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Naser Oric
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Naser Oric, (born March 3, 1967), is a former Bosnian military officer who commanded the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina forces in the Srebrenica enclave in Eastern Bosnia surrounded by Serb forces, during the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In 2006 he was sentenced to two years' imprisonment by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in the Netherlands for failing to prevent the deaths of five and the mistreatment of eleven Bosnian Serb detainees during the period from late 1992 to early 1993 on the basis of superior criminal responsibility.
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Naser Oric, (born March 3, 1967), is a former Bosnian military officer who commanded the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina forces in the Srebrenica enclave in Eastern Bosnia surrounded by Serb forces, during the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In 2006 he was sentenced to two years' imprisonment by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in the Netherlands for failing to prevent the deaths of five and the mistreatment of eleven Bosnian Serb detainees during the period from late 1992 to early 1993 on the basis of superior criminal responsibility. He was acquitted on the other charges of wanton destruction and causing damage to civilian infrastructure beyond the realm of military necessity. For the attacks and destruction in the villages of Kravica, Siljkovici, Bjelovac, Fakovici and Sikiric, the judgment states that the prosecution failed to present convincing evidence that the Bosnian forces were responsible for them, because the Serb forces used artillery in the fighting in those villages. In the case of the village of Bjelovac, Serbs even used the warplanes. On July 3, 2008, Naser Oric was cleared of all the charges brought against him by the ICTY.
Career
Following secondary school Oric reported for conscription in the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) in 1985/1986, where he served in a special unit for atomic and chemical defence. He left the JNA with the rank of Corporal.
In 1988, he completed a six month training course in Zemun and served in Savski Venac in Belgrade as a trainee policeman. As a member of the police unit for special actions, he had courses for two more years. In 1990, Naser Oric was deployed to Kosovo as a member of a Special Police unit of the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Serbia. Thereafter, he returned to Belgrade, where he became a bodyguard to Slobodan Miloševic. He worked in quelling the civil unrest during the March 1991 mass anti-war protests, arresting Vuk Draškovic.
In August 1991, Oric was transferred to a police station in Ilidža, on the outskirts of Sarajevo, Bosnia. In late 1991, Oric was moved to the police station in Srebrenica, and in April 1992 he became the police chief of the Potocari police sub-station.
Territorial Defence (April 1992 - September 1992)
With the disintegration of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, a cadre staff consisting of former JNA officers began to prepare for the defence of Bosnia and Herzegovina. On 8 April 1992, the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina transformed the existing Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina TO (Territorial Defence) into the TO of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
In mid-April 1992, the Potocari TO was established, and Oric became its Commander. In May 1992, members of the Crisis Staff of the TO Srebrenica appointed him as the Commander, which Sefer Halilovic, Chief of the Supreme Command Staff of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina (ABiH), officially confirmed in June. Oric also became a member of the War Presidency in Srebrenica upon its creation on 1 July.
Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina (September 1992 - 1995)
In September, 1992, the Srebrenica TO HQ was re-named the HQ Srebrenica Armed Forces. Oric remained the commander. Oric's command was further extended when he was appointed the Commander of the Joint Armed Forces of the Sub-Region Srebrenica in early November 1992. Now his command encompassed the geographical regions of several municipalities: Srebrenica, Bratunac, Vlasenica and Zvornik in Eastern Bosnia. Oric received a Certificate of Merit in April 1993.
On New Year's Day 1994, all units under the command of Oric were named the 8th Operative Group Srebrenica HQ, 2nd (Tuzla) Corps of the ABiH. On 12 July 1994, Oric was promoted to the rank of Brigadier, and sometime before the first of March he was awarded the "Golden Lily", the highest award given by the Chief of Staff of the Supreme Command of the ABiH.
In early 1995, the 8th Operative Group Srebrenica HQ was re-named the ABiH 2nd Corps 28th Mountain Division.
