Serbs ‘Humiliated’ by Bosniaks

Nedjo Vlaski, a former state security official at the Bosnian interior ministry, told Mladic’s trial at the Hague Tribunal on Tuesday that Bosnian Serb President Radovan Karadzic’s decision to establish separate Serb political and police structures reflected “the social reality of that time”.

“The constant humiliations and overruling of Serb staff and then a violation of procedures in all institutions were of such proportions that the only possible reaction was to act in that way,” he said.

Vlaski told the UN-backed court that in late 1991 and early 1992 there was “a desperate need to protect Serb personnel and interests”.

He said that he saw “political and media preparations for war against Serbs” before the conflict broke out.

Former Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic is on trial for genocide in Srebrenica and several other municipalities, terrorising the population of Sarajevo and taking UN peacekeepers hostage.

He is also accused of the persecution of Bosniaks and Croats from 15 municipalities under Serb control, one of which is Trnovo.

During cross- examination, Vlaski said he attended Crisis Staff meetings in the Trnovo municipality in April and May 1992 as “an observer and guest who dealt with security issues”.

He said that during that period, “joint government with Muslims in Trnovo was not possible” because they “were doing everything to obstruct the actions of the Serb government in police and other structures”.

Asked by the prosecution whether he knew that the Serb Crisis Staff prepared an attack on Bosniak villages in Trnovo in May 1992, Vlaski said that he did not.

“That is unlikely because the municipality of Trnovo has such a demographic composition that its population was only 30 per cent Serb and a peaceful solution to the conflict suited for us,” he said.

The trial continues on Wednesday.