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So this muslim/jewish (they do like each other!) tag team of conspirators managed to convince the Bosnian Serb government to admit to genocide:
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The Bosnian Serb government has admitted for the first time that Bosnian Serb forces were responsible for the mass slaughter of Muslims in Srebrenica in July, 1995, Europe's worst atrocity since the end of the Second World War.
The details about the massacre of 7,500 men and boys by Bosnian Serbs in the UN-protected Muslim enclave of Srebrenica were revealed on Monday night by a local television station in the Bosnian Serb capital, Banja Luka.
The station obtained a copy of a secret government report on Srebrenica, compiled under pressure from Paddy Ashdown, the top international official for Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Analysts believe the government's admission could prepare the population for the possible arrest of the Bosnian Serb war hero, General Ratko Mladic. He has been indicted for genocide for the Srebrenica massacre by the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague and is thought to be in hiding in Serbia.
For many Serbs in Bosnia this might mean finally coming to terms with their past on the road to reconciliation after the 1992-95 war that took the lives of more than 200,000 people, the majority of them Muslims.
Official propaganda has always denied that any war crimes were committed in Srebrenica, and for many Bosnian Serbs the television report was the first time they had heard that "in the period between 14 and 17 July, a large number of Bosniaks [Bosnian Muslims], captured in Srebrenica, were taken to different locations of Zvornik municipality, where they were detained".
The report did not mention the exact number of detainees, and did not specify who gave orders for the massacre or how many men were executed. However, it revealed that the code name for the Srebrenica operation was "Krivaja 95". Krivaja is a small town and a river in central Bosnia. The report named five detention centres where men were held - the farming centre of Vranjevo, schools in Orahovac, Teskovci and Rodjevici, and a cultural centre in Pilici.
A large number of Bosnian Muslims were executed nearby, the report said, and their bodies buried in the villages of Petkovici, close to the Drina river dam, Kozluk, Branjevo and Orahovac.
"There is evidence that the mass graves were dug up and relocated," the report said, confirming what is already well known outside the country.
The television station reported that more than 30 civilians, soldiers and policemen testified about the war crimes in Srebrenica. The investigation was undertaken by the military, police and intelligence service of Republika Srpska, the Bosnian Serb entity of Bosnia-Herzegovina. The report quotes witnesses who were ordered to remove bodies from makeshift graves to other locations, long after the massacre.
The orders for relocation came from Colonel Ljubomir Beara, a prominent Bosnian Serb army officer, and aide to Mladic. Like Mladic, Beara is currently in hiding.
But many others have faced justice before the war crimes tribunal. The officer who is accused of leading the cover-up operation, Momir Nikolic, pleaded guilty as charged last week. Dragan Obrenovic, the deputy commander of the operation, has said he is sorry for his crime and has offered an apology to the families of victims before the tribunal.
"I'm guilty for what I did and did not do," Colonel Obrenovic told the court last week. "Thousands of innocent people were killed, only the graves remain ... Part of that is to be blamed on me".
Obrenovic reached a plea bargain with prosecutors in May and testified against his co-defendants last month. One of the commanders of the Srebrenica operation, General Radislav Krstic, has already been sentenced by the tribunal to 45 years in jail for genocide for his role in massacre.
But most of the public in Republika Srpska have been living in denial of the incident. The surrender of their war heroes to the tribunal and the sentences pronounced against them have been viewed as a conspiracy against Serbs, while memorial services for victims have been seen as a provocation by Muslims.
Earlier Bosnian Serb reports on the Srebrenica events stated: "Muslims who were considered to be missing after the fall of the enclave have made their way through enemy lines to Bosnian government territory."
http://news.independent.co.uk/europ...sp?story=460554
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They’re still planting fake graves in 2003:
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Bulldozers unearthed the remains of dozens of people yesterday as investigators searched for about 700 missing Muslims in what is believed to be the biggest mass grave in Bosnia.
The bones, dug up from an area the size of a tennis court, are thought to include some of the 7,000 men and boys who were slaughtered by Bosnian Serb forces at Srebrenica eight years ago - Europe's worst massacre since the Second World War.
"We believe the grave contains several hundred bodies of 1995 Srebrenica massacre victims and those of Zvornik civilians killed at the start of the war," said Murat Hurtic, a member of the Bosnian Commission for Missing People. "It could be the largest mass grave ever found in Bosnia."
The grave was found at Crni Vrh, near the town of Zvornik, north of Srebrenica, and is believed to be a site to which the bodies were moved from their original burial places near Srebrenica. Bosnian Serbs reburied victims to hide evidence of massacres from the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague, which is prosecuting those accused of atrocities in Balkan wars of the 1990s.
Experts say the excavations will take about two months, and expect the identification of the victims to be a slow and complicated process, probably requiring DNA analysis.
In July 1995, Srebrenica, which was protected by lightly armed Dutch peace-keepers, was overrun by Bosnian Serb forces who separated Muslim women from the men and boys - thousands of whom were later executed.
The mass grave was found in a mountainous area near the border with Serbia. It is close to the former front line and was surrounded by minefields. Soil samples from the site indicate the grave may also contain victims from a separate massacre at the start of the Bosnian war, which began in 1992.
Experts say they were tipped off about the site by a person who witnessed the re-burial of victims, but its whereabouts were kept secret for more than a year to prevent any tampering with evidence.
So far, the remains of more than 6,000 Muslim men and boys have been found in 60 mass graves in the area. The biggest grave contained 500 bodies. Kathryne Bomberger, from the International Commission for Missing Persons (ICMP), in Sarajevo, said: "We're working on trying to find evidence of identification of these remains, so that we can return the mortal remains to the families."
Drazen Erdemovic, the first Bosnian Serb army member to admit taking part in the Srebrenica massacre, is due to testify on the crime later this week. He is expected to be a witness for the prosecution in the tribunal's case against the former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic, who is accused of genocide in Bosnia. The trial of Mr Milosevic was halted again yesterday because of the defendant's poor health.
The ICMP said earlier this month that 1,000 bodies of Srebrenica victims had been identified through DNA matches.
