Intercepted conversations: Buy the "livestock", you must not leave a single one alive!

During the trial at the Hague Tribunal of war criminal Ratko Mladić, Milenko Jevđević, head of communications for the Drina Corps of the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS), one of the units involved in the capture of Srebrenica in 1995 and, according to the indictment, the genocide against the then Bosniak population, the murder of around 8,000 boys and men, and the expulsion of the remaining population, completed his multi-day testimony, reports the Patria News Agency.

In the final stages of cross-examination, the Hague prosecution challenged Jevđević's credibility as a defense witness by presenting an intercepted conversation of VRS officers in which he participated – concerning the number and type of collected "livestock" from the Žepa and Srebrenica areas – dated August 2, 1995, a few days after the capture of the aforementioned UN "safe zones" and the subsequent massacre.

"I was not involved in collecting livestock, but in maintaining communications," Jevđević denied, claiming that the person participating in the presented conversation was not him.

In the conversation, the officer of the VRS Zvornik Brigade, Dragan Obrenović, asked the commander of the Drina Corps, Radislav Krstić, if he could have witness Jevđević, and received an affirmative answer.

Obrenović, who was sentenced to 17 years in prison for the expulsion of Srebrenica residents, then asked where another truckload of livestock should be taken.

"We claim that it was you in that conversation," prosecutor Abeer Hasan confronted the witness, playing the conversation between Krstić – sentenced to 35 years in prison for the Srebrenica genocide, witness Jevđević, and Obrenović.

"Are you working down there?" Krstić asked.

"Everything is going according to plan," Obrenović informed Krstić.

"You must not leave a single one alive," General Krstić then ordered.

Witness Jevđević stated that the recording of the intercepted conversation by the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina was of poor quality and that he could not confirm its authenticity, while denying that he participated in it.

"I heard this conversation for the first time at Krstić's trial, but I think it was of better quality. And everyone who has been listening to me for several days would confirm – that this is not my voice," the witness defended himself, stating that he could not recognize anyone in the conversation "due to significant modulation," meaning voice distortion.

"I assume it was the two of them (Krstić and Obrenović), but the modulation is huge," he replied to a further question from Judge Christoff Flügge, who was also interested in the witness's interpretation of the word "livestock" used in the intercepted conversation.

"So, you cannot rule out that the word 'livestock' is used for something else? Perhaps it was a coded term?" asked Judge Flügge.

Jevđević stated that the word did not associate him with anything else – except "livestock and its collection as war booty," while also answering that he did not know – whether the Main Staff of the VRS was involved in collecting livestock and war booty at all.

"Perhaps it referred to animals, and perhaps there were some communications where 'livestock' referred to people, as a derogatory term," Jevđević added in his explanation to the judge.

Fish for lunch with Kačavenda as evidence

Since Jevđević denied passing through Srebrenica and Potočari on July 12, 1995 – when the separation of Bosniak boys and men began, but rather the day before, July 11 – the prosecutor played recordings related to a slava (patron saint's day) lunch hosted by Zvonko Bajagić, known as Duga puška (Long rifle), at his home in Vlasenica on Petrovdan (St. Peter's Day), where, among other things, fish was served to the attendees. Bishop Kačavenda was also present at the lunch.