Interpretation of Mladic’s Words

At the end of the cross-examination of Prosecution’s military expert Richard Butler, Defence attorney Dragan Ivetic played parts of recordings taken during Mladic’s meetings with officers of the UNPROFOR Dutch Battalion and representatives of Srebrenica Muslims held in the “Fontana” Hotel in Bratunac on July 11 and 12, 1995.As one could hear on the recording, Mladic said that he “guarantees that all those who surrender weapons will survive” and that he “wants to help the civilian population, which is not the target of the VRS operation.” In order to make a decision, on July 11 Mladic invited Muslim representatives to respond by the following morning. “You can either survive or disappear,” Mladic told Srebrenica Muslims at the second meeting held in the morning on July 12. He pointed out that, “for survival, it is necessary for all your soldiers to surrender weapons”, because “there is no need for them to die”. Defence attorney Ivetic asked witness Butler if it was possible that Mladic’s words referred to members of the 28th Division of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as “civilians”, who had not surrendered to VRS, but continued their breakthrough to Tuzla through the woods. “Yes, that is a possible interpretation,” the military expert said on the ninth day of his testimony. The indictment alleges that Mladic, the then Commander of VRS, is charged with genocide against about 7,000 men and boys from Srebrenica in the days that followed the occupation of the enclave by Serb forces on July 11, 1995. The Defence played a part of a recording, depicting Thomas Karremans, Commander of the Dutch Battalion of UNPROFOR, advocating, in Mladic’s presence, for the evacuation of civilians from Potocari, saying that, according to an assessment by the piece forces, it was their wish. Responding to a question by Prosecutor Peter McCloskey on whether the 28th Division of ABiH surrendered after Mladic’s warning, Butler responded negatively. “Words are words. I cannot say what he meant,” Butler commented. Responding to a suggestion by the Defence, Butler repeated that Srebrenica was not demilitarised, that the 28th Division of ABiH attacked the surrounding Serb villages and killed civilians from the enclave and that it was a legitimate military target for the VRS. The prosecutors are due to complete the additional examination of Butler on September 17. After that General Manojlo Milovanovic, Mladic’s closest associate during the Bosnian war and the then Chief of the VRS’ Main Headquarters, is due to begin testifying. Mladic is also charged with the persecution of Muslims and Croats throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina, which reached the scale of genocide in seven municipalities, terror against civilians in Sarajevo and taking UNPROFOR members hostage.