Halilovic Returns to Sarajevo a Free Man
Delight among Bosnian Muslims as ex-army officer many regard as a war hero is cleared of responsibility for massacres.
Halilovic Returns to Sarajevo a Free Man
Delight among Bosnian Muslims as ex-army officer many regard as a war hero is cleared of responsibility for massacres.
“The accused Sefer Halilovic is found not guilty and therefore acquitted of murder, a violation of the laws and customs of war as charged in the indictment…and the trial chamber orders that [he] be released immediately from the United Nations detention unit.”
When the 53-year-old former Bosnian army commander heard Judge Liu Daqun’s words on the morning of November 16, a wide grin lit up his face. The judges hearing the Halilovic trial over the last ten months had found that he is not responsible for murders of 62 Bosnian Croat civilians in the villages of Grabovica and Uzdol in September 1993, during a military operation aimed at lifting the siege of the city of Mostar.
Halilovic - who was the highest-ranking Bosnian officer in the area at that time and who allegedly commanded the troops involved in the operation - was charged on the basis of command responsibility.
But the judges decided that oral and written evidence presented by the prosecution over four months, which was supposed to support these arguments, was “insufficient”.
Halilovic’s defence team welcomed the outcome of the trial, but said it was “too early to give any comments, because the trial chamber’s decision can still be challenged by the appeals chamber”, should the prosecutors decide to appeal against it.
At the close of the trial in August this year, the prosecution had asked for ten years in prison for the former Bosnian army chief of staff.
As expected, reactions to Halilovic’s acquittal in his home country ranged from extreme joy to deep disappointment – depending on the ethnicity of his fellow citizens.
Bosnian Muslims taking part in a popular Sarajevo radio show, which devoted a full three hours to reactions, saw the judges’ decision to clear one of the founders of the Bosnian army of all charges as a sign that “the tribunal is impartial” and a proof that “not all sides in the Bosnian war are equally guilty for the crimes that were committed”.
Organisations representing former Bosnian Croat soldiers, on the other hand, said the acquittal had “crushed all [their] illusions about justice and the tribunal’s rectitude”, while the Croatian Democratic Union, HDZ, spokesman in Mostar, Miso Relota, told IWPR that the party members were “unpleasantly surprised by the acquittal”.
But there is one thing both sides agree on - the murders of innocent civilians in Grabovica and Uzdol during a military operation dubbed “Neretva 93”did take place and someone has to pay for that. But that, according to the trial chamber led by Judge Daqun, will not be Halilovic.
In their decision on November 16, the judges explained that “the prosecution failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that Sefer Halilovic was de jure or de facto commander” of the operation Neretva 93 and that he had “effective control over the troops which committed the crimes in the areas of Grabovica and Uzdol” at the time the killings took place.
Some observers regularly watching the trial found this decision “very surprising”, considering strong oral testimonies and evidence the prosecutors presented during their case.
“I must admit I am surprised by the acquittal,” said Sarajevo-based reporter for Avaz daily Sead Numanovic, who has followed Halilovic’s career closely.
When the prosecutors wrapped up their case four months after the trial had started, Numanovic’s opinion was that they had done “an exceptionally good job”, because “they brought very strong and reliable witnesses, who shed some new light on the events in Grabovica and Uzdol”.
But despite the shortest defence case in the tribunal’s history – only three witnesses who testified over seven working days, compared to the prosecution’s 38 witnesses testifying over 4 months – Halilovic found himself cleared of all charges. He was able to go home the same day the sentencing judgement was read in court.
Bosnian Muslims who participated in the popular Sarajevo radio show called “Central Prison” were delighted.
“I’m overwhelmed with joy that Halilovic has been found not guilty,” said one participant, “but those responsible for these crimes must be held accountable.”
Summarising reactions heard during the three-hour show, one of its hosts and editors, Sarajevo-based journalist Ahmed Buric, said the Muslim part of the audience was “generally content with Halilovic’s acquittal”, but also “frustrated that the real perpetrators are still walking free”.
Only two Bosnian army soldiers have been convicted so far in relation to the murders in Grabovica and Uzdol - Enes Sakrak and Mustafa Hota were sentenced to ten and nine years respectively by the Sarajevo Cantonal Court.
Sources close to the Bosnian government say the reason for such a small number of convictions related to the massacres lies in part in the fact that for a long time Bosnian Croats refused to cooperate with the authorities in Sarajevo, and witnesses didn’t want to come to the predominantly Muslim capital to testify.
The late start of the Bosnian Croat cooperation with the Hague tribunal also might have affected the ability of the prosecutors to issue strong indictments against Bosnian Muslims suspected of being involved in war crimes.
Informed observers in Sarajevo suggest that “the [Halilovic] indictment was a bit rushed out by the tribunal which wanted to show its even-handedness"..
While Halilovic was celebrating his release from prison with about one thousand friends and supporters who greeted him at the Sarajevo airport on the night of November 16, relatives of the Grabovica and Uzdol massacres didn’t hide their bitterness.
“The tribunal is a joke,” said Ante Pranjic, whose three family members were killed in Uzdol. “If [Halilovic] is not guilty, then who is?”
In an apparent attempt to provide an answer to that question, the prosecutors – who suffered a severe blow with Halilovic’s acquittal – are now trying to pin responsibility on Halilovic’s direct superior at the time when the massacres took place, former Bosnian army chief Rasim Delic.
A proposed amended indictment against Delic charges that he failed to punish those who carried out the massacres at Grabovica and Uzdol.
Ironically, one of the main argument of Halilovic’s defense team had all along been that it was Delic - not their client - who was in command of the troops who committed crimes in Grabovica ands Uzdol and that it was Delic’s responsibility to punish the perpetrators.
But although Halilovic has every reason to be satisfied with the trial chambers’ decision to clear him of all charges in his indictment, many questions remain unresolved.
“I believe the tribunal’s judges have made a good decision when they acquitted Mr Halilovic, but these crimes should not be forgotten. Those who are responsible have to be identified and brought to justice,” said moderate Bosnian Croat politician Ivo Komsic.
“Halilovic’s acquittal means a lot for the Bosnian army, of course, ” said Sead Numanovic, “but it’s time for the Bosnian politicians to finally become serious and apologise to the victims of these crimes.” It’s now up to the Bosnian judiciary, he adds, to “find and punish the perpetrators of the killings in Grabovica and Uzdol without any further delay”.
Merdijana Sadovic is a regular Sarajevo-based IWPR contributor.
