Sixth Battalion not Associated with Srebrenica Residents

Ostoja Stanisic, the former commander of the Zvornicka Brigade, and his former deputy, Marko Milosevic, are on trial for the murder of approximately 1000 Srebrenica residents on a dam near Petkovci in July 1995. According to the charges, the captives were held in Petkovci prior to being brought to the dam.

The witness, Lazar Maksimovic, was a deputy commander of the First Company of the Sixth Battalion of the Zvornicka Brigade. He said he used to see the battalion’s command staff in combat positions in the vicinity of Petkovci, near their base in Zvornik, following the fall of Srebrenica on July 11, 1995.

“They came often in order to check on the situation,” Maksimovic said.

Maksimovic told the court that after the Bosnian Serb Army occupied Srebrenica, the Sixth Battalion’s Command issued an order to increase the level of combat readiness as well as the number of soldiers in combat positions. Maksimovic said while he was on the frontline he didn’t receive information about the arrival of captives from Srebrenica to Petkovci.

He said he heard later on that Srebrenica residents were brought to Petkovci and accommodated in the town’s new school building, which the Sixth Battalion did not utilize.

The second defense witness, Milomir Celic, was the commander of the Second Company of the Sixth Battalion. He said he was in a military position in the vicinity of Petkovci after the fall of Srebrenica. He said that he used to see Stanisic and Milosevic at that location.

“The Battalion’s Command was situated at a forward command post on the combat position,” Celic said.

He said he didn’t hear that any companies with the Sixth Battalion guarded captives or that Stanisic offered any type of support in relation to the captives.

Prosecutor Predrag Tomic said Celic’s previous statements did not imply that the Sixth Battalion Command used to visit combat positions.

The trial will continue on April 8.