Bozic et al: Deciding Srebrenica Residents' Fate
18 December 2007 Defence witness gives details on a meeting with war crimes fugitive Ratko Mladic.
Defence witness Srbislav Davidovic has confirmed that he took part in a meeting with Bosnian Serb general Ratko Mladic, which was held in the "Fontana" hotel in Bratunac on July 12, 1995.
The meeting was held to decide on the fate of several thousand persons from Srebrenica after the fall of the protected enclave.
Zdravko Bozic, Mladen Blagojevic, Zeljko Zaric and Zoran Zivanovic are charged with having participated, as members of the Military Police Squad with the VRS Bratunac Brigade, in guarding the buses used to transport Srebrenica residents from Potocari to Bratunac, where they were maltreated, tortured and murdered.
In July 1995 Davidovic was president of the Municipal Executive Board in Bratunac, and he participated in the meeting in that capacity.
"General Mladic tried to persuade the Bosniak representatives that Srebrenica residents should stay, and that they would be granted freedom of movement and life, unless they had murdered somebody.
Mladic said that those whose hands were bloody, would be processed," Davidovic recalled, without mentioning that Mladic imposed certain conditions upon the Bosniaks. The Prosecution reminded him of this by showing the witness a video recording made at the meeting.
The video recording shows Mladic telling the Bosniak representatives that they could "either survive or disappear". If they wanted to survive, they "must hand over their weapons to the Republika Srpska Army" and "choose if they want to stay there or go somewhere else". Mladic said that buses would be provided for them, should they decide to leave the area.
Davidovic said that, after the meeting, he "took food and drinks" to Srebrenica residents in Potocari. He also said that, after being asked by an acquaintance and getting approval from Mladic, he "took a group of invalids to the bus" but, he "does not know who made them enter the bus".
Davidovic told the Court that he returned to his office in the municipality of Bratunac shortly after that, when he "heard vehicles" and "saw buses transporting Bosniak men from Srebrenica".
The witness said he saw six buses. A policeman was standing in front of one of the buses, and told him that all the people on board were going to be exchanged in Batkovici. After that, Davidovic went home.
When he came to the municipality building the following day, i.e. on July 13, he did not see any buses in Bratunac.
During cross-examination, Prosecutor Kwai Hong Ip asked the witness if Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic had asked the civilian authorities to provide food and fuel before the fall of Srebrenica.
The witness said he did not know, but that he did "helped" the Bratunac Brigade get 1,000 pieces of canned food on July 11 and 12, 1995. He stressed that the cans "were provided by the Red Cross".
The trial is due to continue on November 20.
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