Oric in Srebrenica 1992-1995
Beginning of the war in Srebrenica
The Serbian takeover of the municipalities of Bratunac and Srebrenica signalled the beginning of large-scale ethnic cleansing. Following the Serb takeover of Srebrenica town on 10 April 1992, most of the Bosniak population fled to the surrounding area. Some of these who stayed were killed, while many others were arrested and deported. In the words of the ICTY judgement:
- "Once towns and villages were securely in their hands, the Serb forces - the military, the police, the paramilitaries and, sometimes, even Serb villagers - applied the same pattern: Muslim houses and apartments were systematically ransacked or burnt down, Muslim villagers were rounded up or captured, and sometimes beaten or killed in the process. Men and women were separated, with many of the men detained in the former KP Dom prison."
Meanwhile, in a number of villages around Srebrenica the Bosniak population began to organize local resistance groups. Oric was one of the leaders.
At the start, Oric found few supporters and his small group of militiamen only had hunting rifles and automatic rifles from the police armory in Srebrenica. Oric's first major attack on the Serbs took place on 20 April 1992 in Potocari, when his forces successfully ambushed a number of vehicles of the Arkan's Serb Volunteer Guard paramilitary group ("Tigers") and local Serbian police. Right after, the JNA started artillery assaults on Oric's stronghold of Potocari industrial area and surrounding villages.
By early May 1992 the Bosniak forces began to assault the Serbs in and around Srebrenica. On 6 May, Bosniak forces under Naser Oric carried out their first attack on a Serb village, Gniona, to the north of the town of Srebrenica. A leader of the Serb Democratic Party in Srebrenica, Goran Zekic, was killed in an ambush on 8 May. Soon thereafter Serbs began to flee Srebrenica or were driven out by Bosniak forces. Bosniak forces under Oric and other Bosniak commanders took control of Srebrenica on 9 May.
In the following days, Bosniaks who had been hiding in the woods emerged and gradually returned to their houses in Srebrenica. The Bosniak forces held the town for about three years after this, while almost all of the Serb inhabitants fled to Bratunac or elsewhere. The Bosnian Serb forces answered to these developments by killing Bosniaks in the village of Glogova on May 9 and in Bratunac on May 10 through May 13. Serb forces surrounded Srebrenica and started to bomb the town.
General Philippe Morillon of France, Commander of the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR), visited Srebrenica in March 1993. By then the town was overcrowded and siege conditions prevailed. There was almost no running water as the advancing Serb forces had destroyed the town’s water supplies; people relied on makeshift generators for electricity, and food, medicine and other essentials were extremely scarce. Before leaving, General Morillon told the panicked residents of Srebrenica at a public gathering that the town was under the protection of the UN and that he would never abandon them.
The Bosniak offensive
After the Serb forces had been driven out of Srebrenica, Naser Oric and the Bosniak forces began to enlarge the area under their control. Oric's attacks on villages around Srebrenica during the latter half of 1992 and the winter of 1993 were the reason for his subsequent indictment by the ICTY for war crimes. The attacks mentioned in the ICTY indictment of Oric are listed below:
- 15-20 May the villages of Viogor, Orahovica and Osredak were attacked. The main objective of these attacks was to link up various Bosniak resistance centres around Srebrenica.
- June 21 and June 27 the village of Ratkovici, and the surrounding villages of Bradjevina, Ducici, and Gornji Ratkovici were attacked by Oric's forces.
- August 8, the villages of Jezestica and Bozici were attacked by forces under the command of Naser Oric.
- 24 September, attacked the village of Podravanje which was on the road between Srebrenica and Žepa.
- 26 September, Oric's forces attacked the villages of Nedeljista and Rogosija near Milici.
- 5 October, Oric attacked Fakovici and other villages along the river Drina. According to a Dutch government report (NIOD report), Oric's forces killed at least 24 Serbs and burned down 120 houses. The attackers also shot at Serbs at the other (i.e. Serbian) side of the Drina. Serb civilians fled on small boats to the other side of the river, in Serbia.
- November 6, Bosniak forces, led by Oric, attacked and captured the village of Kamenica.
- December 14 and 19, Bosniak forces and irregulars under the command of Oric attacked the villages of Bjelovac, Voljavica, Loznica, and Sikiric and expelled the Serb population.
- 7 January 1993 (Orthodox Christmas Day), Bosniak forces under Naser Oric captured the Serb village of Kravica and two nearby villages, Siljkovici and Jezestica. An estimated 25 VRS troops and 11 civilians were killed in the attack.
