used without permission, for "fair use" only

Crime and Punishment

From Reporter's Group, Halilovic, Alispago, Tufo and Turcinovic will Travel to the Hague

Hrvatska Rijec, Sarajevo, Federation Bosnia-Hercegovina, B-H, September 16, 2000

Banja Luka weekly Reporter published in its last issue names of thirty five Bosniaks suspected of involvement in war crimes who have allegedly been secretly indicted by the International Tribunal for War Crimes committed in the former Yugoslavia, based in the Hague. As could have been expected, the content of the article provoked a storm of reactions in the larger BH entity [Federation Bosnia-Hercegovina]. Knowing that senior officers of the Army BH, Rasim Delic, Vahid Karavelic, Nedzad Ajnadzic, Fikret Prevljak, and Sefer Halilovic, and police members Enver Dupovac, Muhamed Turcinovic, Refik Tufo, Mirsad Sabic, Nezir Fiso, Avdo Mujan, Milan Bozic, and Salko Gosto, are all on the list, this should not have been surprising. The lower ranking officers included on the list are Nezir Kozic, Nermin Semsic, Mensur Covic, Zulfikar Alispago and Vahid Aladuz. The Party of Democratic Action (SDA) sharply reacted to the article published in Reporter claiming that the goal of the speculation with names was to equalize all crimes in Bosnia-Hercegovina and thus build a picture of a civil war, which is the goal of all the political parties in Serbia, as well as individuals in the international community circles. However, the article with names, published in the Banja Luka weekly disturbed the Bosniak leadership. According to the sources close to the Tribunal the following individuals from the Reporter's list will definitely travel to the Hague; Sefer Halilovic, Zulfikar Alispago, Refik Tufo and Muhamed Turcinovic. The Center for Collection of Documentation (CPD) systematically collected and processed documentation including witness testimony, audio and video recordings, and photo-documentation about crimes committed in Bosnia-Hercegovina after the start of the aggression from Serbia. All hitherto collected documentation has been sent to the Hague, to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

Zulfikar Alispaho Zuka, male, an ethnic Muslim. A member of the Army BH, commander of the units of the Army BH that have committed war crimes on the territory of the municipalities of Jabalanica, Konjic, Mostar, Prozor and others. These war crimes include organized ethnic cleansing, arrests, establishment of camps (in the municipalities Jablanica and Konjic), and murders of Croats (civilians and member of the Croatian Defense Council). As a commander of the Army BH unit named "Black Swans" he participated on April 16, 1993 in the armed attack on the Croat civilians in the village of Trusina, when 22 Croats, inhabitants of that village, were murdered (16 civilians and six members of the Croatian Defense Council). During the month of May, 1993, he participated with the units he commanded in the destruction (burning) of family homes owned by Croats; in that, captured Croat civilians were used as "live shields" and were later killed and mutilated (three persons were killed: Ana Kozul, born in 1929, Stoja Kozul, born in 1935, and Ivan Stanic, born in 1935). He also participated in a meeting held in the headquarters of the so-called "Zuka's Army" in the village of Donja Jablanica, in the municipality of Jablanica, on September 8, 1993, together with Mujica Beglerovic, Sefer Halilovic, and Vehbija Karic, when a group of captured Croats from Jablanica was brought to that base. During the meeting with the mentioned officers of the Army BH and the BH Police, he prepared the armed action "Neretva '93" within which the war crime of genocide against the civilian population in the village of Grabovica was committed. In that village, more than 30 Croats were brutally murdered, and a large number of survivors was illegally captured and imprisoned in the camp named "Muzej" in Jablanica.