Two men accused of responsibility for the Srebrenica massacre, Radovan Karadzic, the Bosnian Serb wartime leader, and Ratko Mladic, his army commander, remain at large.
http://news.independent.co.uk/europ...sp?story=428512
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They’ve forced Momir Nikolic, Chief of Intelligence and Security of the Bratunac Brigade, to lie about his culpability:
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Statement of Facts and Acceptance of Responsibility
(Tab A to "Annex A" to the "Joint Motion for Consideration of Plea Agreement Between Momir Nikolic and the Office of the Prosecutor")
1
As Chief of Intelligence and Security of the Bratunac Brigade, and from my own personal knowledge and involvement, I am aware of the following:
During the attack and takeover of the Srebrenica enclave by VRS forces in July 1995 it was the intention of the VRS forces to cause the forcible removal of the entire Muslim population from Srebrenica to Muslim-held territory.
2
On 11 July 1995, VRS forces captured and occupied the town of Srebrenica causing the Muslim population to move to the Dutch UN base in Potocari. During the day and evening, I received intelligence reports which provided as estimate of 1000 to 2000 able bodied men within the population of women and children around the Dutch base. I received this information from the intelligence officer of the Bratunac Brigade’s 2nd Infantry Battalion. I wrote up a report chronicling all the relevant intelligence and security information of the day including the estimate of 1000 to 2000 able-bodied Muslim men in Potocari and forwarded that report to my command and to the intelligence and security officers of the Drina Corps who I knew were present at the Hotel Fontana in Bratunac.
3
Later that evening I attended two meetings at the Hotel Fontana in Bratunac. The first meeting took place at 20:00 hrs. and was attended by General Ratko Mladic, General Milenko Zivanovic, Colonel Radislav Jankovic, and three Dutch Battalion officers including the Dutch commander Colonel Karremans. During the first meeting, General Mladic threatened and intimidated the Dutch officers, as can be seen from the video segments of that meeting in the possession of the Prosecutor. The second meeting occurred at 22:00 hrs. at the Hotel Fontana and was attended by General Ratko Mladic, General Radislav Krstic, Colonel Karremans, a Muslim representative named Nesib Mandzic, myself and other military personnel of the VRS. At this meeting General Mladic threatened and intimidated the Dutch officers present and Nesib Mandzic, which can also be seen from the video segments in the possession of the Prosecutor. At one point in the meeting General Mladic told Mr. Mandzic he wanted the Muslim army to turn themselves in and General Mladic stated to Mandzic that the future of his people were in his (Mandzic’s) hands, that they could choose to survive or disappear. After this meeting I escorted the Dutch officers and Mr. Mandzic back to Potocari. I did not return to the Hotel that evening, but went back to the Bratunac Brigade command and slept.
4
On the morning of 12 July VRS forces, including elements of the Bratunac Brigade, entered and occupied the town of Potocari and the area around the UN Dutchbat compound. A third meeting was scheduled to occur at the Hotel Fontana at 10:00 hrs. between the same parties.
In the morning of 12 July, prior to the above-mentioned meeting, I met with Lt. Colonel Vujadin Popovic, Chief of Security, Drina Corps, and Lt. Colonel Kosoric, Chief of Intelligence, Drina Corps, outside the Hotel Fontana. At that time Lt. Colonel Popovic told me that the thousands of Muslim women and children in Potocari would be transported out of Potocari toward Muslim-held territory near Kladanj and that the able-bodied Muslim men within the crowd of Muslim civilians would be separated from the crowd, detained temporarily in Bratunac, and killed shortly thereafter. I was told that it was my responsibility to help coordinate and organise this operation. Lt. Colonel Kosoric reiterated this information and we discussed the appropriate locations to detain the Muslim men prior to their execution. I identified several specific areas: the Old Elementary School "Vuk Karadzic" (including the gym), the old building of the secondary School "Duro Pucar Stari", and the Hangar (which is 50 meters away from the old secondary School). Lt. Colonel Popovic and Kosoric talked with me about sites of executions of temporaly detained Muslim men in Bratunac and we discussed two locations which were outside Bratunac town. These were: State company "Ciglane" and a mine called "Sase" in Sase.
5
After speaking to Lt. Colonel Popovic and Kosoric, I waited around the Hotel Fontana. At the end of the third meeting Colonel Jankovic came out of the Hotel Fontana and told me to coordinate the transportation of all the women and children and the separation of the able-bodied Muslim men. At that time he did not mention the killing of the Muslim men.
Shortly thereafter, two Dutch officers arrived outside the Hotel Fontana where I was standing with Lt. Colonel Kosoric and asked us what the plan was for the transportation of the Muslim population. I told the Dutch officers to go back to Potocari because the buses would be arriving there soon to transport the people towards Kladanj.
6
For most of the day of 12 July, I was in Potocari co-ordinating and working with Dusko Jevic, a commander of the MUP Special Police Force, and the following other military and MUP units: Drina Corps Military Policemen under Major Petrovic; Drina Wolves of the Zvornik Brigade; elements of the 10th Sabotage Detachment; elements of the 65th protection Regiment’s Military Police; Bratunac Brigade’s 2ndt and 3rd Infantry Battalions, Bratunac Brigade Military Police and civilian police with German Shepherd dogs. Working in conjunction with these units I coordinated and supervised the transportation of the women and children to Kladanj and the separation and detention of able-bodied Muslim men.
During the day in Potocari, VRS forces and MUP forces intimidated and abused the Muslim population in order to compel them to get on the buses and trucks to Kladanj.
The first convoys to leave Potocari included a few men on the buses as part of a propaganda exercise. This was for the benefit of the Dutch troops and the Serb TV cameras, but these men were later separated at checkpoints before reaching Kladanj.
During 12 July VRS forces abused and assaulted many Muslim men and women who had assembled around the Dutch base in Potocari.
I was personally aware of this conduct and did nothing to stop or prevent the forces under my supervision from carrying out these abuses. I also heard that some Muslim men were taken to isolated areas around Potocari and killed.
