ĐURIĆ: IF THERE WERE EVEN A GRAIN OF JUSTICE, MAHMULJIN WOULD BE IN PRISON

DOBOJ, DECEMBER 2 /SRNA/ – If there were even a grain of justice in the judiciary of BiH, convicted war criminal Sakib Mahmuljin, wartime commander of the Third Corps of the so-called Army of BiH, under whose structure the "El Mujahideen" detachment operated, would today be serving a multi-year prison sentence instead of living carefree somewhere in Turkey, Ninko Đurić, representative of the Vijenac, Vozuća and Others Association of War Prisoners, told SRNA.

He stressed that, due to the monstrous crimes committed against Serbs from the Vozuća region, the Krivaja River valley and southern Ozren, Mahmuljin should be accompanied in prison by many members of the Third Corps who on Monday, December 1, celebrated in Maglaj the 33rd anniversary of the establishment of this notorious formation of the so-called Army of BiH.

Đurić says he possesses facsimiles from Mahmuljin's personal diary directly linking him to the mujahideen and the final attack on Vozuća on September 10, 1995, adding that he will publish these documents, along with others from that period, in his book to be published next year.

MAHMULJIN’S UNIMPEDED FLIGHT TO TURKEY WAS NO COINCIDENCE

Đurić, who was captured in 1995 on the third day of the breakthrough of Vozuća, in the Lozna area, by members of the so-called Army of BiH, emphasizes that Mahmuljin’s unimpeded escape to Turkey was no coincidence.

"Former Bosniak influential politician Haris Silajdžić and his sister Sadžida, who served as honorary consul in Istanbul, were key in bringing in the mujahideen, for whom Mahmuljin was later in command within the Third Corps," said Đurić, who spent seven full months in captivity, including 139 days in solitary confinement.

He claims that this same mujahideen route, from Istanbul to BiH, specifically Vozuća, enabled Mahmuljin to flee to Turkey after the BiH Court's Appellate Panel sentenced him in 2022 to eight years in prison.

Đurić, who was captured as a journalist, states that Mahmuljin and Silajdžić prevented him from being exchanged for two Turkish journalists, as the intention was to hide him at the Husinska Buna Barracks and turn him into a false witness before the International Criminal Tribunal in The Hague.

MAHMULJIN'S ESCAPE AND ABU MALI'S KILLING PREVENTED THEIR TESTIMONY

He recalled that in 1997 he and members of the Vijenac, Vozuća and Others Association of War Prisoners sent a letter to then-Hague Chief Prosecutor Louis Arbour containing testimonies about the monstrous war crimes committed by the mujahideen and other members of the Third Corps of the so-called Army of BiH against Serb civilians, soldiers and prisoners of war from the Vozuća and Zavidovići areas.

According to him, these crimes unfortunately drew the attention of the international public only after commanders and members of those notorious units began organizing attacks with high death toll in Western countries. One of the responses to this was the three-year sentence handed down by the Hague Tribunal to former Chief of Staff of the so-called Army of BiH Rasim Delić, which the war criminal never served due to his death.

"Besides Delić and Mahmuljin, no one else has been held accountable for the crimes in Vozuća," Đurić stated.

He believes the lack of interest by the BiH judiciary to bring other perpetrators to justice, despite abundant evidence, stems partly from the fact that Mahmuljin's unhindered escape and the alleged killing of `El Mujahideen` commander Abu Mali /real name Abdel Kader Mokhtari/ prevented them from testifying in other cases.

On Monday, December 1, a parade was held in Maglaj to mark the central celebration of the 33rd anniversary of the establishment of the Third Corps of the so-called Army of BiH, whose two wartime commanders were convicted of war crimes against Serbs, and one died after being indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal in The Hague.

In 2001, the International Tribunal indicted the Corps' first wartime commander, Enver Hadžihasanović, who was found guilty in 2006 for war crimes against Serbs and Croats in the Zenica and Bugojno areas. His sentence of five years and six months was reduced to three and a half years on appeal in 2008.

The second wartime commander, Mehmed Alagić, died in 2003 ahead of a pre-trial conference before the Tribunal, where he was charged with murder, violence to life and person, cruel treatment, wanton destruction of towns and villages not justified by military necessity, plunder of public or private property, and destruction or wilful damage to religious buildings.

Alagić was accused of war crimes, intentional killings, inflicting great suffering, serious bodily harm, inhumane treatment, unlawful detention of civilians, and extensive destruction of property not justified by military necessity.

The third wartime commander, Sakib Mahmuljin, fled from serving his eight-year sentence for the monstrous crimes committed against captured Serb civilians, medical personnel, and soldiers in the Vozuća and Zavidovići areas in 1995.

The BiH Court's Appellate Panel issued a final verdict in late April 2022, sentencing Mahmuljin to eight years in prison for these crimes. The initial 10-year sentence was overruled by this decision.

Mahmuljin has been on the run for three years, and even an Interpol warrant has not led to his being located and brought to serve his sentence.