Bosnian Serb Saboteur Squad Murdered Prisoners
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The former head of the intelligence service of the Bosnian Serb Armys main headquarters, Petar Salapura, told Cvetkovics trial in Sarajevo on Monday that the Tenth Saboteur Squad was involved in the initial attack on Srebrenica aimed at warning off the Bosnian Army in June 1995, the month before the UN-protected enclave fell.
The proposal to use this squad in Srebrenica came from me, Salapura said, explaining that it was partly under the command of the Bosnian Serb main headquarters.
However Salapura said that he only found out later about its involvement in the massacres of Bosniak prisoners that followed the fall of Srebrenica on July 11, 1995.
Defendant Cvetkovic, a former member of the Tenth Saboteur Squad, is charged with the participation in the murder of at least 900 people from Srebrenica at the Branjevo military farm near Zvornik on July 16, 1995. He has pleaded not guilty.
Salapura said that he talked about the squads participation in the murders with his superior officer Zdravko Tolimir, who was Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladics assistant for intelligence and security affairs. Tolimir was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Hague Tribunal for the Srebrenica genocide.
He said that he also talked about the murders with the Tenth Saboteur Squads commander, Milorad Pelemis, who told him that he did not order it and had nothing to do with it.
Cvetkovic is the seventh member of the Tenth Saboteur Squad to be prosecuted over the Branjevo farm massacre. Another six members were sentenced to a total of 127 years in prison. Pelemis is still on the run and is wanted by the Bosnian authorities.
The defence showed the witness an order to the Tenth Saboteur Squad issued on July 10, 1995, and signed by commander Pelemis, with a list of soldiers which does not include Cvetkovics name. Salapura said that if Cvetkovic was not on the list, then he did not take part in the action.
The defence claims that Cvetkovic only joined the squad on July 15, 1995.
The prosecution entered into evidence the Squads diary, which contains a list including a driver called Aco (a diminutive of Aleksandar) Cvetkovic, born in 1967. The defence claims that defendant Cvetkovic was born in 1968.
The trial will resume on Tuesday.
