People Talking about Saric’s Arrival
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Tomislav Krstovic, a former instructor with the Jahorina Training Centre, said that he went to a field mission in the Srebrenica area in 1995. As he said, while they were in the field, his unit was deployed to the road in the vicinity of “some hangars” in order to guard it.
When asked by Prosecutor Ibro Bulic whether any of the chieftains visited the place, while they performed the task, the witness said that people spoke about Saric’s arrival, but he did not know which date it was.
“They said that Mr. Saric came and distributed cigarettes to people, but I did not see him,” Krstovic said.
The Defence said that, in his previous statement the witness was not able to say for sure whether he saw Saric prior to going to the field mission or not, but he mentioned that the indictee was on annual leave in that period.
“He was on annual leave at that time. Ljubisa Borovcanin was our commander. Everybody knows that he was on annual leave at that time,” the witness said.
Saric is charged with having commanded police forces, which participated in the search, disarmament and forcible relocation of women, children and the elderly, as well as the separation of men and boys, who were killed in the Srebrenica area later on
According to the charges, he issued an order to police members to guard the road between Bratunac and Konjevic Polje and capture men, who were trying to leave the Srebrenica protected zone through the woods.
Borovcanin was sentenced to 17 years in prison before the Hague Tribunal for having committed crimes in Srebrenica.
Krstovic said that he heard that Tomislav Kovac and Ljubisa Borovcanin passed through that area in that period, but he was not able to say who he heard it from.
The Hague Tribunal sentenced Borovcanin to 17 years in prison for crimes in Srebrenica.
The witness said that he heard curses and shooting next to the hangar and that members of his Unit were deployed alongside the road. As he said, prior to this task, his Unit had been sent to the United Nations, UN, check-point.
The trial is due to continue on February 2.
