Muslims and Croats were not Expelled

During the cross-examination at Ratko Mladic’s trial witness Svetozar Guzina says that it “is not true” that Serb authorities and Army expelled Muslims and Croats from Ilidza in 1992.

“I stand by my words – they voluntarily left their houses and went towards Sarajevo or Kiseljak… Nobody prevented them from doing it, but nobody forced them to do it either,” said Guzina, who was Commander of a battalion with the Ilidza Brigade of the Republika Srpska Army, VRS, at that time.
 
The witness stuck to those allegations even after the Hague Prosecution presented him with a document issued by Serb authorities from Ilidza, according to which “moving out of Muslims and Croats was allowed.”
 
He confirmed that there were six snipers in his Unit, but “it is not true that they targeted civilians”. The witness said that the allegations that the snipers, who were under his command, wounded sixteen-year old Sanela Muratovic on June 26, 1994 were “a clear example of a Muslims’ imputation”.
 
He accepted the allegation that there were civilian victims in the city, adding that this was “collateral damage” and “not done as per an order”. He said that those casualties “could not have been avoided”.
 
Guzina testified at the trial of Ratko Mladic, former VRS Commander, who is on trial, among other things, for the persecution of Bosniaks and Croats throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina, BiH, which reached the scale of genocide in seven municipalities, and terror against the local population in Sarajevo by artillery and sniper attacks. 
 
The witness confirmed that, following one attack, he told journalists that he had applied “a new tactic – destroy an entire place prior to occupying it”. However, he said that the place was an Army of BiH’s stronghold and that no civilians were present in it.
 
Also, he said that he considered the Sarajevo Radio and Television building “a legitimate military target”, among other things, because it was a source of “propaganda against the Serbian people”.
 
He said that he did not consider the term “poturice” [converts to Islam], which he used for describing Bosnian Muslims, offensive, “because it referred to people who converted to another religion”. Guzina began testifying on June 10. 
 
The trial is due to continue on June 12.