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Salapura said that, despite his earlier statements, it was not true that he found out about the participation of the Tenth Reconnaissance Squad in mass murders in the surroundings of Zvornik after the arrest of Drazen Erdemovic, who admitted guilt for having shot captives on Branjevo military farm, in 1996.
He explained that he received the information about the participation of the Tenth Reconnaissance Squad in the crime “in late December 1995 or at the beginning of January 1996.” He specified that Squad Commander Milorad Pelemis informed him about it.
Salapura told the Tribunal that he was “horrified” and that he “could not understand” the scale of the crime considering the number of dead.
However, the witness said that he was convinced that members of the Squad “did not voluntarily” participate in the murder of captives.
Mladic, former Commander of VRS, is charged with genocide against about 7,000 Srebrenica Bosniaks in the days that followed the occupation of the United Nations protected zone by Serb forces on July 11, 1995.
Besides that, he is charged with persecuting Bosniaks and Croats throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina, terrorising the local population in Sarajevo and taking UN “blue helmets” hostage.
In 1998, Erdemovic admitted guilt for having participated in the murders of Bosniaks following the fall of Srebrenica. He was sentenced to five years.
Salapura confirmed that he asked Internal Affairs Minister Dragan Kijac to issue false identification cards for members of the VRS Tenth Reconnaissance Squad afterwards.
Salapura said that he met Mladic in Srebrenica on July 13, 1995. On that same day he saw Bosniak captives, who were being guarded by Zoran Malinic’s military policemen, in Nova Kasaba and Srebrenica Bosniaks being loaded onto buses in Potocari and being taken away by the VRS.
According to the charges against Mladic, Serb forces transferred to Bosniak territories the women, children and the elderly from Potocari, where tens of thousands of Bosniaks had sought shelter in the vicinity of the UNPROFOR’s compound. They allegedly transferred men to Bratunac and then to several locations in the vicinity of Zvornik, where they were shot.
Salapura is due to continue testifying at Mladic’s trial on Thursday, June 20.