That evening between 18:00 and 21:00 hrs. I also reported the abuses verbally to my commander, Colonel Vidoje Blagojevic. I discussed the operation to transport the women and children to Kladanj and separate, detain and kill the able bodied Muslim men in Potocari. It was apparent to me that Colonel Blagojevic was fully informed of the transportation and killing operation and expected me to continue to carry out the duties related to those operations that I had begun that morning. We were alone in the office at that time. I also spoke to other Bratunac Brigade staff officers such as Trisic, Micic and Pajic in the Operations Room. We spoke informally about the abuse, separations and evacuations. There was no concern expressed by them. We did not discuss the killing operation at that time.
7
During 11 and 12 July I received intelligence reports that the bulk of the military age men from Srebrenica had assembled near the village of Jaglici and begun to move in a long column toward Muslim territory, following a known route through the mine fields at the front line towards Konjevic Polje.
On 12 July and the early morning hours of 13 July I was made aware through intelligence reports and other information that VRS and MUP forces were capturing Muslim men in the area between Ravni Buljim, Nova Kasaba and Konjevic Polje.
8
I was duty officer that same evening (12th) and was exhausted, so at about 03:00 hrs. on the 13th , I phoned Mirko Jankovic to relieve me. I went to my appartment in town and slept for a few hours. I returned to duty at the Bratunac Brigade HQ at about 07:00 hrs. on the 13th July.
At about 09:30 hrs. that morning, a meeting took place at the Bratunac Brigade HQ. It was attended by General Mladic, Colonel Vasic, Lt. Colonel Popovic and General Krstic. I do not know what was discussed at this meeting, as I never participated. About 10 to 15 minutes after the meeting, I spoke to my commander, Colonel Blagojevic in his office.
I was tasked by Colonel Blagojevic to continue the Potocari operation to transport the Muslim women and children to Kladanj and separate and detain the able bodied Muslim men.
9
My first task of the day (13th July) was to go to Potocari and check on the progress of the transportation and separation of the Muslim men and other tasks. I established that all was going well. I directed the work of the forces present in Potocari.
While I was in Potocari, I met Dusko Jevic and told him to pass an order to his units which were on the Bratunac-Konjevic Polje road that all the captured Muslims on this road be transported to Bratunac. I then left Potocari and went back to the Bratunac Brigade HQ. According to my information which I got from the members of the Bratunac Brigade Military Police, on that day, General Mladic intended to use the road Bratunac-Konjevic Polje and my task was to check security and accessability of that road.
I drove along the Bratunac-Konjevic Polje road in a Volkswagen Golf motor vehicle with a Military Policeman.
On the way I saw MUP forces along the road. I saw MUP at Sandici with heavy weapons. There were approximately 80 to 100 prisoners at Sandici meadow at this time.
I arrived in Konjevic Polje at about 12:30 hrs. that day. There was a civilian police checkpoint at the intersection. I sat in a burnt out house and waited for General Mladic to pass. Together with me in this house were five to six Muslim prisoners.
While I was in Konjevic Polje I saw approximately ten prisoners in a building used by the 5th Engineering Battalion of the Drina Corps at Konjevic Polje. I also saw police from Bratunac at the checkpoint and soldiers who I did not recognise. I also saw Nenad Deronjic and Mirko Peric there. When I arrived at Konjevic Polje I contacted the MUP commanders and directed them that the Muslim prisoners should be detained and would be moved to Bratunac later that day.
I was at Konjevic Polje for approximately 45 minutes before General Mladic arrived. His car arrived from the direction of Bratunac and stopped at the intersection at Konjevic Polje. He got out of his vehicle and we met in the middle of the road. I reported to him that there were no problems. He looked around and saw the prisoners. Some of the prisoners asked him what would happen, to which he responded that they would all be transported away and they should not worry.
After General Mladic left, I took a prisoner, Resid Sinanovic, in my car back to Bratunac. Sinanovic was an important prisoner as he was on a war criminal list and he was also the former police chief in Bratunac. On the way back to Bratunac, I saw large columns of captured men, numbering about 500 being marched towards Konjevic Polje. Further along the road I saw another column of prisoners being taken towards Sandici. As I passed on the road near the Kravica Warehouse I noticed a few soldiers but nothing else. I handed Sinanovic over to the Military Police at the Bratunac Brigade HQ, specifically to a legal officer, Zlatan Celanovic.
I then went to the building of the Military Police of the Bratunac Brigade and met with Mirko Jankovic, the commander of the Bratunac Military Police Platoon, and Mile Petrovic, a MP member. Jankovic knew how to drive one of the captured Dutch APCs and he, Petrovic and I drove along the Bratunac- Konjevic Polje road. Mile Petrovic sat on top of the APC with a megaphone calling for the Muslims to surrender. It was clear that some were already surrendering at that stage. Just after we had passed Sandici, we stopped the APC when about six Muslim men surrendered to us. We took them in the APC to Konjevic Polje. When we arrived there I told Mile and Mirko to take the prisoners and leave them with the rest of the approximate 250 prisoners already held there. I went to the house where I had sat before. There were about 30 Muslims being held in this house. I then heard two bursts of gunfire close by. About ten minutes later, Mile Petrovic came to me and said: "Boss, I just took revenge for my brother…I’ve killed them." He was referring to the six prisoners who had surrendered to us a short time before. He said he had executed them down a riverbank behind a yellow building. There is a gas station built on this site now.
Mirko had driven off in the APC, in the direction of Zvornik. We stayed in Konjevic Polje for about twenty minutes and when Jankovic returned with the APC we left for Bratunac.
I saw that Jankovic had Deutsche Marks with him and I asked him where he got the money. He said that he had received it from some Special Police members along the road.
On the way back to Bratunac, I saw many prisoners being marched in both directions. I also saw dead bodies lying on the side of the road near Pervani and Lolici. I saw groups of three or so bodies at a time. At Sandici, I saw about 10 to 15 corpses and a large mass of prisoners in a meadow.
On the way back to Bratunac, we drove past the Kravica warehouse and I saw some soldiers there but did not notice any Muslim prisoners. The next day I heard that an incident had occurred where a member of the MUP had been killed by a prisoner there. I looked into the incident and determined that after the killing of a MUP individual, the MUP forces became very angry resulting in the military and MUP forces present executing the prisoners held there.
