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Mile Tejic, former member of the First Battalion with the Zvornik Brigade of the Republika Srpska Army, VRS, said that, as per an order by his Commander, he went to Kula school building in Pilica in July 1995 in order to guard “Muslims from Srebrenica”.
“Slavko Peric, security officer, was present there. He gave us instructions on how to distribute ourselves in classrooms and guard the captives,” Tejic said, adding that men of various ages were detained in four classrooms.
Under a second instance verdict, Slavko Peric was sentenced to 11 years in prison for having participated in the genocide in Srebrenica.
“I saw a couple of dead people from the classroom. (…) I did not notice anything unusual inside the school building. Nobody was mistreated in my presence,” Tejic said, adding that members of his Battalion stayed in the school building for about four or five hours.
He said that many soldiers unknown to him were present in the school building in Pilica. He told the Court that about ten uniformed soldiers came by minivan.
“They had rifles and pistols. They had hats on their heads. They were insolent,” Tejic said, explaining that they came in order to take the men from Srebrenica to an exchange location.
The witness said that the men were loaded onto three buses, which belonged to “Drinatrans” Company, adding that some of them were sitting, while others were standing. The loading itself lasted about three or four hours.
When asked by the Defence if he knew what happened to the captives from the school building, witness Tejic said: “I heard that some were killed. Somebody killed them”.
Tejic said that he did not know indictee Aleksandar Cvetkovic.
The Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina charges Cvetkovic, former member of the 10th Reconnaissance Squad of the Main Headquarters of VRS, with having participated in genocide against civilians in Srebrenica in 1995.
The State Prosecution presented, as material evidence, photographs of the “Kula” school building in Pilica.
The trial is due to continue on December 23.
