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Located at: Homepage » War crimes » War crimes » Vitez

Vitez

According to the official results of the 1991 census, the Vitez district had 27,728 residents:

12,679 Croats (45,7%)
11,471 Moslems (41,4%)
1,502 Serbs (5,4%)
2,076 others (7,5%)

During the Serbian aggression against Bosnia-Herzegovina (1992), the Vitez district area was attacked by the former YPA planes on the eve of Low Sunday (April 26th 1992). A considerable damage was done to residential and farm buildings. By mid-October 1992, the armed conflicts were triggered off between Moslems and Croats in the Novi Travnik, and spread to the Vitez district. The village of Ahmici was demolished, several Moslem houses were set on fire, mosques in Vitez and Ahmici were damaged. The conflicts stopped in late October 1992, but were renewed on April 16th 1993, when B-H Army soldiers launched an attack on Vitez and the neighbouring district of Busovaca. In this attack they occupied the Croat populated villages of Gornja Dubravica, Poculica and Putkovici. At that time more than fifty family houses owned by the evicted Croat residents were set on fire, while the Moslem populated village of Ahmici was demolished. In ten months (between April 24th 1993 and February 8th 1994) of the military conflicts between Croats and Moslems in the Vitez district area, B-H Army soldiers massacred and killed 108 Croat civilians, while many other civilians were deported to the Zenica camp where they were mentally and physically maltreated and/or killed.

April 24th 1993, three Croat civilians were killed in the village of Poculica.
June 10th 1993, eight children were killed in the town of Vitez, by a shell fired from a B-H Army position.
July 1st 1993, one Croat civilian was killed in the village of Gacice.
September 18th 1993, fifteen Croat civilians were killed in the village of Bobasi.
December 22nd 1993, fifty-two Croat civilians were killed in the village of Krizancevo Selo.
January 10th 1994, twenty-six Croat civilians were killed in the village of Buhine Kuce.
February 8th 1994, three Croat civilians were killed in the village of Nadioci.

Many residential and farm buildings and sacral institutions were severely damaged and/or destroyed in the aggression of the B-H Army soldiers against the free sections of the district.


001 B-H - VITEZ - December 22, 1993

DESCRIPTION OF REPORTED CRIME: Mass killing of civilians.

TIME AND LOCATION: December 22, 1993; Krizancevo Selo.

SUMMARY OF REPORTED CRIME: "On December 22, 1993, members of the B-H Army Muslim fraction killed 74 Croat civilians in Krizancevo Selo. The crime was reported to Colonel Williams, the commander of the UNPROFOR British Battalion, while he was visiting the military headquarters of the B-H Army 3rd Corps. During his visit to the Vitez district, Colonel Williams confirmed that two mass graves were located in the village of Poculica (cca 9 kilometres northeast of Vitez). 38 Croat civilian victims of the massacre, committed by the Muslim forces, were buried in one grave, while another 8 victims were buried in the other. On January 2, 1994, an UNPROFOR officer called Gell confirmed that 15 bodies of killed Croat civilians were spotted on the so-called demarcation lines. On Tuesday, December 28, 1993, members of the UNPROFOR British Battalion unit were unable to inspect the location between Krizancevo Selo and B-H Army post in the village of Tolovici, due to the continuous attacks launched from the B-H Army positions. The representative of the EC monitor mission (seated in Nis), Nick Turballa, reported that their ambassador Martin Garrod visited the military headquarters of the B-H Army 3rd Corps in Zenica on Wednesday, in order to ask permission to enter Krizancevo area. Garrod demanded an explanation from the commander of the B-H Army 3rd Corps, Mehmed Alagic, about the constant breaches of cease-fire, and drew his attention to the grave position of Croat civilians in the villages of Talnik and Cajidraz (Zenica district), where B-H Army soldiers killed three Croat civilians on Christmas Eve (December 24, 1993).


PERPETRATORS: Members of B-H Army 3rd Corps from Zenica, commanding officer Mehmed Alagic.


SOURCE OF INFORMATION: December 30, 1993 issue of "Vecernji List" daily, p. 7. Title: "Zlocinci kriju grobnice" ("Criminals Hide Graves"). January 3, 1994 issue of "Vecernji List", p. 9. Title: "Novi muslimanski masakr" ("Muslim Forces Committed Yet Another Massacre"). Documents currently kept in the archives of the Centre.

003 B-H - VITEZ - January 20, 1994

DESCRIPTION OF REPORTED CRIME: Killing of civilians.

TIME AND LOCATION: January 20, 1994; the village of Santici, Buhina Kuca hamlet (cca 3 kilometres southeast of Vitez).

SUMMARY OF REPORTED CRIME: "The units of the Croatian Defense Council recovered the houses in one section of Buhina Kuca hamlet, that had been previously occupied by B-H Army soldiers (the January 9, 1994 offensive). Members of the Croatian Defense Council found bodies of 11 killed Croats in those houses. A journalist of the Croatian Television reported that "Some among the killed were mutilated civilians." The film footage shows that the victims' hands were tied, which proves that they were killed without being given an opportunity to defend themselves.

PERPETRATORS: B-H Army soldiers.

SOURCE OF INFORMATION: A witness' written statement currently kept in the archives of the Centre.