Witness Took a Tranquiliser

At the trial for Srebrenica genocide the Prosecution plays a recording of a protected witness’ examination during the investigation with the intention to demonstrate that his statement was much more precise than his testimony at a hearing held on March 5.

The public was not allowed to be present in the courtroom while the video-recording was played, because protected witness SM-109’s face could be seen on the recording. The witness testified in a separate cabin at this trial, while his voice was altered.

At the last hearing Prosecutor Predrag Tomic said that the witness mentioned, during the course of the investigation, that, in mid-July 1995 a person in the Command of the Zvornik Brigade with the Republika Srpska Army, VRS, ordered him to drive a construction machine to a dam in the vicinity of Petkovci village, but to report to the Command in that village prior to going to the dam.

Testifying in the courtroom, the witness said that he did not remember having been told to report to the Command in Petkovci prior to going to the dam, adding that he went to the village in order to inquire how to get to the dam.

During the last hearing the Prosecutor said that the witness met two soldiers at the Battalion Command door in Petkovci and that those soldiers showed him the way to the dam. The witness said that he did not remember whether it was the Command building or not.

The Prosecutor said that, while watching the video-recording, one could see that “it was not the pure inability to remember, but he responded to questions clearly”.

The protected witness testified at the trial of Ostoja Stanisic and Marko Milosevic, who are charged with crimes on a dam near Petkovci, where about 1,000 captives from Srebrenica were executed in mid-July.

The indictment alleges that Stanisic was Commander of the Sixth Battalion with the Zvornik Brigade of the Republika Srpska Army, VRS, seated in Petkovci, while Milosevic was his Deputy.

Testifying at the last hearing, the witness said that he saw rows of corpses upon his arrival on the dam.

A new protected State Prosecution witness was not able to testify at this hearing due to health problems.
“I do not feel capable of testifying,” said protected witness SM-102, who was in a separate room.

He explained that he had headache and that he felt weak. Prosecutor Tomic said that the witness began feeling unwell while they were speaking prior to the hearing. As he said, the witness showed signs of fear, so physicians gave him a tranquiliser.

It is planned that he will testify at the next hearing, which is scheduled for March 19.