Rumours Saying that Branjevo Killer Was Paid in Gold

During the cross-examination at Ratko Mladic’s trial Prosecution witness Drazen Erdemovic is not able to specify how many Srebrenica Muslims were shot on Branjevo farm, near Zvornik, in July 1995.

After Mladic’s Defence attorney Miodrag Stojanovic presented to him a statement given by Franc Kos, who said that about 650 Muslim men had been shot on Branjevo, Erdemovic said:

“I cannot answer… Maybe he is right. Maybe I am right… I do not know. I do not want to know. I am not saying that I do not want to know because of those people, but I do not want to know because of my conscience.”

In his testimony yesterday and a previous testimony given while admitting guilt, Erdemovic estimated that he and other members of the 10th Reconnaissance Squad with the Main Headquarters of VRS killed between 1,000 and 1,200 Muslims on July 16, 1995.

Mladic, the then Commander of VRS, is charged with genocide against more than 7,000 Srebrenica Muslims and other crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina.  

Responding to Stojanovic’s questions, Erdemovic confirmed having heard rumours that Squad Commander Milorad Pelemis wanted to be paid “in gold and money” for the crime in Branjevo.

“While I was in Bijeljina, I heard from some persons and the Deputy Squad Commander that Pelemis was promised gold and money for what we did in Branjevo. I do not know whether he got them, but people in Bijeljina spoke about it… I know that he had good time with his lover in Belgrade,” Erdemovic said, adding that he did not get money for the killing.

Erdemovic said that, besides Kos, Brano Gojkovic, who commanded the group, Aleksandar Cvetkovic, Zoran Goronja, Marko Boskic and Vladimir Golijanin participated in the killing of captives.

The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina sentenced Kos to 35 years in prison, Goronja to 30, Golijan to 15 and Boskic to ten years. Cvetkovic was arrested in Israel two years ago. He has been held in an extradition detention unit since.

When asked by Mladic’s Defence attorney how it was possible for Gojkovic, an ordinary soldier, to command ensign Kos, Erdemovic said that Gojkovic conveyed Pelemis’ orders and that Kos accepted that.

The witness said that neither he, Kos nor Goronja agreed with the order to commit murders.  

“Brano then said: ‘Give me your gun and stand there with them’,” Erdemovic said.

He said that, in order to speed up the killing, Cvetkovic shot at groups of ten captives from a machine gun, adding that he objected to it, so the two of them quarrelled.  

Erdemovic admitted guilt for that crime before the Tribunal. After having made a deal with prosecutors, he was sentenced to five years in prison. He was released to liberty in 2000.

The trial is due to continue on July 4.