- 16 January 1993, Oric attacked the village of Skelani, on the border with Serbia. According to a Dutch government investigation, Oric's forces killed an estimated 48 Serbs. However, the attack failed and this marked the beginning of the end of Oric's successes.
However, just a few of the above attacks mentioned in the ICTY indictment were confirmed by the ICTY Trial Chambers to be factual. For instance, for the attacks and destruction in the villages of Kravica, Siljkovici, Bjelovac, Fakovici and Sikiric, the judgment states that the prosecution failed to present convincing evidence that the Bosnian forces were responsible for them, because the Serb forces used artillery in the fighting in those villages. In the case of the village of Bjelovac, Serbs even used the warplanes.
By January, Oric’s forces were in control of all villages on the left side of the Drina, from Voljavica to Zlijebac, and directly threatened Bratunac; they also seized a considerable supply of arms and ammunition, including few tanks and other pieces of heavy weapons, and food.
Controversy regarding number of Serb casualties
It is agreed by all sides that Serbs suffered a number of casualties during military forays led by Naser Oric. The controversy over the nature and number of the casualties came to a head in 2005, the 10th anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide. According to Human Rights Watch, the ultra-nationalist Serbian Radical Party "launched an aggressive campaign to prove that Muslims had committed crimes against thousands of Serbs in the area" which "was intended to diminish the significance of the July 1995 crime." A press briefing by the ICTY Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) dated 6 July 2005 noted that the number of Serb deaths in the region alleged by the Serbian authorities had increased from 1,400 to 3,500, a figure the OTP stated "[does] not reflect the reality." The briefing cited previous accounts:
- The Republika Srpska's Commission for War Crimes gave the number of Serb victims in the municipalities of Bratunac, Srebrenica and Skelani as 995; 520 in Bratunac and 475 in Srebrenica.
- The Chronicle of Our Graves by Milivoje Ivanisevic, president of the Belgrade Center for Investigating Crimes Committed against the Serbs, estimates the number of people killed at around 1,200.
- For the Honorable Cross and Golden Freedom, a book published by the RS Ministry of Interior, referred to 641 Serb victims in the Bratunac-Srebrenica-Skelani region.
The accuracy of these numbers is challenged: the OTP noted that although Ivanisevic's book estimated that around 1200 Serbs were killed, personal details were only available for 624 victims. The validity of labeling some of the casualties as "victims" is also contested: studies have found a significant majority of military casualties compared to civilian casualties. This is in line with the nature of the conflict—Serb casualties died in raids by Bosniak forces on outlying villages used as military outposts for attacks on Srebrenica (many of which had been ethnically cleansed of their Bosniak majority population in 1992). For example the village of Kravica was attacked by Bosniak forces on Orthodox Christmas Day, 7 January 1993. Some Serb sources such as Ivanisevic allege that the village's 353 inhabitants were "virtually completely destroyed". In fact, the VRS' own internal records state that 46 Serbs died in the Kravica attack: 35 soldiers and 11 civilians. while the ICTY Prosecutor's Office's investigation of casualties on 7 and 8 January in Kravica and the surrounding villages found that 43 people were killed, of whom 13 were obviously civilians. Nevertheless the event continues to be cited by Serb sources as the key example of heinous crimes committed by Bosniak forces around Srebrenica. As for the destruction and casualties in the villages of Kravica, Siljkovici, Bjelovac, Fakovici and Sikiric, the judgment states that the prosecution failed to present convincing evidence that the Bosnian forces were responsible for them, because the Serb forces used artillery in the fighting in those villages. In the case of the village of Bjelovac, Serbs even used the warplanes.
