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Nikola Mijatovic, former Deputy Commander of the Ilidza Brigade of VRS, said that his forces never shot at civilians in Sarajevo, but just responded to fire targeting positions held by the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina, BiH, in the city neighbourhoods.
The witness said that he neither had an order nor the intention to terrorise the local population in Sarajevo. He said that, on the contrary, superior commands gave strict orders that civilians should be protected and the Geneva Convention respected.
Mijatovic said that the shelling of a substation in Ilidza by the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which then “falsely accused Serbs of doing it”, caused cuts in the supply of electricity and water in Sarajevo.
“UNPROFOR observers were deployed next to all of our artillery weapons. We told them to ask them if we opened fire or not… This was one in a series of false accusations by the Muslim Army,” Mijatovic said.
The Hague Prosecution charges Mladic, former Commander of VRS, with having conducted a campaign of shelling and sniping of Sarajevo, which was aimed at terrorising the local population. Besides that, he is on trial for genocide in Srebrenica and seven other municipalities, the persecution of Bosniaks and Croats and taking UN “blue helmets” hostage.
According to Mijatovic, Bosnian Army units used to open fire from positions close to civilian buildings and UNPROFOR positions, including the Command located in the post office building, in order to provoke the VRS to respond by opening fire on civilians and international forces.
While confirming that his unit used “modified air-bombs” due to the lack of artillery ammunition, Mijatovic denied the allegations that those bombs were totally imprecise and that they were fired on the city randomly, causing civilian victims. He said that the modified bombs were as precise as remotely controlled projectiles.
In his written statement, which was included in the case file, Mijatovic said that the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina was responsible for several explosions in the Sarajevo downtown area, including the ones in Vase Miskina Street and Markale market place, among others, in which many civilians were killed.
The prosecutors are due to cross-examine Mijatovic on Monday, May 26.
