A defence witness told Ratko Mladics war crimes trial in The Hague that Bosniaks in the Prijedor area in spring 1992 were seeking protection from Serb paramilitaries.
Testifying at the trial of Ratko Mladic, former military police officer Mile Petrovic denied killing Bosnian Muslims who had surrendered to Serb forces after the fall of Srebrenica. Hed been accused of the killings by his former superior, Momir Nikolic, in testimony hed given to the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY).
At todays hearing of the Ratko Mladic trial in the Hague, defense witness Vinko Nikolic blamed Bosnian Muslims for the breakout of war in Sanksi Most in 1992. He also denied that Serb forces had expelled Bosnian Muslims from the area.
Defence witness Vojin Ubiparip told the Ratko Mladic trial that Mladic always respected the Geneva Convention and Muslims left Serb-held territory on the orders of the Party of Democratic Action, SDA, not because Serbian forces persecuted them into leaving.
A Defence witness told Ratko Mladic's trial in the Hague that in 1993 the Bosnian Serb Army provided help for thousands of Croatian civilians and fighters.
As Ratko Mladic's defense before the Hague Tribunal continues, witness Slobodan Zupljanin says that the Army of Republika Srpska was not able to prevent the killing of Bosnian Muslims in Kotor-Varos in the autumn of 1992. Zupljanin maintains that the killings were committed by Serb civilians.
Testifying in defence of Ratko Mladic, a former officer with the Republika Srpska Army, VRS, Branko Predojevic says that the VRS did not participate in the resettlement of Muslim and Croat civilians from Sanski Most in the summer of 1992.
Defence witness Dragan Karac told Ratko Mladics trial in The Hague that the war in the Krajina region in the spring of 1992 was caused by Muslims who attacked Jugoslav Peoples Army members.
Defence witness Nedo Blagojevic told Ratko Mladic's trial in the Hague that Bosnian Army was not able to fully intercept radio relay links of the Bosnian Serb Army in east Bosnia.