Trbic: Indictee to Visit Crime Scene

Members of the Trial Chamber, Defence attorney Milan Trbojevic and the Prosecution are due to visit locations in Srebrenica mentioned in the indictment against Milorad Trbic.

Trbojevic has suggested that the indictee joins the others, under certain protective measures. The Prosecution did not object to the proposal.

The State Prosecution charges Trbic, former assistant commander for security with the Zvornik Brigade of the Republika Srpska Army (VRS), with having participated, together with other members of VRS and Ministry of Internal Affairs, in the execution of more than 7,000 Bosniak men from July 11 to November 1, 1995.

Prosecution witness Luka Markovic told the Court that 16 or 17 buses loaded with captured Bosniak men arrived at the Agricultural Cooperative in Kravica on July 13, 1995.

Markovic, who was the acting manager of the cooperative at the time, said that he could see through his office window what happened to the captives upon their arrival in Kravica.

“The buses were full of men. A soldier came to my office, asking for a chain and padlock to lock the closed section of the hangar. He told me that those people were going to stay in the hangar until next morning, because they did not know what to do with them,” Luka Markovic said, adding that he “heard that General Krstic was in his vehicle parked in front of the hangar”.

In July 1995, Radislav Krstic was major-general with the VRS Drina Corps. On July 13 he took over the command of the Drina Corps. In 2004 the Appellate Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) sentenced him to 35 years’ imprisonment.

The witness recalled that both closed and open parts of the hangar were filled with prisoners by the end of the day. In the evening, the shooting started.

“First I heard a few shots only. And then the shooting, which made every thing shake, started. It all ended in 20 minutes. Everything was quiet until the following morning, when the communal service workers came to collect the corpses,” Markovic said.

He also added that the prisoners, who had been detained in the open section of the hangar, were shot in front of the hangar, while those detained in the closed part were killed by bombs, which were thrown inside through the windows.

“It took them two days to load the corpses onto tippers,” the witness said.

The trial of Milorad Trbic is due to continue on March 4, 2008.