Hadzihasanovic and Kubura are charged with war crimes committed against Croat civilians and members of Bosnia's Croat Defence Council (HVO) during the 1993 Croat-Muslim conflict in central Bosnia.
Hadzihasanovic's counsel Stephane Bourgon said the defence would introduce such evidence that the trial chamber would have no choice but acquit his client of all charges. He added the defence would call at least 70 witnesses who would illustrate the historical, political and military aspect of the conflict.
Bourgon drew attention to the connection between the indictment against Hadzihasanovic and Kubura and that against Tihomir Blaskic and Dario Kordic, saying they were two sides of the same coin, namely events which occurred during the conflict in central Bosnia.
Bourgon quoted from the prosecution's opening arguments in the Blaskic trial in 1997 according to which HVO troops ethnically cleansed parts of central Bosnia in 1993 by using methods which no responsible commander would condone in attacks on Muslim villages and civilians.
Bourgon said that many of the crimes which in the indictment were attributed to the ABiH Third Corps were committed by the Mujahedeen. He cited as examples the crimes committed in the villages Miletici, Maline, and Orasac.
The counsel said the Mujahedeen did more harm than good to the Third Corps, which he added the HVO propaganda used to smear the ABiH's name.
The indictment charges Hadzihasanovic, 54, on command responsibility with seven counts of violations of the customs and laws of war for the murder, cruel treatment, forced labour, taking of hostages, wanton destruction of towns and villages, plunder, and destruction of sacral buildings. At the time, he was the commander of the Third Corps.
Forty-year-old Kubura was at the time chief of staff and deputy commander of the seventh Muslim mountain brigade, which was part of the Third Corps. The indictment charges him on command responsibility with six counts for the same crimes, except the destruction of sacral buildings.
According to the indictment, during the ABiH's armed conflict with the HVO and the Croatian Army in the spring and summer of 1993, Third Corps units executed a series of attacks on towns and villages in Zenica, Travnik, and Kakanj municipalities which claimed the lives of a minimum 200 civilians -- Croats and Serbs -- while many more were wounded. In a series of cases, the ABiH killed the HVO soldiers who surrendered.
Hadzihasanovic is charged with the murder of six HVO prisoners of war and one civilian in Dusina, a village in Zenica Municipality, on 26 January 1993, the murder of four HVO POWs in Miletici, a village in Travnik Municipality, on 24 April 1993, and the murder of some 30 Croat civilians and HVO POWs in Malina/Bikosi, a village in the same area, on 8 June 1993.
Hadzihasanovic and Kubura are charged with unlawful arrest and the harassment of detainees in makeshift camps and jails in Zenica, Travnik, Bugojno, Kakanj, and Vares municipalities.
Amongst other things, they are charged with the murder of five detainees, four or which, HVO members, were beaten to death, while the fifth, a Serb, was ritualistically beheaded. According to the indictment, this was perpetrated by Mujahedeen subordinate to the Operations Group Bosanska Krajina, which was part of the ABiH Third Corps, at the Orasac camp on 20 October 1993.
The Hadzihasanovic-Kubura trial started on 2 December 2003. Over 29 weeks, the prosecution called 87 witnesses, ending the presentation of evidence on 23 July 2004.
The third indictee in the case, Mehmed Alagic, commander of the Operations Group Bosanska Krajina, died on 7 March 2003 while on provisional release.