(14 May 2003) STORY
Survivors of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre in Bosnia are hoping for a guilty verdict and severe sentences in a war crimes trial that began at the Hague Tribunal on Wednesday.The trail is of three high ranking Bosnian Serb officers who led troops accused of murdering more than 6000 Bosnian Muslims captured in Srebrenica in July 1995. Vidoje Blagojevic, commander of Bratunac light infantry brigade along with his subordinates Dragan Obrenovic and Dragan Jokic are charged with genocide, crimes against humanity, violations of law and the customs of war during operations in Eastern Bosnia. The Serb army overran Muslim enclaves including Srebrenica, forcing civilians to flee to a UN compound in nearby village of Potocari. According to the Hague indictment, Blagojevic's brigade was also in charge of mass killings of Muslim men that tried to escape Srebrenica through the woods. At the time the International Red Cross reported that thousands of men were executed in the hills around Srebrenica. Only a few dozen managed to reach the Muslim territory alive. One survivor Velid Dedic, 37, from Srebrenica lost 60 members of his family during the Serb attack on Srebrenica. Now, Velid and his father often visit the memorial at the site in Potocari, where most of the killings occurred. Four weeks ago, 600 identified bodies of Srebrenica victims were buried there. The DNA profiles of the rest of some 5000 bodies found in mass graves around Srebrenica are still being put together in Tuzla. Once the process it complete the victims will be laid to rest. Families of the victims are angry with the Hague war crimes tribunal at what they call a symbolic punishment for the organisers and perpetrators of the atrocities in Srebrenica.
So far, the most wanted for alleged war crimes, former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and military commander Ratko Mladic have not been apprehended. Some 10,000 Srebrenica Muslims still wait and hope for their arrest.
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