Neskovic and Ilic: Cries and Detonations in Kravica

A former member of the Jahorina Training Centre with the Special Brigade of Republika Srpska police, who testified under the pseudonym of NI102, said, testifying before the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, that about one hundred Bosniaks were taken in front of the warehouse in Kravica, adding that members of the Centre and other Serb Army units were lined about 20 metres away from them.
 
“The Bosniaks kneeled down, facing us. At some stage the shooting began. To me, it seemed as if it lasted forever, while it actually lasted between three and five minutes. Most of them were killed. I am saying, under full responsibility, that I did not shoot at them,” protected witness NI102 said.
 
The witness said that, prior to the shooting he briefly saw indictee Dragan Neskovic, but he did not know where exactly he was standing. He said he did not see indictee Zoran Ilic in the vicinity of Kravica.
 
As he said, when the execution of prisoners began, the witness was in a state of shock, so he did not see who was shooting.
 
“When the shooting began, bullet bursts came from all directions. (…) Two or three soldiers, including a member of the Centre, whose name I do not know, then killed the survivors,” NI102 said.
 
The Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina charges Neskovic and Zoran Ilic, former members of the Jahorina Training Centre with the Special Brigade of the RS police, with having participated in the capture of Bosniak men, who were taken to the Cooperative in Kravica, Bratunac municipality, in groups and executed on July 13 and 14, 1995.
 
The indictment alleges that indictee Neskovic ordered two members of the Centre, of whom he knew, to kill two captured Bosniak men. They allegedly carried out the order.
 
According to the charges, Ilic shot from an automatic gun on a pile of bodies of prisoners who had already been shot, in order to “check” whether there were any survivors.
 
The protected witness said that about 50 members of the Jahorina Training Centre arrived in front of the Cooperative warehouse in Kravica the night before the shooting, adding that he saw indictee Neskovic on that occasion too.
 
“On our arrival, we saw some members of the Serb Army, whom I did not know. I heard sporadic shooting and hand-bomb detonations. I could hear cries of people, who were held in the warehouse. No members of the unit to which I belonged used firearms at that moment,” the witness said.
 
The witness said that, prior to their arrival to the Agricultural Cooperative in Kravica, the Centre members were situated in Potocari, where they helped women and children, who were leaving for territories controlled by the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
 
The witness said that, while he was in Potocari, he heard Ratko Mladic saying that the civilians would be transferred to Kladanj and Tuzla, adding that he saw him giving chocolate bars and sweets to the civilians.
 
Mladic, a former Commander of the Main Headquarters with the Republika Srpska Army, whom the Hague Prosecution charges with genocide, crimes against humanity and violation of the laws and customs of war, was arrested in May 2011 after 16 years on the run. He is due to enter his plea at the beginning of July this year.
 
The trial is due to continue on July 5 this year.

A.J.