Ratko Mladic’s Driver Gives Him Srebrenica Alibi

Mladjen Kenjic testified at the Hague Tribunal on Wednesday that he drove Mladic to Belgrade on July 14, 1995 and drove him back to the Main Headquarters of the Bosnian Serb Army near Han Pijesak in Bosnia and Herzegovina three days later.

Mladic, the wartime commander of the Bosnian Serb Army, has been charged with the genocide of about 7,000 Bosniaks from Srebrenica in the days that followed his forces’ takeover of Srebrenica on July 11, 1995.

The indictment alleges that most were killed in the Zvornik are in the period from July 14 to 17, 1995, when, according to Kenjic, Mladic was in Belgrade.

Kenjic said that, during Mladic’s stay in Belgrade, he drove him to meetings with Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic at the presidency building and in the suburb of Dobanovci, as well as to a wedding and meetings at the Military Medical Academy in the capital.

Kenjic said that after they spent three nights in Belgrade, he drove Mladic back to the Main Headquarters near Han Pijesak.

While being examined by Mladic’s defence lawyer Miodrag Stojanovic, Kenjic said there were no communication devices in their vehicle.

During cross-examination, prosecutor Peter McCloskey asked the witness whether, while travelling from Han Pijesak to the Serbian border on July 14, he saw convoys of trucks and buses transporting thousands of Bosniaks from Bratunac to locations near Zvornik, where they were later shot.

“I did not notice a traffic jam. The situation was as usual,” Kenjic replied.
When asked whether he knew about the execution of a number of Bosniaks in the villages of Kravica, Orahovac, Petkovci and Pilica at that time, the witness answered: “No.”

Prosecutor McCloskey suggested that Kenjic did not drive Mladic by car from Belgrade to Han Pijesak on July 16, 1995, but that instead they flew to Zvornik by helicopter and then continued their journey by car.

The witness denied the allegation, saying he had never been with Mladic in a helicopter. “Never, if you understand, never at all,” Kenjic said.

Mladic’s wife Bosiljka, as well as Biljana and Zarko Stojkovic, at whose wedding in Belgrade Mladic was the best man on July 16, 1995, have also offered the same alibi for the former Bosnian Serb military chief.

Over the course of the trial, the prosecution has not denied that Mladic was in Belgrade at the time, attending meetings with Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic and international officials, among other things. However, the prosecutors say that although he was in Belgrade, Mladic had full control and command over the Bosnian Serb Army at the time.

Mladic is also charged with persecuting Bosniaks and Croats throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina, which reached the scale of genocide in six municipalities as well as Srebrenica, terrorising the population of Sarajevo, and taking UN peacekeepers hostage.

The trial continues on Monday.