I established that among those participating in the execution were: Nikola Popovic from Kravica, who was attached to the Bratunac Brigade Military Police; Milovan Matic who was attached to the 1st Infantry Battalion of the Bratunac Brigade; Ilia Nikolic who was attached to the 1st Infantry Battalion of the Bratunac Brigade; Raso Milanovic who the commander of the Police Unit in Kravica.
I also found out that the director of the warehouse, Jovan Nikolic witnessed the execution. Further, I learned that shortly after the executions on 13 July machines were brought from Zvornik and Bratunac to bury the bodies. I reported about what I have learnd to Colonel Vidoje Blagojevic about one of two days after the event.
While the Muslim were detained in Potocari and around Bratunac, they were not given any food or medical aid and only given enough water to sustain them until the time they were transported to Zvornik.
10
In the evening of 13th July I was having dinner at the Bratunac Brigade HQ when I received a call from the communication room to report directly to Colonel Beara in the centre of Bratunac. I travelled to the centre and met with Colonel Beara at about 20:30 hrs. Colonel Beara ordered me to travel to the Zvornik Brigade and inform Drago Nikolic, the Zvornik Brigade Security Officer, that thousands of Muslim prisoners were being held in Bratunac and would be sent to Zvornik that evening. Colonel Beara also told me that the Muslim prisoners should be detained in the Zvornik area and executed. I drove alone to Zvornik from Bratunac via Konjevic Polje and and arrived at the Zvornik Brigade Headquarters at around 21:45 hrs. I went to the Duty Officer’s desk and requested to see Drago Nikolic. A person whom I believe was from the Brigade Intelligence branch met me in the Duty Officer’s room and I explained to him that I needed to see Drago Nikolic. He told me that Drago Nikolic was at the Forward Command Post (FCP) and provided me with a Military Police (MP) escort to go to the FCP. I then left the Zvornik Brigade HQ and travelled with the MP to the FCP. The trip from the Zvornik Brigade HQ to the FCP took almost 45 minutes along a very rough road. I met with Drago Nikolic and explained to him what Colonel Beara had told me. Drago Nikolic told me he would inform his command. I spent around 10 minutes at the FCP and then drove back to the Zvornik Brigade HQ where I dropped the Military Policeman at the gates. I drove back to Bratunac via Konjevic Polje. On the way back to Bratunac I passed some of the busses containing prisoners, at Kuslat, who were traveling towards Zvornik. I later established that another convoy had left for Zvornik along the Drina river road to Zvornik.
I returned to Bratunac, around midnight, and reported to Colonel Beara at the Hotel Fontana. I told him that I met with Drago Nikolic and had passed on his (Beara’s) orders.
At that time the Bratunac town was overcrowded with Muslim prisoners that had been brought from the area of the Milici-Bratunac road. It was late at night and there was insufficient transportation to move these prisoners to Zvornik. This created an unstable situation around Bratunac town. To deal with this situation, Colonel Beara, M. Deronjic (the civilian commissioner appointed by Karadzic to deal with the Muslim civilians), Dragomir Vasic and myself met in the SDS office in Bratunac. Deronjic was concerned that the prisoners in the town created a security risk and did not want the killing of these prisoners to be carried out in and around Bratunac. The killing operation was openly discussed at the meeting and all participants indicated that they had been reporting to their various chains of command. Logistic, transportation and security support was also discussed. It was decided at the meeting that the Muslim men in and around Bratunac should be continued to be guarded by elements of the Bratunac Brigade Military Police, various civilian MUP forces and armed volunteers from Bratunac town. The meeting ended at 00:30 hrs. on 14 July and I returned to the Bratunac Brigade Headquarters where I informed my commander, Colonel Blagojevic, of my trip to Zvornik and the instructions I had received from Colonel Beara and that all the prisoners would be moved to Zvornik where they would be detained and killed. He accepted what I said and never queried me. I also informed him of the meeting at the SDS office that night.
11
The vast majority of the Muslim men in Bratunac were transported to Zvornik the morning of 14 July in a column of buses and trucks well over 1 ½ kilometers in length led by Mirko Jankovic in a stolen Dutch APC. Later that day Mirko Jankovic reported to me that, that day, many Muslim prisoners were detained in schools and gyms in the Zvornik area. I was also aware that a patrol consisting of two Bratunac Military Policemen were also left overnight from 16 to 17 July in Pilica to assist in securing prisoners detained there.
It was reported to me that approximately 80 to 100 Muslims were murdered in the hangar near the Vuk Karadzic school in Bratunac on the evening of the 13 July. Their bodies were deposited over a hillside and covered with dirt.
12
From 14 July through October 1995, Bratunac Brigade forces, working with the MUP and other VRS forces continued to capture and execute Muslim prisoners attempting to escape from the Srebrenica and Zepa areas.
13
From September through October 1995 the Bratunac Brigade, working with the civilian authorities, exhumed the mass grave at Glogova and other mass graves of Muslim victims of the murder operation, and reburied them in individual mass graves throughout the greater Srebrenica area. In September 1995 I was contacted by Colonel Popovic, the Drina Corps Chief of Security, and told to conduct a reburial of the Muslim bodies at Glogova. I coordinated the effort to exhume and re-bury Muslim bodies from mid-September to October 1995. This was done in coordination with the Bratunac Brigade Military Police, civilian police, and elements of the 5th Engineering Battalion of the Drina Corps. I reported on a Bratunac Brigade Commandmeeting in October 1995 to the assembled Command including Colonel Blagojevic that we were tasked with conducting the reburial operation of the Muslim bodies for the VRS Main staff.
14
In May 1996 when I was already demobilised from the VRS and worked in the Ministry of Refugees and Exiled Persons in Bratunac, the safe (containing intelligence and security documents, including decisions and orders, and valuables such as money) which was the property of the Security and Intelligence Organ of the Bratunac Brigade was handed over from me to my successor Captain Lazar Ostojic. In the presence of a commission comprised of the Chief of Security of the Drina Corps, Rade Pajic, two more officers from the Drina Corps whose names I don’t recall and Lazar Ostojic the documents which could have compromised myself and the Bratunac Brigade were destroyed. These documents related to the events in Srebrencia in 1995. I have not informed Colonel Blagojevic nor anybody else about this and I don’t know whether Captain Ostojic has informed Colonel Blagojevic.
