Member of notorious Mladić's execution squad acquitted of genocide charges in Srebrenica

Aleksandar Cvetković has been acquitted of the criminal offense of genocide. This is the verdict delivered today by the BiH Court Council, reports the Patria News Agency.  

After the evidence presented, the Council could not establish the accused's responsibility beyond a reasonable doubt for the acts he was charged with in the indictment of September 12, 2013.

The indictment accused Cvetković of participating, as a member of the notorious 10th Sabotage Detachment of the Main Staff of the Army of Republika Srpska, in the first attack on the UN-protected zone of Srebrenica at the end of June 1995 and in the military operation Krivaja 95 on July 11, 1995.

Cvetković was also acquitted of the suspicion that he personally and directly participated in the killing of between 1,000 and 1,200 Bosniak men and boys at a farm in Branjevo on July 16, 1995, by firing a weapon as a member of a firing squad along with other members of the 10th Sabotage Detachment.

Cvetković was hiding in Israel, where he was arrested in January 2011, after which he requested the Israeli Supreme Court to block the decision on his extradition. In August 2013, he was extradited to Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Testimony of a Bosniak who survived the execution

When the Serbian army occupied Srebrenica in July 1995, the 10th Sabotage Detachment played a significant role in organizing and carrying out the genocide against the captured population. Formed by the order of Ratko Mladić, the detachment operated mainly in the Podrinje region.

A dossier published in 2011 by the Humanitarian Law Fund detailed the role of the members of this detachment in the systematic killing of the non-Serb population, as well as in the subsequent cover-up of the crimes.

-The prisoners, with their hands tied behind their backs, and some with blindfolds, were transported from the school in Kula to the farm in Branjevo by buses, escorted by the military police of the Drina Corps of the VRS. Upon arrival, they were lined up in groups of 10 prisoners, about 100 to 200 meters from where the bus stopped.

The captured Bosniaks were then jointly shot and killed by: Franc Kos, Brano Gojković, Stanko Savanović, Zoran Goronja, Marko Boškić, Vlastimir Golijan, Aleksandar Cvetković, and Dražen Erdemović.

After one group of prisoners was executed, members of the military police would separate the next 10 prisoners and escort them to the same execution site where they were killed in the same manner. The prisoners were ordered to stand with their backs to the executioners, so they could see the corpses of the prisoners killed before them. Those who were still showing signs of life were approached and shot in the head and torso at close range.

-One of the prisoners who survived the execution testified:

When they opened fire, I immediately fell to the ground. My hands were still tied behind my back. I fell on my stomach, face down. A man fell over my head, and I could feel his warm blood running over me. The shooting continued, and they ordered the soldiers to shoot each one once. I heard them shouting not to shoot in the head to avoid spilling brains, but to shoot in the back. They shot me in the back. My hands were tied. The bullet passed under my left armpit, through my shirt, and only grazed me. I continued to lie there. I could hear them asking if anyone was still alive to be finished off, and if anyone responded, they would kill them. I heard one man moaning and begging them to kill him, but they said they would leave him to suffer for a while longer and then kill him.