Court Told Mladic Appeared Subordinate to Milosevic
Ex-UN commander said he concluded this after meeting with both men in July 1995.
Court Told Mladic Appeared Subordinate to Milosevic
Ex-UN commander said he concluded this after meeting with both men in July 1995.
A British general testifying in the Hague trial of former Yugoslav Army, VJ, chief Momcilo Perisic said this week it was his impression that Bosnian Serb wartime leader Ratko Mladic was subordinate to former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic.
Sir Rupert Smith said that during a meeting he attended on July 15, 1995, at which Mladic and Milosevic were also present, he got the strong impression that “Mladic was receiving instructions from Milosevic” and was subordinate to him.
Asked by Prosecutor Daniel Saxon to elaborate on this, the witness said it was clear.
“You could see that Milosevic was the one who had the last word... and he obviously had power over Mladic,” he said.
Smith was the last commander of the United Nations Protection Force, UNPROFOR, deployed in Bosnia.
UNPROFOR’s mandate during the country’s 1992-95 war was to protect the Sarajevo airport and Bosnian Muslim enclaves surrounded by Serb forces, as well as to help deliver humanitarian assistance to the civilian population.
The witness has already testified at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, ICTY.
He gave evidence in the trial against Milosevic, who died in 2006 before his case was complete; as well as that of Bosnian Serb general Dragomir Milosevic, indicted for the siege of Sarajevo; and that of seven Bosnian Serb military and police officers charged in relation to the 1995 Srebrenica massacre.
This week, he testified in the prosecution case against Perisic who stands accused of providing logistical, financial and personnel support to Serb forces in Bosnia and Croatia.
Prosecutors submitted into evidence transcripts of General Smith’s earlier testimonies, and read out a summary of these.
During a brief examination-in-chief, the witness told the court that he was in a regular contact with all political and military leaders in Bosnia and Serbia, including Mladic and Milosevic.
Prosecutor Saxon asked the witness to describe the July meeting he attended in Belgrade, just four days after the fall of Srebrenica and the subsequent killing of some 8,000 Bosniak men and boys by Bosnian Serb forces who overran the enclave.
Smith explained that the main purpose of the meeting was to discuss the withdrawal of the Dutch UN battalion from Srebrenica after the fall of this town into Serb hands.
As well as Smith, Milosevic and Mladic, other participants included former EU special envoy for the former Yugoslavia Carl Bildt; ex-special envoy of the UN Secretary General for the Former Yugoslavia, Thorvald Stoltenberg; and former UNPROFOR commander General Bertrand de La Presle.
Smith added that Mladic’s presence at the meeting was to remain a secret.
“It was obvious that he was commanding Bosnian Serb forces in Srebrenica and this meeting took place shortly after the fall of [the enclave]. At that time, no-one was prepared to expose the link between Milosevic and Mladic,” said the witness.
“This was an important meeting and its purpose was to deal with the consequences of the fall of Srebrenica, not to reveal that Mladic was present [at the meeting] as well. So we all agreed to keep that a secret.”
The trial continues next week.
Velma Saric is an IWPR-trained journalist in Sarajevo.