15
I was summonsed to an interview by the ICTY in December 1999. Just prior to attending this interview, I was called to a meeting at the Zvornik Brigade Headquarters. I met General Andric, Dragan Jokic, Lazar Ostojic, Dragan Jevtic and General Miletic there. There were also some civilian lawyers from Belgrade present.
The lawyers instructed us on our legal rights, General Miletic appealed to our patriotism and asked us not to divulge information which would damage the state and General Andric said we should say as little as possible. After my meeting with the ICTY, I met again with General Andric. The topic of the conversation was the same and he wanted to know if I had spoken about the killings to the ICTY. I was also visited by State Security just prior to my meeting with the ICTY, and was threatened that I should not speak of their involvement.
Several months after the first meeting I attended again a similar meeting that was held again in the Zvornik Brigade headquarters, with the same individuals including, I think, Dragan Obrenovic who had been recently summonsed by the ICTY. General Miletic and Andric again told us not to provide any information related to the Srebrencia events to the ICTY.
http://www.un.org/icty/mnikolic/trialc/facts030506.htm
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Along with Dragan Obrenovic, acting commander of the Zvornik Brigade:
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Statement of Facts as set out by Dragan Obrenovic
(Tab A to "Annex A" to the "Joint Motion for Consideration of Plea Agreement Between Dragan Obrenovic and the Office of the Prosecutor")
I first became aware of the Muslim prisoners coming up to the Zvornik area in the evening of the 13th July 1995. I cannot recall the exact time but it was at about 19:00 hrs. that evening, when I received a telephone call from Lieutenant Drago Nikolic. He called me from the Brigade’s Forward Command Post and told me that he had just been telephoned by Lieutenant-Colonel Popovic. Drago Nikolic relayed to me that Popovic told him that a huge number of Muslim prisoners were to arrive in Zvornik from Bratunac and that Drago Nikolic should make preparations for their arrival. I understood "huge number of Muslim prisoners" to mean thousands of Muslim prisoners as I had already known from intelligence and other information received earlier in the day that thousands had been captured down in the Konjevic Polje area.
Drago Nikolic said that he had to be relieved from the Forward Command Post to carry out this task. He also told me that Popovic was going to send someone to brief him in person and give him additional information.
I asked why the prisoners were not being transported further north to the prisoner of war camp at Batkovici. Drago Nikolic told me that they were not going to send the prisoners to Batkovici because the Red Cross knew about Batkovici. He said that the orders were that these prisoners were to be brought to Zvornik to be shot.
I said to Drago Nikolic that we could not accept the responsibility of the task he had just informed me about without informing our Command. Drago Nikolic told me that the Command already knew, and that this order came from Mladic and that everyone, including Pandurevic, was aware of this order. For this reason I never took steps to inform my Commander, Pandurevic, of this development, as I trusted Drago Nikolic’s word that Pandurevic already knew.
I acknowledge that I was in Command of the Zvornik Brigade during the absence of my Commander, Vinko Pandurevic, until his return at about midday on 15th July. On hearing of this plan to kill the prisoners I, as acting Commander, took responsibility for the plan and supported the implementation of this plan.
Drago Nikolic also asked me to release the Military Police Company from the line to assist him. I said that I had no other units available for the line. I then decided to send the Commander of the Military Police Company, Lieutenant Miomir Jasikovac, and five military policemen to assist him.
About an hour later, at about 20:00 hrs., I ordered Lieutenant Jasikovac back to the Brigade and he arrived about forty minutes later. I telephoned General Zivanovic at about 20:30 hrs. and informed him of the situation regarding the Muslim column. I did not say anything to him about the plan to execute the prisoners. At the time I thought General Zivanovic was still the Drina Corps Commander.
I ordered Jasikovac to remain with five to six men. The remainder of his men were to report to a Military Police Platoon Commander, Tanasko Mekic. I then briefed Jasikovac about the prisoners coming from Bratunac and that Drago Nikolic would call him and tell him what to do regarding these prisoners.
Jasikovac remained at the Zvornik Brigade Headquarters with five Military Policemen and I went with Mekic to Snagovo. I arrived at Snagovo as it was getting dark, and met up with Captain Milan Maric and the Commander of the Engineering Company, Dragan Jevtic.
During the course of the day on the 14th July 1995, we engaged the 28th Division in three battles. At abount 14:00 hrs. Major Zoran Jovanovic arrived at the Snagovo area with reinforcements from Zvornik. He told me that Beara had brought a large number of prisoners in buses, to the Zvornik area.
At about 14:00 hrs., just after the reinforcements arrived, my signalman told me of a radio report from the Zvornik Brigade via the communication centre, with a message to release two machine operators. I was at an intersection at Snagovo at the time. The message was actually for Milan Maric, but my signalman received the transmission and informed me. The report was specific and referred to the machine operators by name, and said their duties were to build a road. I knew the road building story was not plausible. I suspected that they were either going to be used to bury prisoners or were being pulled off the line as a personal favour to the machine operators so I queried the message. Five minutes later I received a message from the radio centre that the request was related to the work of Popovic and Drago Nikolic. I knew then that the task for which the machine operators were requested was the burial of prisoners as part of the plan told to me by Drago Nikolic the night before.
I have read the tactical intercepts provided by the Prosecution. As to my own conversations reflected in those intercepts, they are a generally accurate reflection of what was said, but the entire conversation is not recorded. As I was using a RUP 12 radio which was not secure, it was common practice for us to talk in code and switch to predetermined channels during the conversation and then proceed with the rest of the message, thus explaining why the intercepts are not complete.
I then walked up to where Dragan Jevtic was. He was already speaking to the machine operators in question and it appeared as though they were arguing. It appeared as though the message had already reached them. Dragan Jevtic did not want to release the men, but I said that they had to go as ordered and approved their removal from the line.
Later that afternoon, I’m not sure of the time but it was before we attacked Liplje, I heard on the radio that there were problems at Orahovac. I found this out when I was on my way to check on my 4th and 7th Battalions, and came into an area where I could get radio communication with the 4th Battalion (whom I previously could not contact by radio).
