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The expert witness said that the column consisted of between 12 and 15 thousands of men, adding that one third of them were members of the 28th Division of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina , ARBiH.
“Combat encounters and ambushes occurred at several locations. They resulted in victims. The second reason was the existence of mine fields in that area. Those mine fields caused victims too. The sources I studied indicate that some people committed suicide,” Karganovic said.
He explained that his conclusions were based on statements given by men, who managed to break through, when they arrived in Tuzla. As he said, he reviewed about thirty statements given by those men, although he found out that The Hague Prosecution had 1,200 statements.
The expert witness said that he presented his estimates about the number of victims calling on several other sources. Among other things, he said that, in his report, Eduard Jozef, member of UNPROFOR, mentioned about three thousand victims, while Richard Buttler, Hague Prosecution expert witness, spoke about between one and two thousand victims.
“ARBiH General Enver Hadzihasanovic said at a trial before The Hague Tribunal that 2,628 soldiers and officers were killed while trying to break through,” Karganovic said.
He prepared his report titled “Number of Victims from 28th Division Column” at a request by indictee Mendeljev Djuric, who is on trial, together with Dusko Jevic, Goran Markovic and Nedjo Ikonic.
They are charged with having participated in the forcible resettlement of the Bosniak population from the Srebrenica area and the murder of more than 1,000 men in Kravica.
The State Prosecution’s indictment alleges that Jevic was Commander of the Jahorina Training Centre with the Special Brigade of Republika Srpska police, Djuric and Ikonic were Company Commanders with that Unit and Markovic was a Squad Commander.
Calling on the statement given by the men who were in that column, expert witness Karganovic said that, “500 people were killed in combat in the area surrounding Kravica”.
Trial Chamber Chairwoman Mira Smajlovic asked the expert witness to specify the location in the Kravica area at which those men were killed, but Karganovic said that he would have to check their statements.
Prosecutor Ibro Bulic asked Karganovic if he thought that a court expert in military issues would be more competent for this field. The expert witness responded by saying that both an expert in military and legal issues, the latter being his vocation, could speak about this.
The trial is due to continue on Monday, July 4.
M.T.
