Witness testifies about execution of Muslims

Prosecution’s first witness took the stand yesterday at the Hague Tribunal in the trial of Zdravko Tolimir, a former Bosnian Serb officer. The witness described how he survived shootings of hundreds of Muslims from Srebrenica in July 1995. Witness testifies about execution of Muslims Assistant Commander for Intelligence and Security of Republic of Srpska Army (VRS) General Zdravko Tolimir is accused of genocide against more than 7,000 Srebrenica Muslims and persecution of tens of thousands of women, children and elderly from Srebrenica and Zepa. Prosecution’s protected witness PW-1007 stated that Serb troops had organized the execution of between 500 and 1,000 Muslim men in a school in the village of Orahovac near Zvornik on July 14, 1995, three days after they had taken over Srebrenica. The witness said that he surrendered to Serbs on July 13, 1995 near the village of Sandici after hiding in the woods for two days with thousands of others, trying to escape the VRS encirclement. At a nearby meadow VRS Commander Ratko Mladic promised the prisoners that they would be exchanged, calling them “neighbors”, according to the witness’s testimony. According to this testimony, the prisoners were then transported to Bratunac, where several of them were killed during the night, while the rest were taken to Orahovac in the morning, July 14. At the local school’s gym the Muslim prisoners were blindfolded before being taken by truck to be executed, PW-1007 said. “At the exit of the gym stood two soldiers and a woman who gave every prisoner a glass of water, I don’t know why they did that… When they started to take people away we asked the soldiers where they were taking them, and they said 'To Bijeljina, to a camp'. In the evening it was my turn: they blindfolded me, I drank the water and they led me into the truck where there were about 30 of us,” the witness told the judges. According to him, “a soldier with a red beret” accompanied the prisoners to the truck. After a short ride the truck stopped and the prisoners were ordered to get out. “I immediately I saw a dead body under the blindfold, I thought of my children and said goodbye to them… Shots came from the left, people fell, I fell too… When the shots stopped one of the soldiers came and shot from his pistol,” PW-1007, who was not injured, said. According to the witness, some of the men who were shooting then said “let’s take off their watches”, but others opposed this. “Then I heard the next truck come and the shooting again… And it went on every 15 minutes.” The witness explained that he had been lying among the bodies for several hours and that he heard that a group of prisoners had been taken to be shot at another meadow nearby. “An excavator came which started to dig and a loader then too… One of survivors who was near the excavator got up and started to run, and three soldiers who had stayed started to shoot after him. The one with the excavator turned that way… I jumped and run up the levy, crossed the railway, I heard shots, but I don’t know if he was shooting at me, I crossed the meadow and hid in a corn field,” he said. According to the witness, the Serbian soldiers then searched the corn and fired shots randomly, and then returned to the meadow from which the shots came again. After wondering two days through villages he said he "knew were Bosniak (Muslim) because they were burned”, PW-1007 told the court he managed to cross over to the territory controlled by Muslim troops. When the trial continues at the Hague, the witness will be cross-examined by Tolimir, who is defending himself.

Witness testifies about execution of Muslims

Assistant Commander for Intelligence and Security of Republic of Srpska Army (VRS) General Zdravko Tolimir is accused of genocide against more than 7,000 Srebrenica Muslims and persecution of tens of thousands of women, children and elderly from Srebrenica and Žepa.

Prosecution’s protected witness PW-1007 stated that Serb troops had organized the execution of between 500 and 1,000 Muslim men in a school in the village of Orahovac near Zvornik on July 14, 1995, three days after they had taken over Srebrenica.

The witness said that he surrendered to Serbs on July 13, 1995 near the village of Sandići after hiding in the woods for two days with thousands of others, trying to escape the VRS encirclement. At a nearby meadow VRS Commander Ratko Mladić promised the prisoners that they would be exchanged, calling them “neighbors”, according to the witness’s testimony.

According to this testimony, the prisoners were then transported to Bratunac, where several of them were killed during the night, while the rest were taken to Orahovac in the morning, July 14. At the local school’s gym the Muslim prisoners were blindfolded before being taken by truck to be executed, PW-1007 said.

“At the exit of the gym stood two soldiers and a woman who gave every prisoner a glass of water, I don’t know why they did that… When they started to take people away we asked the soldiers where they were taking them, and they said 'To Bijeljina, to a camp'. In the evening it was my turn: they blindfolded me, I drank the water and they led me into the truck where there were about 30 of us,” the witness told the judges.

According to him, “a soldier with a red beret” accompanied the prisoners to the truck. After a short ride the truck stopped and the prisoners were ordered to get out.

“I immediately I saw a dead body under the blindfold, I thought of my children and said goodbye to them… Shots came from the left, people fell, I fell too… When the shots stopped one of the soldiers came and shot from his pistol,” PW-1007, who was not injured, said.

According to the witness, some of the men who were shooting then said “let’s take off their watches”, but others opposed this.

“Then I heard the next truck come and the shooting again… And it went on every 15 minutes.”

The witness explained that he had been lying among the bodies for several hours and that he heard that a group of prisoners had been taken to be shot at another meadow nearby.

“An excavator came which started to dig and a loader then too… One of survivors who was near the excavator got up and started to run, and three soldiers who had stayed started to shoot after him. The one with the excavator turned that way… I jumped and run up the levy, crossed the railway, I heard shots, but I don’t know if he was shooting at me, I crossed the meadow and hid in a corn field,” he said.

According to the witness, the Serbian soldiers then searched the corn and fired shots randomly, and then returned to the meadow from which the shots came again.

After wondering two days through villages he said he "knew were Bosniak (Muslim) because they were burned”, PW-1007 told the court he managed to cross over to the territory controlled by Muslim troops.

When the trial continues at the Hague, the witness will be cross-examined by Tolimir, who is defending himself.