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Milenko Stanic, wartime head of Serbian municipality of Vlasenica and Serb Autonomous Region of Birac, said that he had “several meetings” with Mladic, but that he never heard he was supporting crimes.
“At those meetings I never noticed that Mladic gave orders for persecution of Muslims or commission of war crimes”, Stanic said.
Former Bosnian Serb military chief Mladic is on trial for the persecution of Bosniaks and Croats across the country, which allegedly reached the scale of genocide in several municipalities in 1992, including Vlasenica.
Mladic is also accused of genocide in Srebrenica in 1995, as well as terrorising the population of Sarajevo and taking UN peacekeepers hostage.
Stanic testified that at one of the meetings with local officials from Birac region at the end of June and beginning of July 1992, Mladic “announced decisive fight against Serbian paramilitary units, which were then especially active in Zvornik”.
According to his words, Mladic often criticized Bosnian Serb police and member of parliament who attacked army without arguments.
During the cross examination prosecutor Alan Tieger cited documents and suggested that Stanic was the head of government in Serb Autonomous Region Birac, which ordered the removal of population in the area. “I claim that he did not,” Stanic replied.
Stanic, however, confirmed that he reported to Mladic at the end of June 1992 that large number of detained Muslims is a “problem”. Tieger previously said that Mladic wrote his words in his notebook that “800 prisoners, including 200 women and children” came to Vlasenica.
Those “prisoners” were, according to the witness, located in the high school building, not in the Susica camp, which he said “then was collective center”.
After prosecutor’s suggestion that removal of non-Serb population was in line with strategic goals of Bosnian Serb authorities, Stanic said “it was not like that”.
“Departure of Muslims from Vlasenica happened in different circumstances comparing to what you are trying to say,” Stanic said.
Trial continues on Monday, February 2.
