TRIAL OF CROATIAN WAR CRIMINAL PAŠKO LJUBIČIĆ TO CONTINUE ON NOVEMBER 22

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (November 13,2007) - Prosecution witness Ramiza Mrkonja has told the Bosnian State Court yesterday about what happened in the Bosnian village of Ahmici on April 16, 1993, when she was deported from her house and her husband and son were murdered by the Croatian aggressor.

"I heard shooting and I saw my Sabahudin and Samir falling down," Mrkonja said at the trial of Croatian war criminal Pasko Ljubicic, which is currently being heard before the Bosnian State Court in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo.

The Prosecution of BiH charges Ljubicic in his former capacity as commander of the Croatian aggressor's formations, which also included the "Jokers" Squad.

The indictment alleges that Croatian war criminal Pasko Ljubicic planned and ordered the attack on Bosnian towns of Vitez and Busovaca and the surrounding villages during the Croatian aggression against Bosnia in the early 1990's.

Mrkonja said that, on April 16, 1993 a few Croatian aggressor's soldiers in black uniforms, whose faces were masked, came to her house in Ahmici. After her whole family was forced to leave the house, the Croatian aggressor's soldiers singled out her husband and 17-year old son..

The women and children found shelter near the village and watched what was going on. A few hours later they saw UNPROFOR members entering the village and collecting the bodies and wounded people and looking for survivors. The people they found, including Ramiza, were taken to Travnik, which was controlled by the Bosnian Army.

The indictment alleges that, in the course of the attack on Ahmici, about 100 Bosnian civilians were killed, their houses were destroyed and two mosques were destroyed by the Croatian aggressor.

Protected witness "I" told the court that he was arrested by the Croatian aggressor in his house on April 15, and claims to have been taken to Kaonik concentration camp together with his brother. He stayed there until June 19.

The witness described the conditions in the concentration camp as inhumane. He said that the detained Bosnian civilians did not have food and had to perform forced labour at the frontlines. He also said that some prisoners were maltreated and that he "heard" that this was done by the "Jokers" members.

During cross-examination, the defence asked the witness to tell the court who "told him" that the "Jokers" members had maltreated the prisoners. The witness responded by saying that he "does not remember the name of the prisoner, but he was from Zavidovici".

The trial of Croatian war criminal Pasko Ljubicic is due to continue before the Bosnian State Court on November 22.