Vital Survival not Endangered

Svetlana Radovanovic, an expert in demography, who made her findings and opinion on the basis of findings by court medicine expert Rifat Kesetovic, who previously testified for the Prosecution, determined, on the basis of the documents she reviewed, that out of the total number of identified bodies, 26 were linked to Pilica.

“A total of 1,606 bodies have been identified… Out of 185 bodies, whose parts were found in two or more graves, 26 are associated with Pilica,” Radovanovic pointed out.

The expert witness added that more than a half of the total number of identified bodies belonged to soldiers.

“Applying the method of comparing the lists of exhumed and identified persons from the Srebrenica area with the list of members of the Army of BiH, who were killed in the period from 1992 to 1995, I determined that 842, out of the total of 1,606 identified persons, were soldiers,” Radovanovic said.

The expert witness testified in defence of Aleksandar Cvetkovic, a former member of the Tenth Reconnaissance Squad, who is charged with having participated in the murder of 900 Srebrenica Bosniaks on Branjevo military farm, Zvornik municipality, in July 1995.

One of the expert witness’ conclusions referred to the issue of “revitalization of the Bosniak population” from the Srebrenica area.

“In comparison to the 1991 census, the number of identified persons, who was killed in the Pilica area, was not significant for the vital survival of the Muslim population in eastern Bosnia,” Radovanovic said.

The Prosecution of BiH objected to the content of the expert witness’ report and her findings. Prosecutor Dubravko Campara pointed out that trial chambers failed to accept the findings, which Radovanovic previously presented at certain trials held before the Court of BiH and The Hague Tribunal.

The trial is due to continue with examination of three Defence witnesses at the hearing scheduled for February 10.