Neskovic and Ilic: Destiny of Separated Men Unknown
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State Prosecution witness Vincentius Egbers said that the men, who, as he said were elderly, were taken from “the white house” and loaded into at least three buses, adding that, as they were getting on those buses, they explained to him that they would be killed.
“They were taken out and loaded into the buses. They were escorted by the second lieutenant of the Dutch Battalion. Later on he told me that he was stopped in the vicinity of Bratunac and that a revolver was pointed at him, so he had to go back to the Srebrenica enclave. I do not know what happened to those men,” Egbers said.
The former member of the Dutch Battalion responded to questions made by the Defence of Dragan Neskovic and Zoran Ilic, who are charged with crimes in Srebrenica, so the State Prosecution could include his earlier statement given before The Hague Tribunal in the case file as evidence.
Neskovic and Ilic, former members of the “Jahorina” Training Centre with the Special Police Brigade of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Republika Srpska, MUP of RS, are charged with having participated in the search of Bosniak houses in Budak village, near Potocari on July 12 and 13, 1995 with the aim of taking people to the UN Base in Potocari.
The indictment alleges that, on July 13 and 14, 1995 the indictees participated in the capture of Bosniak men, who were then taken in groups to the Co-operative building in Kravica, Bratunac municipality, where they were executed.
The indictment further alleges that Neskovic ordered two members of the Center to kill two Bosniak captives. They allegedly carried out the order. Ilic allegedly shot from an automatic gun at a pile of bodies of prisoners, who had been shot.
Witness Egbers said that, after the Republika Srpska Army, VRS had occupied Srebrenica, he escorted a convoy of civilians to Potocari along with other members of the Dutch Battalion.
“They left Srebrenica on their own because they felt unsafe. The place was shelled at the very beginning. I did not see any wounded people, but I did not find out if anybody was injured. The grenades were falling a hundred metres away from the convoy,” Egbers said.
The witness explained that he supervised the escorting of two convoys of civilians from Potocari to Kladanj, adding that those convoys arrived to the final destination.
The trial is due to continue on December 6 this year.
