Srebrenica Convict: Serb Soldier Didn’t Massacre Bosniaks

Defence witness Vlastimir Golijan told Cvetkovic’s genocide trial in Sarajevo on Tuesday that the defendant was not present when Bosnian Serb troops killed hundreds of Bosniak prisoners from Srebrenica at Branjevo military farm in July 1995.

Golijan testified that immediately after the Serb troops arrived at Branjevo, Cvetkovic went into a barn where he allegedly saw a pig that weighed 400 kilogrammes.

He refused to say who exactly took part in the shootings of the Bosniaks, but named Drazen Erdemovic, Franc Kos, Zoran Goronja and Stanko Kojic as being among the troops from the Bosnian Serb Army’s Tenth Reconnaissance Squad who were at the farm that day.

“Upon completion [of the shootings], Kos sent Erdemovic to the barn to call him. Then we went for drinks at a Ljuba’s tavern and then to Dragasevac [where their unit was based],” Golijan said.

The Bosnian court has already jailed Golijan for 15 years, Kos for 35, Goronja for 30 and Kojic for 32 after finding them guilty of shooting hundreds of Bosniak men at Branjevo military farm. Erdemovic admitted at the Hague Tribunal that he was guilty of the same crime, made a deal with the prosecutors and was sentenced to five years in prison.

Cvetkovic, who is also a former member of Tenth Reconnaissance Squad, is charged with involvement in the murder of more than 900 Bosniaks at Branjevo in July 1995.

The trial continues on December 16.