Attacks Devised to Cause as Many Victims as Possible

Testifying at Ratko Mladic’s trial, The Hague Prosecution’s expert in mine-throwers Richard Higgs confirms findings of investigations into explosions in Sarajevo in 1994 and 1995 according to which the grenades that killed and wounded hundreds of civilians were fired from Serb positions.

As per a request by the Prosecution, British officer Higgs reviewed reports about the course and results of several investigations, which UNPROFOR and police conducted in Sarajevo following several explosions in the city, including two artillery attacks on Markale open market.

Speaking about the first explosion at Markale on February 5, 1994, when 66 persons were killed and more than 140 wounded, Higgs said that the depth at which the grenade stabiliser was found indicated that the grenade was fired with the strongest possible charge from a large distance, i.e. from positions held by the Republika Srpska Army, VRS.

Higgs said that, while reviewing the results of investigations conducted in the field immediately after the explosion in front of Markale closed market on August 28, 1995, when 43 people were killed and more than 75 wounded, he did not notice any irregularities, which would undermine the conclusion that the grenades were fired from VRS positions.

Mladic, former Commander of the Republika Srpska Army, is charged with terrorising civilians in Sarajevo by long-lasting shelling and sniping. He is also on trial for genocide in Srebrenica, persecution of Bosniaks and Croats throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina, which reached the scale of genocide in seven municipalities, and taking UNPROFOR members hostage.

After having analysed the results of investigations into mine-thrower attacks during a football game in Dobrinja on June 1, 1993, an explosion in Alipasino Polje in January 1994 and killing of civilians queuing for water in front of “Simon Bolivar” school building in Dobrinja on June 18, 1994, Higgs came to the same conclusion – that the grenades were fired from positions held by Serb forces.  

Commenting on the two explosions in Alipasino Polje in which six children were killed and five persons wounded, Higgs pointed out that the attack was devised to “cause as many victims as possible”.

“The grenades were fired on the street in front of the buildings at a small distance from each other with a short pause,” Higgs said, suggesting that the aim was to hit people who had gathered after the first detonation, with the second projectile.  
 
In his comment about three explosions in Dobrinja neighbourhood on February 4, 1994, when eight people were killed and 18 wounded, the Prosecution expert said that the fact that the projectiles exploded within a range of 40 metres could indicate that all of them were fired from the same mine-thrower.

According to Higgs’ testimony, the aim of firing one, two or three grenades in a row was “upsetting” people and preventing the movement of people around the city, considering the fact that much more projectiles should have been fired in order to destroy buildings or military targets.

At the beginning of the cross-examination, Mladic’s Defence attorney Branko Lukic denied the correctness of findings of several investigations in regard to the angle under which the grenade hit the ground in front of Markale on August 28, 1995. Lukic said that Higgs intentionally applied the wrong data in order to determine the same angle under which the grenade hit the ground as the one determined by the Prosecution in the indictment, but the expert denied those allegations.

Indictee Mladic did not attend a part of this hearing, because he voluntarily gave up his right to attend the trial.

As said by Defence attorney Lukic, Mladic would not attend the hearing on Tuesday, November 5, when the cross-examination of Higgs will continue.