Involvement of Police in Srebrenica Operation

“An order from the Minister of Internal Affairs came, saying that the Company should be deployed to Bratunac and put under Borovcanin’s command,” said witness Luka Bogdanovic, who was Chief of the Police Section with the Public Safety Center in Zvornik at that time.

Ljubomir Borovcanin was sentenced to 17 years in prison for crimes in Srebrenica. He was Deputy Commander of the Special Brigade of Republika Srpska police. During the operations in Srebrenica he commanded the joint police forces.

Witness Bogdanovic said that he visited his family in Bratunac, because the situation was “chaotic there”. As he said, he also went to Bratunac police during those days.

“I heard that the Army occupied Srebrenica on July 11… Our men did not participate in the action. They were in the state of readiness in the yellow bridge area between Srebrenica and Bratunac,” Bogdanovic said.

He mentioned that the Company from Zvornik participated in the search of area on the following day and that it was transferred to the Sandici region later on.

“On July 13 I heard that they had an armed conflict with members of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina and that one policeman got killed… In the evening on July 13 I received information that buses were arriving in Bratunac and being parked there,” the witness said.

He said that he did not issue any orders to the Police Company from Zvornik, because it was subordinate to, and under the command of Ljubomir Borovcanin. Bogdanovic said that he found out, later on, that some people were killed in Kravica.

The indictment charges Saric, former Commander of the Special Police Brigade, with having commanded police forces, which participated in the search and forced resettlement of the Bosniak population, as well as separation of men and boys, who were executed later on.

According to the charges, he issued an order to police to guard the road between Bratunac and Konjevic Polje and capture men. The indictment alleges that members of special police participated in escorting captives to the Agricultural Cooperative in Kravica, where about 1,000 of them were executed.

Nenad Gojkovic, who was Commander of the Special Police Squad in Doboj until 1995 and then Deputy Chief of the Public Safety Center in Doboj testified at this hearing as well.

He said that, in July 1995 a company from Doboj was in Zvornik, where he also saw several members of special police, who were trying to join their squad.

Witness Zeljka Veljo said that during “problems at the Sarajevo battlefield” in July 1995 Saric, her then superior officer, drove her to Jahorina and that she then went to her family’s place in Grbavica.

The trial is due to continue on February 11.