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Forty-three citizens were killed and 75 wounded in the explosion at Markale on August 28, 1995. Mladic, the then Commander of VRS, is charged with terrorising civilians in Sarajevo through artillery and sniper attacks.
While being additionally examined by prosecutors, protected witness RM-055 said that he does not know that the murder scene in front of Markale was staged and that the bodies were brought from other locations, as suggested by Mladics Defence during the cross-examination yesterday.
Responding to questions by Mladics Defence attorney Branko Lukic, the French Officer confirmed that UNPROFOR did not prevent the bringing of military equipment to the city through a tunnel beneath the Butmir airport in 1995, although it was its task to do it.
Due to the size of the tunnel, it was not possible to carry heavy weapons through it. We therefore considered that some sort of balance was achieved by bringing some stuff through the tunnel, the witness said.
Witness RM-055 confirmed that, in the summer of 1995 he knew that the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina used the UNPROFORs corridor over Mount Igman for its military transport, specifying that the road was used by UNPROFOR during the day and by ABiH at night.
However, he pointed out that the VRS had previously closed all blue roads for bringing supplies to Sarajevo.
The trial of general Mladic, who is also charged with genocide in Srebrenica and seven other municipalities, persecution of Muslims and Croats throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina and taking UNPROFOR members hostage, is due to continue tomorrow.
R.M.
