On 14 September 1993, hostilities broke out between members of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina (ABiH) and the Croatian Defence Council (HVO) in the Bosnian Croat village of Uzdol, not far from Mostar. During the hostilities, many Bosnian Croat civilians were killed. The attack came shortly after acts of violence committed by ABiH soldiers in Grabovica, also inhabited by Bosnian Croats. Bosnian commander Sefer Halilović was indicted by ICTY for crimes in these areas, but was found not to be in effective control of the troops who committed crimes. The Tribunal found that some of the killings in Uzdol were particularly cruel. Anica Stojanović was half-seated on the ground next to her house when a soldier, standing three metres away from her, killed her by a shot to the head. In Grabovica, acts of violence started occurring on 8th of September. Shooting was heard throughout the village, all through the night. One witness testified that she heard women wailing, and that she was “just quiet sitting on the floor and awaiting her fate”. The Trial Chamber took particular note of the callous way in which a soldier killed villager Pero Marić, who was sitting at a table, facing his murderer.
Posted on: Sun, 14 Sep 2014 12:00:01 +0000