Serbia shocked by video showing Srebrenica shootings

The Guardian ^ | June 3, 2005 | Agencies in Belgrade

[Hoplite]

Agencies in Belgrade
Friday June 3, 2005
The Guardian

They are the images that have finally, 10 years later, shocked a nation. A man, several men, are unloaded from a truck, marched to a wooded hillside and shot, one by one, in the back. Two prisoners are ordered to carry the bodies to a barn. They too are then executed. The murder of thousands of Bosnian Muslims from Srebrenica in the summer of 1995 is well documented. But a video that emerged this week during the trial of the former Serbian president, Slobodan Milosevic, has provoked a bout of soul-searching in Serbia, parts of which are still in denial over the horrors of the Bosnian war.

The footage was the first such graphic material from the massacre in Srebrenica to be shown in the country, where more than half of the population refuses to believe it even took place, according to a poll last month. "Serbia is deeply shocked," President Boris Tadic said. "Those images are proof of a monstrous crime committed against persons of a different religion. And the guilty had walked as free men until now."

Eight alleged former members of a Serb paramilitary group, the Scorpions, filmed actually carrying out the murders, have been arrested on the strength of the footage, officials said yesterday.

The faces of the perpetrators can be seen and their insults to the Muslims heard. The film was shot by a member of the Scorpions.

"The killers had walked freely among us, on our streets, behaving as if they were ordinary, honorable citizens," Mr Tadic said. "All those who committed war crimes must be held accountable; only in this way will we be able to have a future. We must not close our eyes to the cruelty that took place."

He added that the crimes at Srebrenica "were carried out in the name of our nation".

"But crimes are always individual and the perpetrators of these monstrous crimes must be punished."

Srebrenica was overrun by Bosnian Serb forces in July 1995, with UN peacekeepers powerless to stop their advance. Some 8,000 Bosnian men and boys were led away to their deaths, survivors telling of how they were lined up and shot in several batches, then buried in mass graves.

The prime minister, Vojislav Kostunica, called the executions a "disgraceful".

UN prosecutors say the killings in the video footage took place on Mount Treskavica near the wartime Bosnian Serb capital, Pale, which is south-west of Srebrenica. The Scorpions were allegedly under orders from Serbian police in Belgrade and the link could directly tie Mr Milosevic with the crimes committed in Bosnia.

[endthematrix]

Chilling Video Footage Shown of Purported Execution of Srebrenica Muslims By 'Scorpions' Paramilitary Unit - Allegedly Under Serbian MUP Command (CIJ link)

http://cij.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewReport&reportID=685&tribunalID=1

[Hunble]

Scorpions arrested after video showing | 13:52 June 02 | B92, RFERL

BELGRADE -- Thursday – According to unofficial information received by B92, two members of the Scorpion paramilitary unit, Aleksandar Medic and Pera Petrasevic, have been taken into custody.

The Serbian government has stated that a number of individuals were arrested after the showing of the video in which the Scorpion unit executes a group of Muslims in Srebrenica, but the government never stated who the individuals were.

In talks with The Hague’s Chief Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte today, Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said that the Serbian government reacted yesterday, as soon as the footage was shown at Slobodan Milosevic’s Hague war crimes trial.

Del Ponte said that she is pleased with the quick reaction of the Serbian government and called it a “brilliant operation.” She has thanked the government in Belgrade for the swift move and has asked the Serbian government to react in the same way in arresting and extraditing all other Hague fugitives.

Aleksandar Medic is the brother of Slobodan Medic, who was commander of the Scorpion unit, and the third Medic brother, Dragan, has been mentioned in participating in the Podujeva massacre in Kosovo.

[Hunble]

Once again, where is the video? Sorry, I have learned not to trust what is reported by the MSM.

However, since this was also reported from Belgrade, I tend to believe that it may be factual.

