A former Muslim fighter from near the Bosnian town of Srebrenica has testified in the trial of local wartime commander Naser Oric that forces in that area were loyal to their own individual leaders in 1992 and 1993, rather than to the accused.
Prosecutors mounting the case against Oric say that, following his appointment as commander of Srebrenica’s Territorial Defence, TO, in May 1992, the accused oversaw all units fighting around Srebrenica and in the neighbouring municipality of Bratunac.
Such claims lie at the heart of charges that Oric was responsible for crimes allegedly committed by his subordinates in these areas, including murders of prisoners and the destruction of ethnic Serb villages.
But this week’s witness – who testified under protective measures, with his identity hidden from public view – spoke in support of defence claims that Muslim forces in the Srebrenica area did not in fact coordinate with each other or report to a central commander during the early stages of the war in Bosnia.
The witness told judges that he had taken part in fighting in the area with a group of men from the nearby village of Glogova, under the command of one Ejub Golic. But he repeatedly denied that the group could be compared to a military battalion or company.
Asked if local fighters were formally assigned to their respective units, he replied, “No, the groups were formed because we organised ourselves.”
Defence lawyer Vasvija Vidovic presented the witness with a document first introduced into evidence during the prosecution stage of the trial. Allegedly drafted by the Srebrenica TO in December 1992 on Oric’s orders, it appeared to detail the formation of an “independent Glogova battalion” under the command of Golic and made up of conscripts from the Glogova area.
The witness replied that the information in the document could not possibly be correct and went on to say that he was sure Golic had not received written orders from Oric or any other person in 1992.
Far from being a structured, hierarchical military unit, he said, the Glogova group to which he belonged was in fact just an informal combat force which used just ten rifles to respond to daily shelling and infantry attacks launched by Bosnian Serb soldiers.
As an example of such aggression by Serb forces, the witness described how in May 1992, the Muslim inhabitants of Glogova were forced out of their village in a brutal assault in which houses were torched and 64 people were executed.
Those who survived the attack, he said, fled to the nearby village of Velika Glogova and the surrounding woods. While some people managed to squeeze into local houses, others were forced to sleep outdoors.
The witness went on to describe his role in an attack on the Serb village of Jezestica on August 8, 1992 – listed in the indictment as having been personally overseen by Oric and having involved the destruction of Serb homes.
He said the operation was launched with support from Bosnian army commander Nurif Rizvanovic, who had arrived in the area with 400 soldiers to help Golic’s limited forces.
The witness said he didn’t hear Rizvanovic speak about whose orders he was operating under, but said he had the impression that he was responsible to commanders in Tuzla rather than to Oric in Srebrenica.
Under further questioning from Vidovic, he firmly denied prosecution claims that TO units from the villages of Potocari, Suceska and Osmace – all apparently under Oric’s control – had taken part in the raid.
Later in his testimony, the witness said that his group did at one point come under Oric’s command – but that wasn’t until 1995, he added, long after the time period referred to in the indictment.
Given the chance to cross-examine the witness, prosecutor Joanne Richardson challenged his claims that he was unaware of Oric’s role as a commander in Srebrenica.
When she suggested that he must have spoken about Oric with people while living in the enclave from mid-1993 to 1995, he replied, “We couldn’t discuss every single person in Srebrenica, there were 40,000 people there.”
The testimony of this protected witness followed on from that of British doctor Simon Mardel, who carried out medical work in Srebrenica during the war and spoke at the end of last week about the horrific conditions he experienced in the besieged town.
It is part of the case being presented by Oric’s lawyers that their client was forced to operate under impossible conditions throughout his time in Srebrenica.
Describing how starvation and disease was rife, Mardel told judges that the local officials were struggling to deal with “the increasingly deteriorating conditions”.
Defence counsel John Jones quoted one of Mardel’s 1993 reports in which he wrote, “People are completely trapped. The water supply from higher up the valley is now cut off. The present situation can only be described as an impending holocaust.”
The doctor, who had previously worked in other crisis areas including Afghanistan and Ethopia, said “holocaust” was not a word he used lightly.
The protected witness will continue to give evidence on October 10.
Helen Warrell is an IWPR reporter in The Hague.
