Čemerno Case: Witness Voluntarily Joined the Operation

(Patria) - Protected witness of the BiH Prosecutor's Office under the pseudonym 'E' testified today in the case of Džemal Hadžić and others, in which former Territorial Defense (TO) members are accused of participating in a joint criminal enterprise in Čemerno in June 1992. Witness E told prosecutor Vladimir Simović that at the beginning of the war he was in Korita where, as an 18-year-old, he voluntarily signed up for guard duty in his hamlet. He also testified about the circumstances he was aware of from June 10, 1992, specifically about the operation to "neutralize howitzers" at Čemerno (Ilijaš municipality). Witness E was also wounded in this operation.

"Enver Čutura and I first went in front of the school in Korita. Enver told me there would be an operation to neutralize howitzers. There were 40 to 50 people in front of the school. I didn't know most of them. I heard they came from Kakanj and Breza," said the witness. He recounted that Čutura told him to go back, but he wanted to go. He said he was in a group with 10 to 12 people, including Mirsad Bešlija, and that only one person in that group had a weapon.

"Our task was to help the wounded and extract them. When we reached a ravine before the village, the people from Kakanj went a bit to the right, we stayed there in the ravine, to the left, as they told me, was supposedly Enes Durak's group," the witness pointed out.

He explained that at that time there was no formed military unit with a hierarchy, but rather that in his group, Bešlija and Čutura gave instructions. He also emphasized that during the crisis period, there was no Korita Company, but people voluntarily went on guard duty.

"There was no commander during that period. I could have said I wouldn't go on guard duty," the witness explained.

Regarding the operation itself, witness E emphasized that it was unsafe to approach the howitzers, as there was shooting from all sides, and that his group had already taken care of one wounded person before reaching the plateau where the howitzers were located.

"Then a man told us that there was a wounded person in the barn and that we should extract him. I entered the barn and there was a man lying there. I think he was already dead. I approached and pulled him by the shoulder, and as I was pulling him towards the door, I saw a grenade, which someone had thrown, it exploded and I was wounded in the leg and the back of the head. I started towards the fence, and by the second one, two comrades picked me up. Mirsad Bešlija provided first aid in a bush near the cemetery," the witness stated.

Later, he told Bešlija's defense that Mirsad went with him towards Mahmutović Rijeka. He reiterated that Mirsad Bešlija did not order him, nor did he address or order those gathered in front of the school before the operation.

Enes Durak's lawyer, Ifet Feraget, asked the witness if he had heard about the operation to neutralize the howitzers from Enver Čutura, which the witness confirmed, as well as his earlier statement that he went into the operation as a volunteer. He also recounted that besides him, Enver Čutura and another person he did not know were wounded in the barn. During cross-examination, witness E confirmed to the defense that he did not see Nusret Bešlija, Mirzet Bešlija, and Hamdija Spahić either in front of the school before the operation, or during the operation, nor did he hear that they were even at Čemerno.

We remind you that the BiH Prosecutor's Office accuses former Territorial Defense (TO) members and active and reserve police officers Džemal Hadžić, Teufik Turudić, Džemal Smola, Senad, Haris, and Benjamin Sikira, Enes Durak, Mirsad, Nusret, and Mirzet Bešlija, and Hamdija Spahić and Nehur Ganić of participating in a joint criminal enterprise in Čemerno in June 1992.