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| |  | | Drago Nikolic | | | context : | Former Yugoslavia  | | judgement place : | ICTY (Yugoslavia) | | status : | On trial | | particulars : | Transferred to ICTY on 17 March 2005; his trial began on 14 July 2006; motion for acquittal dismissed in March 2008 | | position : | Chief of Security of the Zvornik Brigade |
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| | | | Drago Nikolic was born on 9 November 1957 in the village of Brana Bacic in the municipality of Bratunac (Bosnia-Herzégovina). He began his service with the Yugoslav National Army (JNA) on 15 July 1976, and was officially appointed to the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS) on 6 April 1992. On 27 March 1993, Drago Nikolic was appointed as Chief of Security for the VRS First Light Infantry Brigade in Zvornik (Zvornik Brigade).
According to the indictment, during the VRS attack on the Srebrenica enclave and the subsequent killings and executions of Bosnian Muslim men, Drago Nikolic was present and on duty in the Zvornik Brigade zone of responsibility.
As Chief of Security for the Zvornik Brigade and by the authority vested in him by his Commander, Vinko Pandurevic, and his Deputy Commander Dragan Obrenovic (see “related cases”), Drago Nikolic was responsible for multiple tasks, among which was managing the Military Police Company of the Zvornik Brigade, co-ordinating with the bodies of the Ministry of the Interior (MUP) in the Brigade zone of responsibility and the responsibility for dealing with captured Bosnian Muslim prisoners from Srebrenica from 11 July 1995 until at least 1 November 1995.
The indictment against Drago Nikolic referred to his alleged involvement in: opportunistic killings in Potocari, opportunistic killings in Bratunac, wide-scale and organised killings in Potocari and Tisca, killings and mistreatment of prisoners captured along the Bratunac/Milici road and wide-scale and organised killings in the Zvornik area, as well as other opportunistic killings.
According to the indictment, Drago Nikolic, together with other VRS and MUP officers and units, was a member of and knowingly participated in a Joint Criminal Enterprise, the common purpose of which was: to forcibly transfer the women and children from the Srebrenica enclave to Kladanj, on 12 July and 13 July 1995; and to capture, detain, summarily execute by firing squad, bury, and rebury thousands of Bosnian Muslim men and boys aged 16 to 60 from the Srebrenica enclave from 12 July 1995 until and about 19 July 1995.
The initial plan was to summarily execute more than 1’000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys, aged 16-60, who were separated from the group of Bosnian Muslims in Potocari on 12 and 13 July. On 12 July, this plan was broadened to include the summary execution of over 6’000 men and boys, aged 16 to 60, who were captured from the column of Bosnian Muslim men escaping the Srebrenica enclave on 12 July through about 19 July 1995. Most of these men and boys from the column were captured along the Bratunac/Milici road on 13 July 1995. While the Joint Criminal Enterprise contemplated organised and systematic executions, it was foreseeable to Drago Nikolic that opportunistic criminal acts, such as those described in this Indictment, would be carried out by VRS and MUP forces during and after the Joint Criminal Enterprise. VRS and MUP forces carried out such opportunistic criminal acts from 12 July 1995 to about 1 November 1995. The implementation of this Joint Criminal Enterprise resulted in the summary execution of over 7’000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys from the Srebrenica enclave.
The Joint Criminal Enterprise, of which Drago Nikolic was a member and a key participant, was conceived and designed by General Ratko Mladic (see “related cases”) and others on 11 and 12 July 1995, and administered and carried out by members of the VRS and MUP forces through the time period and by the means alleged in this Indictment.
In the several days following the attack on Srebrenica, the VRS forces captured, detained, summarily executed, and buried over 7,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys from the Srebrenica enclave, and forcibly transferred the Bosnian Muslim women and children out of the enclave. According to the Indictment, Drago Nikolic committed, planned, instigated, ordered and otherwise aided and abetted in the planning, preparation and execution of the charged crimes.
Drago Nikolic voluntarily surrendered and was transferred to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on 17 March 2005. | |     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 : | | | 09.11.1967 | | | last time seen : | | | The Hague (Netherlands) | | | period of charges : | | | 07.1995 - 07.1995 | | | judgement period : | | | 14.07.2006 | | | charges : | | | Crimes against humanity
Genocide
War crimes | | | profile last modified : | | | 14.12.2009 |
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