This post is also available in: Bosnian
The Bosnian state prosecution has charged Dragomir Vasic, Miodrag Josipovic, Branimir Tesic, Danilo Zoljic and Radomir Pantic with genocide committed in Srebrenica in July 1995. They are charged with participating or assisting in the forcible resettlement of the local population from Srebrenica, separating men from their families, as well as capturing and executing men and boys in Bratunac, Srebrenica and Zvornik.
According to the charges, at the time Vasic was the commander of the Zvornik police headquarters, Josipovic was the chief of the public safety station and Tesic was the deputy commander of the police station in Bratunac. Zoljic was the commander of special forces of the public safety center in Zvornik and Pantic was the commander of the First Company of the Special Units of Zvornik’s public safety center.
Dragan Kandic, a former police officer with the First Company of the public safety center in Zvornik, testified at today’s hearing. He said he was guarding a road in the area order to ensure free passage of buses and other vehicles on July 13, 1995, when he saw a group of Bosniaks.
“They were coming from the direction from which an attack was expected. They were walking towards the road. Some were uniformed, others were not. A couple of them had guns,” Kandic said. He said he saw Radomir Pantic in Sandici several times.
He said on July 11, 1995, police officers from the First Company of the Second Squad gathered in front of the Bratunac police station. He said they were tasked with protecting Bratunac. He said soldiers from Srebrenica represented a danger.
Kandic said they stayed in Bratunac until July 12, 1995. He said they left from a yellow bridge and went towards Srebrenica. He said he remembered seeing empty houses and a group of people walking towards Potocari.
“I saw a big group of civilians in that village from a distance. A short time later I saw buses and other means of transportation,” Kandic said. He said the people of Potocari were surrounded by soldiers of the Bosnian Serb Army. He said he did not see younger, able-bodied men in Potocari.
The trial is due to continue on November 9.
