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Ex-soldier Mladen Blagojevic testified on Thursday as Mladics defence tried to discredit the testimony of key Hague Tribunal prosecution witness Momir Nikolic, who said that the defendant made a gesture in July 1995 to say that the Srebrenica prisoners should die.
Nikolic, a former security officer in the Bosnian Serb Armys Bratunac Brigade, who has already been jailed for crimes in Srebrenica, testified previously at Mladics trial that he met the defendant near Srebrenica on July 13, 1995 and asked him what would happen to the Bosniak captives. Mladic made a hand gesture indicating they would be killed, Nikolic told the court.
But Blagojevic, who was Mladic’s escort that day in Srebrenica said that Nikolic’s story was “totally false and untrue”.
Blagojevic said that he was certain he did not see Nikolic that day and that Nikolic did not see Mladic.
According to the witness, at a control point in Konjevic Polje, where the alleged meeting took place, Mladic did not even get out of his vehicle “but only spoke to police officers while passing by”.
Blagojevic confirmed that Mladic spoke to hundreds of captured Bosniaks that day in Sandici and Nova Kasaba. He said Mladic’s words to them were “calming”.
During cross-examination, the prosecutor said that a prisoner was killed in Nova Kasaba, and Mladic failed to react.
“I am certain that did not happen while Mladic was there. He would not allow it,” responded Blagojevic, who is currently serving a seven-year sentence for crimes in Srebrenica.
Mladic, the former commander of the Bosnian Serb forces, is on trial for genocide in July 1995 when more than 7,000 Muslim Bosniak men and boys from Srebrenica were killed. He is also on trial for the persecution of Bosniaks, genocide in several municipalities in 1992, terrorising the population of Sarajevo and taking UN peacekeepers hostage.
The trial continues on Monday.
