Disarming instead of Attack
As the trial of Ratko Mladic continues, a Defence witness says that, when local residents of Hrustovo village, near Sanski Most, refused to hand over their weapons to Serb forces, cleansing of the area began.
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Branko Davidovic, former Commander of a battalion and Assistant Commander for Morale with the Sixth Krajina Brigade of the Republika Srpska Army, VRS, said that his unit did not participate in attacks on villages, but in the disarmament of illegal groups and individuals, who did not want to hand over their illegal weapons.
The Hague Prosecution said that the local residents of Hrustovo village handed their weapons over, but they were shelled afterwards. The witness responded by saying that this was not true.
“When they failed to hand over their weapons and our competent command made a decision to undertake the cleansing, our soldiers went to that place, just like to all other villages. When they moved towards that area, three of our soldiers were killed and shelling happened afterwards,” Davidovic said.
He testified at the trial of Ratko Mladic, who is charged with having participated, in his capacity as Commander of the Main Headquarters of the Republika Srpska Army, VRS, in the persecution of Bosniaks and Croats from 15 municipalities controlled by Serb forces, including Sanski Most.
When asked by the Prosecution if he knew that soldiers took the local residents of Vrhpolje village to a bridge, where they beat them up, forced them to jump down from the bridge and then shot at them, the witness said that he only heard about that incident.
He denied that the Sixth Brigade participated in taking over the authority in Sanski Most, adding that the Brigade’s Command decided to occupy the most important buildings in the town, but only in order to protect them from potential commando actions.
Also, he said that Muslims were invited to respond to mobilisation calls in order to prevent inter-ethnic conflicts, but they refused to do it.
“I know that our commander went to meetings with Muslims, asking them to influence people, so the Brigade’s composition would approximately reflect the composition of the population. He proposed this to them, but they did not accept,” the witness said.
The cross-examination of Defence witness Obrad Bibic was completed at this hearing. Bibic said that he saw convoys with which the local population from the Kotor-Varos area leaving towards Travnik.
The Prosecution asked him if it was known to him that some of the men, who were in that convoy, were separated and taken to Manjaca detention camp, Bibic said that he heard “some speculation on that subject.”
The trial is due to continue tomorrow, October 2.
