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Cvetkovic, a former member of the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS), has been charged with participating in the murder of 900 Bosniaks on the Branjevo military farm in July 1995.
Rade Ravnjakovic, a former VRS soldier and also a former neighbour of the defendant, said that Cvetkovic was a member of the Milici Battalion until 1994 or 1995.
Afterwards, Cvetkovic was transferred to Ravnjakovic’s unit, the Tenth Commando Squad, as per a request by commander Milorad Pelemis.
Pelemis is suspected of having committed genocide in Srebrenica, but currently remains at large. An arrest warrant has been issued against him by the state prosecution.
“I was present when Miso Pelemis came and asked Aco , a family friend, whether he would like to join his unit and collect aid throughout Serbia,” Ravnjakovic said.
Ravnjakovic said that he rarely saw Cvetkovic after that. When they saw each other, Cvetkovic allegedly told Ravnjakovic that he was collecting aid.
“I used to see him in a car. I didn’t notice that he had a long barrel gun,” Ravnjakovic said.
The second defense witness, Mile Jovovic, also said that Cvetkovic was his neighbour.
“His father told me that they wanted to recruit him to collect humanitarian aid throughout Serbia. Miso Pelemis wanted him to do it,” Jovovic said, adding that Cvetkovic had once brought him some clothes.
The third defense witness, attorney Ozrenka Jaksic, said that she took a statement from witness Milivoje Nikolic in February 2011.
Nikolic had testified at the Cvetkovic case in February 2014. During his testimony, Nikolic had said that he was in a barn in Branjevo with another soldier during the alleged killings. At that time, Nikolic had said that he was unable to identify Cvetkovic in the courtroom.
Jaksic’s video recordings of Nikolic’s statement to her were played at today’s hearing. In the video recording, Nikolic said that the soldier was with him the day of the Branjevo killings was an unarmed minivan driver.
When asked by Jaksic how he came to the conclusion that the man he was with was a minivan driver, Nikolic said that his relatives had told him so. In the video recording, Nikolic said that he did not see the alleged minivan driver operate the vehicle.
After viewing the video recording of Nikolic’s statement, state prosecutor Dubravko Campara asked whether Cvetkovic’s son had brought Nikolic to Jaksic’s office. Jaksic confirmed that this was the case.
Jaksic also said that she did not remember what was written in a statement given by Nikolic to the State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) in 2008. She had had a copy of the SIPA statement when she took Nikolic’s statement.
Prosecutor Campara said that the only difference between the two statements was that Nikolic had stated that he had seen the minivan driver and that he did not have a gun.
The trial will continue on February 17.
