Organizing and arming on the eve of the conflict

A former member of the State Security Service (SDB) said at Ratko Mladic’s trial that Muslims “smuggled weapons”.

The witness Tomislav Puhalac stated as an example the arrests of Bosniaks who were transferring weapons by truck.
 
Puhalac said that at Pale he received a statement of the arrested person, who, as he presumes, was examined by police on Ilidza and released.
 
“Considering that was turbulent time, concessions were made and he was released with the agreement from the top of both sides,” the witness said, answering whether it was common to release someone who transferred guns.
 
The Prosecution objected to the authenticity of this document and examined Puhalac whether he knew about arming of the Serb side.
 
On statements from a meeting from September 1991 about the requirements to organize and arm the Serbs, the witness said that it seems unbelievable what happened that year.
 
The Prosecution showed him an interview of the former high police official Momcilo Mandic, who said how “he helped the Serbian side, gave vehicles and equipment, material resources, and even weapons.”
 
“Mandic was responsible for the material supply of the police with weapons, equipment and gifts. He speaks about that,” the witness answered.
 
When asked about activities of Serbian Democratic Party (SDS) on taking guns from warehouses and barracks from former JNA in April 1992, Puhalac said that it was a question of “who will take them – Muslims or Serbs.”
 
Former Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic is on trial for genocide in Srebrenica, the persecution of Bosniaks and Croats which reached genocidal proportions in several municipalities, terrorising the population of Sarajevo and taking UN peacekeepers hostage.
 
Trifko Komad, former member of SDS who participated in establishing the party, also appeared at the trial as Defence witness.
 
In a statement which was admitted in evidence, he talked about the gathering of Serbian intellectuals and the necessity of organizing the Serb people in Bosnia and Herzegovina because “it was clear that the other two nations organised through the Party of Democratic Action and Croatian Democratic Union.”
 
Komad stated that in one moment he was responsible for the co-ordination of humanitarian aid convoys after it was noticed that “local chiefs were directing convoys according to their needs.”
 
The Prosecution stated an example of confiscated help from convoys and asked the witness whether government policy was to seizure the things or to return the convoy if there is no necessary documentation.
 
“Politics was to accompany the convoy to its direction. I accompanied the convoy to Sarajevo and to Gorazde, also… I don’t exclude the possibility that there were situations like that, where you couldn’t control everything,” Komad said.
 
The trial continues on Tuesday, November 11.