The most up-to-date analysis of Serb casualties in the region comes from the Sarajevo-based Research and Documentation Center, a non-partisan institution with a multiethnic staff, whose data have been collected, processed, checked, compared and evaluated by international team of experts. The RDC's extensive review of casualty data found that Serb casualties in the Bratunac municipality amounted to 119 civilians and 424 soldiers. It also established that although the 383 Serb victims buried in the Bratunac military cemetery are presented as casualties of ARBiH units from Srebrenica, 139 (more than one third of the total) had fought and died elsewhere in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Serb sources maintain that casualties and losses during the period prior to the creation of the safe area gave rise to Serb demands for revenge against the Bosniaks based in Srebrenica. The ARBiH raids are presented as a key motivating factor for the July 1995 genocide. This view is echoed by international sources including the 2002 report commissioned by the Dutch government on events leading to the fall of Srebrenica (the NIOD report). However these sources also cite misleading figures for the number of Serb casualties in the region. The NIOD report, for instance, repeats the erroneous claim that the raid on Kravica resulted in the total annihilation of its population. Many consider these efforts to explain the motivation behind the Srebrenica massacre are merely revisionist attempts to justify the genocide. To quote the report to the UN Secretary-General on the Fall of Srebrenica:
Even though this accusation is often repeated by international sources, there is no credible evidence to support it… The Serbs repeatedly exaggerated the extent of the raids out of Srebrenica as a pretext for the prosecution of a central war aim: to create a geographically contiguous and ethnically pure territory along the Drina, while freeing their troops to fight in other parts of the country. The extent to which this pretext was accepted at face value by international actors and observers reflected the prism of 'moral equivalency' through which the conflict in Bosnia was viewed by too many for too long.
UN Safe Area
On February 9, 1993 the Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic launched a full-scale offensive against Srebrenica. On April 17, 1993, Srebrenica was made a safe haven by the United Nations, while fighting between Serb forces and the forces of Oric in Srebrenica continued with the Serbs retaking much of the territory lost during 1992.
In the July 1995, the partially disarmed "UN safe area" was ultimately overrun by the Bosnian Serb Army, resulting in the Srebrenica Massacre. However, Oric, along with rest of the command staff of 8th OG, had been evacuated by helicopter in May 1995 two months prior to the fall of the enclave. Oric maintains that he was ordered to leave while the Bosnian government claims that he left on his own accord.
ICTY war crimes trial
After the Dayton Peace Accords, Oric opened a fitness club in Tuzla. In a post-war TV interview, he stated "It's a fact that I was one of the main commanders in Srebrenica and, if I have to answer to someone, I'll answer; but I'd first have to bring up the time, space and situation in which we lived, as well as what the Serbs did to us compared to what we did to them. If Naser has to answer to someone, I'm right here and I'm not running away from responsibility, I'm not running away from the court, I'm not running away from the Hague or anyone. You just have to call on me and no problem."
An indictment at the ICTY against Oric was submitted on March 17, 2003 and confirmed on March 28. He was indicted on two counts of individual responsibility and four counts of command responsibility for violations of the laws or customs of war, and was arrested without further incident at his club by SFOR on April 10, 2003 and transferred to the Hague the next day.
Oric appeared before the court on April 15 and pleaded "not guilty" to all the counts of the indictment. He was denied a provisional release on July 25, 2003 and was held at the ICTY from April 11, 2003 until June 30, 2006.
The indictment
Oric was accused of failing to take necessary and reasonable measures to prevent the torture and cruel treatment of eleven and killing of seven Serb men being detained in the Srebrenica police station in 1992/1993, and to punish the perpetrators thereof.
He was also accused of having ordered (and led) numerous guerilla raids into as many as 50 Serb-populated villages in 1992-1993, particularly in the municipalities of Bratunac and Srebrenica. In the course of such combat activities, Bosnian Serb buildings, dwellings, and other property in predominantly Serb villages, were burnt and destroyed; as a result, thousands of Serb individuals fled the area.
The trial
The trial began on October 6, 2004 and the prosecution completed its case on June 1 2005. A week later the tribunal dropped two of the counts against him, withdrew all allegation of plundering public and private property; the tribunal also dropped two villages from the list of alleged raids. The defense case commenced on July 4, 2005 and ended on April 10, 2006. The prosecution asked for an 18 year prison term, while the defense asked for an acquittal. In all there were 182 trial days, 82 witnesses testifying (52 prosecution and 20 defense) and 1,649 exhibits presented as evidence. The decision in the case was delivered on June 30, 2006.
The verdict
The International Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) convicted Naser Oric for failing to prevent the murder and inhumane treatment of Serb prisoners. Oric, sentenced to two years in prison, was released immediately for time already served. He was acquitted of direct involvement in the murder or cruel treatment of Serbs, and of responsibility for the "wanton destruction" of homes and property.
