Neskovic and Ilic: Believing Ratko Mladic’s Words
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Davidovic, former President of the Executive Board of Bratunac municipality, said that he believed Ratko Mladic, former Commander of the Main Headquarters of the Republika Srpska Army, VRS, when he said that civilians could either stay or leave Srebrenica.
Mladic, who is awaiting his trial before The Hague Tribunal to begin, is charged with genocide in Srebrenica, crimes against humanity and the violation of the laws and customs of war in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the period from 1992 to 1995.
Witness Davidovic said that, on July 14, 1995 the Director of the Agricultural Cooperative in Kravica, near Bratunac, told him about the execution of between 300 and 400 Bosniaks, who were detained in the Co-operative.
I was shocked. He told me that detained Muslims were shot and murdered in the afternoon hours on July 13, Davidovic said, testifying in defence of indictee Zoran Ilic.
The witness said that, by that moment he had not heard that executions were committed on Branjevo, in Petkovci and Pilica in the Zvornik area.
Davidovic testified at the trial of Zoran Ilic and Dragan Neskovic, former members of the Jahorina Training Centre with the Special Police Brigade of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Republika Srpska, MUP of RS, who are charged with having participated in the search of Bosniak houses in Budak village, near Potocari, on July 12 and 13, 1995 with the aim of finding local residents and escorting them to Potocari.
The indictment alleges that, on July 13 and 14, 1995 Neskovic and Ilic participated in the capture of Bosniak men, who were then taken in groups to the Agricultural Co-operative in Kravica, Bratunac municipality, where they were executed. Ilic is charged with having shot, from an automatic rifle, at a pile of bodies of prisoners, who had been shot, while Neskovic ordered two members of his unit to kill two captured men. They allegedly carried out the order.
The witness said that, following the fall of Srebrenica on July 11, 1995, he attended a meeting in the Fontana hotel in Bratunac. The meeting was attended by Mladic, representatives of Bosniaks from Srebrenica and UNPROFOR. As he said, while the Bosniaks were saying that they wanted to leave Srebrenica, Mladic suggested that they could stay, without fear, and they would have all guarantees and rights.
Davidovic said that he was in Potocari on July 12, 1995, when he saw about 20,000 men, women and children from Srebrenica, as well as the Serbian Army and police.
According to the official schedule of trials held before the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, this trial is due to continue on April 4 this year.
A.J.
