Genocide trial witness Huso Salihovic claims Srebrenica's defence against the Serbs could have lasted longer, allowing a corridor for the safe passage of the victims.
Huso Salihovic, defence witness at the trial of Mendeljev Djuric, one among four men charged with genocide in Srebrenica, told the court on Thursday that the town could have been defended for a longer spell of time.
"In the meantime, an appeal could have been made to Sarajevo and the international community to open a corridor," Salihovic said.
Salihovic, who was a commander in the army of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Srebrenica and is himself charged of committing war crimes in Bijeljina, authored a chapter in the book Srebrenica – Why Genocide Happened To Us in which he described how the town could have been defended.
Mendeljev Djuric, Dusko Jevic, Goran Markovic and Nedjo Ikonic, are charged with participating in the murder of around 1,000 Bosniak men in Kravica on July 13 and 14, 1995, as well as in the forced expulsion of people from the territory of Srebrenica.
In July 1995, Serbian troops forcibly expelled more than 30,000 women and children from Srebrenica, while around 7,000 men and boys were killed.
According to the indictment, Jevic was a commander of the Special Police Brigade of the Republic of Srpska at the Jahorina Training Centre, Djuric and Ikonic were company commanders, while Marković was a platoon commander.
The trial is set to resume on Monday, February 6.
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Timeline of events in the case against 13 former Serb fighters charged with committing war crimes in the villages of Cuska, Zahac, Ljubenic and Pavlac in Kosovo in 1999.