MILORAD TRBIC, SREBRENICA PROTESTS, & DUTCH GRAFFITI

MILORAD TRBIC TRANSFERED TO SARAJEVO ON GENOCIDE TRIAL, WHILE PROTESTERS PUSH FOR SREBRENICA DISTRICT STATUS & PROTEST SHAMEFUL CONDUCT BY DUTCH TROOPS

“We are waiting for 12 years for the problem of Republika Srpska to be solved, for this criminal organization to be dismantled,” said Kada Hotic, a Srebrenica survivor who lost her husband and son in the massacre.

Undated photo of Bosnian Serb Captain Milorad Trbic,
on trial for Srebrenica genocide.

Note: Photos used in the following section are from June 11th 2007 protests in Sarajevo. Bosnian Muslim women from Srebrenica hold banners that read Srebrenica is the symbol of genocide during their protest in Sarajevo, on Monday, June 11, 2007. Thousands of survivors of Europe’s worst massacre since World War II protested Monday, demanding a special administrative status for the town of Srebrenica, saying it should not be run by Bosnian Serb authorities who are responsible for genocide in that town. (Credits: AP Photo/Hidajet Delic – For Fair Use Only)

Earlier today at the Sarajevo International Airport, acting on orders of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), Judicial Police officers took custody of Milorad Trbic, an Accused before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) whose case has been referred to the authorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina for further processing.

“After having considered various factors, including the gravity of crimes and his alleged level of responsibility, the Referral Bench on 27 April 2007 ordered the referral of the case to the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina,” the tribunal said in a statement.

Serb forces killed about 8,000 Bosniak men and boys after capturing the enclave of Srebrenica in eastern Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1995. International human rights groups call the killings the worst massacre in Europe since World War II.

The transfer of Milorad Trbic to Bosnian authorities came as thousands of Srebrenica survivors demonstrated in Sarajevo to press for a special status for the former U.N.-protected enclave. In Sarajevo, survivors of the Srebrenica massacre took to the streets demanding that their eastern town be removed from the jurisdiction of the Serb Republic, which together with the Bosniak-Croat federation comprises Bosnia under the 1995 Dayton peace accords. The town came under Serb jurisdiction after the war, but Bosniaks there have been demanding self-rule, a move vehemently opposed by authorities in the Serb Republic.

“The international community, all member states of the United Nations, are requested by international law not to recognize as lawful the results of genocide and to work together to eliminate the consequences of genocide,” said Bosnian leader Haris Silajdzic, a member of the country’s presidency. But Srebrenica status could change only as part of a constitutional reform, which has been blocked for more than a year over disagreement between Serb and Bosniak politicians.

Protesters carried banners saying “Justice for all,” and demanded Srebrenica no longer be part of the Bosnian Serb entity, Republika Srpska, but to become an independent district within the state of Bosnia-Herzegovina.

“We are waiting for 12 years for the problem of Republika Srpska to be solved, for this criminal organization to be dismantled,” said Kada Hotic, a Srebrenica survivor who lost her husband and son in the massacre.

The indictment against Trbic charges him with genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide, extermination, murder, persecutions and forcible transfer committed against the civilians of the Srebrenica area from July to November 1995. According to this indictment, as deputy chief of security of the Zvornik Brigade of the Army of Republika Srpska, Milorad Trbic helped manage the Military Police Company during the events in Srebrenica in July 1995.

The indictment alleges that the Accused was inter alia in charge of supervising the detention and execution of Bosniak victims at various sites in the area around the city of Zvornik .

According to the indictment, on 14 July 1995, at the Grabovac School in Orahovac, together with the chief of security of the Zvornik brigade, the Accused supervised the Military Police in guarding Bosniak detainees and transporting them to a nearby field where they were summarily executed.

The indictment alleges that Trbic entered an agreement with several others, including Generals Ratko Mladic, Milenko Zivanovic, Zdravko Tolimir (‘Chemical Tolimir’) and Radislav Krstic, to kill the able-bodied Bosnian Muslim men from Srebrenica that were captured or surrendered after the fall of Srebrenica on 11 July 1995 and remove the remaining Bosniak population of Srebrenica and Zepa from Republika Srpska with the intent to destroy those Muslims.

In addition, it is alleged that from about 1 August 1995 through about 1 November 1995, Bosnian Serb Army and police personnel including Trbic participated in an organised and comprehensive effort to conceal the killings and executions by reburying bodies exhumed from initial mass graves to secondary graves.

Trbic and others are accused of also plotting to remove the remaining Bosniak population of Srebrenica and Zepa from Republika Srpska with the intent to destroy that population.

