Arrival of Captives in Petkovci
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Witness Ratko Jovic, former warehouseman with the unit commanded by indictee Stanisic, said that about 50 civilians were present in the vicinity of the Command, or in fact, next to a nearby Centre.
“The arrival of two small trucks was the most unusual thing that happened. I looked there in order to see who had arrived. Two men were standing next to them. I can guarantee that they were not from out territory,” he said.
The witness said that he gave water to the civilians, adding that elderly and young men were among them. He said that he then returned to the nearby school building, where the Command was situated.
“Almost all of them asked: ‘Where shall we go after the exchange’,” the witness said, conveying the discussion among the civilians.
Stanisic and Marko Milosevic are charged with having participated in the crime on a dam, near Petkovci, where about 1,000 Srebrenica residents, who had been captured before, were shot in mid-July 1995. The indictment alleges that Stanisic was Commander of the Sixth Battalion with the Zvornik Brigade of the Republika Srpska Army and Milosevic was his Deputy. According to the charges, the captives were transported to the nearby dam.
Jovic said that he had not heard that either Stanisic or Milosevic issued any orders related to the captives.
He recalled that Vinko Pandurevic, former Commander of the Zvornik Brigade of VRS, came to Petkovci on July 16, 1995 and lined the soldiers up. He told them that they had to go to combat positions, because the passage of Srebrenica residents was expected.
“I stayed there, because I had to distribute food,” Jovic said. The Hague Tribunal pronounced a first instance verdict, sentencing Pandurevic to 13 years in prison for crimes in Srebrenica.
Second State Prosecution witness Mirosav Bujic said that, in addition to the captives, he saw unknown armed soldiers, who were not members of the Petkovci Battalion, in front of the Centre in July 1995, but he did not stay there for long.
The trial is due to continue on February 19.
