Lašva Valley ethnic cleansing
[2] Based on the evidence of numerous HVO attacks at that time, the ICTY Trial Chamber concluded in the Kordić and Čerkez case that by April 1993 Croat leadership had a common design or plan conceived and executed to ethnically cleanse Bosniaks from the Lašva Valley.[2] Further concluding that the Croatian Army was involved in the campaign, the ICTY defined the events as an international conflict between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia.[1] In April 1992, the leader of the HDZ in Vitez, Anto Valenta, told the municipality's Bosniak representatives that they should take their orders from the self-proclaimed Croatian Community of Herzeg-Bosnia.In June 1992, Croat military formations took over the headquarters in Vitez and the Municipal Assembly building and raised the flags of Herzeg-Bosnia and of Croatia.Later, in November 1992, the municipality introduced new taxes and asked members of staff to sign a declaration of allegiance to the new Croat Government, threatening those that did not obey with dismissal.On 10 May 1992, Dario Kordić and Ivo Brnada decided to revoke the arms distribution agreement which had been concluded with the Bosnian Territorial Defence, seize all weapons, and take control of the barracks.By a decree dated 22 May 1992, Dario Kordić and Florian Glavočević proceeded to give the HVO general administrative powers over the municipality.[1] The ICTY Trial Chamber in the Kordić and Čerkez case decided that the weight of the evidence points clearly to the persecution of Bosniak civilians in the Central Bosnian municipalities taken over by the Croat forces: Busovača, Novi Travnik, Vareš, Kiseljak, Vitez, Kreševo and Žepče.The persecution followed a consistent pattern in each municipality and demonstrated that the HVO had launched a campaign against the Bosniaks in them with the hope that the self-proclaimed Croatian Community of Herzeg-Bosnia should secede from Bosnia and Herzegovina and with a view towards unification with Croatia.[2] By December 1992, the situation in Central Bosnia was this: the Croat forces had taken control of the municipalities of the Lašva Valley and had only met significant opposition in Novi Travnik and Ahmići.[2] Gornji Vakuf is a town to the south of the Lašva Valley and of strategic importance at a crossroads en route to Central Bosnia.[2] On 10 January 1993, just before the outbreak of hostilities in Gornji Vakuf, the HVO commander Luka Šekerija, sent a "Military – Top Secret" request to Colonel Blaškić and Dario Kordić for rounds of mortar shells available at the ammunition factory in Vitez.[2] Fighting then broke out in Gornji Vakuf on 11 January 1993, sparked by a bomb which had been placed by Croats in a Bosniak-owned hotel that had been used as a military headquarters.Women and children (around 20 in total) were allowed to return home and the men (70 in all), some as young as 14–16 years, were loaded onto buses and taken to Kaonik camp.In a message from Kordić, Ignac Koštroman and Anto Valenta, the Croat people were told to display more Croatian flags on buildings.According to several international observers, the attack occurred from three sides and was designed to force the fleeing population towards the south where elite marksmen with particularly sophisticated weapons shot those escaping.According to the ECMM practically all the Bosnian Muslim houses in the villages of Ahmići, Nadioci, Pirići, Sivrino Selo, Gaćice, Gomionica, Gromiljak and Rotilj had been burned.The Džokeri (Jokers), an anti-terrorist squad with twenty or so members, were created in January 1993 from within the Military Police on the order of Zvonko Voković, whose mission was to carry out special assignments such as sabotage, stationed at the bungalow in Nadioci.Bosniak areas of Vitez and Krušćica were attacked by Croat artillery, which increased during the morning and included mortar fire of various calibre.The period was characterized by confrontations of varying intensity, in particular by a violent attack on 18 July 1993 when a great many homemade weapons known as "baby bombs" were fired on Stari Vitez and killed many Bosniaks.[1][2] On 18 April 1993 a tanker containing 500 kilograms of explosives exploded near the mosque in Stari Vitez, destroying the offices of the Bosnian War Presidency, killing at least six people and injuring 50 others.The ICTY accepted that this action was a piece of pure terrorism committed by elements within the Croat forces, as an attack on the Bosniak population of Stari Vitez.According to witnesses, Paško Ljubičić, later accused of war crimes by ICTY, was the leader of the unit that had attacked the village and that he had been ordered to do so by brigadier Duško Grubešić, commander of the Zrinski Brigade of HVO, to "cleanse Muslims" from the area.The HVO infantry entered Svinjarevo and the neighbouring villages of Rauševac, Puriševo, Japojrevo and Jehovac, torched several houses belonging to Bosnian Muslims and killed ten civilians.[1] When ECMM monitors visited the villages they found almost all the Bosnian Muslims had left, their houses had been burned and they concluded that ethnic cleansing had taken place in the area.These photographs show scenes of devastation in the market area, bodies lying on the ground, destroyed cars, a demolished bus shelter and damaged buildings.[2] On 19 April, the ECMM reported a sharp deterioration of the situation in Central Bosnia, a possible explanation being the suspected aim of the Croats to take over the territory of the two provinces while the world's attention was focused on Srebrenica.[2] Under the chairmanship of the ECMM, on 21 April 1993 negotiations took place between the Croatian Defence Council and Bosnian Army with the aim of securing a cessation of the fighting and separation of the forces.[2] The ICTY Trial Chamber in the Kordić and Čerkez case found that Bosniaks were systematically subjected to arbitrary imprisonment for which there was no justification.Anto Breljaš, a Croat soldier confirmed as a witness in the Kordić trial, said that there were about 350 Bosniak prisoners (men, women and children) in the school.
Bosnian WarCroat–Bosniak WarTravnikMikhail EvstafievLašva ValleyCoordinatesBosniaksEthnic cleansingCroatian nationalistswar crimesCroatian Community of Herzeg-BosniaBosnian MuslimBosnia-HerzegovinaCroat nationalistsmass murderwartime sexual violenceimprisonmentBusovačaNovi TravnikKiseljakcrimes against humanityDario KordićCroatian ArmyCroatiaYugoslav warsBosnia and HerzegovinaRepublic of CroatiaCroatian Democratic UnionMate BobanJadranko PrlićFranjo TuđmanGojko ŠušakTihomir BlaškićBosnian ArmyLaissez-PasserYugoslav People's ArmyBosnianultimatumrefugeesmistreatmentVarešKreševoŽepčecampaignAhmićiGornji VakufcrossroadsHerzegovinamortarshellsammunitionartillerycease-firenegotiationsBritbatcolonelshellingAhmići massacreCroatsCroat Defence CouncilMostarReutersdeadlineIzetbegovićunilaterallyjurisdictionKordićinhabitantsmarksmeninfantryminaretpoint blankZenicasabotagemortar fireoffensiveArmy of Bosnia and HerzegovinacamouflageuniformsGrenadesMuslimseminariesexplosivesterrorismincendiarywitnessesbrigadiercommanderevacuationpatternD-30 J HowitzersFojnicaagreementdismissalSrebrenicaCroatian Defence CouncilZagrebPresident Izetbegovićhostageshuman shieldsdetaineeshygienemilitary policeguardsZlatko AleksovskiWayback MachineWarriorsBosniaArmy of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina1st Corps2nd Corps3rd Corps4th Corps5th Corps6th Corps7th CorpsPatriotic LeagueGreen BeretsCroatian Defence ForcesBosnian mujahideenArmy of Republika Srpska1st Krajina CorpsWolves of VučjakWhite EaglesSerb Volunteer GuardScorpions