I contacted Lazar Ristic, the Commander of the 4th Battalion, and he informed me on the radio that there were problems with the people who had been brought there. He was speaking in code and referred to the location of the problem as the place where the joint Command of the 2nd Battalion and the Brigade had been in 1992, which I knew to be Orahovac. He referred those who had been brought there as having been brought from the place where the "Zoljani People" are, which I understood to be a code reference to mean the prisoners from Srebrenica. Lazar Ristic informed me that he sent reinforcements to Orahovac to sort out the problem.
I remained in the field and continued to request reinforcements to deal with the column, but none were forthcoming.
That same evening (14th), between 23:00 hrs. and 00:00 hrs., I wrote a request to the Drina Corps Command for reinforcements on a piece of paper and gave it to my signalman. He in turn sent the message to the radioman, it was transmitted to the communication centre, and then relayed to the Duty Officer, Dragan Jokic. This was after the battles and the capture of police captain Zoran Jankovic.
I did not return to the Zvornik Brigade Headquarters on the 14th July.
On the morning of the 15th July 1995, I returned to the Zvornik Brigade Headquarters. As I approached the Headquarters at about 11:00 hrs., I noticed some of our army trucks and some troops returning to the Brigade.
As I entered the compound, I saw Colonel Vasic from the MUP arrive. I waited for him and we walked together. Colonel Vasic was concerned about the capture of MUP police captain Zoran Jankovic. Before I reached my office, Dragan Jokic stopped me in the corridor. Vasic continued on toward my office while I spoke to Jokic. Jokic told me that he had a huge problem with the burials of those executed and the guarding of prisoners still to be executed. I asked who he had informed about this problem. He said that Beara, Popovic and Drago Nikolic were taking people wherever they wanted to take them. He said that Popovic had instructed him not to make a record of the activities involving the killing operation or speak on the radio about it. I was aware that the killing operation was occurring.
I went to my office and spoke to Vasic. We spoke about the column and the Muslim prisoners. Vasic suggested that a corridor be opened in the lines to let the column through to avoid casualties and relieve the threat the column posed on the security of Zvornik as well as the rear of our front lines. Special Police Commander Ljubomir Borovcanin and Special Police officer Milos Stupar arrived and joined the meeting. We continued discussions with regard to the column. I felt I needed higher authority to open such a corridor and attempted to reach the Commander of the Drina Corps.
I telephoned the Drina Corps and was put through to the Duty Officer there. I asked for the Commander and was told that Pandurevic had already left for Zvornik. There were no other officers at the Corps who could help me so I ended the call.
Unable to speak to a Commander at Drina Corps, I then telephoned the Main Staff and spoke to General Miletic. At that stage I thought he was the operations officer, but I now know that he was standing in for the Chief of Staff of the Main Staff. I told Miletic of the column’s size and location and suggested that the lines be opened up to let it pass through. Miletic did not approve of this and said that I should use all military hardware possible to stop and destroy the column as I had been ordered to do. General Miletic told me that the column should be destroyed. He further complained to me about using an insecure line and hung up. I therefore did not have an opportunity to discuss the matter properly with him. From my knowledge of the column and the situation on the ground, I knew it was impossible to destroy the column as Miletic had suggested.
Vasic then said jokingly that the army was stupid and that he was going to call the Ministry of Interior. Vasic then placed a telephone call to Pale on the speakerphone. He spoke to an advisor to the Minister of Interior. He explained the situation to this advisor and asked permission to allow the column to pass. The advisor said that he should find the army and alert the airforce and kill them all. We did not have the capability to use air power and it was clear to all of us that our superiors did not comprehend fully what was going on the ground with regard to the column. Thinking aloud, I then asked myself where General Zivanovic could be. Borovcanin responded that Zivanovic was no longer the Corps Commander, and that General Krstic was now the Drina Corps Commander. I then tried to get hold of General Krstic. I was able to get hold of the communications officer Major Milenko Jevdevic, who in turn connected me to General Krstic.
I informed General Krstic of the situation and told him that Zvornik was about to fall and that something had to be done. General Krstic told me not to worry and said that Pandurevic, "Legenda" and his men were on their way to Zvornik. I knew "Legenda" was Captain Jolovic of the Drina Wolves of the Zvornik Brigade.
After I hung up with General Krstic, Vasic talked about the situation in Bratunac with regard to the Muslim prisoners. He said that a dangerous situation had been created in Bratunac because of the large number of prisoners brought there. He said that, because of a lack of space, groups of prisoners could not be housed over night and had spent the night in parked busses. The prisoners had become agitated and had begun to rock the busses. He spoke of the problem in guarding all the prisoners. Borovcanin indicated that he was not happy that civilian police were being used to provide security on the buses and that he did not want the police to provide security for the prisoners when they reached their destination in Zvornik. Borovcanin further said that they had had battles with the column, and that he had not expected so many to have passed through the lines in the Konjevic Polje area. He also told me that they had captured large numbers of prisoners who were trying to cross the lines on the Konjevic Polje road.
Milos Stupar then told me about an incident at a warehouse in Kravica where a Muslim prisoner had killed one of his officers. He said that a large number of prisoners had been detained at the warehouse and that one of the prisoners disarmed one of his men and shot him. He said that his men had opened fire on the remaining prisoners in the warehouse and that they had killed the prisoners.
Based on our conversation I supposed that everyone present knew of the plan to kill the prisoners who had been brought to Zvornik. I also reasoned that, if I had known of the plan whilst in the hills, these officers who were dealing with the prisoners in Bratunac would have known about the plan.
During this time, I left the room briefly and saw three soldiers from Bratunac. I addressed the Commander and told them that a soldier would take them to Bajlkovica and then they left with their troops. I later saw them in Bajlkovica.
About twenty minutes after I had spoken to General Krstic, I was notified that my Commander, Vinko Pandurevic, had arrived at the Zvornik Brigade. I left my office to meet him and spoke to him in private.
