Bosnians Ethnically Divided over Naser Oric’s Acquittal

The war crimes acquittal of the Bosnian Army’s former commander in Srebrenica, Naser Oric, has angered Serbs but delighted some Bosniaks.

A group of Serb war victims protested outside the Bosnian state court in Sarajevo on Friday as the verdict clearing Naser Oric of involvement in killing three Serb prisoners was handed down, while Bosniaks also gathered to show support for the former Srebrenica commander.

The president of the Veteran’s Organisation of Republika Srpska, Milomir Savcic, said that Bosnia’s Serb-dominated entity should stop financing judicial institutions at the state level.

“This judgment is a proof that there is no court, judiciary or justice for Serbs in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and that all of that has become completely pointless,” Savcic said.

Republika Srpska’s Labour, War Veterans and Disabled Persons’ Protection Minister Milenko Savanovic said that by acquitting Oric, the state court showed that “victims are not respected in Bosnia and Herzegovina”.

Savanovic claimed that justice in the country is selective and judicial institutions “should be urgently reformed so as to make them answerable to someone”.

Oric and his Bosnian Army subordinate Sabahudin Muhic were cleared of killing three Serb prisoners of war in the Bratunac and Srebrenica areas of Bosnia during the war in 1992.

The prosecutor in the Oric trial, Miroslav Janjic, did not come to court for the verdict as a mark of protest.

“In order to attend the pronouncement, a verdict must be pronounced. In order for such a verdict to be pronounced, there must be a court. In order for the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina to exist, Serbs should be present in the courtroom too,” Janjic told BIRN.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic criticised the Bosnian court’s decision in the trial of Oric, saying that someone’s acquittal “for political reasons” does not mean that they did not commit crimes.

“To me it’s a miracle that someone is not convicted when there are living people who can testify,” Vucic told media.

But many Bosniaks welcomed the verdict clearing Oric, who they regard as a hero for his defence of Srebrenica in the years before the 1995 massacres.

Scores of Oric’s Bosnian Army fellow ex-soldiers attended the verdict to show support for the former commander, arriving at the Bosnian state court in a convoy of around ten buses.

They held up posters with a picture of Oric and the slogan “A hero, not a criminal”.

Hajra Catic, the president of the Mothers of Srebrenica association, said that the verdict was expected because Oric has already been acquitted by the Hague Tribunal.

“This makes me happy, because they haven’t let him rest for more than 20 years. They had the verdict pronounced by the Hague Tribunal, but they accused him again. He is finally free and he should spend the rest of his life in peace,” Catic said.

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