Srebrenica witness: We refused “insane order”

Srebrenica witness: We refused “insane order”

In July 1995, Aćimović refused to take part in the execution of Muslim prisoners held in the school in Ročević.

Mitar Lazarević was an assistant commander in the 2nd Battalion, Zvornik Brigade. In his testimony, he confirmed all the key elements from the evidence of his former superior Aćimović.

At the trial of the seven Bosnian Serb military and police officers charged with crimes in Srebrenica and Žepa, Aćimović told the court how in the night of July 14, 1995, he refused to obey an order he received from the Zvornik Brigade command to detach a platoon of soldiers from his battalion for the purpose of the execution of the Muslim prisoners held in the school in Ročević near Zvornik.

Aćimović’s assistant Mitar Lazarević confirmed that an encrypted telegram had arrived to the battalion HQ from the Brigade command that night. When they decoded it, they saw that it was an order to assign some of their soldiers to a firing squad.

Battalion commander Aćimović was notified immediately, and he said he would refuse to obey such an order, Lazarević recounted. All those present supported him, including the company commanders who had been summoned to the HQ.

When the prosecutor asked him why they had refused to obey the order, Lazarević replied, “because the order was insane”.

After Aćimović sent a telegram back to the Brigade command telling them he would not obey the order, there came a telephone call. The conversation was very heated, Lazarević said. Aćimović shouted, argued and cursed, but Lazarević could not tell the court who was at the other end of the line.

The next morning, Aćimović went to Ročević to say once again that he would “not be detaching any men for this purpose”.

In his evidence last week, Aćimović said he had quarreled over the phone with Drago Nikolic, security chief in the Zvornik Brigade, who tried to pressure him to detach the soldiers for the firing squad.

Aćimović also said he met with Vujadin Popović, Drina Corps security chief, in Ročević. Popovic threatened him, saying he would be held responsible for refusing to obey the order.

In the cross-examination, the defense counsel of Vujadin Popović, Drago Nikolić and Vinko Pandurević tried to argue that Lazarević had not been in Rocevic on July 14 or 15, and that he had not seen the prisoners.

He only knew what Aćimović told him, they claimed. They questioned the existence of the telegram from the Zvornik brigade command. The witness claimed there was an entry about it in the duty officer’s notebook.

They also pointed to the fact that Lazarević did not know who Aćimović had spoken with on the phone after he had refused to obey the order.

The defense counsel of the other four accused – Ljubiša Beara, Ljubomir Borovčanin, Milan Gvero and Radivoje Miletić – did not have any questions for the witness.