Evidence has shown 'beyond reasonable doubt' that members of the El Mujahid Detachment were responsible for the crimes in the village of Bikosi in June 1993 and for the killings in the village of Livade and the Kamenica camp in July and September 1995, the prosecutor contends in the closing arguments at the trial of General Rasim Delic. The former commander of the BH Army General Staff knew of the crimes yet he failed to do anything to prevent the Mujahideen, who were part of the BH Army chain of command, and punish them


In the first part of the prosecution closing arguments at the trial of Rasim Delic, former commander of the BH Army General Staff, the prosecutor quoted documents and testimonies that he claims prove that the El Mujahid Detachment members executed twenty five Croat civilians and HVO prisoners of war in the village of Bikosi near Travnik on 8 June 1993. General Delic, the prosecution claims, was told about the crime and it was his duty to punish the perpetrators who were part of the BH Army chain of command, as the prosecution alleges.

The Mujahideen were a 'small unit and could not fight without coordination with others' prosecutor Menon added, noting that the El Mujahid Detachment was 'either de facto subordinated to the BH Army 3rd Corps or de facto its part'.

The prosecution closing arguments are actually a rebuttal of paragraphs in the defense final brief, and prosecutor Wood rejected all the allegations made by Delic's defense counsel. Vasvija Vidovic contends that there is no evidence to prove who killed the victims in the Kamenica camp in July 1995 and how it was done. In its final brief the defense went on to say that 'one of the prisoners of war is responsible for his own death because in agony he swore in the presence of an armed man'. In the words of the prosecutor, this allegation was ‘without any merit'.

The Trial Chamber was showed post mortem reports for the remains of two VRS soldiers, Predrag Knezevic and Momir Mitrovic. As alleged by the prosecution, they were captured by the Mujahideen and then taken to the village of Livade. In the view of the prosecution, the reports confirm the identity of the victims, how they died and where they were killed. According to prosecution witnesses, both men were decapitated. ‘Blood was spurting out of the heads', the witnesses say, and their limbs were tied with green rope and wire. As the prosecutor put it, the way they died points to the conclusion that the members of the El Mujahideen Detachment were responsible.

Evidence 'beyond reasonable doubt' showed that the El Mujahid Detachment members were responsible for the fate of some sixty VRS soldiers who were taken to the Kamenica camp together with three women after the fall of Vozuca on 11 September 1995, the prosecution contends. They went missing afterwards and are presumed dead.

The BH Army, prosecutor Neuner clarified, had effective control over the El Mujahid Detachment. Contrary to the defense claims, the detachment was not 'horizontally linked' with the 3rd Corp but was subordinated to it. The El Mujahid Detachment operated constantly within the area of responsibility of the BH Army and the Mujahideen, the prosecution claims, and always sought permission from the BH Army before launching its attacks. Also, the BH Army trained the Mujahideen in its camps. Although there is no paper trail for the meetings between the members of the El Mujahid Detachment and the 3rd Corps command, the prosecutor contends that the arrangements were planned 'face to face'. The prosecutor corroborated this claim with photographs of participants of the meetings he showed today in the courtroom.

Quoting from the testimony of Dzemal Vuckovic, former analyst in the Security Administration of the BH Army, the prosecutor noted that there was a 'system in place for relaying the information to General Delic’ who, as he alleged, 'knew about the operations the El Mujahid Detachment was involved in' when he 'ordered the fighting to start on all front lines'. The prosecution will conclude its closing arguments tomorrow and is expected to call for a sentence they consider appropriate for General Delic.

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