Mladic: Everyday Civilian Victims

Overgard, a former United Nations observer, said that “there were victims almost every day” in Hrasnica neighbourhood, Sarajevo from October 1994 to May 1995.

According to witness’s estimates, “between 30 and 40 civilians”, including two small kids, who were killed on November 17, 1994, were killed in the incidents he investigated.Overgard said that the investigations in which he participated showed that fire came from the VRS positions in Ilidza and Lukavica.Mladic, former Commander of VRS, is charged with terrorising civilians in Sarajevo through long-lasting shelling and sniping activities. Besides that, he is on trial for genocide in Srebrenica and seven other municipalities, the persecution of Bosniaks and Croats and taking UNPROFOR members hostage.Overgard confirmed that the Command of the Fourth Motorised Brigade with the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina was situated in Hrasnica, but he said that it was not placed in the centre of that neighbourhood, which was most frequently targeted by VRS.The witness said that he personally saw that the VRS fired modified air-bombs on civilian buildings in Hrasnica. He pointed out that one such bomb killed a woman and wounded other civilians on April 7, 1995.When responding to questions by Mladic’s Defence attorney Miodrag Stojanovic, Overgard confirmed that he saw a person in military trousers and boots lying motionlessly in the house, which was destroyed in the explosion.Responding to a suggestion by the Defence attorney, the witness said that he did not see the woman, who was killed in the explosion, but he heard about her death the following day. Also, he said that it was true that members of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina forced UN observers to leave the location of the incident.Overgard was not able to confirm Defence attorney Stojanovic’s allegation that the Command of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina Brigade was located in a school building, close to the house hit by the air-bomb. He did accept the allegation that the Command was located in a civilian building in which “there were no civilians”.The Mladic trial is due to continue on Wednesday, February 27.