Young man tries to “wash away” responsibility for Srebrenica genocide with alibis

Former driver of Ratko Mladić attempted to provide him with an alibi for the days in July 1995, when, according to the indictment, the army he commanded executed Bosniaks in Srebrenica, BIRN reported, as carried by the Bosnian news agency Patria.

Mlađen Kenjić said that on July 14, 1995, he drove Mladić to Belgrade and brought him back three days later to the Main Staff of the Army of Republika Srpska near Han Pijesak.

According to the indictment, Mladić, the wartime commander of the VRS, is charged with genocide committed against approximately 8,000 Srebrenica Bosniaks after the army captured Srebrenica on July 11, 1995.

The witness stated that during the stay in Belgrade, he drove Mladić to meetings with then-Serbian President Slobodan Milošević – at the Presidency building in Belgrade and in Dobanovci – as well as to a wedding and to talks at the Belgrade Military Medical Academy.

After “three overnight stays in Belgrade,” he said, he returned Mladić by car, a “Ford Taunus,” which they had also used to come, to the VRS Main Staff near Han Pijesak.

While being examined by Mladić’s defense lawyer Miodrag Stojanović, Kenjić stated that there were no communication devices in that vehicle.

During cross-examination, prosecutor Peter McCloskey asked the witness whether, on the road from Han Pijesak to the border with Serbia, he saw columns of trucks and buses used to transport thousands of captured Bosniaks on July 14 from Bratunac to locations near Zvornik, where they were subsequently executed.

“I didn’t notice any congestion on the road; it was usual,” Kenjić replied.

He also claimed that he did not see “a large number of Muslims” who, as the prosecutor stated, were crossing that road in the area of the village of Nova Kasaba, nor “large pits that were being dug along the road.”

Asked whether he knew at the time about the executions of a large number of Muslims in the surrounding villages of Kravica, Orahovac, Petkovci, and Pilica, the witness answered: “No.”

Prosecutor McCloskey also suggested that on July 16, 1995, Kenjić did not drive Mladić by car from Belgrade to Han Pijesak, but that they flew by helicopter to Zvornik and then continued the journey by car.

The witness, however, denied this, claiming that he never joined General Mladić in a helicopter. “Never, if you understand me, absolutely never,” Kenjić said.

The same alibi for the accused Mladić was recently provided by his wife Bosiljka, and the spouses Biljana and Žarko Stojković, who claim that Mladić was the best man at their wedding in Belgrade on July 16, 1995, Patria reports.

In the course of the trial so far, the Prosecution has not disputed that Mladić was in Belgrade at that time, among other things for meetings with Serbian President Slobodan Milošević and international officials. However, prosecutors claim that even from Belgrade, Mladić had full control and command over the VRS.

The continuation of Mladić’s trial is scheduled for September 7, because the Defense did not have a witness available for tomorrow.

Mladić is also charged with persecution of Bosniaks and Croats throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina, which in six municipalities had the proportions of genocide, terrorizing the population of Sarajevo through shelling and sniping, and taking UNPROFOR members hostage, NAP reports.