Mladic Soldier: Muslim Paramilitaries Burned Serb Homes

Bosnian Serb ex-soldier Bozidar Krnojelac testified on behalf of his former commander Ratko Mladic that Bosniak forces torched Serbs’ houses in the Foca area in 1992.

Krnojelac told Mladic’s war crimes trial at the Hague Tribunal on Monday that there was no “single brigade or battalion of the Bosnian Serb Army” in Foca in eastern Bosnia until June 22, 1992, although he did see Serb paramilitaries in the area.

The conflict broke out in Foca on May 8, but Bosniak units had already taken over an old school next to his house in April, Krnojelac testified.

“Some of them had green berets and that is what we called them, so we felt insecure, afraid for our lives and we left on the evening of April 11. My house was burned two or three days later, when the Muslims were retreating. Ten to 12 houses of people of Serb nationality were also burned,” he said.

Mladic, the former commander of the Bosnian Serb Army, is charged with the persecution of Bosniaks and Croats from 15 municipalities under Serb control during wartime, including Foca. Among the incidents listed in the indictment is the murder of more than 200 prisoners from a detention facility in Foca in 1992.

Mladic is also on trial for genocide in Srebrenica and seven other municipalities, terrorising the population of Sarajevo and taking UN peacekeepers hostage.

The witness said that he went to the detention facility in Foca, where his father Milorad Krnojelac was working, in order to protect him from the Serb paramilitary units that were stationed there.

“My father told me that those members [of the paramilitary units] kept Muslims imprisoned and I went to protect him, because we all knew what kind of people they were and how they behaved,” the witness said.

When asked if he knew that his father, who was the commander of the Foca detention facility, was sentenced to 15 years in prison at the Hague Tribunal in 2003 for the unlawful detention, torture and killings of Bosniaks, the witness replied: “I assert that my father is not guilty, but he was convicted. He certainly did not disobey any law.”

His father was granted early release in 2009.

Mladic’s trial continues on Tuesday.