UN Officer says VRS Seemed to Target Civilians

A former United Nations official told the war crimes trial of the ex-head of the Yugoslav army, VJ, that he believed Bosnian Serb forces had deliberately targeted civilians in Bosnia’s capital with modified aeroplane bombs.



Hubertus Bruurmijn, a major in the Dutch army who served as a UN Military Observer, UNMO, in Sarajevo in 1995, told Hague tribunal judges this week that he witnessed such attacks on the city’s residents when fighting escalated following the collapse of a ceasefire in late May that year.



Bruurmijn had arrived in Sarajevo the month before, having attended UNMO training in Zagreb, and went on to stay in the Bosnian capital for around six months.



Perisic, VJ head from 1993 to 1998, is charged with crimes against humanity and war crimes, including the aiding and abetting of murder and inhumane attacks against civilians during the 1993 to 1995 siege of Sarajevo as well as the shelling of Zagreb and the Srebrenica massacre, which both took place in 1995.



The indictment alleges that as head of the VJ, Perisic used his authority to provide a substantial amount of the weapons, ammunition and logistical support used by the Bosnian Serb army, VRS, to perpetrate crimes during the siege of the capital.



Major Bruurmijn said that civilians – whom he said had already suffered sniper attacks even when a ceasefire was officially in force – became vulnerable to shelling as fighting escalated.



He added that while some shells were clearly directed at military objects, he thought others could only have been fired at civilians.



Attacks on military targets generally took the form of multiple shells fired in rapid succession, while those aimed at civilians were fired in isolation, he explained, adding that they often hit crowds of people.



Bruurmijn said bombs designed to be dropped from aircraft, and adapted to be fired from multiple-rocket launch systems attached to the back of trucks, were among such munitions used against the people of Sarajevo.



He said that the destructive power of an air bomb was several times greater than that of a mortar shell.



“It can destroy a house entirely and surrounding houses will also be damaged,” he said.



Launching air bombs using multiple-launch rocket systems was highly inaccurate, continued the witness, adding that to destroy a specific target you would need to use trial and error, and fire several times to find the right range.



He said he had heard rumours of air bombs being used, before seeing firm evidence of this for himself when he attended an incident in the Bosnian government-controlled Hrasnica district of Sarajevo on July 1.



He was called to investigate an attack on a residential area which injured some of his fellow UNMOs as well as people whose homes were hit.



Bruurmijn said that the next day, he took part in a crater analysis which determined that the projectile had been fired from the direction of Ilidza, an area under VRS control.



He said the investigation showed that no guidance system – which would ordinarily be used to direct rockets fired from multiple-launch systems – had been used.



The indictment against Perisic says that 13 people were injured by this attack.



When asked by a prosecutor whether there were any military targets near the site, Bruurmijn said he was unaware of any.



However, he added that the Famos factory, where he had heard that the Bosnian government made weapons, was in the approximate firing line.



The prosecution then referred to an order dated April 7 signed by Dragomir Milosevic, commander of the Sarajevo-Romanija corps of the VRS, to fire an air bomb at Hrasnica.



Milosevic has been sentenced by the Hague tribunal to 33 years’ imprisonment for his role in the sniping and shelling campaign during the siege of Sarajevo and his conviction is currently under appeal.



Defence lawyer Gregor Guy-Smith objected to the use of this document on the grounds that it related to an event months before the July 1 incident. The prosecution lawyer argued that the document was relevant because it showed the VRS possessed air bombs as well as the ability to launch them. The judge overruled Guy-Smith’s objections.



The order read, “The most profitable target must be selected in Hrasnica or Sokolovic colony where the greatest casualties and material damage would be inflicted.”



Asked whether this order bore any resemblance to what he witnessed in the aftermath of the July 1 attack, Bruurmijn said, “The assignment issued in this order corresponds with what we saw.”



The trial continues next week.

Rory Gallivan is an IWPR contributor.