I first briefed Pandurevic about the Muslim prisoners and the murder operation, in which Beara and Popovic were active. I informed Pandurevic of the problems reported to me by Jokic regarding the burial of all the executed prisoners and the guarding of the men who had not yet been executed. Pandurevic asked me why the civilian protection people were not doing the burial as ordered. I just shrugged, as I did not know the civilian protection was supposed to be involved. Based on this comment by Pandurevic and what Drago Nikolic had told me on the 13th July, I realised that Pandurevic had knowledge of the murder operation.
We then spoke about the column and I told him where the column was and how large it was. He asked why we had not stopped the column using the military hardware as ordered. When the suggestion that the lines be opened for the column to pass through was discussed, he asked who had the right to trade with Serb land. We spoke for approximately twenty minutes about military activities in the area of responsibility of the Zvornik Brigade.
At approximately 13:00 hrs., I left the Zvornik Brigade. In my vehicle with me was my driver, Ljubisa Danojlovic and a signalman. The signalman was equipped with a RUP 12 radio. We travelled on the main road towards Tuzla via Kitovnica and Cer to Bajlkovica. We did not take the route past Orahovac as the road through there had been cut off by the Muslim column.
We went directly to the command of the 4th Battalion at Bajlkovica and arrived there at about 14:00 hrs. I saw Ristic and his Command staff at the Forward Command Post, including his Communication staff and Rear Services. I also saw a Praga parked there. I changed the position of a group of about sixty men I had previously sent to the 4th Battalion to a position on a hill overlooking the Forward Command Post. I discussed military matters with Ristic and about an hour to an hour and half later, I reminded him of the conversation we had on the 14th July about the prisoners from Srebrenica. Earlier, I had requested a platoon from him for re-enforcement of the line and he said he did not have men to spare, yet provided men to Orahovac. Ristic told me that Milorad Trbic had called him from Orahovac school where the prisoners were being kept and asked for help. Ristic then sent about eight men to Orahovac as re-enforcements to assist Trbic in guarding the prisoners. Ristic said he didn’t know at that stage about the killing of prisoners at Orahovac, but learnt about it when he visited the site early in the evening of the 14th July. He said that he found his men guarding prisoners in the gymnasium of the school at Orahovac and that the execution of prisoners had already commenced in a nearby location. He lined up his men and was about to take them away, when Drago Nikolic stopped him. Drago Nikolic said that if the men stayed, they would all be issued with new uniforms by Captain Milosevic from rear services. Lazar Ristic spoke of other soldiers there in camouflage uniform from another location and he was not clear where they were from.
I learned later from Ristic that a certain Gojko Simic from the 4th Battalion had been on leave at that time, but because he was from Orahovac, he went there voluntarily and joined the guards at the gymnasium before the arrival of the 4th Battalion re-enforcements. Ristic said that Drago Nikolic had been asking for volunteers and Gojko had volunteered to take part in the executions of prisoners. I also heard that there was a group at Orahovac from the Drina Corps Military Police. An elderly man attached to the Rear Services of 4th Battalion approached me and stated that he had heard that Drago Nikolic had personally taken part in the execution and that he could not believe what had happened.
On the 15th July at about 18:00 hrs. that evening, the enemy blocked off our escape route. The RUP 12 radio at the 4th Battalion Command Post was also lost, but we still had my radio. The telephone lines to the 4th Battalion Command Post, both civilian and military had been cut.
Prior to this happening, I had communicated with the Zvornik Brigade from the 4th Battalion Command Post on the civilian line when they reported shelling near Zvornik. I asked for Pandurevic, but the assistant Duty Officer informed me that he was not there.
From the time we were cut off on the 15th July until we were pulled out on the 16th July, we endured fierce fighting. We eventually withdrew from the area between 13:00 hrs. and 14:00 hrs. on the 16th July 1995. During the fighting our Serb forces suffered 30 to 40 dead and many more wounded.
In the afternoon or evening of the 16th July I called Pandurevic on the radio, who sent me the 6th Battalion Commander, Ostoja Stanisic. I met Stanisic in the field and briefly spoke to him. He told me that his deputy had been wounded and that Beara had brought prisoners to the school nearby. He was angry as the last group of prisoners were not taken to the dam to be executed, but were executed right there at the school and that his men (the 6th Battalion Rear Services) had to clean up the mess at the school, including the removal of the bodies to the dam.
With regard to the execution of prisoners at the Petkovci Dam, I found out later that men from the 10th Sabotage unit from Vlasenica took part in the execution. I also know that the Zvornik Brigade’s 6th Battalion trucks and personnel were utilised to transport the corpses from the school of Petkovci, which were buried in a mass grave at the dam.
With regard to the execution of prisoners at the Branjevo Military Farm, I found out later that members of the 10th Sabotage Detachment Platoon from Bijeljina took part in the execution, together with selected soldiers from Bratunac.
I spent the evening of the 16th July at the Brigade’s Forward Command Post. On the morning of the 17th July 1995, I was travelling in a jeep with my Commander, Vinko Pandurevic. Together with us in the vehicle was the driver and two escorts. We drove through Kitovnica to Orahovac. Next to a water point in a meadow we saw the corpses of about twenty men, lying next to the road. I told Pandurevic that I had information that Drago Nikolic personally took part in the executions at that place. Pandurevic never said anything, but one of the escorts said that this sight of the corpses was nothing compared to the scene on the Konjevic Polje road and further on. One of the men in the car also said that he had been in a vehicle on the same road that we were on at that stage in Orahovac when a man jumped in front of the car and they collided with him, killing him.
On the 17th I was the senior officer at the Forward Command Post. Our troops were conducting sweeping operations in an attempt to push the stragglers of the column towards the corridor which had been opened on the 16th, at around 14:00 hrs., to allow the Muslim column to pass into Muslim territory. The corridor was then closed between 17:00 hrs. and 18:00 hrs. that same day.
On the morning of the 18th July 1995, I went to the area of the 4th Battalion and spent most of the day thereto moving the Battalion Command to a new location and reorganising it. By the 18th, news of the execution of the prisoners was widespread and everyone was talking about it. I spoke to the Drina Corps that day, but not about the killing operation. I spoke to them about the sweeping operation.
At about noon on the 18th July, Vinko Pandurevic called me on the radio and asked me to brief three senior officers from main staff on the opening of the corridor for the column. I met these officers on a road overlooking a valley where the fiercest fighting took place and where we lost 38 or 39 men. Present were Colonel Sladojevic; Colonel Trkulja, who was in charge of the armoured units at Main Staff; Colonel Stankovic, who had something to do with security or police.
