Mladic Prosecution Highlights Defence Expert’s ‘Mistakes’

Hague Tribunal prosecutor Caroline Edgerton cross-examined Mladic’s expert witness Mile Poparic on Monday, claiming there were mistakes, inaccuracies and false allegations in his testimony.

Edgerton said that Poparic wrongly concluded that civilians in Sarajevo were not intentionally targeted from Bosnian Serb Army positions during the wartime siege of the city.

The prosecutor denied Poparic’s allegation that 14-year-old Tarik Zunic, who was wounded in the Sedrenik neighbourhood on March 6, 1995, was probably hit by a stray bullet fired in an exchange of fire between the Bosnian Army and Serb troops.

Quoting a report by the UN peacekeeping force UNPROFOR which said peacekeepers opened fire at Bosnian Serb sniper positions from which civilians were being shot at, prosecutor Edgerton suggested this was the “exchange of fire” mentioned by the expert witness.

“I believe there was an exchange of fire between the conflicting parties… The situation was very complex … I do not know what happened when Tarik Zunic arrived,” Poparic responded.

The prosecutor also said that in his report, Poparic intentionally changed the location where Zunic was hit, so it would appear that it was not have been visible from Bosnian Serb positions.

The witness responded by saying that the location was different from the one mentioned by the victim, but it was shown to him by eyewitnesses.

Former Bosnian Serb Army chief Mladic is charged with terrorising the population of Sarajevo. The indictment mentions 17 sniper attacks in which civilians were killed and wounded in the city.

Edgerton dedicated most of her cross-examination to proving that Bosnian Serb Army sniper positions from which civilians were fired upon on several occasions were located in the Blind People’s House in the Nedzarici neighbourhood of Sarajevo.

Expert witness Poparic stuck to his assertion that he “never received such information”.

He accepted the allegation that Serb forces were in the building, but disagreed with the allegation that there was “an organised firing position” there.

The prosecutor presented him with an UNPROFOR document from July 1995 which said the commander of the Bosnian Serb Army’s Ilidzanska Brigade “admitted” that snipers opened fire from the Blind People’s House and promised it would not happen again.

“It is true the commander admitted that somebody had opened fire from the Blind People’s House, but it does not mean it was an organised firing position. Maybe somebody opened fire sporadically – one case of shooting was registered,” Poparic responded.

Mladic has also been charged with genocide in Srebrenica, persecution of Muslims and Croats throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina, which reached the scale of genocide in six municipalities, and taking UN peacekeepers hostage.

The prosecutor continues cross-examining Poparic on Tuesday.