storm - Hrvatski memorijalno-dokumentacijski centar Domovinskog ...

PROSECUTOR UERTZ-RETZLAFF: What was his answer to this?
BABIĆ: He said, “In Kosovo.” I asked, “How many people can fi t into Kosovo? It’s
overpopulated, and there was ethnic tension.” He said, “100,000, and many can also go
to Republika Srpska” And I asked him whether we could go to Eastern Slavonia. He
said, “No, not for the time being.” Th en I asked him, “And where will the government
go, the government of Krajina?” And he said, “Let it stay in Belgrade. If necessary, for
negotiations. And you personally,” he said, “you can apply to Mirko Marjanović regarding
your own personal needs.”
PROSECUTOR UERTZ-RETZLAFF: Did the refugees from the RSK actually end up in
Kosovo or in Bosnia and Herzegovina, or where did they go?
BABIĆ: At fi rst, that same day, as soon as the refugees started coming from Krajina,
Ratko Mladić, the commander of the army of Republika Srpska, blocked the bridge
across the Vrbas, and he wouldn’t let refugees go any further. I went to see him.
PROSECUTOR UERTZ-RETZLAFF: We should go into private session for this
meeting.
[Private session]
PROSECUTOR UERTZ-RETZLAFF: You said you went to see Mr. Mladić. Where did
you meet him, and why did you want to see him?
BABIĆ: In Banja Luka, because Mladić had blocked the way and prevented people
from moving any further. And the refugees had formed two columns: One going
from Bosanski Novi and Prijedor towards Banja Luka, and another one from Bosanski
Petrovac, Mrkonjić Grad, via Manjača, towards Banja Luka. So there was a block, and
the situation was really diffi cult. Many had relatives in Vojvodina, in Belgrade, in other
places, and they couldn’t stay there on the road. And as far as I heard from the authorities
of Republika Srpska, they intended to put up the refugees at the camp at Manjača. And
I went to see Mladić to appeal to him to deblock the road, and I went to see him in a
building in Banja Luka. He said that he would lift the blockade but up to Derventa. He
said they should stay here in Republika Srpska. Th is is our land. And he did deblock the
passage across the Vrbas, but then he blocked the way at the crossings into Serbia on the
Drina and the Sava Rivers, where all adult males, able-bodied males were separated from
their families and made to stay in Republika Srpska and the rest of their families crossed
into the Republic of Serbia.
PROSECUTOR UERTZ-RETZLAFF: We can go into open session.
[Open session]
PROSECUTOR UERTZ-RETZLAFF: You said that able-bodied males were separated
from their families. For what reason? What were they supposed to do?
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