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Defendants Ostoja Stanisic and Marko Milosevic are on trial for the killing of approximately 1,000 Srebrenica residents on a dam near Petkovci in the municipality of Zvornik in mid-July 1995.
According to the charges, Stanisic was the commander of the Sixth Battalion with the Zvornicka Brigade of the Bosnian Serb Army, while Milosevic was his deputy.
Milan Trifkovic, a former member of the Sixth Battalion of the Zvornicka Brigade with the Bosnian Serb Army and member of the mortar squad, testified at today’s hearing. Trifkovic said commander Stanisic visited them in the hamlet of Delici most probably on July 13, 1995, or sometime around that date. He said he warned them of a possible attack and increased combat readiness.
“The attack began in the morning after his visit. Grenades were exploding all over the place. We were in contact with Stanisic the entire time during the attack. He was at the forward command post from which he commanded the attack and guided us on what we should target,” Trifkovic said.
He said the Sixth Battalion Command was situated in an old school in Petkovci, but Stanisic was not there during the attack.
“Nobody could have commanded the attack from the command in Petkovci. It could only be done from the forward command post. The commander communicated with us from there,” Trifkovic said.
Ljubo Kozarac, a former member of the Celopecka Company with the Sixth Battalion of the Zvornicka Brigade of the Bosnian Serb Army, also testified at today’s hearing.
Testifying as a defense witness, Kozarac confirmed he used to see commander Ostoja Stanisic and his deputy Marko Milosevic on the frontline during the attack on July 14, 15 and 16, 1995.
“They visited the lines every day. I saw them several times during those days. I was present when Majo Milosevic was wounded, because he was in an adjacent trench,” Kozarac said.
He said his machine gun broke on the first day of the attack, so he took it to commander Stanisic in the adjacent trench to fix it.
The defense teams said they would present material evidence and complete their presentation of evidence at the next hearing.
