Srebrenica People Passed By Trenches, Says Witness

Milisav Mitrovic said that in July 1995 he was at the frontline near Nezuk when he heard about the attack on Srebrenica. He said he saw groups of men from Srebrenica 300 metres from their trenches.

“I remember when they showed up, but I don’t recollect the exact date. I think it was the second day of Petrovdan. We were in the trenches, and they showed up in groups,” said the witness, adding that people from Srebrenica passed through when the corridor was open.

Mitrovic said that in 1995 he was in the Celopec company. The company, he said, belonged to a battalion whose commander was defendant Ostoja Stanisic.

Asked by the prosecutor, Predrag Tomic, who Stanisic’s deputy was, the witness replied that it was a person he knew by the name of “Majo”. The witness recognised in the courtroom defendant Marko Milosevic as Majo.

Stanisic and Milosevic are charged with taking part in crimes at the Petkovci dam, near Djulici (municipality of Zvornik), where around 1,000 imprisoned Bosnika men and boys from Srebrenica were executed in July 1995.

The indictment specifies that Stanisic was the commander of the Sixth Battalion of the Zvornik Brigade of the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS), and Milosevic his deputy.

Mitrovic said that around ten days after groups of Srebrenica people passed by the trenches, another two men showed up.

“Two men from Srebrenica came by. I was in the trenches then, and they showed up. I told them to get out of the trenches. I turned them over to the platoon commander,” he said.

He added he did not know where these two were taken and that he did not know what happened to them.

Mitrovic said that Stanisic used to come to the front line but only to visit the soldiers and trenches.

The trial will resume on July 24 with another two witnesses for the prosecution called.