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| |  | | Vidoje Blagojevic | | | context : | Former Yugoslavia  | | judgement place : | ICTY (Yugoslavia) | | status : | Sentenced | | particulars : | Sentenced to 18 years imprisonment by the Trial Chamber of the ICTY; sentence reduced on appeal to 15 years; transferred to Norway on 25 January 2008 | | position : | Commander of the Bratunac Brigade |
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| | | | Vidoje Blagojevic was born in the Bratunac municipality on 22 June 1950. On 25 May 1995, he was appointed Commander of the Bratunac Brigade. In July 1995, Vidoje Blagojevic held the rank of Colonel.
On or about 6 July 1995, forces of the Army of Republika Srpska (“VRS”) began an attack against the “safe area” of Srebrenica. Elements of the Bratunac Brigade were involved in the attack on Srebrenica. Colonel Blagojevic reportedly issued the order to begin combat activities on 5 July and tasked his subordinate commanders and units to carry out this order.
In the days following this attack, VRS forces forcibly transferred the Bosnian Muslim women and children of Srebrenica out of the enclave and captured, detained, summarily executed, and buried over 7,000 Bosnian Muslim boys and men from the Srebrenica enclave.
Tens of thousands of people mostly women, elderly people and people who were helpless fled Srebrenica for Potocari (where the UNPROFOR base stood). Despite attempts to find a safe route to Potocari, the refugees were soon shelled and shot at with machine guns by the VRS, including by the Bratunac Brigade’s 2nd Battalion.
After tens of thousands of Bosnian Muslim refugees arrived in Potocari, the VRS and MUP (special forces of the Serbian Ministry of Interior) walking among the Bosnian Muslim refugees, were separating all Bosnian Muslim men aged 16 to approximately 60 or 70 from their families. The separations were frequently aggressive. Elements of the Bratunac Brigade participated in the separations of Bosnian Muslim men from the Bosnian women, children and elderly.
They also contributed to the inhumane conditions to which the Bosnian Muslim civilians in Potocari were subjected. Members of the Bratunac Brigade generally did little to nothing to alleviate the suffering and extreme hardship of the Bosnian Muslims: they did not provide sufficient food, water or toilets. They had directed the refugees into the small industrial area at Potocari, which caused severe overcrowding. Rather, the members of the Bratunac Brigade present in Potocari provided “security,” which included keeping thousands upon thousands of hungry, exhausted, terrified people crammed on top of each other. Through this action and their general inaction, the members of the Bratunac Brigade contributed to the inhumane conditions.
Elements of the Bratunac Brigade participated in creating an atmosphere of fear and terror in Potocari.
They participated in the transfer of women, children and elderly from Potocari, as well as in the transfer of men.
Thousands of Bosnian Muslim men arrived in Bratunac town during 12 and 13 July and were detained there for between one and three days. They were put in temporary detention in facilities, such as in and around the Vuk Karadzic School, in the Bratunac town football stadium, as well as in buses parked along the streets in Bratunac town. Elements of the Bratunac Brigade contributed to the inhumane conditions under which the Bosnian Muslim men were detained. There was an overall failure to take the steps that they could have taken to at least alleviate the situation for the Bosnian Muslim men. Through the guarding of detention sites, members of the Bratunac Brigade Military Police contributed to the continuation of the detention of the Bosnian Muslim men in overcrowded buses and buildings, without food, water or medical treatment, as was needed in some cases.
From 12 until 19 July 1995, a wide-scale and organised killing operation was carried out by VRS and MUP forces. Thousands of Bosnian Muslim men from the Srebrenica enclave were executed and buried in different locations in the Srebrenica, Bratunac and Zvornik municipalities.
Elements of the Bratunac Brigade participated in the burial of the victims of the Kravica Warehouse massacre on 14 July at Glogova. They also participated in the transport of Bosnian Muslim me to the Grbavci school in Orahovac (using an APC marked “UN” they served as an escort for a convoy of approximately 30 buses). Grbavci school was used as a temporary detention centre for the men who were subsequently executed in a nearby field. There is no evidence to support a finding that members of the Bratunac Brigade participated in the executions at Orahovac.
In April 1996, investigators of the Office of the Prosecutor commenced forensic examinations of suspected execution points and exhumation of mass graves. It became apparent that mass graves around Srebrenica were disturbed and that bodies were exhumed from those graves. The Trial Chamber is of the opinion that the opening of the mass graves and the reburial of the victims in other locations was an attempt to conceal the evidence of the mass killings. The reburial operation was carried out on the ground by the Bratunac and Zvornik Brigades. There is evidence that the reburials being were discussed at a working meeting of Colonel Blagojevic with the command staff and battalion commanders, held on 16 October 1995.
When he was arrested in August 2001, Vidoje Blagojevic was working with the VRS General Staff as Head of the Engineering Section in Banja Luka. | |     click for more... | | Trial Watch would like to remind its users that any person charged by national or international authorities is presumed innocent until proven guilty. | |  |  | | nationality : | | | Bosnia and herzegovina | | | date of birth : | | | 22.06.1950 | | | last time seen : | | | Norway | | | period of charges : | | | 01.07.1995 - 31.07.1995 | | | judgement period : | | | 16.08.2001 - 09.05.2007 | | | charges : | | | Crimes against humanity
Genocide
War crimes | | | profile last modified : | | | 08.03.2010 |
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