Delic Authority Over Mujahedin Under Scrutiny

A witness testifying this week at the trial of former Bosnian army chief Rasim Delic said foreign Muslim fighters, or mujahedin, were formally part of the Bosnian army’s 3rd Corps, but he was not always informed of their activities.



Former chief of staff of the Army of Bosnia-Herzegovina, AbiH, 3rd Corps General Kadir Jusic also told the court that mujahedin had a key role in the 1995 operation dubbed Farz, aimed at gaining control over the Vozuca area in central Bosnia in September 1995.



Delic is on trial for allegedly failing to take the required steps to prevent or punish mujahedin who allegedly executed and mistreated tens of captured Serb soldiers and civilians during 1995, especially those seized after the Vozuca operation.



He is also charged with crimes mujahedin allegedly committed against captured Bosnian Croat civilians and soldiers in the villages of Maline and Bikosi in central Bosnia’s Travnik municipality in June 1993.



At the time of the indictment, Delic was commander of the ABiH main staff. According to prosecutors, in August 1993, he ordered the creation within the ABiH 3rd Corps area of responsibility of the "El Mujahed" unit comprising foreign volunteers.



They further claim that after it was set up, the unit was subordinated to the 3rd Corps, until the unit's disbandment on December 12, 1995.



The prosecution is trying to prove that mujahedin were effectively under Delic’s command and control, while the defence maintains that the foreign fighters were “impossible to control” and the accused was not aware of the crimes they committed.



Testifying at Delic trial this week, General Jusić said that the El Mujahed unit was “formally and in organisational terms” part of the 3rd Corps from mid 1993 until the end of war in 1995.



Jusic, who was regarded as one of the most educated of the wartime Bosnian army officers, said the commander of the El Mujahed unit was foreign fighter Abu Mali. The witness said the unit’s base was close to the Zavidovici-Luka road, and that he passed by it several times in 1995.



He said El Mudjahid was formally subordinated to the 3rd Corps in August 1993, and by 1995 it was also subordinated to Operational Group “Bosnian Krajina” and the 35th Division, which were both incorporated in the 3rd Corps.



Jusic told the judges that in 1995, the 3rd Corps disbanded the El Mujahed unit.



“Mujahedin were demobilised and their weapons were taken away,” he said. “I know that the 3rd Corps’ personnel were involved in all activities that led to demobilisation of this unit.”



During the cross examination of the witness, defence counsel for the accused Vasvija Vidovic put it to the witness that Delic couldn’t have known about the activities of the El Mujahed unit because information about their participation in military operations hadn’t been included in the 3rd Corps’ regular reports to the army chief.



“If something is not mentioned in the report to the [army chief], then [he] can’t take a stand, nor make a decision about it?” Vidovic asked the witness, to which he replied, “Of course, that is the case.”



Answering the questions put by the defence, Jusic said that mujahedin were not present at official briefings of units subordinated 3rd Corps’ command.



The defence also put it to the witness that between 1993 and 1994, the 3rd Corps brought charges related to 800 cases of criminal behaviour of its soldiers, which proves that misdemeanors was being punished by the Corps’ commanders.



“I don’t know about that,” replied the witness, saying that only after the war did he find out that the military investigated crimes committed by foreign fighters as well.



The next witness who took stand was General Sead Delić, ex-commander of the 2nd Corps, who is not related to the accused. He was called by the prosecution to describe military operations carried out by ABiH and the composition of its units.



The witness said he couldn’t say for sure which units participated in Operation Farz, but he confirmed that at that time of the operation, he saw mujahedin among the Bosnian soldiers.



In a separate development, video footage was posted on YouTube with General Rasim Delic allegedly saying that the El Mujahed unit was part of the command and control system of the Bosnian army.



The authenticity of the footage could not be independently verified.



According to the Bosnian media, the spokeswoman for the Office of the Prosecutor, OTP, Olga Kavran, said the prosecution would seek the admission into evidence of this footage, because it could be central to the prosecution’s case.

However, Vidovic insisted that such a move would “engender deep prejudice in the public about his guilt and jeopardise the right of the accused to a fair trial“.



Vidovic added that Kavran's announcemnt was heard by all the witnesses the prosecution intends to call, and could seriosuly affect their evidence.



Goran Jungvirth is an IWPR contributor in Zagreb.