Pelemis and Peric: Indictee ‘Did Not Participate’ in Crimes

“I have not come across any documents confirming that Pelemis was in the Kula building in Pilica. He could have known that prisoners of war had arrived to that area in Pilica and he could have assessed this was a security issue, but he did not know those men would be executed.

“He expected they would be exchanged. Therefore, some members of the First Battalion were present at the locality for security reasons,” Radinovic concluded. His testimony began on December 6.

Momir Pelemis, former Deputy Commander of the First Battalion with Zvornik Brigade of the Republika Srpska Army, VRS, and Peric, former Assistant Commander for Security, are charged with having participated in the murder of about 1,200 Srebrenica residents on Branjevo military farm and murder of about 600 men in the Cultural Center in Pilica on July 15 and 16, 1995.

The indictment alleges that the prisoners had initially been detained in the Kula school building in Pilica. It further alleges that Peric, with Pelemis’ consent and under his command, found members of the First Battalion and deployed them to the area to guard it.

Radinovic said he did not find a single piece of information saying the First Battalion issued an order to take the prisoners away by bus or any decisions about the execution locations.

“Those decisions could have only been made by the Army, whose members had brought the prisoners of war to Pilica, and certainly not by those who guarded the location,” the expert witness said.

He said that Pelemis was not in a position to make such decision, adding he had not come across any data suggesting the first indictee knew what was going on in Pilica. Radinovic told the Court that Pelemis did not participate in the removal of bodies on July 17, 1995 either.

“Pelemis did not participate in it in any way. He was neither present nor did he issue any orders,” expert witness Radinovic said.

The trial is due to continue on December 8, when the expert witness will be cross-examined.