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“He appeared on that morning. He was tasked with leading the Company. I think he left the Centre shortly after our return from the field mission,” witness Milan Stojcinovic said. He added that based on information he obtained later on, he thought that the unit left Jahorina and went to carry out a field mission in Srebrenica on July 11, 1995.
Testifying in defence of Djuric, Stojcinovic said that he had known the indictee since 1983, when they worked with the Special Police forces of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, MUP RBiH.
“He was a special policeman. He was an extremely able man, both in terms of his physical and mental strength,” the witness said, adding that he also knew the three other indictees, Dusko Jevic, Goran Markovic and Nedjo Ikonic, as they were members of the special police forces as well.
The indictees are charged with having participated in the forcible resettlement of the Bosniak population from the Srebrenica area and the murder of more than 1,000 men in Kravica.
The indictment alleges that Jevic was Commander of the Jahorina Training Centre with the Special Brigade of the Republika Srpska police, Djuric and Ikonic were company commanders with that unit and Markovic was a squad commander.
The witness said that a headquarters, a camp and finally a training centre were formed on Mount Jahorina with the aim of training police staff members. As he said, more than 200 deserters were brought to Jahorina in late June 1995. They underwent a brief training before being deployed to Srebrenica.
“Dusko Jevic was chief, Ikonic was deputy and I was assistant chief. We had instructors. Most of them were our old colleagues – special policemen,” Stojcinovic said.
When asked by Ikonic’s Defence about the indictee’s role during the operation conducted in Srebrenica, Stojcinovic said that he was Commander of the Second Company at that time. However, during the course of cross-examination by the Prosecutor, he said that Ikonic was Jevic’s Deputy in July.
Jovica Gligic also testified at this hearing in defence of Djuric. He met the indictee at a high interior affairs school in Belgrade.
“He was one of the study-as-you-work students. Considering his experience and age, he was a kind of mentor to us. He had a parental relation with us,” the witness said, adding that he did not notice any signs of violence or nationalism in Djuric’s behaviour during the course of the war.
The Defence presented a copy of Djuric’s grade book, which says that he passed his last exam on June 22, 1995.
The trial is due to continue on Thursday, May 26, when a court expert in military issues will be examined.
M.T.
