Pelemis and Peric: Killing Children in Orahovac

Prosecution witness Tanacko Tanic said that on July 14, 1995 he stood in front of the school building in Orahovac, in Zvornik Municipality, where he saw other members of Zvornik Brigade with the Republika Srpska Army, VRS, Military Police Squad and, among others, Drago Nikolic and Vujadin Popovic – ICTY indictees who are awaiting the verdict in a case where they have been accused of genocide.

“All they said was that detainees were running away and I should go there. My colleague told me: ‘Take your rifle, go there, they are running away!’ He was probably referring to detainees. I guessed we needed to guard the place. A truck drove us to the school building in Orahovac. When I got there, I heard some babbling coming from the gym – it sounded like a beehive. I felt bad about all that, but there was nothing I could do…” the witness said, testifying at the trial of Momir Pelemis and Slavko Peric.

The State Prosecution charges Pelemis, former Deputy Commander and Chief of Headquarters of the First Battalion with the Zvornik Brigade, and Slavko Peric, former Assistant Commander for Security with the same Brigade, with genocide committed in Srebrenica in July 1995.

“I do not know how many people there were. I saw one young boy, carrying water, and a soldier escorting him. I realized they were not going to exchange them and they were going to kill them. Why couldn’t they release the children at least? There were no indications that anything good would happen. Everything seemed so small and unreal. It was like I watched through binoculars turned upside down. A Brigade member asked me if I wanted an automatic gun to shoot those people, but I did not want it. I did not suffer any consequences for having refused to do that,” Tanic said.

The witness told the Court he then went to the house of his acquaintance Mira Vidovic, who lived about a kilometer from the school building. He said he went to the Brigade Headquarters in the evening hours, at about 11 p.m., when he heard some shooting coming from a considerable distance.

“A Brigade minivan passed by. It picked me up. A young boy was in the van. I remember when he saw the lights of our military barracks he said: ‘Is this Srebrenica? Where is my father?’ He was a small boy. They dropped me at the Commander and drove him to the hospital. While I was in the Command, people said that everything had been done well and those who had committed the shooting should be awarded…” the witness recalled.

As he said, the following day all members of the Zvornik Brigade Command knew what had happened in Orahovac.

The indictment alleges that, from July 10 to November 1, 1995 Pelemis and Peric participated, as deliberate participants, in a joint criminal enterprise, in collaboration with other VRS members, including Popovic and Nikolic, with the joint aim of capturing, detaining and killing, with no right to trial, all Bosniak men, capable of serving in the military, and boys from Srebrenica.

At this hearing Trial Chamber Chairman Ljubomir Kitic said that more than 30 days had passed between the two subsequent hearings in the Pelemis and Peric case, adding that no evidence had been presented in this period of time. He said that, as per the legal provisions, the trial should now start from the beginning.

As per the provisions contained in the Criminal Proceedings Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the main trial has to start from the beginning if more than 30 days have passed between two subsequent hearings. In that case, with the consent of all parties, the witnesses need not be reexamined, but their previously given statements can be used.

Both parties have agreed that there is no need to read the indictment or examine the same witnesses again. Kitic said that the statements given by 28 witnesses examined by the Prosecution, and more than 70 pieces of material evidence were now included in the case file.

The next hearing is due to take place on December 17, when one more Prosecution witness will be examined.