Cvetkovic Was Momir Nikolic’s Student

Momir Nikolic, former Security Officer with the Bratunac Brigade of the Republika Srpska Army, VRS, refused to testify before the Court of BiH.

In his statement presented by the State Prosecution, Nikolic said that the VRS opened fire against civilians and soldiers in Srebrenica even prior to July 6, 1995, violating an agreement about the protected enclave.

As he said, convoys of humanitarian aid for Bosniaks and the Dutch Battalion in Srebrenica were not allowed to enter the zone. He said that this was done with the aim of forcing the local population to leave the enclave due to the impossible living conditions.

Nikolic said, testifying at the Hague, that he knew about a plan to attack Srebrenica, which aimed to separate Srebrenica from Zepa and cleanse the area from Bosniak people. According to Nikolic, members of the Bratunac Brigade, Drina Corps, “Vukovi sa Drine” (“Wolves from the River Drina”), the Tenth Reconnaissance Squad and other units with the VRS Main Headquarters participated in the attack.

He said that he attended two meetings in Bratunac at which General Mladic requested the Dutch Commander to bring a representative of “the Muslim people”, to whom he told, at the next meeting, that his people’s destiny was in his hands.

In 2003 Momir Nikolic, former Officer for Security with the Bratunac Brigade of VRS, admitted guilt, before the Tribunal, for the persecution of Bosniaks from Srebrenica. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Ratko Mladic, former VRS Commander, is on trial before the Hague Tribunal for genocide and crimes in BiH.

Nikolic specified that his task was to take care of security of a mass of people in Potocari, evacuation of women and children and separation of able-bodied men. He said that he witnessed the abuse and mistreatment during the separation and that he heard about murders committed outside the Dutch Battalion’s Compound.

Nikolic said that he was familiar with the situation in the Srebrenica area in July 1995 and that the Special Unit of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, MUP, was ordered to liquidate the separated men, who were transferred from Bratunac to Zvornik.
Petko Pavlovic, Defence attorney of Cvetkovic, said that he would first ask Nikolic why he ignored the Court of BiH, what his findings about Kravica were, where the killed men were buried and whether they were buried in his presence, and whether he remembered Cvetkovic, who was “his student”.

Pavlovic said that “asking questions to an empty chair is not efficient for the defence”, adding that the evidence presented to Nikolic at the Hague had not been submitted to the Defence.

The Prosecution of BiH charges Aleksandar Cvetkovic, former member of the Tenth Reconnaissance Squad of VRS, with the murder of more than 900 Bosniaks on Branjevo military farm in July 1995.

The trial is due to continue on July 2.