Naser Orić

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Naser Orić
3 March 1967
Orić during war
Place of birth Potočari, Srebrenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Allegiance ARBiH
Years of service 1992 – 1995
Rank Brigadier
Unit 28th Division (2nd Corps)
Commands Commander in Srebrenica
Battles/wars Bosnian War

Naser Orić, (born March 3, 1967), is a former Bosniak 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 convicted of war crimes 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. [1] He was acquitted on the other charges of wanton destruction and causing damage to civilian infrastructure beyond the realm of military necessity.

Contents

[edit] Career

Following secondary school Orić 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 Orić 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 Milošević.

In August 1991, Orić was transferred to a police station in Ilidza, on the outskirts of Sarajevo, Bosnia. In late 1991, Orić was moved to the police station in Srebrenica, and in April 1992 he became the police chief of the Potocari police sub-station.

[edit] 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 Potočari TO was established, and Orić 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. Orić also became a member of the War Presidency in Srebrenica upon its creation on 1 July.

[edit] Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina (September 1992 - 1995)

In September, 1992, the Srebrenica TO HQ was re-named the HQ Srebrenica Armed Forces. Orić remained the commander. Orić'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. Orić received a Certificate of Merit in April 1993.

On New Year's Day 1994, all units under the command of Orić were named the 8th Operative Group Srebrenica HQ, 2nd (Tuzla) Corps of the ABiH. On 12 July 1994, Orić 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.

[edit] Orić in Srebrenica 1992-1995

Orić during the war in Bosnia
Orić during the war in Bosnia

[edit] 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.[2] Meanwhile, in a number of villages around Srebrenica the Bosniak population began to organize local resistance groups. Orić was one of the leaders.

At the start, Orić found few supporters and his small group of militiamen only had hunting rifles and automatic rifles from the police armory in Srebrenica. Orić'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 Orić's stronghold of Potocari industrial area and surrounding villages. [3]

By early May 1992 the Bosniak forces began to assault the Serbs in and around Srebrenica. On 6 May, Bosniak forces under Naser Orić 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 Orić and other Bosniak commanders took control of Srebrenica on 9 May.[4]

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.

[edit] The Bosniak offensive

After the Serbs had left or been driven out of Srebrenica, Orić and the Bosniak forces began to enlarge the area under their control. Orić's attacks on Serb 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.[19] The attacks mentioned in the ICTY indictment of Orić are listed below:

  • 15-20 May the villages of Viogor, Orahovica and Osredak were attacked. The main objective of these attacks was to create a link up various Bosniak resistance centres around Srebrenica.[20]
  • June 21 and June 27 the village of Ratkovici, and the surrounding villages of Bradjevina, Ducici, and Gornji Ratkovici were attacked by Orić's forces.[21]
  • August 8, the villages of Jezestica and Bozici were attacked by forces under the command of Naser Orić.[22]
  • 24 September, attacked the village of Podravanje which was on the road between Srebrenica and Žepa.
  • 26 September, Orić's forces attacked the villages of Nedeljista and Rogosija near Milici.
  • 5 October, Orić attacked Fakovici and other villages along the river Drina, killing at least 24 Serbs and burning 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.[23][24]
  • November 6, Bosniak forces, led by Orić, attacked and captured the village of Kamenica. [25]
  • December 14 and 19, Bosniak forces and irregulars under the command of Orić attacked the villages of Bjelovac, Voljavica, Loznica, and Sikiric and expelled the Serb population.[26]
  • 7 January 1993 (Orthodox Christmas Day), Bosniak forces under Naser Orić 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.[27][28][29]
  • 16 January 1993, Orić attacked the village of Skelani, on the border with Serbia, killing an estimated 48 Serbs in this battle. However, the attack failed and this marked the beginning of the end of Orić's successes.[30][31]

By January, Orić’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.

