Dražen Erdemović
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Dražen Erdemović (born November 25, 1971 in Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Yugoslavia) is an ethnic Croatian who fought during the Bosnian War for the Army of Republika Srpska.
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[edit] Background
He is known to have fought in the Croatian army in the Vukovar area before returning to Bosnia. He was caught taking bribes from refugees, attempting to escort them across the Bosnia and Herzegovina border into Albania and Greece (while it is quite unknown how he did it) for Deutsche marks. He was then sent to the VRS 10th Sabotage Detachment, a part of the Serb Army.
[edit] Srebrenica Massacre
- See also: Srebrenica Massacre
In July of 1995, Erdemović and his unit were sent to a military farm in the village of Pilica in the municipality of Zvornik. After the VRS took over Srebrenica on the July 11th the Serbs began to send Bosniak men and boys to various locations for execution. One of those places was the farm in Pilica. Erdemović and the 10th sabotage detachment were tasked by General Ratko Mladić to execute between 1,000 and 1,200 Bosniak men and boys, who were taken prisoner in Srebrenica. The Bosniak men were bussed to the farm and gunned down in groups of ten. Originally he resisted the order, but was then told that he either shot them, or hand his gun to another, and join those to be killed. After the murders were over the victims were buried in mass graves.
After the massacre, Dražen returned home to his wife and child, but felt guilt-ridden over the crimes he had committed. Fellow soldiers of the 10th Sabotage put pressure on him not to say anything, including one Serb soldier named Stanko Savanovic. One evening, while meeting in an undisclosed bar, Savanovic shot Erdemović, wounding him badly in the torso, but not fatally.
[edit] Trial
Still overridden with guilt, Erdemović sought out an ABC field reporter and testified on camera about what happened at Srebrenica. Several days later, Dražen was arrested and charged with crimes against humanity in the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), in The Hague. On 29 November 1996. This case was significant in the Tribunal as it was the first application of the defence of duress. Claiming that his life had been threatened and that he had no choice. It was found that it did not absolve him of guilt, but could be a mitigating factor for sentencing. He was sentenced to ten years in prison for genocide and for taking part in the mass killing.
He appealed and his sentence was later reduced by ICTY to five years. Upon serving his sentence in a Norwegian prison, Erdemović entered the Tribunal Court's witness protection program. He was the only member of the 10th Sabotage Detachment to actually be tried for the war crimes, while the rest remain on the Tribunal's most wanted list. While it is unknown how many Bosnians Erdemović personally killed during the massacre, he estimated it was around 70 men and boys. Erdemović has testified at the trial of Slobodan Milosevic.
