Water, But No Dinner

Protected witness RM-314 witness described the execution of about 1,000 Muslims from Srebrenica by Bosnian Serb forces in Orahovica village, near Zvornik, on July 14, 1995.
 
Mladic, the wartime commander of the Republika Srpska Army, VRS, is charged with genocide against some 7,000 Srebrenica Muslims in the days following July 11, 1995.
 
In a written statement which was included as evidence, the witness said that following the fall of Srebrenica, he tried to break through the VRS ring by walking through the woods towards Tuzla, but he surrendered to Serb soldiers two days later – on July 13, 1995.
 
Mladic addressed the captives in a meadow near Sandici village on that same evening.
 
“He greeted us by saying: ‘Good evening neighbours’. He then told us: ‘The governments are negotiating. You will be exchanged tomorrow according to ‘all for all’ principle’. We said: ‘Thank you Commander’. He said: ‘You will go to the hangars. You will get water, but no dinner,’” the witness said.
 
The witness was separated from his brother in Sandici. He only recently found out what happened to him. “They say that they have found a few bones, but not the whole body…” the witness said.
 
On the same evening the captives were transferred to Bratunac, where a few of them were killed during the night. In the morning on July 14 they were transported to Orahovac by trucks.
 
“They cursed our Turkish and Muslim mothers and said: ‘This is Serbian land. Nobody can defeat the Serbian Army,’” the witness said.
 
According to witness RM–314’s testimony, Serb soldiers blindfolded Muslim captives in the overcrowded school gym in Orahovac. They gave each of them a small cup of water before loading them onto a truck.
 
The witness said the truck stopped after a short ride. The captives were ordered to get out and line up. Looking through an opening below his blindfold, the witness saw a dead body in front of him. He then heard a burst of gunfire and fell down, although he was not hit.
 
“A captive was severely wounded. He asked them to kill him. He did not even cry…A Serb soldier said: ‘Slowly, slowly,’” witness RM-314 said.
 
While he was lying underneath the dead bodies, he heard trucks bringing new groups of captives and shooting “every fifteen minutes”. The witness specified that he recognized Gojko Simic, by his voice, as one of the perpetrators. The witness knew Simic from before the war.
 
A few hours later the witness managed to flee from the crime scene. After wandering around for two days, he reached the territories controlled by the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina. 
 
During the cross-examination Mladic’s defence attorney Branko Lukic asked the witness whether he recognized Mladic in Sandici or heard that he was present there.
 
Witness RM-314 confirmed that he “had never seen” Mladic before Sandici and that the news that it was him spread among the captives. After having seen him on TV while “on free territory” later on, he was “a hundred percent” sure it was Mladic.
 
Responding to a suggestion by the defence attorney, the witness said that after having fled he heard that four boys who were among the captives in the school building in Orahovac were released.
 
Mladic is also charged with the persecution of Muslims and Croats throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina, terror against civilians in Sarajevo through a campaign of shelling and sniping and taking UNPROFOR members hostage.
 
The trial is due to continue on May 10.