Witness Accused of Strpci Abduction

Prosecutor Adam Veber presented Masal, a former commander of the Visegrad Tactical Group of the Bosnian Serb Army, with his order from February 21, 1993, six days before the Strpci abduction.

In that order referring to the “instructions from the supreme commander of the Bosnian Serb Army” Radovan Karadzic, the former lieutenant Masal asked his subordinate brigades to “inform him on detained Bosniaks from Sandzak”.

“If you do not have them, organise yourselves and conduct actions in order to detain them,” Masal’s order continued.

“I did order that, but I did not order them to capture civilians but Bosniaks who often went towards Gorazde and Sarajevo through my zone of responsibility… It had nothing to do with civilians,” the witness said.

Serbian forces seized 19 Bosniaks and one Croat from the train which travelled from Belgrade to Bar on February 27, 1993. They took them to the Visegrad area, and then robbed and killed them.

Prosecutor Veber cited document from the intelligence service of the Bosnian Serb Army’s Drina Corps from the day after the abduction, which mentioned Bojan Indjic and Milan Lukic, leaders of the paramilitary units Sooty Alley [Garavi sokak] and Avengers, as perpetrators.

The document also said that “Masal claims” that members of Sooty Alley are in fact “an intervention squad of the Bosnian Serb Army and that they respect and implement orders”.

Retired general Masal confirmed that he told his superior that “there are groups with that name within the intervention squad” and that they respect and implement command orders.

“I know that Indjic was commander of the intervention squad, it is the first time I heard that he was commander of that group,” the witness said adding that he had heard of Milan Lukic and that he “met him only twice”.

The Hague tribunal sentenced Lukic to life-in-prison for crimes against Bosniaks from Visegrad, including the burning of dozens of women and children alive.

Despite the Serbian document from the end of January 1993, which said that “members of the Bosnian Serb Army will stop the train and seize passengers, most probably in Strpci”, Masal denied that the abduction was planed in advance.

“There was no plan as far as of my command, and as much I know, the brigades’ command… None of my superior commanders warned me.”

Boban Indjic was recently arrested by the Bosnian authorities along with the group of suspects for crimes in Strpci. The Commander of the Second Podrinje Brigade of the Bosnian Serb Army, Luka Dragicevic, was also arrested.

Witness Masal confirmed that Indjic’s squad was part of Dragicevic’s brigade. Dragicevic has already testified as a defence witness.

Masal also denied that the Bosnian Serb Army withheld humanitarian aid for Bosniak enclaves in eastern Bosnia, or that he ordered artillery fire on the Gorazde market. The witness claimed that Srebrenica and Zepa were never demilitarised, although it was envisaged in the agreement that the UN used to declare a safe zone.

Mladic is on trial for the persecution of Bosniaks and Croats across the country, which allegedly reached the scale of genocide in several municipalities. He is also charged with genocide in Srebrenica, terrorising the population of Sarajevo and taking UN peacekeepers hostage.

Mladic’s trial continues on March 23.