The indictment states that Trbic participated with other Bosnian Serb army personnel in an organized effort to conceal the killings and executions of those men and boys by exhuming bodies from initial mass graves and reburying them in secondary graves.

The ICTY which sits at The Hague, has so transferred 10 accused to Bosnia and Herzegovina for trial, as well as two accused to Croatia and one to Serbia. The transfers of cases involving low or intermediate-level accused to courts in the countries of the former Yugoslavia are part of the Tribunal’s completion strategy, designed to allow it to concentrate its resources upon the most serious cases.

The ICTY has indicted 161 persons and completed proceedings in the cases of 108 accused since it held its first hearing in November 1994. Under the completion strategy, the Tribunal is scheduled to finish its work by the end of 2010.

After the war, some Bosniaks returned to Srebrenica but describe life there as hard and humiliating. At the beginning of March, the returnees called for a change in the Bosnian constitution to erase the ethnic division of the country, claiming it was impossible to live in a town that offers few jobs and where, they claim, perpetrators of genocide still live. The International Court of Justice in The Hague declared in February that Bosnian Serb troops committed genocide in Srebrenica.

The survivors base their claim for exemption of Srebrenica from Republika Srpska on this court verdict. The idea of changing the constitution is supported by forces in the federation of Muslim Bosniaks and Catholic Croats, who seek to unify the entire country, but the Bosnian Serb authorities vehemently oppose any change of the status of the town.

More about Dutch shame from previous, June 4th 2007, protests:
(photo credits: Reuters/WFA Frank van Rossum, Netherlands – For Fair Use Only)

Photo (look down): Unidentified women, relatives of the Srebrenica victims, react during a march to Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende’s office in the Hague June 4, 2007. Angry relatives of victims of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre on Monday sued the Dutch state and the United Nations for allowing thousands of Bosniaks to be killed by Bosnian Serb forces in the U.N. protected ‘safe haven’ enclave of Srebrenica that was guarded by Dutch troops in 1995. Women are holding a portrait of a “Bosnian Girl” with shameful graffiti written by an unknown Dutch soldier.

Graffiti “No teeth…? A mustache…? Smel like shit…? Bosnian Girl!” written by the unknown Dutch soldier on the wall of the army barracks in Potocari, Srebrenica ’94/’95. The Royal Netherlands Army Troops, as a part of the UN Peace Keeping Forces UNPROFOR in Bosnia and Herzegovina 1992-95 were responsible for protection of Srebrenica safe area.

Shameful Dutch graffiti were transformed into artwork, by Sejla Kameric:

Related readings:
– Chemical Weapons Use in Srebrenica Requested by Zdravko Tolimir
– U.N., Dutch Cowards on Trial (analysis of shameful failures)
– U.N., Dutch Complicity in Srebrenica Genocide

Srebrenica Genocide Blog – Facts vs. Genocide Denial
http://srebrenica-genocide.blogspot.com

SREBRENICA MASSACRE SUSPECT TO BE TRIED IN BOSNIA

Prosecution Wants Srebrenica Suspect Tried in Bosnia

Prosecutors have asked for the case against Milorad Trbic, a former Bosnian Serb soldier currently awaiting trial in The Hague on genocide charges relating to Srebrenica, to be transferred to the Bosnian court system.

Trbic had been expected to stand trial before the tribunal in August or September this year, along with seven others accused of involvement in the executions of thousands of Bosniak men and boys after Srebrenica fell to the Bosnian Serb army in July 1995.

But in her latest submission published on May 4, Chief Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte argues that transferring his case to Sarajevo would ease the strain on the court’s resources, which have been “expanded to the maximum” to handle the planned joint trial. To date, the largest trials in The Hague have involved no more than six defendants.

Del Ponte also notes that sending Trbic to Bosnia would make room for higher-ranking officers to be added to the joint Srebrenica trial in The Hague. The indictment against Trbic and his co-accused includes a ninth suspect, Bosnian Serb general Zdravko Tolimir, who remains on the run. Prosecutors have also said former army chief Ratko Mladic could be added to the joint trial if and when he is taken into custody.

The tribunal’s rules require that decisions on whether to refer cases to other courts must take into account the gravity of the crime in question and the level of responsibility attributed to the accused.

While Del Ponte acknowledges that the crimes committed at Srebrenica were “of the greatest magnitude”, she argues that Trbic held a low rank at the time and had “minimal authority”.

Del Ponte is also asking that the Bosnian authorities to be given a chance to present their own views on the matter to the Hague court.

Prosecutors have previously said that Trbic has implicated several of his co-accused in the Srebrenica crimes – both in testimony he gave in separate proceedings in The Hague against two other officers, Vidoje Blagojevic and Dragan Jokic, and in statements that he has provided to the prosecution.

