Shot in the Back and Head
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The witness, who was assigned the pseudonym SM-101 in this case, said, testifying before The Hague Tribunal, that Serb soldiers brought him and a group of other prisoners from a stadium in Nova Kasaba to Petkovci on July 14, 1995.
The statement says that, according to witness’ estimates, between 1,500 and 2,000 Srebrenica residents, who were tied, were present in the school building. He said that he saw killed men from Srebrenica in the school corridor. Also, he mentioned that Serb soldiers took men out of classrooms and that he then heard burst fire in the vicinity of the school.
As he told The Hague Tribunal, the witness was among the men, who were taken out of the school and loaded onto a truck. After that they were transported to a dam in the vicinity of the village.
“I just heard: ‘Ten of you, come off the truck… five of you, come here'” the witness said, adding that, after having gotten off the truck, he saw dead people.
As he said the group in which he was, was ordered to stand in a line. After that, Serb soldiers began shooting them.
“They pointed their rifles at us. One of them said: ‘Lie down on the ground!’ They shot us in our backs and heads,” the witness’ statement says.
He and another man survived the mass execution, because Serb soldiers, as the witness said, believed that they were dead. On July 18 they managed to reach the territory controlled by the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina, ABiH.
Stanisic and Milosevic are on trial for the murder of about 1,000 Srebrenica residents committed on the dam near Petkovci in mid-July 1995. The indictment alleges that the captives were brought to the dam from the school building.
According to the charges, 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.
Had the witness been in the courtroom, the Defence would have asked him to look at the indictees and say whether he had seen them somewhere. The Defence would have also asked the witness whether he knew anything about the Sixth Battalion.
The trial is due to continue on September 17.