[Wiz]

This civil war was not a conflict with one side a good side and one side a bad side, just like Nazis at war with Stalin's communists which were both not favored for a victory by the US. Bosnia's Muslims may have murdered Serbians as well as Serbians murdering Bosnia's Muslims.

[endthematrix]

"Once again, where is the video?"

Ask a few more times, but since it was just used as evidence in court and appears to have not been released, you'll just have to be patient.

[FierceKulak]

Didn't Tito go after the people who sided with the Nazis aggresively? If he didn't that would really surprise me, even western countries like Holland and France really went after collaborators.

[Iwentsouth]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4602949.stm


Video is there.

[Hunble]

VIDEO LOCATED!

http://www.ogrish.com/archives/2005/june/ogrish-dot-com-srebrenica_execution_video.wmv

View with extreme caution and the understanding that it is a video of an execution.

Hope you understand why I desire factual information, since the MSM has lost all credibility.

[joemo]

Now this should be easy to verify. At this location, 8,000 bodies should be in a mass grave. It should be trivial to exhume the bodies and validate what this article reported. What were the autopsy reports for these exhumed bodies? If so, can we read these autopsy reports?

can there still be doubt that these killings occurred? there is video of men being seperated from the women after they were taken from the UN 'safe haven'. those men were not seen again. there are villages that have no men, only women. only widows. thousands of bodies in multiple graves have been exhumed at various times. try google.

4,392 bodies exhumed in Kosovo

It is one of three mass graves containing more than 800 victims that were uncovered in Serbia in 2001. ... the killings, which are thought to have taken place in Kosovo before the bodies were trucked to locations around Serbia.

Bosnia mass grave yields 182 bodies, more expected

More Srebrenica victims found in Bosnia mass grave

The Unfolding Shame of Radovan Karadzic:More Mass Graves Found in Srebrenica-Bratunac Area June 2004

6 May 2003: The guilty plea and statement of Momir Nikolic, former Chief of Intelligence and Security of the Bratunac Brigade, for his participation in the Srebrenica executions in July 1995.

[endthematrix]

I guess the video has aired on Radio TV Serbia (RTS)

[Hunble]

My questions have been answered. Thanks for providing the information and understanding why I require facts.

[fso301]

Video is there.

I didn't see anyone being shot.

[Hunble]

Try my link:

http://www.ogrish.com/archives/2005/june/ogrish-dot-com-srebrenica_execution_video.wmv

Question: Why were all of the men being executed wearing the same blue shirts? Was this some type form of uniform?

[Hoplite]

If you're looking to verify the existence of mass graves (primary, secondary, or tertiary), then the transcripts from the trial of Radislav Krstic are what you're looking for - various experts in the forensic field testified as to their work relating to the Srebrenica investigation.

Furthermore, the Bosnian Serbs have been belatedly coughing up documents related to Srebrenica, and the first mass grave located as a result of their cooperation was exhumed in June of 2004.

You know how some folks still deny the holocaust? Yeah, Srebrenica is like that - while most of us wouldn't give folks from the IHR the time of day, few of us are adequately equipped to counter their specious arguments, and so it is with Serb revisionists and Milosevic's wars.

[endthematrix]

I understand completely.

[montag813]

And why was Milosevic more of a threat to our natl. security than Sadam?

He was no threat at all. But someone had to be picked to make Bill Clinton look tough. Now we have an Al Queda vassal state in the form of Kosovo. Hooray!

[Spiff]

Who were these Muslims that were executed by that one Serbian military unit? Were they captured terrorists?

[montag813]

But in Bosnia the Muslims committed more atrocities than the Serbs, and in Kosovo the Albanian terrorists committed, and continue to commit, more atrocities than the Serbs. I still think it's clear that we fought this war on the wrong side.

Don't waste your time. These Bosnia-Bots don't want to hear the facts.

[Destro]

Not our idea of justice but maybe the jihadis had it coming?

Perhaps in response to a plea to wait, a voice could be heard telling the bound men that "when you were killing Serbs you didn't wait."