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Sixth Battalion Knew There Wouldn’t Be Exchange

26. March 2014.00:00
Michael MacQueen, an expert for conflicts in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia between 1991 and 1995, on order from the Prosecution made a report on the events that occurred in the municipality of Zvornik, and focused on the question of whether members of the Sixth Battalion knew that prisoners brought to Petkovic would not be heading to exchange.

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“In July 1995, the Sixth Battalion had the task of holding the front lines, and providing people for operations against the Srebrenica column, as well as taking over and securing the prisoner transport,” said MacQueen.

He added he did not know who brought prisoners to the village of Petkovci.

Based on statements from two witnesses in the course of the investigation, MacQueen concluded that members of this battalion knew about the fate of prisoners even before the execution.

“There were no conditions for the exchange, there was no registry of prisoners, they were not treated as prisoners of war,” said the expert, adding that prisoners would have probably been sent to the Batkovic camp if their exchange had been planned.

He said that the commander of the Sixth Battalion was defendant Ostoja Stanisic, and his deputy Marko Milosevic.

Stanisic and Milosevic are on trial for murder of around 1,000 prisoners from Srebrenica in mid-July 1995 at the dam near Petkovci village in Zvornik municipality.

According to the indictment, Stanisic was the commander of the Sixth Battalion of the Zvornik Brigade of the Army of Republika Srpska, based in Petkovci, and Milosevic was his deputy.

Asked by the Defence of Stanisic, MacQueen said he did not have a doctorate in history, nor was he an army professional, but he was a “rational being” who made a report based on documents.

He said he has already testified 23 times in the US and once before the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

MacQueen told the Defence that he concluded that the Sixth Battalion took over the prisoners in Petkovic based on zone of their responsibility.

The trial will resume on April 2.

Džana Brkanić


This post is also available in: Bosnian