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Defence witness Velimir Kevac told Mladics trial at the Hague Tribunal on Friday that the Bosniaks did not leave Kljuc because of persecution by Serb forces, but because they were afraid.
It was a war and everyone was afraid and wanted to take their families where they felt they would be safer, former Bosnian Serb Army officer Kevac told the UN-backed court.
During cross-examination, Kevac admitted that Serb forces did commit crimes against Bosniaks, including mass killings and the burning of houses.
But he denied that the aim of those actions was to remove the non-Serb population from Kljuc.
According to the prosecution, of the 17,000 Muslims who lived in Kljuc before the war, only 1,000 remained afterwards.
Former Bosnian Serb military chief Mladic is on trial for genocide in several municipalities in 1992, including Kljuc. He is also accused of genocide in Srebrenica in 1995, the persecution of Bosniaks and Croats across the country, as well as terrorising the population of Sarajevo and taking UN peacekeepers hostage.
The trial continues on Monday.
