Testimony of HVO General Matuzović Further Reveals Croatia's Role During the War in BiH

HVO General Đuro Matuzović, wartime commander of the Orašje defense, who is the primary suspect in a group of ten HVO members arrested on Monday on suspicion of war crimes against Serb prisoners and civilians in Orašje during 1992 and 1993, shifts responsibility for war crimes to the Croatian Army and its commanders, Jutarnji list reports.

- Matuzović will defend himself with the truth. The BiH Prosecutor's Office is charging him with war crimes based on command responsibility, which would mean he failed to prevent crimes against prisoners and civilians, and if he couldn't prevent them, that he failed to punish those responsible. The truth, however, is that Matuzović could not prevent or punish crimes because he was not at the top of the chain of command, but rather officers of the Croatian Army were - said his lawyer Almin Dautbegović.

He recalled that based on the Tuđman - Izetbegović agreement from July 1992, which also spoke of military cooperation between the HV and the BiH army, the HV was actively involved in the defense of Bosanska Posavina. The Main Staff of the HVO was in Posušje and, according to the lawyer, had no communication with the units in Orašje.

- At the top of the hierarchy was an HV officer who commanded the Operational Group Eastern Posavina, whose headquarters were in Slavonski Brod. He established an advance command post 65 kilometers from Slavonski Brod, near Orašje, and was superior to all units operating in that area. Thus, HV units, HVO units, as well as members of the military and civilian police - said Matuzović's lawyer, not wishing to name the HV officer who, in his opinion, should be sitting in the dock instead of Matuzović.

When asked if his theses about command responsibility are proven by documents from Croatian archives that have been raising tensions in the Croatian political leadership and among HV officers for days, lawyer Dautbegović replied that the "Croatian Archive selectively provided documents to the BiH Prosecutor's Office, and that it chose only those that support the accusations against the ten arrested HVO members, including Matuzović".

- But fortunately, there are also private archives - emphasized the lawyer and concluded that Matuzović will not be held responsible for others.
Thus, after three days of intensive search for those responsible for "selectively providing documents to BiH investigators", he turned the tables with the thesis that Croatian authorities manipulated documentation and archives, and very selectively provided documents, but that the "truth" is still hidden in private archives.