Footage of Mladic and Srebrenica Killings Shown at Trial of Former Bosnian Serb Officials

The Bosnian state prosecution opened the evidence hearing at the trial of five former members of Bosnian Serb police and security forces, who’ve been accused of participating in the Srebrenica genocide. At the hearing, the state prosecution screened footage related to the events that took place before, during, and after the genocide.

The footage initially showed the Bosnian Serb Army’s attack on the United Nations protected zone of Srebrenica, with soldiers and tanks in transit on July 10, 1995. The footage also depicted civilians fleeing from Srebrenica. Thousands of persons were shown to be moving on the streets with bags of their belongings.
 
Footage of former Bosnian Serb military leader Ratko Mladic was then screened. The footage shows Mladic in Srebrenica. In the footage he declares that he is “giving it [Srebrenica] as a gift to the Serbian people.” Mladic is on trial at the Hague for his role in the Srebrenica genocide and other crimes.

The prosecution also screened footage of three meetings Mladic had with UN officials and Bosniak representatives in the Fontana Hotel in Bratunac after the fall of Srebrenica. In those meetings, the fate of Bosniak civilians seeking refuge in the UN compound of Potocari was discussed. The subsequent arrival of buses which shipped women, children and elderly to Kladanj was also shown.
 
Finally, footage from July 13, 1995 was shown. The footage depicted Bosniak men surrendering to Serb soldiers on the road between Bratunac and Konjevic Polje, and dead persons near the hanger in Kravica.

The defendants in the case are Dragomir Vasic, Miodrag Josipovic, Branimir Tesic, Danilo Zoljic and Radomir Pantic.
 
Defendant Dragomir Vasic was the commander of the Zvornik police headquarters and was the chief of the public safety centre in that town in the summer of 1995, when Bosnian Serb forces killed more than 7000 Bosniak men and boys. In last October’s general elections, Vasic was elected as a representative in Republika Srpska’s People’s Assembly.
 
According to the charges, Vasic and former officers Danilo Zoljic and Radomir Pantic assisted in the forcible resettlement of civilians from Srebrenica as well as the capture and execution of men and boys in Bratunac, Srebrenica, and Zvornik.
 
Two other defendants in the trial, Miodrag Josipovic and Branimir Tesic, have been charged with participating in the forcible resettlement of the civilian population from Potocari on July 12 and 13, 1995. They’ve also been charged with the transportation and detention of more than 1000 men and boys, who were later killed in Bratunac.
 
Josipovic has been charged in his capacity as the former chief of the public safety center in Bratunac, whereas Tesic has been charged in his capacity as the former deputy commander of the town’s police station.
 
The first prosecution witness will be called on April 16.