[edit] Controversy regarding number of Serb casualties

It is agreed by all sides that the attacks carried out by the Bosniak forces in Srebrenica 1992-1993 caused a number of Serb casualties, both military and civilian. However, the numbers are disputed with a range from about 500 to over 3,000 killed (though the 3,000 figure is generally seen as unreliable).

  • An investigation by the Sarajevo-based Research and Documentation Center into the number of Serb casualties in the Bratunac municipality, near Srebrenica, during the war found evidence that 119 civilians and 424 soldiers... died in Bratunac during the war.[5]
  • According to the Serb Republic's Commission for War Crimes the number of Serb civilian victims in the municipalities of Bratunac, Srebrenica and Skelani is 995, of which 520 in Bratunac and 475 in Srebrenica.[6]
  • In his book "The Chronicle of Our Graves", Milivoje Ivanisevic (the president of the Belgrade Centre for Investigating Crimes Committed against the Serbs) estimates the number of killed to around 1,200 people. Included in this total are a significant number of Bosnian Serb soldiers who died in fighting.[7][8]
  • In a book published by the RS Ministry of Interior ("For the Honourable Cross and Golden Freedom") the number Serb civilian victims for the Bratunac-Srebrenica-Skelani region is set at 641.[9]
  • According to the Belgrade Centre for Researching Crimes against Serbs, 3,227 Serb victims were killed or died as a result of torture in the area of the municipality of Srebrenica 1992-1995.[10]. However, in a press briefing, Florence Hartmann, spokesperson for the ICTY Office of the Prosecutor stated that this figure "just does not reflect the reality." [11]

It is generally accepted that the claim of 3,000-3,500 Serb civilians killed is an exaggeration made by some in an attempt to deflect from criticism over the Srebrenica massacre.[12] Carla del Ponte, ICTY Prosecutor, has stated that:

"It was pretended that 3000 Serbs were killed by Muslims in Srebrenica and the neighboring Bratunac. What was not said is that the alleged number of Serb casualties in these two municipalities, which is probably closer to 2,000, concerns the whole period of the war, 1992 to 1995, and that it concerns both combatants and non-combatants ."[13]

Similarly, Human Rights Watch has claims that the Serbian Radical Party has "launched an aggressive campaign to prove that Muslims had committed crimes against thousands of Serbs in the area" ; a campaign they observed "was intended to diminish the significance of the July 1995 crime." [14] In a July 6, 2005 press briefing, a spokesperson for the ICTY Office of the Prosecutor noted that the number of Serbs in the region that Serbian authorities claimed to have been killed increased from 1,400 to 3,500; a figure the ICTY stated "This figure may have been inflated." [15][16]

It has also been argued that Serb casualties and losses during the period prior to the creation of the safe area gave rise to demands for revenge against the Bosniaks based in Srebrenica.[17] [18] The 2002 report commissioned by the Dutch government concluded that:

The Muslim attacks during the first year of the war appear to have caused the most resentment among the Serbs, who felt deeply humiliated by Oric. It is primarily defeats in places such as Zalazje, Podravanje, Fakovici and Kravica that Serbs wanted to avenge. Probably, that thirst for vengeance was one of the main driving forces behind the massacres in July [1995]. [19]

On the other hand, not all the soldiers participating in the massacre were driven by revenge. Drazen Erdemovic, a soldier in the Bosnian Serb army who admitted to participating in the massacre, testified at the ICTY that if he had not participated, he himself would have been executed. [20]

[edit] UN Safe Area

On February 9, 1993 the Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic launched a full-scale offensive against Srebrenica. [32] On April 17, 1993, Srebrenica was made a safe haven by the United Nations, while fighting between Serb forces and the forces of Orić 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, Orić, 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. Orić maintains that he was ordered to leave while the Bosnian government claims that he left on his own accord.

[edit] ICTY war crimes trial

Orić on trial at the ICTY
Orić on trial at the ICTY

After the Dayton Peace Accords, Orić opened a fitness club in Tuzla.

An indictment at the ICTY against Orić 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.

Orić 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.