The judges noted that militarily superior Serb forces encircled the town and that there was an unmanageable influx of refugees there, as well as a critical shortage of food and the breakdown of law and order. The judges also noted that it was in these circumstances that Oric, then aged 25, was elected commander of a poorly trained volunteer force that lacked effective links with government forces in Sarajevo. His authority was scorned by some other Bosnian leaders and his situation became worse as the Serb forces increased the momentum of their siege.
The judges stated in the verdict that Oric had reason to know about murder and cruel treatment of Serbs on two specific occasions in the Police station, but acquitted him of all other crimes. Oric was acquitted of direct involvement in the murder of prisoners in the early years of the 1992-95 Bosnia war. But the court found he had closed his eyes to their mistreatment and failed to punish their killers. The three judges acquitted him of all charges related to the wanton destruction of Serb villages. The judges also took into account the lack of food and supplies and resulting lack of order and law during the Serbian siege on Srebrenica.
As for the destruction in the villages of Kravica, Bjelovac, Fakovici and Sikiric, the judgment states that "the Accused and members of his group of fighters participated in the attack" but that "the evidence is unclear as to the number of houses that were wantonly destroyed by Bosnian Muslims, as opposed to other causes". In the case of the village of Siljkovici, the court states that "there is insufficient evidence to establish that property was destroyed on a large scale."Apparently, the prosecutor failed to call either John Pomfret of the Washington Post or Bill Schiller of the Toronto Star as witnesses. Both men interviewed Oric who showed them videos of destroyed Serb villages and boasted of it. One video showed Oric and his men singing in a burned out village to celebrate their victory. Schiller reports that, shortly before the Serb counterattack and after the arrival of UN troops, Oric had led new raids on Serb villages. The Washington Post article appeared on February 16, 1994 and the Toronto Star article was published on July 16, 1995. It is strange that Carla del Ponte was ignorant of these two articles.
The appeal
On 31 July 2006 UN chief prosecutor Carla del Ponte announced that she would appeal against the two-year sentence, saying it was too short. Oric's lawyer said she would also launch an appeal, saying her client did not commit any crime and should be acquitted. On 3 July, 2008 the court ruled on the appeal and acquitted him on all charges. Many Bosniaks regard him as a hero, and believe the decision to prosecute him was made to counter complaints by Serbs that the tribunal was biased against them.
Post-trial developments
Since Oric had already spent more than 2 years in detention, following his trial he was released. He arrived at Sarajevo International Airport on July 1, 2006 and was welcomed by a crowd of thousands of well wishers as well as family and friends. A limousine was commissioned to take him to his home in Tuzla.
On July 4, he gave an interview to the Sarajevo daily Dnevni Avaz in which he stated among other things that the atmosphere in the ICTY detention unit was jovial and that there was no hostility between the inmates who were former war time adversaries. Oric said that he was most friendly with Gen. Enver Hadžihasanovic, Lahi Brahimaj and Isak Musliu and he also reported having a friendly relationship with Ante Gotovina. Oric said that he passed the time by working out and learning the English language. He also stated that he believed that the behavior of an indictee in the detention unit and in the courtroom would reflect the severity of the prison term one would receive.
Oric also stated that he had many encounters with Serbs who were involved in the siege and massacre in Srebrenica. According to Oric, Miroslav Deronjic frankly discussed how Radovan Karadžic and others planned and carried out military activity and atrocities in Srebrenica. Oric also had encounters with Slobodan Miloševic who once jokingly told Oric that he would be grateful if Oric would write him a report about the war time situation in Srebrenica to which Oric responded by saying that he believed that Miloševic already had all that information, prompting Miloševic to say, "Yes but I would like to get your perspective on it." Oric did not sign the book of condolence after Miloševic died. According to Oric Vojislav Šešelj and Mladen Naletilic were the biggest jokers and Jadranko Prlic would refer to him as hero.
Racketeering
Naser Oric was arrested on 3 October 2008 by Bosnian police. He was charged in November 2008 with extorting 240,000 Bosnian Marka ($157,000) and illegal possession of weapons and ammunition.
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