Mladic Witness Says Muslims Left Kljuc ‘Voluntarily’

Former reserve policeman Nikola Vracar told the Hague tribunal on Thursday that the “departure of the population – Muslim and Serb alike – was caused by fear and [was] voluntary.

“It was not the policy of the municipality or the [Serbian] central government to move people by force, it was voluntary… People just moved. People followed the armies, Muslims followed their own, Serbs their own and Croats their own forces,” Vracar said.

He blamed the start of the conflict in Kljuc on the Muslims, because, as he testified, they attacked the local police force and Yugoslav People’s Army, JNA.

Although confirming he had heard about mass murders of Muslims in the villages of Velagici and Biljani, the witness said he had heard the perpetrators were “members of paramilitary forces”.

Mladic, former Commander of the Bosnian Serb Army Headquarters, is charged with genocide in Srebrenica and several other municipalities – one of which is Kljuc – the expulsion of Muslims and Croats, terrorizing Sarajevo citizens and taking UN peacekeepers hostage.

During cross examination, prosecutor Caroline Edgerton told the witness that the perpetrators of “at least 77 murders in the school in Velagici” were Bosnian Serb serviceman and that this had been confirmed in a report sent to the First Krajina Corps Commander a few days later.

“I didn’t know. I was on sick leave. I don’t know how many people… The guilty ones should be prosecuted. It happened, and everyone knows,” Vracar answered.

The witness also confirmed that 144 Muslims were killed in the village of Biljani in May 1992. He said that while on guard at the police station in Biljani a few days earlier, he had “heard some men scream” while they were beaten during interrogations.

Prosecutor Edgerton said that the expulsion of non-Serbs was the official policy of the military and civilian authorities of Republika Srpska, and presented a document of seven Krajina municipalities which reads: “All municipalities agree the Muslims and Croats should leave”.

“I didn’t see those decisions. I saw others in which it is said that people shouldn’t be expelled,” the witness maintained.

Vracar did confirm that after May 27, 1992, Serbian Territorial Defence Forces attacked Muslim and Croat settlements, shelling them and arresting citizens.

Asked if some were murdered, the witness said: “Some incidents happened. There were rogue gangs that burned and robbed and killed. It was difficult keeping order.”

The trial continues on Monday.