The transfer of cases to judicial systems in the Balkans is part of an effort to wind down the work of the Hague tribunal by the end of 2010.

Related:

Six Srebrenica Massacre Suspects Plead Not Guilty

Vinko Pandurevic and Milorad Trbic – In Pre-Trial

Srebrenica Genocide Blog – Facts vs. Genocide Denial
http://srebrenica-genocide.blogspot.com

SIX SREBRENICA MASSACRE SUSPECTS PLEAD NOT GUILTY

Six Bosnian Serbs plead not guilty over Srebrenica

Six former Bosnian Serb officers pleaded not guilty on Tuesday at the U.N. war crimes tribunal to charges of genocide over the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of more than 8,000 Bosniak men and boys.

The men have already appeared individually before the court but last year their indictments on charges of genocide or complicity in genocide, crimes against humanity and violations of the laws or customs of war were combined in a single indictment. Presiding judge Carmel Agius said in court he plans to start the combined trial in August.

The six men — Vinko Pandurevic, Ljubisa Beara, Vujadin Popovic, Drago Nikolic, Milorad Trbic and Ljubomir Borovcanin — all surrendered to the tribunal. Zdravko Tolimir, however, is still on the run.

Tolimir was one of several aides to wartime Bosnian Serb army chief Ratko Mladic, who is also still at large and one of the tribunal’s most wanted men.

Mladic is also indicted over the Srebrenica massacre, the worst mass killing in Europe since world War Two, and the 43-month siege of Sarajevo in which more than 15,000 people died.

The Hague tribunal’s chief prosecutor Carla del Ponte insists Mladic is sheltered by hardline army officers in Serbia, which Belgrade denies.

Two other Mladic aides are also named in the indictment but they are not charged with genocide.

Radivoje Miletic and Milan Gvero, who are currently on provisional release, are charged with crimes against humanity and violations of the laws or customs of wars including murder, persecution, forcible transfer and deportation.

Srebrenica Genocide Blog – Facts vs. Genocide Denial
http://srebrenica-genocide.blogspot.com

VINKO PANDUREVIC and MILORAD TRBIC – IN PRE-TRIAL

VINKO PANDUREVIC and MILORAD TRBIC – (IT-05-86)

Vinko Pandurevic

Commander of the 1st Zvornik Light Infantry Brigade

Born	1959 in the Bosnian Serb town of Sokolac
———– Arrest / Surrendered	23 March 2005 , voluntary surrendered
———– Transferred to ICTY	23 March 2005
———– Initial Appearance	31 March 2005

Charged on the basis of individual criminal responsibility (Article 7(1)) and superior criminal responsibility (Article 7(3)) with:

– Genocide
– Crimes against humanity
– Violations of the laws or customs of war

Milorad Trbic

Charged on the basis of individual criminal responsibility (Article 7(1)) with:

– Crimes against humanity

Vinko Pandurevic was originally indicted together with Radislav Krstic.

The Indictment (“Srebrenica”)
Factual Allegations:
The Amended Indictment, dated 27 October 1999 and unsealed on 7 December 2001 alleges that in early July 1995 units of the Drina Corps of the Bosnian-Serb Army (“VRS”) shelled the Srebrenica “safe area” and attacked Dutch-manned United Nations observation posts located there. VRS forces subsequently entered Srebrenica. By 18 July 1995, those forces either expelled or killed most of the members of the Bosniak population of the Srebrenica enclave, thereby continuing an ethnic cleansing campaign begun in the spring of 1992.
From 12 December 1992 through November 1996, Vinko Pandurevic was the Commander of the 1st Zvornik Light Infantry Brigade (“Zvornik Brigade”) of the VRS. He was promoted to the rank of General-Major in June 1997 and was a member of the VRS General Staff until he was relieved in April 1998.

Charges:
The Indictment charges Vinko Pandurevic on the basis of individual criminal responsibility (Article 7(1) of the Statute) and/or alternatively superior criminal responsibility (Article 7(3) of the Statute) with:

Genocide (Article 4 of the Statute – genocide; alternatively, complicity to commit genocide),
Crimes against humanity (Article 5 thereof – extermination; murder; persecutions on political, racial and religious grounds; deportation; alternatively, inhumane acts), and
Violations of the laws or customs of war (Article 3 thereof – murder).

keywords: Vinko Pandurevic, Milorad Trbic, Srebrenica Genocide, Srebrenica Massacre, Bosniaks, Bosnian Muslims, Bosnia-Herzegovina

Srebrenica Genocide Blog – Facts vs. Genocide Denial
http://srebrenica-genocide.blogspot.com