Trbic: Doomed people

Testifying at the trial of Milorad Trbic, Momir Nikolic, former chief of security and intelligence affairs with the Bratunac Brigade of the Republika Srpska Army, VRS, said that, in July 1995 he was involved in “helping transport about 30,000 Bosniak civilians from Bratunac to Kladanj”.

After having concluded a guilt admission agreement with him, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, ICTY, sentenced Nikolic to 20 years’ imprisonment for crimes against Muslims in Srebrenica. He testified, via video link, from Finland, where he is currently serving his sentence.

Nikolic said he was not aware of Trbic’s role in the killing of Bosniaks in Srebrenica, adding that he did not even know him “until his arrival at The Hague”.

The Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina charges Trbic, former assistant commander for security with the VRS Zvornik Brigade, with genocide and participating in the forcible resettlement of Bosniaks from Srebrenica, as well as the execution and burial of those people.

In the course of his testimony Nikolic did not want to confirm the Facts and Guilt Admission Statement, which he signed at The Hague. In the mentioned Statement he admitted having been “the direct coordinator of detention of men and transportation of Bosniak civilians to Kladanj” in July 1995.

“I was not the commander. Brigade Commander Vidoje Blagojevic was the chief. The fact that I was a chief is not sufficient for charging me on the basis of my command responsibility, ” Nikolic said.

The Hague Tribunal sentenced Blagojevic, former commander of Bratunac Brigade, to 15 years’ imprisonment for crimes committed in Srebrenica.

Nikolic confirmed that, on July 12, 1995 he was present in front of “Fontana” Hotel in Bratunac, where “General Ratko Mladic met Bosniak representatives and UNPROFOR, after having taken Srebrenica, in order to discuss the transportation of civilians to the territory controlled by the Bosnian Army”.

“On that day I saw colonel Vujadin Popovic. He approached me and said that I would have to help others transport the civilians. He said some bad things about Bosniaks, claiming that they all ought to be killed. His words sounded eerie,” Nikolic recalled.

Vujadin Popovic, assistant commander for security with Drina Corps, is currently at The Hague, where he is being tried for “the opportunistic killing of Muslims in Srebrenica and the Bratunac area,”, while Ratko Mladic, VRS commander, is still on the run.

As stated by Nikolic, on July 13 he had yet another chance to talk to Mladic in Konjevic polje, where he “safeguarded the road, which he was going to take”.

“After I had reported to Mladic, I asked him what we should do with a large number of captured Bosniaks, who were standing there. He just made a quick wave with his hand. I realised that this meant that those people were doomed, as they were all going to be killed,” he said.

The trial is due to continue on September 8, 2008.