Djukic: Artillery Operation Plan

A Defence witness says he knows there were artillery positions on Mount Ozren, but he does not know who commanded them.

Mladen Dostanic, former Chief of Staff of the Second Ozren Brigade, testifying as a witness in Novak Djukic’s defence, said the Ozren Tactical Group was situated on Mount Ozren in 1995, adding that this Group “consisted of several smaller groups”.

“I know that B1 cannon, 130mm caliber, were located on Ozren, but I do not know where exactly they were located or who was responsible for them,” Dostanic said, adding that he “does not know anything” about the shelling of Tuzla in May 1995.

The Prosecution charges Djukic, as commander of the Ozren Tactical Group with the Republika Srpska Army, VRS, with having ordered the shelling of Tuzla, when 71 people were killed and more than 200 were wounded, on May 25, 1995.

Dostanic told the Court that in the period between 1994 and 1995, when he was Chief of Staff, there was “a plan of activities, made by the Brigade, of the artillery squad”, which contained data which were then used for “designing battle plans”.

“These plans are considered operational or active only if they are signed by senior officers. In 1995 the person who could sign them was Commander Golub Panic,” Dostanic said.

According to this witness the Second Ozren Brigade had a wartime diary, in which “all important activities conducted by the Brigade were recorded on a daily basis. This particularly applied to artillery operations.”

The trial is due to continue on February 17, 2009, when the Defence will examine a ballistics expert witness and begin presenting its material evidence.