[edit] The indictment

Orić 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.[33]

[edit] 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. [34] 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.

[edit] The verdict

The tribunal convicted Orić on only a few of the charges in the indictment and sentenced him to imprisonment for 2 years. 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 Orić, 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.[35]

The judges stated in the verdict that Orić 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. Orić 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.[36]

As for the destruction in the villages of Kravica, Siljkovići, Bjelovac, Fakovići 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.[37]

Since Orić had been in the ICTY detention unit for 3 years, three months and 21 days, the court ordered that he be released as soon as possible.

[edit] 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. [38] [39] [40][21]

[edit] Other information

Orić 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. Orić said that he was most friendly with Gen. Enver Hadzihasanovic, Lahi Brahimaj and Isak Musliu and he also reported having a friendly relationship with Ante Gotovina. Orić 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.

Orić also stated that he had many encounters with Serbs who were involved in the siege and massacre in Srebrenica. According to Orić, Miroslav Deronjić frankly discussed how Radovan Karadzic and others planned and carried out military activity and atrocities in Srebrenica. Orić also had encounters with Slobodan Milosevic who once jokingly told Orić that he would be grateful if Orić would write him a report about the war time situation in Srebrenica to which Orić responded by saying that he believed that Milosevic already had all that information, prompting Milosevic to say, "Yes but I would like to get your perspective on it." Orić did not sign the book of condolence after Milosevic died. According to Orić Vojislav Seselj and Mladen Naletilic were the biggest jokers and Jadranko Prlic would refer to him as hero.[41]

[edit] References

  1. ^ ICTY. "Prosecutor vs Naser Orić , Judgment". United Nations. 30 June 2006. [1]
  2. ^ Netherlands Institute for War Documentation."Appendix IV, History and Reminders in East Bosnia". 2002.[2]
  3. ^ Netherlands Institute for War Documentation."Part II Dutchbat in the enclave". 2002. [3]
  4. ^ Secretary General. "Srebrenica Report". United Nations. 1998.[4]
  5. ^ RDC. "The Myth Of Bratunac: A Blatant Numbers Game". [5]
  6. ^ ICTY Weekly Press Briefing, July 2005 [6]
  7. ^ Oric's Two Years, Human Rights Watch [7]
  8. ^ ICTY Weekly Press Briefing, July 2005 [8]
  9. ^ ICTY Weekly Press Briefing, July 2005 [9]
  10. ^ Serbian researchers say more than 3,000 Serbs killed in wartime Srebrenica, Bosnian Serb news agency SRNA, 14 June 2005 [10]
  11. ^ ICTY Weekly Press Briefing, July 2005 [11]
  12. ^ Keynote Speech by Carla Del Ponte Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia Annual Conference of Political Affairs Division IV "Civilian Peace Building and Human Rights in South-East Europe" Bern, 1 September 2005 http://www.un.org/icty/pressreal/2005/p1001-e.htm
  13. ^ Keynote Speech by Carla Del Ponte, Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia Annual Conference of Political Affairs Division IV "Civilian Peace Building and Human Rights in South-East Europe" Bern, 1 September 2005 http://www.un.org/icty/pressreal/2005/p1001-e.htm
  14. ^ Oric's Two Years, Human Rights Watch [12]
  15. ^ ICTY Weekly Press Briefing, July 2005 [13]
  16. ^ ICTY Weekly Press Briefing, July 2005 [14]
  17. ^ ICTY Weekly Press Briefing, July 2005 [15]
  18. ^ Serbs accuse world of ignoring their suffering, AKI, 13 July 2006 [16]
  19. ^ Srebrenica, a safe haven (Appendix IV, History and Reminders in East Bosnia), NIOD, 2002 [17]
  20. ^ ICTY, Prosecutor vs Drazan Erdemovic, Appeals Chamber Judgement, 7 October 1997 [18].
  21. ^ http://www.sense-agency.com/en/stream.php?sta=3&pid=8295&kat=3

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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