Sefer Halilovic, male, an ethnic Muslim from Sarajevo. The Chief of Staff of the Army BH, responsible for issuing orders for attacks on settlements with civilian population in the territory next to the Neretva river, north of Mostar, in which a large number of Croat civilians was killed and massacred; the establishment of detention camps with the goal of implementation of genocide and ethnic cleansing, illegal arrests and imprisonment of civilian population in camps, psychological and physical maltreatment and murders of captives... He attended the meeting held at the "Zuka's Army" headquarters in the village of Donja Jablanica (Jablanica municipality) on September 8, 1993, together with Mujica Beglerovic, Vehbija Karic and Zulfikar Alispago Zuka, when a group of captured Croats from Jablanica was brought to that base. During the meeting with the mentioned officers of the Army BH and the BH Police, he prepared the armed action "Neretva '93" within which the war crime of genocide against the civilian population in the village of Grabovica was committed. In that village, more than 30 Croats were brutally murdered, and a large number of survivors was illegally captured and imprisoned in the camp named "Muzej" in Jablanica. He prepared (between September 10 and 13, 1993) and directly commanded (September 14, 1993) the armed attack of the Army BH members on the civilian population of the village of Uzdol (Rama/Prozor municipality) from a command center in Dobro Polje. A day before the attack on the village of Uzdol, on September 13, 1993, he summoned all the Army BH members who were in reserve or on a leave (apart form those who were on the front), and the military police. On that day a large number of Army BH members gathered in Dobro Polje, and 300 soldiers of the Klisa battalion of the Army BH (from the Konjic municipality) also arrived. He personally, in the open, in front of the gathered Army BH members said that the Army BH must take control of the following territory - Crni Vrh, Blace, Uzdol - and that for that purpose members of the Seventh Muslim Brigade had been infiltrated in the region of Paljike and Kolivret, while the members of the 17th Krajina Brigade had been infiltrated in the region of Makljen and Drasevo and waiting for a signal for the start of the action. Later, he determined the directions of attack and ordered that the battalions form Klisa (Konjic) and Voljevac (Uskoplje/G.Vakuf) were to attack Crni Vrh, a half of the first company of the battalion "Prozor" (from Hera) and platoon "Foca" (from eastern Bosnia), and 20 soldiers from the village of Kute were to attack Uzdol, and 20 soldiers from the platoon "Foca", and 5 soldiers from the first company of the battalion "Prozor" were to attack Gradaz, while the remaining 100 soldiers were to attack Blace, Jurici and Glibe. Halilovic said the following to the group that was supposed to attack Uzdol: "Once you take Uzdol, you can simply get in a car and drive all the way to Prozor". To mark the well-planned action, soldiers of the Army BH were rewarded with 12 roasted lambs. The same evening, the soldiers returned to the village of Here where they supplied with ammunition and bombs and at about 11pm they headed to the village of Uzdol. They started their attack on Uzdol at 5:30am on September 14, 1993. 41 Croats were killed in that attack (29 civilians and 12 caught Croatian Defense Council members).

Refik Tufo, male, an ethnic Muslim, from the village of Tarcin (Hadzici municipality). During 1993 and 1994 he had a dual role in the Muslim civilian police (MUP BH) in the village of Tarcin (Sarajevo-Hadzici municipality). He was a commander of the Muslim civilian police unit and an interrogator in the camp/prison named "Silos" in Tarcin. As the commander of the Muslim civilian police unit based in Tarcin he led in June, July and September of 1993 attacks on and the occupation of the villages of Gojakovac, Zabrde, Bukovica (Kiseljak municipality) and Pirin (Kresevo municipality). In these attacks a large number of Croat civilians were killed, while the property of the murdered and expelled Croats was looted and destroyed. On June 17, 1993, he personally, during the attack on the villages in the Kiseljak municipality, Gojakovac, Bukovica and Zabrde, together with the members of the MUP BH and the Army BH (Fajko Topalovic, Ekrem Tufo, Izet Sajnica, certain Kuper, certain Kalem, and certain Jasmin) murdered a large number of Croat civilians. Namely: Spomenko Lucic from the village of Gojakovac (aged 10), Ljuban Markovic, also known as "Dzendo" (murdered in his restaurant), aged over 60, and the married couple Pero and Danica Markovic, aged over 60 (murdered with firearms in their family home), then Stanisa Tesic and his wife (both aged over 60) and the wife of Vinko Bjelogrlic (murdered from firearms in her family home).

Mehmed Turcinovic, male, an ethnic Muslim. As a member of the Army BH in 1993 he participated on his own and together with other members of the Army BH in crimes (maltreatment, brutal beatings, persecution...) against Croats (civilians and captured members of the Croatian Defense Council) in the territory of the municipalities of Fojnica, Kresevo, Sarajevo-Hadzici...


Translated on December 11, 2000
HOME