1 March 2013
News
Babic: Witness Says Defendant Headed Military Police
BIRN BiHAt the trial for crimes in Bratunac, a prosecution witness said that defendant Savo Babic was the commander of the military police, adding he thinks those units guarded the school in which men were locked up and killed.
The witness, Srbislav Davidovic, said that the crisis headquarters that took over the power and was headed by Miroslav Deronjic was formed in April 1992.
“The crisis headquarters formed a military police, and appointed Savo Babic as its commander,” said Davidovic, adding that Babic stayed at the position for around 20 days.
Paramilitaries entered the town on the same day and spread fear among the whole population, both Muslim and Serb, said the witness.
“I saw a group of Muslims and Serbs in front of the department store in the centre looking at the hotel’s terrace, where unknown soldiers were - we did not know at the time they were paramilitaries. They were cruising the town, apprehending people and spreading fear,” said the witness.
After the plea bargain with The Hague prosecution in July 2005, Miroslav Deronjic was sentenced to ten years of prison for crimes committed in May 1992 in the village of Glogova near Bratunac.
Several days after the attack on Glogova, Davidovic said, men were taken to the football stadium and then to the Vuk Karadzic primary school in Bratunac.
“I heard men were killed there and that those who survived were transported in convoy to Pale,” said Davidovic.
The State Prosecution charged Babic, as the then military police commander, with “ordering, committing and failing to prevent” the imprisonment of non-Serb civilians in the Vuk Karadzic school in Bratunac in May 1992.
The indictment specifies that around 400 imprisoned civilians lived in fear for their lives. They were beaten and tortured daily, and several dozen civilians were murdered or died due to the conditions in the school. The majority of human remains were found in the mass grave near Bratunac.
The witness said that men were brought to the school by the paramilitaries and that he assumed that the military and civilian police guarded the school.
The trial will resume on January 21, 2013.
“The crisis headquarters formed a military police, and appointed Savo Babic as its commander,” said Davidovic, adding that Babic stayed at the position for around 20 days.
Paramilitaries entered the town on the same day and spread fear among the whole population, both Muslim and Serb, said the witness.
“I saw a group of Muslims and Serbs in front of the department store in the centre looking at the hotel’s terrace, where unknown soldiers were - we did not know at the time they were paramilitaries. They were cruising the town, apprehending people and spreading fear,” said the witness.
After the plea bargain with The Hague prosecution in July 2005, Miroslav Deronjic was sentenced to ten years of prison for crimes committed in May 1992 in the village of Glogova near Bratunac.
Several days after the attack on Glogova, Davidovic said, men were taken to the football stadium and then to the Vuk Karadzic primary school in Bratunac.
“I heard men were killed there and that those who survived were transported in convoy to Pale,” said Davidovic.
The State Prosecution charged Babic, as the then military police commander, with “ordering, committing and failing to prevent” the imprisonment of non-Serb civilians in the Vuk Karadzic school in Bratunac in May 1992.
The indictment specifies that around 400 imprisoned civilians lived in fear for their lives. They were beaten and tortured daily, and several dozen civilians were murdered or died due to the conditions in the school. The majority of human remains were found in the mass grave near Bratunac.
The witness said that men were brought to the school by the paramilitaries and that he assumed that the military and civilian police guarded the school.
The trial will resume on January 21, 2013.
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