Unbearable Sharing of Powers

Ninkovic, who was Minister of Defence of RS in the summer of 1995, said that Karadzic was against the military operation in Srebrenica and that he expressed his concern during a meeting of the Supreme Command, which the witness attended as well.

Ninkovic described the relations between Karadzic and VRS Commander Ratko Mladic as unbearable, because Karadzic, the then Supreme Commander, “had to share the powers” with Mladic.

“Karadzic did not have any role or responsibility in approving military operations, but only in solving VRS logistical problems,” Ninkovic said.

According to the witness’ testimony, following the fall of Srebrenica, Karadzic was preoccupied with the ill functioning of civilian authorities in the municipality and difficulties in establishing the rule of law and protection of property owned by all civilians, irrespective of their ethnicity.
 
Karadzic is charged with genocide against about 7,000 Srebrenica Muslims, as well as other crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Mladic is on trial in a separate case for those same crimes.

When asked by the prosecutors whether he was superior to Mladic, considering the fact that he was Minister of Defence of the RS, Ninkovic said: “In terms of commanding the Army, I was not, but, in terms of providing supplies to it, I was. Also, the Supreme Command did not make any operational decisions, it was more like an advisory body.”

Ninkovic, who was in the western part of Bosnia and Herzegovina during the Srebrenica crisis, confirmed that, acting on an order by the VRS Main Headquarters, the Ministry of Defence of RS mobilised buses and trucks, which were then used to transport thousands of Srebrenica Muslims from Potocari.  

As he said, he found out about the relocation of the local population from television.

Retired VRS lieutenant colonel Mirko Trivic said that the Supreme Command never considered that the Srebrenica enclave should disappear. No plan for the elimination of Bosnian Muslims from Srebrenica existed either.

According to Trivic’s testimony, Karadzic wanted to “prevent further terrorist attacks” from the enclave and “reinforce the Serbian positions surrounding it.”

Trivic participated in the offensive on Srebrenica in his capacity as Commander of the Second Romanija Brigade of the VRS.

During the cross-examination Prosecutor Melissa Pack presented the witness with Directive No. 7 from March 1995, under which Karadzic ordered the VRS to undertake “well-prepared and planned activities” in Srebrenica in order to create “an unbearable situation of total insecurity without hope for survival and living of the local population.”

While confirming that the signatory was responsible for the content of the Directive, Trivic, however, said that he stuck to his assessment that it was aimed at introducing “sanctions” against the local Srebrenica population in order to make it “request removal… of the political and military leaders, who had led them to the state of hopelessness by their excesses.”  

Trivic added that the Directive was “not an obligatory, but a guiding document.”

The cross-examination of Trivic is due to continue on June 27.