Kos et al: Information about Shooting

Testifying in defence of indictee Stanko Kojic before the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Srdjan Brezo said that he was in Srebrenica in July 1995, but he was not on Branjevo, because he went home to Pale.

“I attended a funeral of one of our unit members in Trebinje. Upon my return from the funeral, I went to Pale. I did not know that members of the Tenth Reconnaissance Squad were at Branjevo. I heard about it for the first time in late 1995, when Drazen Erdemovic went to Serbia and gave a statement. He said that he was on Branjevo and that captives were shot,” the witness said.

Erdemovic, former member of the Tenth Reconnaissance Squad, was sentenced before The Hague Tribunal to five years in prison after having admitted guilt for the murders on Branjevo.

Brezo testified at the trial of Franc Kos, Stanko Kojic, Vlastimir Golijan and Zoran Goronja, whom the State Prosecution charges with genocide in Srebrenica and in the participation in the murder of more than 800 men and boys on Branjevo military farm in July 1995.

According to the charges, Kos, former Commander of the First Unit with the Tenth Reconnaissance Squad of the VRS Main Headquarters, and Kojic, Golijan and Goronja, former members of that Squad, jointly shot prisoners.

The witness said that he did not know who had issued the order to kill prisoners on Branjevo.

“I have not heard anything from any of the men who were present on Branjevo, but I am sure that those men would not do such thing. However, had they refused to carry out the order, they would have been killed. They may have not been killed at that moment, but it might have happened during one of the subsequent military operations,” Brezo said.

The witness said that he found the fact that members of his unit were on Branjevo strange, because the Tenth Reconnaissance Squad was not that kind of unit.

According to the witness, due to his mental capabilities, indictee Kojic was not so much involved in the operations conducted by the Tenth Reconnaissance Squad, adding that people thought he was weird.

“People thought that he was weird. He was more like a court jester (…) I spent more time with him than anybody else. Other members of the unit avoided him,” Brezo said.

The trial is due to continue on December 20 this year, when Zelimir Knezevic, who began testifying on December 13, 2011, will be cross-examined.