Bosnian Serb Army Communications Couldnt Be Intercepted, Says Mladic Witness
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Pajic said enemy armies couldnt intercept their secure communication lines
General Mladic mostly used secure connections with his corps commanders, the headquarters and the Yugoslav Armys General Staff, Pajic said.
Pajic said that in order for an enemy army to intercept the Bosnian Serb Armys radio relay connections, it would have to enter the beam of their signal.
According to Pajic, this would have been nearly impossible, because all the radio relay connections were located in territory under the control of the Bosnian Serb Army or Yugoslavia.
An enemy would have to go deep into our territory in order to intercept those connections, Pajic said.
The prosecution had previously presented a large number of intercepted communications at the trial, the authenticity of which was denied by Mladics defense.
Prosecutor Margaret Hassan presented Pajic with information which revealed that during the Srebrenica crisis in July 1995, the relay connection in Pale was intercepted. The intercept captured a conversation between Mladic, who was in Belgrade, and a duty officer at the headquarters in Han Pijesak, even though it wasnt possible to hear what Mladic was saying.
That is impossible. Pale had nothing to do with conversations between Belgrade and the headquarters in Crna Rijeka and Han Pijesak, because it went through the relay connection at mount Cer and Avala in Serbia, Pajic said.
Pajic said calls were directed to phone numbers Mladic had in Belgrade and Crna Rijeka in the same way. According to Pajic, Mladic also had a Belgrade number in his office at the headquarters.
Hassan asked Pajic whether the insecure radio relay connection which linked Han Pijesak, through Mount Cer and Avala, to Belgrade, could have been intercepted. Pajic said this was possible. He said that particular connection was used as a reserve line and that the Bosnian Serb Armys main headquarters almost never used it.
The trial chamber had Mladic removed from the courtroom for speaking loudly, despite several warnings he had been given over the past few days.
Mladic, the former commander of the Bosnian Serb Army, has been charged with genocide in Srebrenica, taking UN peacekeepers hostage and terrorizing Sarajevo citizens.
The trial continues on Thursday.