I gained the impression that the Commander of the Brigade had come under scrutiny for opening up the corridor to allow the column through, by the group’s questions. They asked me if we could have held the line if 2nd Corps attacked and if the Muslims were shelling us at the time. I gained the impression that they thought we never put up resistance to the 28th Division and just let them through. They were surprised to hear of our losses but never drew any conclusions while I was there. I had arrived after their meeting had begun and left before it ended.
Vinko Pandurevic issued an order on 18th July. This order followed the death of one of our soldiers. On the 18th of July one of our soldiers was killed while he was taking some prisoners into custody during sweep operations. My Commander, Pandurevic, then gave an order that persons should be shot and not to take risks capturing them. Some Brigade units did not take prisoners after this order.
Pandurevic changed this order a few days later, around the 21st July. The order was over the radio and it stated that all prisoners should be brought down and processed according to normal procedures. From around that date, we began to take prisoners again.
I went back to the Zvornik Brigade Command in the evening of the 18th July.
Sometime after the 20th July 1995, I received an order from my Commander, Vinko Pandurevic. He ordered me to visit the clinic at "Standard" and the prisoners being treated there. I was aware that we had prisoners there who had arrived under written instructions from a colonel in the Medical Corps. My instructions were to brief the clinic staff and ensure there are no problems related to the prisoners. There was a fear that there would be problems because our wounded were being kept in the next room. I briefed the nurses and doctor present not to allow anyone in the room. I told them that as the prisoners recover individually, they would be transported to Bijeljina. I looked around and then left.
Pandurevic referred repeatedly to these prisoners at briefings and told the Drina Corps that they had to be taken away.
On around the 23rd July at about 08:00 hrs., Pandurevic called the Drina Corps to resolve the issue of these prisoners. Later we received word from the Drina Corps that Colonel Popovic would be coming to deal with the prisoners. I knew then that the prisoners would probably not be taken to Bijeljina as previously stated.
Military Policemen took the prisoners away early one morning, but I’m not sure if they were Zvornik Brigade Military Police or Military Police from the Drina Corps and shot the prisoners dead.
I asked my Commander about these prisoners at the morning briefing the day they disappeared. He told me that Popovic had passed an order from Mladic to Drago Nikolic that these patients had to be executed and that Popovic had acted as a courier.
Sometime in August 1995, General Krstic came to Zvornik and requested me to take him to the soldiers in the field who had been involved in the most fierce fighting. I decided to take him to the right flank of the 7th battalion where the men were manning the trenches. I stood with General Krstic next to a trench where one of the soldiers was listening to a transistor radio. A survivor from one of the executions was giving an account of what happened to him over the radio broadcast from Tuzla. We stood there for about two minutes listening to the survivor and then General Krstic ordered that the radio be switched off and said we should not listen to enemy radio. He asked me if I had issued orders that enemy radio should not be listened to and I said that I had not.
On the way back I thought about the survivor’s story on the radio and this lead me to ask General Krstic why the killings took place. I had said that we knew the people killed were all simple people and asked for the reason why they had to be killed. I said that even if they were all chickens that were killed, there still had to be a reason. General Krstic asked me where I had been. I said that I went to the field at Snagovo as ordered. Krstic cut me short and said that we would speak no more about this.
On the 14th September 1995, I returned to the Zvornik Brigade from the field. The Duty Officer informed me that the Duty Officer at the Drina Corps had called and said that five tons of fuel was to be given to Trbic for a task. I telephoned the Drina Corps and spoke to the Duty Officer, but he did not know about the fuel. About 5 to 10 minutes later I was telephoned by Popovic who asked me how I knew about the fuel. I told him from the Duty Officer. Popovic told me that the Duty Officers were incompetent and had made a mistake. Pandurevic arrived the next day on the 15th September and I told him about the fuel story. He was going to the Drina Corps and said he would look into it. When he returned from the Drina Corps, Pandurevic told me that Popovic and his men would be in charge of the re-burying of the Muslim prisoners buried after the initial execution.
On the 26th September 1995, I was about to leave the Brigade to perform duties in Krajina. At about 09:00 hrs. that morning, I saw Popovic at the entrance of the Zvornik Brigade Command building. He had a map rolled up under his arm. He went upstairs.
Later, when I returned from Krajina on the 20th October, I heard that several members of the Brigade’s Engineering unit, some Military Police and Drago Nikolic participated in the re-burial of those prisoners executed in July 1995. The remainder of those who participated were brought in by Popovic, including some Drina Corps Military Police, who secured the area and traffic where the re-burials were taking place. I heard that Popovic wore civilian clothes for this operation. I heard that some of the Zvornik Brigade earth moving equipment and personnel were used in the initial burial phase and exhumation but have no information if they were used to construct the secondary grave. I also heard that Popovic and Drago Nikolic changed truck drivers at regular intervals, and that some Zvornik Brigade engineers were involved in the loading of bodies from the primary graves. I also heard that both Popovic and Beara visited the work during the re-burial operation, but were wearing civilian clothes.
Sometime during 1998, I had a conversation with Drago Nikolic when he told me about the locations of two secondary mass graves where the remains of those executed in July 1995 had been moved.
I am aware of meetings, which took place in Zvornik after people were issued with summonses to attend ICTY interviews about Srebrenica and the events, which followed. I did not attend these meetings as I was attending a class in Belgrade. I was upset at not being able to attend.
http://www.un.org/icty/obrenovic/tr...acts_030520.htm
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And furthermore, they convinced the Republika Srpska (Bosnian Serb) government to establish the Commission for Investigation of the Events In and Around Srebrenica Between 10th and 19th July 1995, and subsequentely lie in their investigative report:
http://www.domovina.net/srebrenica/page_006.php
http://www.domovina.net/srebrenica/...nica_report.doc
Those muslims and jews sure get a lot done when they team up.
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Retro ...
Last edited by occrider on Dec-06-2004 at 16:26
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Nathan Fake - Outhouse (Valentino Kanzyani Remix) 
