Naturally, nobody reasonable is disputing that crimes were committed against the Bosniak population in the bloody conflict. The gruesome Ahmici, Vitez Municipality and Stupni Dol murders are especially not being denied. At the same time, no reasonable Croat disputes the fact that somebody will have to answer for those crimes. However, at the same time one has to ask the question from the beginning of this article: is justice equal for all? It is not!
The bloody series of Muslim crimes is long and spans from Dusine (Croatian settlement on the border between the municipalities of Zenica, Kakanj, and Busovaca) on January 25, 1993 (80 days prior to the Ahmici crimes), when 14 disarmed Croatian Defense Council (HVO) [Bosnian Croat militia] soldiers were killed and massacred. This was also the first such crime and massacre that introduced the bloodiest and most horrible twist to the Croat-Muslim conflict. There were numerous other such massacres, including those of Croats in Travnik, Zenica, Kakanj, and some committed as much as three to four years after the war ended.
After Dusine and on the same day of the Ahmici murders (April 16, 1993) Muslim soldiers killed 20 civilians in Poculica (Vitez Municipality), in the Zenica area village of Cajdras, and in Zenica, itself. At the same time a few hundred Croats from Poculica and Zenica were detained in the meeting hall, prison and in the Zenica Music School. A day earlier, one day prior to the beginning of the bloody Central Bosnia conflict, Muslim soldiers killed four HVO soldiers accompanying Zivko Totic, the commander of the Zenica Jure Francetic Brigade, who had been imprisoned.
In May 1993, Mujahedeen massacred five civilian residents of Miletici (Travnik area). This was recorded on video and there are numerous other documents about this crime. Even the names of some of the perpetrators are known. At the beginning of June, when the exodus of Travnik Croats began, 36 detained soldiers, wounded and civilians were executed in the Maljine village, including women and the elderly.
The search is still on for 24 of the execution victims. The survivors identified the unit and individuals that committed this crime before the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and domestic courts. The Travnik area village of Orosac was a base for Mujahedeen who left blood in each of their footsteps. Ritual slaughters (beheading) were also performed in Orosac by domestic Mujahedeen. A well-known victim of these "rituals" was Travnik resident Dragan Popovic.
In the Vitez suburb of Kamenjace, a Muslim shell fired on June 10, 1993 killed 8 children while they were playing. It is known from where the shell was fired and which unit fired it.
The largest Croatian killing fields in Central Bosnia were in Krizanicevo Selo and Buhina Kuca. In the "Bloody Christmas Eve" operation on December 22, 1993, Muslim troops killed and massacred 64 captured soldiers and civilians in Krizanicevo Selo and on January 9, 1994 Muslim troops killed and massacred 36 detained soldiers and civilians.
However, unfortunately, it has to be concluded that not one of the mentioned (and unmentioned) crimes has been processed. Nevertheless, it should be pointed out that in the war and post-war period, while the Croatian and Muslim judiciaries were separate, the high Vitez public prosecutor requested investigations against 687 Bosniak and 2 Serb residents in 1996. Based on criminal complaints, witness testimony, and other relevant evidence there was a well-founded suspicion that those individuals had committed war crimes.
Among them were many well known individuals (Bugojno and Zenica mayors Dzevad Mlaco and Besim Spahic, Gen. Mehmed Alagic and Enver Hadzihasanovic, Muslim Armed Forces Commander in Zenica Serif Patkovic, Commander of the 306th Army of Bosnia-Herzegovina Brigade Esad Spahic, the then Interior Minister of the Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina Bakir Alispahic, Special Forces of the Interior Ministry of the Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina Commander Dragan Vikic, Commander of the Kresevo Civilian Police Esad Naredin, Commander of the Bugojno Defense Headquarters Abdulah Jelec, Head of Security for the 307th Muslim Armed Forces Brigade Enes Handzic, who is now highly-ranked in the federation interior ministry...), and a series of other less well-known individuals.
Dominik Ilijasevic Como and Vladimir Buzuk were arrested based on similar charges filed by cantonal courts in Sarajevo and Zenica, while an unknown number of Central Bosnia Croats (rumor has it that the number is 133 plus 9) are still on the "waiting list".
The reason why Bosniak residents suspected of committing war crimes against Croats have not been arrested up to now might very well lie in the words recently uttered by United Nations Mission to Bosnia-Hercegovina Spokesperson Douglas Kofman, who said that, "there is no need for that because Bosniak courts are processing war crimes suspects." However, according to our information, aside from the sloppy process of the so-called Grabovica case, not one crime committed against Croats has been processed up to now.