Neskovic and Ilic: Desperate Desire to Leave

Testifying in favor of indictee Neskovic, Ljubisav Simic, former President of the Municipality of Bratunac, said that women, children and the elderly mainly left Potocari in convoys, and that he did notice that they are forced to do so.

“There was a crowd because they wanted to leave Potocari. They were afraid that convoys were organised for only a number of people”, said Simic, adding he did not see that there was any violence against the citizens of Srebrenica.

He said that after the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS) took over Srebrenica, his task was to provide food for Bosniaks in Potocari. The witness said that he is sorry because more food did not come, which he had planned.

The Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina charges Neskovic and Ilic with having participated, on July 13 and 14, 1995, in the capture of Bosniak men, who were then taken in groups to the Agricultural Co-operative in Kravica, Bratunac municipality, where they were executed.

The indictment alleges that Neskovic and Ilic were members of the Jahorina Training Centre with the Special Brigade of Republika Srpska police.

Neskovic is charged with having ordered two members of that Unit to kill two captured men of Bosniak nationality, which they did, while Ilic shot from an automatic gun at a pile of bodies of prisoners, who had already been shot.

State Prosecutor Erik Larson asked the witness whether he remembers that Ratko Mladic, former Chief of Staff of the VRS, at the meeting held with the representatives of citizens of Srebrenica in Hotel Fontana threatened that they can “disappear” and whether that is the reason for their departure from Potocari.

“I remember it. What he wanted to say by that is still unclear to me. (…) It is true that they desperately wanted to leave. And I would like it too if Bratunac was in the same situation … Fear and distrust led to the war and that is hard to heal even today,” replied the witness.

Mladic, who is indicted for genocide, crimes against humanity and violations of the laws and customs of war in Bosnia-Herzegovina since 1992 to 1995, is awaiting the trial before The Hague Tribunal.

Simic said that he is ashamed of what later happened to the people of Srebrenica. “Every normal person would be ashamed. What had happened was done behind the backs of many people”, he said.

The continuation of the trial is scheduled for Tuesday, January 17 this year.