Mladic Witness Claims Prosecution of Wear Crimes Impossible in Wartime

On the second day of his testimony at Ratko Mladic’s trial, the former deputy military prosecutor in Banja Luka Slobodan Radulj could not list a single case where war crimes against non-Serbs were prosecuted during the war.

Asked by presiding judge Alphons Orie to list a prosecuted war crime against Bosniaks or Croats between 1992 and 1995, the witness said he could not.

Radulj, who was deputy military prosecutor in the First and Second Krajina Corps of the Bosnian Serb Army region, said that prosecuting crimes during wartime was impossible because of “problems in finding evidence, access to witnesses and suspects”.

He said that after the war, upon becoming the chief prosecutor in Banja Luka, he was given a case of war crimes against civilians in Kljuc.

Asked by the judge why the case took so long to prosecute, Radulj replied there had been problems with access to suspects, insufficient evidence and some perpetrators died or left the country”.

The witness added he “heard that perpetrators were arrested during the war, but their brigade threatened to leave their front line posts unless they were released”.

Mladic, the former commander of the Bosnian Serb Army, is charged with persecution of Bosniaks and Croats which reached the scale of genocide in several municipalities – such as Kljuc. He is also on trial for the Srebrenica genocide and crimes in Sarajevo, as well as taking UN peacekeepers hostage.

During cross examination, prosecutor Arthur Traldi told Radulj that in 1992, twelve suspects were arrested in connection to a massacre in Kljuc and they all  admitted the crime, but were released after sending a protests letter to the Commander of the First Krajina Corps. Radulj responded by saying that he did not know that, but heard in 1996 that most suspects died.

Radulj also admitted to knowing about an “instruction” by the chief military prosecutor not to prosecute war crimes, since “an official state of war was not declared”.

Asked whether the First and Second Krajina Corps committed mass crimes in 1992, Radulj responded: “Yes”.

Prosecution of those cases, according to the witness, was left for “some other times”, unlike cases where Serbs were victims, which were dealt with efficiently.

Mladic’s trial resumes on Thursday.