Internal Control. Then the UN Mission announced that the IPTF commissar took away work accreditation of a group of policemen, including Enes Handzic and Senad Dautovic, the police chief in Bugojno. Handzic and Dautovic were denied accreditations because "due to their wartime duties within the Army BH Third Corps in 1993 they had command responsibility for prisons in which Serbs and Croats were illegally imprisoned and maltreated in Bugojno".
After the decision by the IPTF commissar for BH, on March 14 Bugojno was plastered by posters bearing the photo of Senad Dautovic calling on the residents to sign a petition in support of "their commander". Seven months later, in the night between Sunday and Monday, October 13 and 14, Senad Dautovic was a victim of a physical assault. The Cantonal Police in Travnik confirms that this attack did take place, but it does not know who the perpetrators were. "The investigation is ongoing," they say, refusing to reveal the seriousness of Dautovic's injuries.
Enes Handzic, in a conversation with Dani explains that the decision to establish a central prison at the "Iskra" stadium was made by the Wartime Presidency of the Bugojno Municipality. "They were not arrested. They surrendered on their own. As some HVO company fell, they surrendered. The prison was established to prevent lawlessness and reprisals. The purpose of the central prison was to guard Croats for potential future exchanges. At that time people died in Bugojno and the nearby area daily. Prisoners had the same conditions as the residents, because there was no water in the town and they ate the same food as we did. It is true that I allowed the police to take people away and bring others, but there was always a reason for that. Mostly, the reason would be the need of one of them to visit their homes. I never ordered anyone, either verbally or in the written form, to kill anyone. I do not hide anything. During the difficult wartime conditions in Bugojno I was not in the position to initiate investigations against certain individuals. Bosniaks died daily and I would have been killed if I started investigating various disappearances at that time. I only know that the military security of the Third Corps conducted an investigation into the disappearances and that they concluded that these allegedly missing persons had actually escaped from the prison". Handzic is convinced that he was unjustly dismissed from the police and announces that he will file a suit. "I have received another confirmation that I am not guilty because the indictment from Livno was rejected. I do not know how many confirmations will be needed to stop this".
Suspended sentence: According to Handzic, Sijamija accuses him because he had refused twice to give him a police job. "I told him that I would not give him a police job because he hadn't completed the course and he had killed a ten-years-old boy. He came back later and said that he had received a suspended sentence for that murder. I told him that even in that case he could not work for the police. That's when the threats started".
This journalist checked this assertion by Enes Handzic both in the cantonal and municipal courts and prosecutor's offices in Zenica, Travnik, and Bugojno, but none of them was able to produce a document confirming that Sijamija had been found guilty of murder of a boy during the war. The Zenica cantonal court claimed that several Federation BH institutions and Ombudsman's office had also sought information about this sentence, but that nothing could be found. In Bugojno they confirmed that Sijamija had received a suspended sentence, but they could not find the case file. Enis Sijamija immediately explained the case that, in the summer of 1994, resulted in the death of a minor, Senad Alibegovic. "On that day a soldier I had dismissed from the Military Police shot at me. I was conducting a nighttime patrol and on the road I picked up a girl hitchhiker. We parked the car in the village of Stanici and ate cherries, when I heard noise about 50 meters away from the car. I opened the window and several times asked as loudly as I could 'who is there?' The girl started screaming. I started the engine and was about to flee, but I hesitated because I was worried that an ambush had been set up ahead. Those four minors were sent by someone. I had to drive about 800 meters to reach the road. I took a rifle from the back seat and reflexively fired a few bullets through the window. I went to the MP base and reported the incident". According to the court documentation presented by Sijamija, the lower court found him guilty of manslaughter and of inflicting grave injuries. He appealed to the higher court in Zenica, which annulled the sentence and ordered retrial. At the retrial, Sijamija received a suspended sentence.
Between Travnik and the Hague: Supporters of the people charged by Sijamija with war crimes claim that he is trying to avenge himself. They are convinced that he himself put the bomb under his car. According to their interpretation, Sijamija "had been paid to publicly spread such accusations and has promised to his paymasters documentation and evidence he simply does not have". Sijamija denies that he had received any payments, but does confirm that various individuals in Bugojno did extort money from families of missing ethnic Croats in return for false information about their fate. "All of that is simply a campaign," one of the leading Bosniak politicians in the Central Bosnian canton claims, asking to remain anonymous. In discussions about accusations and acquittals almost every our collocutor had a different explanation for the possible political motivation.
The truth will be established by the courts; if not the local one in Travnik, then by the Hague Tribunal. For now, the official attitude of the Hague Tribunal with respect to the war crimes committed in Bugojno is not known. Only recently, the Hague Tribunal sent to the cantonal prosecutor's office in Travnik a request to withdraw the indictment of the former Herceg-Bosna prosecutor in Vitez against Hadzihasanovic and others, because the Hague Tribunal has decided to take over that particular investigation. General Hadzihasanovic's defense has expressed interest in Sijamija's testimony. General Hadzihasanovic has among other been charged of "knowing or had the reason to know that units of the Military Police of operative group 'West' and the 307th Brigade of the Army of BH were preparing, planning, and carrying out arrests, killing and cruel treatment of Bosnian Croats and Serbs at several spots in Bugojno". The indictment lists locations of the high school, "Slavonija" furniture store, "Iskra" stadium, primary school "Vojin Paleksic", and the BH Bank building. "All camps and prisons were controlled by the Military Police of the operative group 'West' of the Third Corps and soldiers of the 307th Brigade of the Third Corps," the indictment asserts. Hadzihasanovic was the commander of the Third Corps between November 14, 1992, and November 1, 1993, when he was replaced by, also indicted, General Mehmed Alagic. General Alagic is not charged with crimes in Bugojno. Sijamija's claims that Enes Handzic, as deputy commander of the 307th Brigade, received orders from the members of the wartime presidency of the Bugojno municipality could therefore be extremely useful for Hadzihasanovic's defense. This case from the Hague does not only deal with evil as such, but with control of evil and punishment of crimes. The Hague Tribunal is discussing the responsibility of those who were supposed to prevent crimes and punish the perpetrators, while Travnik is obviously left with the possibility of punishing criminals who ordered or carried out particular crimes.
Ivo Zelic, president of the Association of the Killed and Missing Croats and Members of the Bugojno Municipality HVO and the president of the local council in Bugojno as a HDZ representative, claims that the number of the dead and missing Croats is significantly larger. "The only reason this group has been in focus is that all of them were alive, for months, after the end of the hostilities, were registered by the ICRC as prisoners of war, and then someone decided to murder them. If they needed to be tried, that should have been done by courts. No one had the right to decide on his own and to execute them. We have hundreds of examples similar to that of Ivkovic, in which the bodies of the victims had been exhumed and identified, murderers are also known, but no one has started any sort of judicial procedure against them". According to the data offered by Zelic, so far remains of 120 Croats have been exhumed and in about 95 percent of cases the forensic analysis established that the victims had been murdered, while 36 Croats are still classified as missing.