Proposal for Ethnic Cleansing
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One of the presented minutes from a session of the Supreme Defence Council of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia held in March 1993 says that, commenting on the kidnapping of Bosniaks who were later killed by Milan Lukic’s paramilitary soldiers in Sjeverin, Bulatovic said that the highest levels in Republika Srpska are suggesting to us that we too should begin performing ethnic cleansing, which would be a disaster.
Prosecutor Hildegard Uertz-Retzlaff quoted Bulatovic’s words that some individuals, like the Prime Minister of Republika Srpska, advised us to perform ethnic cleansing and the murder of Muslims in Sandzak.
Explaining the context of those allegations, Bulatovic confirmed that he had said that. Also, he confirmed that the then Chief of the General Headquarters of the Yugoslav Army Momcilo Perisic warned them that it was unacceptable for Bosnian Serbs to control 70 per cent of territories in Bosnia and Herzegovina and that the Republika Srpska Army, VRS was the army controlled by the Serbian Democratic Party, SDS.
When confronted with the documents, Bulatovic confirmed that he said that, while traveling to Pale he knew which houses belonged to Bosniaks, because they were destroyed, but he also said that the same thing happened on all three sides and that it was the tragedy of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
However, Bulatovic denied allegations that Karadzic and other Serb leaders advocated for unification with Serbia even after the Prosecutor had presented him with a few statements. The witness suggested that those statements were a result of the fact that the Bosnian Serb leaders advocated for a status quo, i.e. for remaining in Yugoslavia.
Karadzic, former President of Republika Srpska, is charged, among other things, with the persecution of Bosniaks and Croats throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina. Besides that, he is on trial for having participated in genocide, terrorising civilians in Sarajevo through shelling and sniping attacks and taking members of the peace forces hostage.
The Hague Tribunal pronounced a second instance verdict, acquitting Momcilo Perisic of the charges for crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, while Milan Lukic was sentenced to life imprisonment.
Following Bulatovic, Karadzic presented witnesses Nevenko Samoukovic and Mladen Tolja, who denied the allegations that the Serbian authorities forcibly detained and deported Bosniaks from Hadzici municipality, Sarajevo in the spring and summer of 1992.
Samoukovic, former President of the municipal government, and Tolj, Chief of the Serb Police in Hadzici, said that Bosniaks voluntarily came to the collection centre in the school building before being transferred to territories under their control, as per their own will.
The municipal authorities allowed Muslims to leave uninterruptedly as often as possible, Tolj said.
The trial of Karadzic is due to continue on Monday, March 4.
