Bosnian Serb Army Communications Could Have Been Intercepted, Argues Prosecutor at Mladic Trial
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Prosecutors at the Ratko Mladic trial argued that the Bosnian Army could intercept communications conducted by the Main Headquarters of the Bosnian Serb Army. By the end of his testimony, former Bosnian Serb Army colonel Mile Dosenovic didn’t refute this claim.
During cross-examination, prosecutor Peter McCloskey presented Dosenovic with documents issued from the Bosnian Serb Army which indicated there was visibility between radio relay devices on the peak of Veliki Zep and Vlasenica – Veliki Zep was in the immediate vicinity of the Bosnian Serb Army’s Main Headquarters in Crna Rijeka near Han Pijesak. As a result, McCloskey argued, communication from both directions could be intercepted. Dosenovic agreed.
McCloskey asked Dosenovic whether Veliki Zep was a good location for enemy forces to intercept Bosnian Serb Army communications.
“Yes…whoever intercepts conversations selects a location where interception is possible,” Dosenovic said.
McCloskey presented the trial chamber with a recording of an intercepted conversation in which Bosnian Serb Army members could be heard. He said this demonstrated that the Bosnian Army could intercept both dual-channel and one-channel radio relay communications, as suggested by Dosenovic.
Dosenovic denied this claim and objected to the quality of the recording.
Mladic, the former general of the Bosnian Serb Army, has been charged with genocide in Srebrenica, the persecution of Bosniaks and Croats throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina (which reached the scale of genocide in six municipalities), terrorizing the local population of Sarajevo and taking UNPROFOR members hostage.
Mladic’s defense will present its next witness on Wednesday, August 19.
