THE HAGUE/ZAGREB, Dec 17 (Hina) - The trial of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic at the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague resumed on Wednesday with the testimony of a protected witness who in July 1995 survived the
massacre of more than 7,000 Muslims in the eastern Bosnian town of Srebrenica.
THE HAGUE/ZAGREB, Dec 17 (Hina) - The trial of former Yugoslav
President Slobodan Milosevic at the UN war crimes tribunal in The
Hague resumed on Wednesday with the testimony of a protected
witness who in July 1995 survived the massacre of more than 7,000
Muslims in the eastern Bosnian town of Srebrenica. #L#
Witness B-1401, who at the time when Srebrenica fell into Serb hands
was 17, described his attempt to reach Tuzla with a group of some
1,000 people, their surrender to Serb soldiers on a road to Bratunac
and detention in a school in the village of Petkovici near Zvornik.
He said that the soldiers to whom they surrendered had told them
that they were from Serbia. They were given no food or water while in
detention, and some of them drank their own urine.
He said that the prisoners were taken by truck for execution and
that Serb soldiers later checked if anyone survived, shooting some
prisoners in the head, but they did not discover him. The witness
said that he was shot in the right arm, chest and right foot and that
his father, uncle and other relatives were shot dead on that
occasion.
After the soldiers left the execution site, the witness and another
survivor set out towards territory held by the Bosnian army, which
they managed to reach after four days.
Without showing any sympathy for the man who survived the massacre
by sheer luck, Milosevic searched for contradictions in his written
statements in an attempt to prove that most victims were members of
the Bosnian army.
"All of my statements are true. The only difference is that some are
more and some less detailed. According to your scenario, we killed
ourselves," the witness replied.
Earlier today, another protected witness, B-1619 from Zepa, spoke
about the presence of army and police forces from Serbia in eastern
Bosnia in the summer of 1995.
The trial of Milosevic will continue on January 13 after a three-
week Christmas and New Year's recess.
The prosecution has 19 more working days to complete the
presentation of evidence, and considering the current pace, it
could complete it by the end of February.
(hina) rml sb