Mladic: Grenade Firing Directions

Sabljica said that, through the investigations into mine-thrower attacks, it was not possible to determine the exact location from which the grenades were fired or which of the two sides fired them, but just the direction from which they came.

“Considering the methods we used, we were never able to precisely determine the location from which the grenades were fired. We never gave rise to prejudice by saying that a grenade was fired from a certain position held by a specific army,” said Sabljica, whose face was distorted in public broadcasts of his testimony.

The Prosecution alleges that, in most of the incidents, positions held by the Republika Srpska Army, VRS were located in those directions. However, the witness said that the investigations could not determine the distance from which the grenades were fired either.

Mladic, the then Commander of VRS, is charged with terrorising civilians in Sarajevo through a long-lasting shelling and sniping.

Explaining the technical details of an investigation into the first explosion at Markale open market on February 5, 1994, Sabljica said that it was determined that the mine-thrower grenade came from “North-Northeast” direction.

According to the charges, the explosion killed 66 and wounded 140 citizens.

Sabljica confirmed that an investigation determined that the Nedzarici neighbourhood, where VRS positions were situated, was “the orientation” direction from which the grenades that killed six and wounded five children in Alipasino polje neighbourhood on January 22, 1994 came.

The witness said that, after the war, in 1996 police discovered “sniper nests”, “holes in walls”, bags that were used as “breastworks for snipers” and “different caliber” bullets for sniper rifles and automatic rifles in four skyscrapers in Grbavica.

“We visited those buildings, because our findings indicated that sniper bullets fired at trams, cars and pedestrians might have come from that area during the conflict in Sarajevo…So, it turned out…that we were pretty precise,” Sabljica said.

While being cross-examined by Mladic’s Defence attorney Branko Lukic, the witness confirmed that he did not know the exact location of VRS and ABiH positions on the Sarajevo battlefront.

After having been told by Lukic that the findings of a separate international investigation into the explosion during a football game in Dobrinja in the summer of 1993 mentioned two grenade craters, while his findings mentioned only one, Sabljica said:
“Either we or they were taken to some other location…We only found one crater”.

The trial of general Mladic, who is also charged with genocide in Srebrenica and seven other municipalities, persecution of Muslims and Croats throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina and taking UNPROFOR members hostage, is due to continue on February 6.
R.M.