THE HAGUE/ZAGREB, Feb 25 (Hina) - Croatian composer Djelo Jusic on Wednesday rejected allegations by the defence of retired Yugoslav army general Pavle Strugar before the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague that the 6 December 1991
shelling of Dubrovnik had been provoked by Croatian troops firing from the city.
THE HAGUE/ZAGREB, Feb 25 (Hina) - Croatian composer Djelo Jusic on
Wednesday rejected allegations by the defence of retired Yugoslav army
general Pavle Strugar before the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague
that the 6 December 1991 shelling of Dubrovnik had been provoked by
Croatian troops firing from the city.#L#
Jusic, who gave his main testimony on Tuesday as a witness for the
prosecution, was questioned by Strugar's defence attorney Vladimir
Petrovic about the activities of Croatian soldiers during the Serb
siege of Dubrovnik in the autumn of 1991.
Jusic, a resident of Dubrovnik, denied that Croatian troops had fired
from the old part of the city or from hotels that had been destroyed
by the Yugoslav army.
Petrovic then proceeded with questions about the witness's three
brothers and their activities during the war.
After stating that his brother Ibrica was in Zagreb, and Kemal and
Mujica in Dubrovnik, and describing his contacts with them, Jusic
challenged the meaning of such questions, as did the presiding judge.
The defence pointed out that Mujica Jusic, Djelo's younger brother,
had played a part in the city's defence. "Mujica was a member of the
Croatian army. He took part in many combat operations and fired from
the immediate vicinity of the Old Town. The crux of the defence is
that there was combat activity out of the Old Town," Petrovic said.
Petrovic then presented the judges with a statement Mujica Jusic had
given to Hague tribunal investigators in May 2001, in which he said
that he was a member of the Croatian Army 163rd Brigade from October
1991 to 1996 and described his activities in Dubrovnik in 1991.
Djelo Jusic insisted he was unaware of his brother's military
involvement. "You are the first person I have heard it from. If he was
a Croatian soldier, then I am even more proud of him, because he
defended his home and his children."
Petrovic read excerpts from the statement in which Mujica Jusic said
that in November 1991 he and four other Croatian soldiers had been
issued with a 12.7mm Browning heavy machine-gun that was mounted on a
truck, which they used to fire on Yugoslav army positions from various
locations, including a car park near the northern walls of the Old
Town.
The witness denied any knowledge of that. "If it is true that five
young men stood up against the Yugoslav army as the third strongest
armed force in Europe, then it is terrible. Somebody should make a
film about it," Jusic said, adding that this made his brother a hero
in his eyes.
"It is only now, for the first time in 13 years, that you have found
out that your brother is a hero," Petrovic said sceptically,
challenging the credibility of Jusic's testimony.
The witness is to complete his testimony on Thursday.
(Hina) vm sb