Expert Witness Speaks of Srebrenica Detentions

Velma Šarić

IWPR-trained journalist

Friday, 15 July, 2011

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The Hague tribunal trial of former Bosnian Serb general Zdravko Tolimir continued this week with the appearance of Richard Butler, an American military analyst, who said the defendant was “well aware” of an operation to detain Bosniaks after the fall of Srebrenica in July 1995.

Tolimir is the ex-assistant commander for military intelligence and security in the Bosnian Serb army, VRS, general staff. He was directly responsible to the recently apprehended VRS commander, Ratko Mladic.

Tolimir is charged with eight counts, including genocide, extermination, murder, and the forced transfer and deportation of Bosniaks from the Srebrenica and Zepa enclaves in July 1995, events which were commemorated in Bosnia this week.

Butler, an intelligence officer for the United States National Security Agency, who appeared as a prosecution witness, has significant experience in dealing with the Srebrenica massacre and testifying at the tribunal.

He is the author of two reports for the prosecutor's office relating to the military structure, organisation and function of VRS forces, and showing that the organisational structure, command chain and other processes within the VRS were drawn from the former Yugoslav People's Army, or JNA.

His first report was prepared in 2000 for the trial of Radislav Krstic, and later amended in 2003 for the trial of Vidoje Blagojevic and Dragan Jokic. Another report, prepared in 2007 for the Popovic and others case, concentrated specifically on the role and responsibilities of officers in the VRS structure.

Butler said he had come to his findings through "investigations in the former Yugoslavia, as a member of a prosecution investigator team until November 2003".

He also mentioned that he had updated "the contents of his last report and annexes [with] new information he had gotten in the meantime". Asked about what this new information was, Butler stated "findings on Bosniak prisoners who were being treated in hospital at Milici, then transferred to Zvornik, and had then gone missing".

Through his analysis of VRS regulations and laws adopted by Republika Srpska, RS, Butler pointed out that the respect for the Geneva conventions and laws and customs of war were part of the military legal system and were therefore supposed to be respected.

One October 1992 document, which Butler quoted, named VRS Main Staff Directions, foresaw "the death penalty for crimes against humanity and international law", Butler stated, saying that "it was a specific responsibility of the command personnel to prevent crimes", which was certainly applicable to Tolimir, "since all intelligence and security military personnel were subordinate to him".

Asked by the prosecutor how this compared with reality, Butler said that the "VRS involved minimal effort in clarifying … committed crimes", saying that the first investigation of the crimes in and around Srebrenica by RS police had concluded that "victims had killed themselves, and the second one, by the VRS, ended without any outcome". Butler then pointed out that this second investigation was managed by Ljubisa Beara, who was sentenced to life imprisonment for crimes in Srebrenica.

In relation to Tolimir's role, Butler said that his primary responsibility, through the command function he was carrying out, "included responsibility for Bosniak prisoners of war".

Butler referred to a dispatch which Tolimir had sent to his subordinate on July 12, 1995. In it, he demanded that "as many members of broken Muslim groups fleeing from Srebrenica be arrested, those who resist be eliminated, and those who are able-bodied and evacuated from the UN compound in Potocari be listed".

"Tolimir was well aware, and in much detail, of the operation of imprisoning Bosniaks after the fall of Srebrenica in July 1995," the prosecution expert explained.

The prosecution presented a set of documents in an effort to support this claim, including a dispatch issued by Tolimir on July 29, 1995, and sent to the Drina corps, saying "until a ceasefire is signed, do not make lists of prisoners of war or register them with any international organisation".

The document also stated that "prisoners were to be kept in case of exchange", which for Butler was "illogical and contradictory, because the exchange would be impossible without prior registration with an international organisation, such as the Red Cross".

In his testimony, Butler said that the military operation in Srebrenica and Zepa "was initially started with the military legitimate aim of separating the two enclaves", since Bosniak forces were using the enclaves as bases for carrying out attacks against VRS forces, despite their status as United Nations safe areas. On July 2, 1995, the Drina corps commander issued an order "ordering that the enclave be reduced to the inner town area of Srebrenica", which according to the witness was "implying that some 30,000 people located in the enclave be jammed up into the small town area and thus create a humanitarian crisis".

"The idea would be to create such a situation in which the [UN] itself would evacuate the enclaves, and the international community would not be able to accuse the VRS of ethnic cleansing," Butler explained.

However, Tolimir sent information to then Bosnian Serb president Radovan Karadzic on July 9, 1995, that "the VRS forces were now in position to take the Srebrenica enclave", proposing that the plan be changed.

"Strengthened by the fact that the [UN] didn't energetically defend the enclave and that the 28th division of the Bosnian Army didn't provide much resistance, Karadzic - as commander in chief - ultimately decided that the enclave should be taken. This is a classical example of strategic commanding and management in the armed forces," the witness explained.

Butler also referred to Operational Directive 7, a document issued by Karadzic on March 8, 1995, which referred to "planned and well-thought-out combat operations with the aim of creating an unbearable situation of total insecurity, with no hope of further survival or life for the inhabitants of Srebrenica or Zepa". The problem with this directive was that it, apart from legitimate military targets, "introduced civilians as a target of military operations", by which the VRS "had crossed the line".

The expert argued that Tolimir "had to have known about this objective and actions the VRS took to implement them", since specific tasks related to the military implementation of Operational Directive 7 were largely "meant for the department in the main staff which he headed".

Tolimir, who was arrested in May 2007, pleaded not guilty to all counts in December 2009.

The trial continues next week.

Velma Saric is an IWPR-trained journalist in Sarajevo.