Babic: First Bratunac Crimes Witness Denies Earlier Claims

“Military policemen did not guard the school. They discussed it for a day or two; there was pressure on them to do it. The commander refused to accept it. We did not have enough manpower and it was not done officially. The patrol was ordered to come by the school, to patrol it. Our people were officially not there,” said Marko Deoric.

He confirmed that the defendant was a military police commander and that he was his deputy.

In the statement he gave to the prosecution in January this year, the witness, it was read, said that “one or two members of the military police were standing at the entrance” and that “guards were instructed not to let anyone inside.”

“It was an assumption. What I said may have been taken out of context. After giving my statement, I thought about it, I claim that what I say today is the truth,” said Deoric.

The prosecution charged Babic, as the commander of the military police, with ordering and failing to prevent the imprisonment of non-Serb civilians in the Vuk Karadzic school in May 1992. Around 400 imprisoned civilians, specified the indictment, lived in fear for their lives. They were beaten and tortured, and several dozen civilians were murdered due to the poor conditions.

Deoric was confronted with his claims from the investigation about the sounds of shooting coming from the school, as well as abuse.

“There was shooting everywhere. It’s arguable whether it came from the school. I did not register moans as moans of pain (…) I heard voices, I don’t know whether anyone was abused or not…,” said Deoric.

He confirmed he was escorting trucks, which transported prisoners for the exchange from Bratunac to Pale, but he emphasised that he was not told this by the commander, as he said during the investigation.

“The commander may have come himself to calm the situation down. He went inside and told them to be quiet, which they accepted with approval,” said Deoric.

The witness added that after the exchange, Savo Babic was not a commander of the military police any more.

The trial will resume on December 3.