Background and chronology of the crimes committed by the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the village of Trusina on April 16, 1993

Abstract

The authors analyze events that have occurred in the municipality of Konjic throughout the March and April of 1993. Special emphasis was placed on crimes committed against the Croatian population of that municipality. In the early morning of April 16, 1993, Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) committed a war crime in the northern Herzegovinian village of Trusina, where 22 Croatian civilians and captured Croatian Defence Council (HVO) soldiers were killed. This crime was the result of a previously planned attack by the Army of BiH on the Croatian population and the HVO in the Konjic municipality, which began on April 14, 1993. The main attacking forces of the Army of BiH on the village Trusina on April 16, 1993, were members of the Zulfikar Special Purposes Detachment . They were under the direct command of the Supreme Command Staff (SVC) (i.e., General Staff of the Army of BiH) from their formation to just a few days before the crime in Trusina was committed. They have then become an integral part of the 1st Corps of the Army of BiH based in Sarajevo. As an integral part of the 1st Corps, members of the Zulfikar Special Purposes Detachment became the main perpetrators of a previously planned attack and war crime against the Croatian population of Trusina.