War Criminal Testifies for Bosnian Serb General at Srebrenica Trial

Vinko Pandurevic, wartime commander of the Bosnian Serb Army's Zvornik Brigade, told Belgrade Higher Court on Monday that Milenko Zivanovic, who commanded the Bosnian Serb Army's Drina Corps, did not run the Krivaja 95 operation in July 1995 which ended in the massacres of thousands of Bosniaks from Srebrenica.

Pandurevic, whose brigade was part of the Drina Corps, said that on July 11, when the massacres started, Zivanovic "formally still was commander but de facto he did not interfere in the execution of Krivaja 95" because he had been replaced by Radislav Krstic as head of the Drina Corps.

"On July 11 he showed up in Srebrenica [after the town fell to Bosnian Serb forces] with general [Ratko] Mladic and that was first time in July I saw him," he told the court.

The Hague Tribunal sentenced Pandurevic to 13 years in prison for assisting the Srebrenica genocide. He was released in 2015.

During his trial, he condemned the crimes committed against Bosniaks from Srebrenica and apologised to the victims and their families.

At Monday's hearing in Belgrade however, Pandurevic claimed that the Bosniaks were not forcibly expelled from Srebrenica but evacuated.

The prosecution alleges that Zivanovic commanded the Krivaja 95 offensive to seize Srebrenica in July 1995, which ended with the killings of more than 7,000 Bosniak men and boys and the expulsion of some 40,000 women, children and elderly people.

He is on trial for ordering and participating in the forcible relocation of the Bosniak civilian population from Srebrenica. He has also been charged by prosecutors in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Mirko Trivic, wartime commander of the 2nd Romanija Brigade of the Bosnian Serb Army, also testified on Monday and claimed that...