Did not See Separation

Defence witness Zoran Kovacevic says, testifying at Ratko Mladic’s trial at the Hague, that, one day after the fall of Srebrenica in July 1995 he did not see abuse of Muslim civilians or separation of men from women and children in Potocari.

Kovacevic, former Commander of a company with the Bratunac Brigade of the Republika Srpska Army, VRS, said that he was with his unit in Potocari on July 12, 1995 and that he saw a mass of Muslim residents from Srebrenica.
 
He confirmed that he briefly met general Mladic in Potocari and that Mladic ordered him to leave Potocari with his unit. Following a short stay, Kovacevic’s Company withdrew to a forest above Potocari, where it stayed for the next three days.

According to Kovacevic’s testimony, on July 15, 1995 his unit was sent as help to the Zvornik Brigade of VRS, which was fighting with a convoy of members of the Army of BiH, who were trying to break through the ring around Srebrenica and reach Tuzla.

Mladic, the then Commander of VRS, is charged with genocide against about 7,000 Muslim men from Srebrenica following the occupation of the town on July 11, 1995. The indictment also charges him with the persecution of several tens of thousands of civilians, who found shelter in the vicinity of UNPROFOR’s Base in Potocari.

During the cross-examination Prosecutor Margaret Hasan faced witness Kovacevic with Nedziba Salihovic’s allegation that he participated in the taking away of men, including her husband Rifat, whom nobody had ever seen alive afterwards.
While confirming that he knew the Salihovic family, Kovacevic denied the allegation, claiming that he was an honourable officer and that no members of Bratunac Brigade participated in the separation of families and evacuation of civilians, except Momir Nikolic, who admitted guilt before the Tribunal and became a key Prosecution witness.

When the Prosecutor suggested that, while he was in the woods in the Potocari surroundings, he must have heard gunshots in the village and see buses and trucks, which transported Muslims, the witness said:

“Excuse me, but there was no shooting. I was there…Buses, trucks and vans kept coming the whole night. I heard them, but I could not see them because trees blocked the sight line”.

According to the charges, individual murders of Srebrenica Muslims began in Potocari on July 12, 1995, while mass murders were committed at several locations in Zvornik municipality until July 16, 1995.

The Defence of Mladic, who is also charged with the persecution of Muslims and Croats throughout BiH, terror against civilians in Sarajevo and taking UNPROFOR members hostage, is due to present the judges with its next witness tomorrow, July 24.