TWO GENOCIDE SURVIVORS FROM SREBRENICA TESTIFIED AT TRIAL OF SERBIAN WAR CRIMINAL MILORAD TRBIC

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (January 30,2008) – Two genocide survivors from Srebrenica : Mevludin Oric and a protected witness have testified before the Bosnian State Court at the trial of Serbian war criminal Milorad Trbic yesterday.

They described what happened to the Bosnian civilians from Srebrenica after the genocidal Serbian aggressor had taken over the Bosnian town. Both witnesses survived the genocide that Serbian war criminal Milorad Trbic is charged with having participated in.

The Bosnian State Prosecutor considers that Serbian war criminal Milorad Trbic - who was a member of the genocidal Serbian aggressor's formations participated in the organisation of transport and detention of thousends of Bosnian civilians from Srebrenica, who were transported by buses and trucks to Bratunac, where they were detained and mass murdered by the genocidal Serbian aggressor at several locations.

Mevludin Oric said that he was in Srebrenica when the shelling commenced on July 11, 1995. According to this witness, the town was overcrowded with local residents and refugees from the surrounding villages.

"People ran away to the villages that could not be hit by shells. I had a feeling that Srebrenica was going to fall, but I hoped that Europe would not just watch them kill us. However, in the morning on July 11 we were informed that the UNPROFOR forces had tried to escape from their checkpoint located in a village near Srebrenica. Women and children tried to stop them by lying on the road and preventing them from passing by," Oric told the Bosnian State Court.

The witness said that he learnt about the fall of Srebrenica in the evening that same day. He headed towards a nearby village of Susnjari, to which a large number of Bosnian civilians had already arrived.

"Men decided to move towards Tuzla through the forest. Women and children headed to the UNPROFOR base in Potocari, hoping to be rescued by the UNPROFOR. About 14,000 people headed towards Susnjari," Oric said, recalling his escape from Srebrenica.

He also said that the genocidal Serbian aggressor shot at the convoy of men, "killing many of them", including his father whose remains have still not been found. The convoy broke up and Oric moved on.

On July 13, 1995, the genocidal Serbian aggressor arrested him and detained him "in a warehouse in Konjevic Polje". He was then transported, together with other Bosnian civilians, to Bratunac. They spent the night in the buses parked in front of an elementary school in Bratunac.

"We could hear creepy voices and shooting coming from the school building. From time to time they would come to the buses and take our men out. They also killed one mentally handicapped man," Oric said, adding that the genocidal aggressor's soldiers told the prisoners, on July 14, that they were taking them to Kladanj for an exchange.

An UNPROFOR military transporter, "driven by VRS members", led the column of buses. Oric said that, instead of being taken to Kladanj, the prisoners were taken to a gym in "some school", together with about 2,500 people. Some time later, former commander of the genocidal paramilitary formations of the Serbians living in Bosnia (VRS) Ratko Mladic visited them.

"In the afternoon they blindfolded us and took us out. They transported us, by small trucks, to some location where a mass grave had already been dug. After lining us up, they started shooting. I survived the shooting because my nephew's body protected me. He fell over me," Oric ended his testimony.

The indictment alleges that Serbian war criminal Milorad Trbic committed, "together with other members of the genocidal Serbian aggressor's formations, the execution of more than 7,000 Bosnian civilians".

On July 11,a protected witness and her brother went to Potocari, "hoping to be protected by UNPROFOR". She said she was separated from her brother in the former UN base. His body was recently discovered in one of the mass graves in the Srebrenica area.

The trial of Serbian war criminal Milorad Trbic is due to continue before the Bosnian State Court on February 4.