Praljak Speaks of Struggle to Control HVO Soldiers
He says that a huge number of Bosnian Croat troops didn’t listen to orders.
Praljak Speaks of Struggle to Control HVO Soldiers
He says that a huge number of Bosnian Croat troops didn’t listen to orders.
Former Bosnian Croat official Slobodan Praljak testified at the Hague tribunal this week that the military wing of wartime Bosnian Croat entity Herceg-Bosna was unprofessional and out of control.
Praljak is indicted for war crimes along with Jadranko Prlic, Bruno Stolic, Milivoj Petkovic, Valentin Coric and Berislav Pusic. The six are accused of responsibility for the expulsion, rape, torture and murder of Bosnian Muslims and other non-Croats, between late 1991 and early 1994, as part of an alleged plan to ethnically cleanse parts of Bosnia in order to later join them to a Greater Croatia.
According to the indictment, Praljak served during the Bosnian war as Croatia's liaison to the Herceg-Bosna government and armed forces, acting as a conduit for instructions from the then Croatian president Franjo Tudjman and other officials.
The indictment says that through his various positions and functions, Praljak exercised control over the local Croatian Council of Defence, HVO, armed forces, and was responsible for their logistics, organisation, planning, training, deployment, as well as strategic and combat orders.
But Praljak said in court this week that the HVO force was far from organised or even manageable.
“We didn’t have good organisation because we weren’t a professional army,” said Praljak. “We didn’t have protocols for such a situation [as existed then]. We couldn’t control the units.”
Praljak gave examples of units operating in central Bosnia, in the towns of Bugojno and Gornji Vakuf, and in Herzegovina in the town of Livno.
“Believe me, a huge number of soldiers didn’t listen to orders. You are trying in every possible way to control them but there is no way to do that, not even if you are screaming and intimidating them,” he said.
“I even gave orders in which I tried to scare them by telling them that their comrades will kill them if they don’t listen. Of course, that was only an empty threat. I just tried to scare them.”
Swiss judge Stephan Trechsel interjected, saying, “General Praljak, your claim involves a huge number of soldiers. On the basis of your claim, I have the impression that most Croats didn’t want to fight, but rather they were coerced by nationalistic leaders?”
“No, your honour, that is not true,” replied Praljak.
“You have to keep in mind that 80 per cent of these people went to war on a voluntary basis. No one could force them to fight if they didn’t want to. They had a chance to go west, over to Croatian territory.
“All these fighters were there on a voluntary basis, and that is why it was so difficult to create order among them. I already said it was not a professional army that could understand the idea of duties and commands.”
Judge Antonetti then asked Praljak to explain what he did after he had heard from the HVO police “that the soldiers of Mladen Naletelic were carrying out ethnic cleansing” in Herceg-Bosna.
In 2003, the Hague tribunal sentenced Bosnian Croat paramilitary leader Mladen Naletilic – also known as Tuta – to 20 years in prison for wanton destruction, plunder, persecutions, expulsions, unlawful labour and torture of Bosnian Muslims captives, whom he used as slave workers and as human shields in the front lines.
Praljak replied that he didn’t know anything about this.
He stressed that the only means he had of disciplining troops “was to deal with them without a trial”.
“I could judge them only with a gun. That means that I would have to commit a crime in order to punish crimes which were already committed. My only way was to use guns with Mladen’s people and, in that way, anarchy was created in my system,” he said.
Judge Antonetti then drew a parallel with the Bosnian army which he said had managed to tackle a similar difficulty.
“But the Bosnian army command found a way to solve that problem. Why didn’t you do the same with your units, General Praljak?” Judge Antonetti asked the accused.
“Your Honour, I could not solve that problem with 300 or more people,” responded the defendant.
Referring to the actions of Naletilic’s paramilitaries, Praljak said that he “never saw the [Bosnian Muslim] prisoners and didn’t have any information that some war prisoners were taken to the front line where they had to work”.
“In August 1993, when I heard that a number of prisoners were working on the Mostar military front line, I gave an order that we must withdraw them from there,” he added.
The defence team then presented the order for withdrawals with Praljak’s signature.
When asked by the trial chamber what he did to punish the officer who ordered prisoners to go to the front line, Praljak said “nothing”.
“I claim that this did not happen in my zone of responsibility or in the zone of responsibility of our main headquarters. We didn’t have anything to do with that,” he said.
“I also did not have any authority in the military prisons because I didn’t get any complaints from my soldiers. Had I got complaints from my soldiers, I would have asked for an investigation.”
Judge Stephan Trechsel then asked for further clarification.
“I don’t get your point, General Praljak,” he said.
“First, you claim that you don’t have any authority or responsibility, and then you claim that if one of your soldiers had complained, you would have asked for an investigation. It is very contradictory.”
“I could not give any orders, but I could ask for an investigation if they had complained,” said Praljak. “In that case, I would have tried [to intervene].”
The trial continues next week.
Velma Saric is an IWPR-trained journalist in Sarajevo.
