Stanisic Blames the Army for Koricanske Stijene

Wartime Minister of Internal Affairs of Republika Srpska Mico Stanisic says, testifying at Radovan Karadzic’s trial, that no “active” members of police forces were among the perpetrators of a massacre at Koricanske Stijene in the summer of 1992.

On the third day of his testimony Stanisic said that the murder of more than 150 Bosniaks on Mount Vlasic on August 21, 1992 was committed by members of the Interventions Squad of military police of the Republika Srpska Army, VRS.

Confirming that he found out about that crime “two or three days after” it had happened, Stanisic said that police did all it could at that moment. He said that it conducted a crime scene inspection and safeguarded surviving witnesses, suggesting that an investigative judge and prosecutor were in charge of proceeding with the investigation.

Last year The Hague Tribunal pronounced a first instance verdict against Stanisic, sentencing him to 22 years in prison for having committed persecution and other crimes against the non-Serb population, including the massacre on Mount Vlasic.

Karadzic, former President of Republika Srpska and supreme Commander of VRS, is charged with the persecution of Muslims and Bosniaks throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina. Prijedor is one of the seven municipalities, where the persecution reached the scale of genocide. Besides that, he is on trial for genocide in Srebrenica, crimes in Sarajevo and taking UNPROFOR members hostage.

Responding to the prosecutors’ questions, Stanisic denied, despite the documents presented to him, that the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Republika Srpska, MUP of RS, armed paramilitary formations, like “Zute Ose” (“Yellow Wasps”), whose members committed crimes against the Bosniak population in Eastern Bosnia, particularly in Zvornik.

He said that members of that paramilitary unit not only committed crimes against non-Serbs, but also mistreated Serb officials and ministers in the town, until they were arrested by special police units in August 1992. The witness confirmed that he first heard about the crimes committed by “Zute Ose” in Zvornik in June that year, adding that, after that he prepared an operation against them for two months.

Following the examination of Stanisic, Karadzic presented the judges with witness Mihajlo Orlovic, was worked as a radio reporter in Sanski Most in 1992. Orlovic said that the conflicts in the spring of 1992 were caused by “Muslim extremists”, who did not hand over illegal weapons.

According to Orlovic’s testimony, “many citizens, who loved peace, sought shelter in schools and sports halls”. By the time the Serb authorities, which were established in May, had consolidated themselves, “individuals and criminal groups used the chaotic situation for gaining personal profit,” he said.

The witness said that “many citizens of all ethnicities left the town due to the wartime poverty”, adding that Serb forces escorted them in order to make sure that they would leave safely. They “could either keep or exchange” their property. Authorities accommodated Serb refugees from other parts of BiH in “the abandoned houses”, Orlovic said.

The Prosecutors are due to cross-examine witness Orlovic on Thursday, February 6.