“Unnecessary” Occupation of Srebrenica

Salapura, the then Chief of the Intelligence Directorate of the VRS Main Headquarters, testified in defence of Karadzic right after having completed his testimony in another courtroom at Ratko Mladic’s trial, where he was presented as a Hague Prosecution witness. Lieutenant Colonel Salapura said that, on the eve of the attack on Srebrenica the Intelligence Directorate of the VRS Main Headquarters considered that the occupation of the enclave was “unnecessary” because it assumed that it would cause negative reactions by the international community. Therefore, the Directorate “had nothing to do with Srebrenica military operation”.The witness said that the Tenth Reconnaissance Squad of VRS was “an independent unit with the Main Headquarters” and that it was under Mladic’s direct command. Salapura said that members of that Squad participated in the shooting of Muslim captives following the fall of Srebrenica.Karadzic, former President of Republika Srpska and Supreme Commander of its Army, is charged, just like Mladic, with genocide against about 7,000 Muslim men in the days that followed the occupation of Srebrenica by VRS on July 11, 1995. Besides that, the indictment charges Karadzic with persecuting Bosniaks and Croats throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina, terrorising civilians in Sarajevo through long-lasting shelling and sniping and taking UNPROFOR members hostage.As he said, Lieutenant Colonel Salapura met Mladic in Srebrenica, on his way from Serbia to Han-Pijesak, on July 13, 1995. He informed him about the discoveries obtained from international sources that the Croatian Army would attack Kninska Krajina at the beginning of August and continue its operations in Republika Srpska.On that same day he saw Bosniak captives, who were guarded by VRS military policemen, in Nova Kasaba village. He said that the atmosphere at the football stadium was “casual”. While he was in Potocari, Salapura saw Srebrenica Bosniaks being loaded onto buses and the VRS driving women and children to Kladanj and men to Bratunac. According to the charges and pronounced verdicts, the VRS transferred the captured Bosniak men to several locations in the Zvornik surroundings and shot them. Salapura said that the Drina Corps of VRS, which eventually occupied the enclave, took the intelligence activities over from his Directorate during the Srebrenica military operation. Salapura is due to respond to prosecutors’ questions on Monday, June 24.