Former Mladic Subordinate Says Expulsion of Non-Serbs was Strategic Aim

Mladic, the former commander of the Bosnian Serb Army, has been charged with the wartime persecution of Bosniaks and Croats across Bosnia and Herzegovina. Their persecution reached the scale of genocide in several municipalities. Some municipalities in Bosanska Krajina, such as Prijedor, experienced persecution on the scale of genocide.

Mladic has also been charged with genocide in Srebrenica, terrorizing the local population of Sarajevo and taking UN peacekeepers hostage.

Bosko Kelecevic, the former HQ head of the First Krajiski Corps of Bosnian Serb Army, said he wasn’t aware of war crimes committed against non-Serbs.

During cross-examination, prosecutor Arthur Traldi asked Kelecevic if his units and other Bosnian Serb forces detained and expelled the non-Serb population and destroyed villages, in order to implement the strategic wartime goals of Bosnian Serbs. Kelecevic answered affirmatively.

Keleceiv said the first strategic goal was the separation of Serbs from Bosniaks and Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He said the second goal was to remove the Drina River as a border between Serbia proper and Bosnian Serbs.

Traldi asked Kelecevic about the mass killing of Bosniaks in the village of Kotor Varos in November 1992. Kelecevic suggested the killings were committed by local Serb forces, and not by the military.

Traldi then presented Kelecevic with documents which showed that the Bosnian Serb Army guarded a school in the nearby village of Grabovica, where the killings took place.

With regards to Mladic, Kelecevic described him as “energetic, decisive and difficult to work with.”

Kelecevic denied that Mladic was cruel.

“Maybe cruel isn’t a good word. He is energetic and has his beliefs…Cruel isn’t a good word,” Kelecevic said.

Kelecevic will continue his testimony tomorrow, before the Hague Tribunal takes its summer recess.