Charges against Orić falling: Serb soldiers expose witness O1's lies

A continuation of the main hearing in the case of Naser Orić and Sabahudin Muhić was held at the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Today, two witnesses for the BiH Prosecutor's Office, Branislav Stanojević and Radivoje Ostojić, testified, writes the BiH news agency Patria.

The first witness, Branislav Stanojević, at the very beginning, when asked by prosecutor Miroslav Janjić how long he was in Srebrenica, said he was there until the beginning of the war and defected to Bratunac in early 1991. When the judge pointed out that the war had not started then, the witness said he had "forgotten" a lot and could not be precise about the timeline of events on July 12, 1992.

He said he was a member of the Army of Republika Srpska and was stationed in the village of Zalazje. During his testimony, when asked by the prosecutor what he saw while running from his house to a truck he escaped in around 4 PM, Stanojević said he saw judge Slobodan Ilić, whom he knew well because he was his neighbor.

- The last time I saw him was when he was crossing a field together with Ivan Cvjetković towards Ažlić stream - said the witness, and in cross-examination, answering lawyer Lejla Čović's question, he confirmed that Slobodan Ilić was a large and tall man without a beard or mustache.

We remind you that in the earlier testimony of the compromised protected witness O1, he claimed that judge Ilić was captured and had a "strong mustache and a strong beard".

From Stanojević's testimony, it can be concluded that he left Zalazje by truck around 4 PM, although in his earlier statement given in July 2015, he said that the fighting lasted until 6 PM.

After defense attorney Čović reminded him of this statement, the witness said that "it is not true". Judge Šaban Maksumić asked the witness why 6 PM was stated, and the witness said he did not know.

Witness Stanojević also stated that the truck was parked next to the second house from the cemetery the entire time, which witness O1 claimed was Naser Orić's command post. It is completely clear that Stanojević refuted all of O1's claims because it is impossible for both armies, the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Army of Republika Srpska, to have been in the same place. The witness confirmed that fierce fighting took place and that the Muslim army could not get closer than 50 meters.

The second witness, Radivoje Ostojić, said that he heard the lining up of the Muslim army, which was in camouflage uniforms, and a commander in a camouflage uniform with a white megaphone. He described the commander as a short and stout man, and since he did not personally know Naser Orić, he could not claim it was him. Ostojić was in the attic of a house at the time and was wounded. He said he occasionally lost consciousness.

To Judge Maksumić's explicit question as to whether he heard or saw soldiers lining up, Ostojić replied:

- I don't know if I heard or saw, the witness said, after which there was complete silence in the courtroom, and the judges were shocked, especially prosecutor Miroslav Janjić, who showed nervousness, aware that he was losing this case.

For the record, the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina did not have camouflage uniforms at that time, and numerous witnesses claimed that members of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina were dressed differently and in civilian clothes.

The claims of this witness are incorrect because the witnesses themselves could not agree on the events of that day. This witness has given statements and testimonies on multiple occasions regarding the events of July 12, 1992.

When asked by Čović if he saw any of his dead comrades that day, witness Ostojić described in detail that he saw the dead Mijo Rakić on the sidewalk next to the house, who was in a blue police uniform from old Yugoslavia.

When lawyer Čović asked him if his memory was better in 1993 than now, almost 25 years later, witness Ostojić answered affirmatively. Ostojić's testimony was full of confusion and inconsistencies.

This witness also stated that the house they were hiding in caught fire, but they managed to descend using some cables and no one was injured.

We remind you that during the testimony of Vidoje Ilić, he claimed that fire had burned several people, while witness Milan Jeremić confirmed the same, that the fire did not burn anyone.

Similarly, some witnesses for the BiH Prosecutor's Office claimed in previous trials, such as Vidoje Ilić, that they heard the Muslim army capturing Mijo Rakić, so the question arises how a dead man could surrender to the Muslim army.

The continuation of the trial is scheduled for May 10, when the BiH Prosecutor's Office will present two witnesses.