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Ivanovic: False and Packed Witness' Statements

Petar Mitrovic

05 March 2010  Petar Mitrovic, who was sentenced before the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina for genocide in Srebrenica, testified for the State Prosecution, saying that indictee Zeljko Ivanovic was not present in Kravica and Sandici in July 1995, and accusing the Prosecution of mistreatment.

"I am a hundred percent sure, I can guarantee with my life, that Zeljko Ivanovic was not in the field in the Srebrenica area in July 1995. He had some 'private issues' to deal with, so the Squad Commander exempted him from all tasks," said witness Mitrovic, a former member of the "Skelani" Special Police Unit from Sekovici.

Ivanovic is charged, as a member of the "Skelani" Third Unit with the Second Special Police Squad, with having participated in capturing, taking away and shooting more than 1,000 Srebrenica residents in Kravica Agricultural Cooperative in Bratunac municipality on July 13, 1995.

The indictment alleges that Ivanovic and other members of the police and Republika Srpska Army, VRS, took part in "ensuring the passability of the road, as well as its closing and opening to traffic" in Sandici village, thus participating in the execution of a plan for the forcible resettlement of Bosniak women, children and the elderly.

In September 2009 the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina pronounced a second instance verdict, sentencing Petar Mitrovic to 28 years in prison for genocide committed in Srebrenica.

During his testimony Mitrovic said that members of his Unit were deployed on the section of the road leading from Bratunac to Konjevic polje from July 10 to 13, 1995, adding that they participated in "maintaining the road passability".

"As I stood on the side of a hill, I could not see anyone. I heard people saying that some Muslims had surrendered, but I did not witness that. I stayed there on the road until a soldier informed me that an incident had happened in Kravica and Police Officer Krsto Dagicevic had been killed," the witness said, adding that he went to Kravica straight away.

"I stayed in Kravica for a maximum of 10 minutes. I saw about ten corpses and Krsto, who was covered with a tarpaulin. There was no shooting while I was there. Muslims were in the Cooperative. I did not see them, but I could hear them talking. Then I went back to Sandici," Mitrovic said.

The Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina objected to Mitrovic's testimony, saying that he said in the statement he gave as a suspect in 2005, that he saw indictee Ivanovic in Kravica and Sandici in July 1995 and that he stood guard together with the indictee behind the Cooperative building in Kravica, while other soldiers were shooting and throwing bombs into the hangar.

Mitrovic confirmed that he had signed the statement, but said he had never read it, adding that all his allegations were "false and packed".

"They mistreated me, both physically and mentally, during the questioning in Bijeljina in 2005. All the names mentioned in the statement are false. I do not even know half of those people. I said this before, but nobody wanted to listen. The easiest thing for you is to sentence an innocent man, like you sentenced me," the witness said.

Along with the Defence's objections, the Trial Chamber decided to include this statement in the case file.

The trial is due to continue on March 11, 2010.