Paramilitary Formations Guilty of Crimes in Zvornik

Vasilic said that, when Zeljko ‘Arkan’ Raznatovic took “command” over Zvornik in April 1992, the civilian authorities were “incapable of confronting the anarchy and lawlessness imposed by paramilitary formations”. The witness said that local police officials were “left at the mercy” of those paramilitaries.
 
According to Vasilic’s testimony, Karadzic was surprised, when he and Brano Grujic, President of the Serbian Municipality of Zvornik, informed him about the chaos in that town caused by paramilitary soldiers, during a meeting in Pale in July 1992.
 
A short time later Karadzic sent special police forces to Zvornik. Those forces arrested members of paramilitary formations, who then stood trial before courts in Republika Srpska and Serbia, the witness said.
 
Karadzic is charged with genocide in Srebrenica, persecution of Bosniaks and Croats, terror against civilians in Sarajevo and taking UNPROFOR members hostage. Zvornik was one of the 20 municipalities, where, according to the charges, Serb forces under Karadzic’s command conducted the persecution of Bosniaks and Croats, by unlawfully detaining, torturing, killing and forcedly resettling them in 1992.
 
While being cross-examined by Prosecutor Catrina Gustafsson, Vasilic confirmed that “horrible crimes were committed” during his term as Commander of the Police Station. As an example, the Prosecutor mentioned the murder of hundreds of Bosniaks in Drinjaca village, the technical school in Karakaj, Cultural Centre in Celopek and Gerina’s slaughter house.
 
Vasilic responded by saying that, in collaboration with the Commander of the Territorial Defence, he tried to initiate an investigation into the crime in Drinjaca, but they did not do anything.
 
Despite the fact that he previously said before a court in Belgrade that he found out about the murders in Karakaj, Celopek and Gerina klanica immediately after they had been committed and that the whole town spoke about them, Vasilic said that it was “a mistake”, adding that he heard about those crimes “a couple of months later”, when members of paramilitary formations were arrested, and not “one-two or five” days later.
 
“We could not even breathe freely, let alone make some comments, in the presence of those ten paramilitary formations,” the witness said, adding that nothing was done to investigate the crimes.
 
Vasilic said that “Bosniaks in Zvornik could not be killed by anybody else by paramilitary formations” and that he requested that investigations be conducted.
 
“We were just prisoners, detainees in Zvornik,” the witness said, describing how the head of “Zute ose” (“Yellow Wasps”) put a pistol on his nape.
 
Presenting a series of documents, Prosecutor Gustafsson said that the witness was “exaggerating” the power of paramilitary formations in Zvornik, suggesting that they acted in collusion with the local authorities, but Vasilic denied those allegations.
 
The trial of Karadzic is due to continue on Monday, June 17.