Trials for the war crimes committed in the 1995 Bosnian Massacre were recently reopened.
These trials are for the killing of around 7000 unarmed Muslim men after Srebrenica, a town in eastern Bosnia, was captured by Bosnian Serbs in July 1995. The victims were under the protection of the United Nations. Nearly all were shot and then buried in mass graves which have been reopened because of the trial.
The trial is based on five years of research including the exhumation of over 2000 bodies, analysis of military intelligence from several countries and eyewitness accounts of 56 people. The culmination of these different sources will hopefully provide an accurate depiction of what happened to the Muslims that were in one of six, United Nation sanctioned, "safe areas" in Bosnia.
On Nov. 6, a twelfth and highest ranked person to go on trial is Bosnian Serb general, Radislav Krstic. He is one of 34 men in custody by the United Nations war crimes tribunal.
Krstic has plead innocent to all charges, including genocide, crimes against humanity and breeches of the Geneva Conventions on the conduct of war. He has, however, not contested that the event occurred.
He claims that on July 11, 1995, the 15,000 man, Drina Corps of which he was in charge of during the invasion of Srebrencia, was not involved in that area of Bosnia past that date. Most of his troops had withdrawn by July 12 and were sent to take another United Nations "safe area" that was nearby. According to General Krstic, General Mladic, the Bosnian Serb army commander in-chief, had taken control of the area. Krstic claims, "General Mladic took over command of the units. He was in charge of all the operations in the area."
An issue of debate is when General Krstic was promoted to full commander of the Drina Corps and exactly what orders he issued. A majority of the killings occurred between July 11 and 17. According a signed order by Bosnain Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, General Krstic took control of the Drina Corps on July 13. General Krstic claims however, that he did not take control over the corps until July 20 or 21. McClosky also produced written orders from General Krstic that sent his men to areas where the death tolls were very heavy and a tape of General Krstic saying that they have managed to "hook more people, some with guns and some with mines."