Dragan Obrenovic
Encyclopedia
Dragan Obrenović was a Serb
senior officer and commander in the Yugoslav People's Army
(JNA) and the Bosnian Serb Army (VRS).
In 2001, Obrenović was indicted for war crime
s and crimes against humanity
by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia
(ICTY) in The Hague
for his involvement in implementation of the VRS leadership's plan to kill the mostly Bosniak
civilians and prisoners of war in the Srebrenica massacre
during the Bosnian War
in July 1995. In 2003, Obrenović pled guilty to one of the counts of persecution
and in exchange agreeing to allocute to his crime and witness for the prosecution he was sentenced to 17 years in prison. He is currently serving out his sentence in Norway
and will be eligible for release in April of 2018.
on Matinom Brdo, in the Rogatica municipality in Eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina
. He attended primary school in Rogatica and secondary school at a military gymnasium in Belgrade
, Serbia
. Upon graduation at age of 18, Obrenović attended the military academy for ground forces of the JNA, specializing in armored and mechanized units. He graduated in 1986 at the age of 23, receiving a commission with the rank of 2nd Lieutenant
.
garrison in the SFR Yugoslav
republic of Croatia
. After six months he was promoted to tank company commander in the same brigade. This post he held until 1990 when he was promoted to deputy command of the armored battalion. In October 1991, during the Croatian War of Independence
, the JNA started its withdrawal from Croatia and Obrenović's unit was relocated to the Dubrava Airport in Tuzla
, Bosnia and Herzegovina
, where he was promoted to acting commander of the armored battalion. On February 28, 1992, his battalion was relocated to Mali Zvornik
and Zvornik
when the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina began to deteriorate as well.
along former Yugoslav leader Josip Broz Tito
's old boundaries, Serbia-controlled JNA forces began preparations to invade and conduct ethnic cleansing
campaigns in the Bosanski Šamac, Prijedor
, Vlasenica
and Zvornik regions of the Drina
Valley in Eastern Bosnia. Until this point, the Bosnian Muslim (Bosniak) population in the city of Zvornik enjoyed a 59.4% majority. Captain Dragan Obrenović appeared on public radio to assure the citizens of that area that the JNA's only mandate was to protect all citizens of Yugoslavia: "There is no reason for panic. The JNA, as a legal military force, is here disable those that would eventually try to threaten the security of all citizens and the entire nation."
Five days later the JNA, including Obrenović's battalion, launched a massive simultaneous assault, starting with the attack by the Serb Volunteer Guard
paramilitary forces on Bijeljina
. The attacks soon spread to Foča
, Zvornik, Bosanski Šamac, Vlasenica, Prijedor, Brčko
, and was punctuated by the blockading of the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo
to the southwest. Non-Serbs had their property confiscated, were deported en masse, and many men of military age or of political, community, religious or cultural importance were murdered on sight or in mass executions in villages such as Kozarac
, Gornja Grapska in Doboj
, the Hotel Posavina in Brčko, the Crkvina warehouse in Bosanski Šamac, and detention centers such as the Brčko Partizan
sports hall. Many other non-Serb men were interred at infamous concentration camps such as Omarska
and Keraterm
, while the women, children and elderly fled south toward the towns of Srebrenica
and Žepa
.
, the JNA began withdrawing from Bosnia while personnel and equipment from the second military district remained behind to be absorbed into the forming Bosnian Serb rebel army. Obrenović's unit was relocated the following day to the garrison in the Vršac
municipality in Serbia. After a brief 30-day assignment in Zvornik, he was given orders on December 1, 1992 to report to the newly-formed Army of Republika Srpska
, or VRS.
Obrenović reported to Crna Rijeka, whereupon he was appointed acting Chief of Staff
of the 1st Zvornik Infantry Brigade under the 17th VRS Corps at Tuzla. Initially, the armored vehicles still carried the emblems of the JNA and it was only later that they sported the Bosnian Serb flag
and badges showing the Bosnian Serb coat-of-arms. At the same time, the members of the units - officers and soldiers alike - had been wearing Bosnian Serb badges on their uniforms from the very beginning. In April 1993 Obrenović was promoted to the post of permanent Chief of Staff of 1st Zvornik Infantry Brigade.
On April 16, 1995 Obrenović was wounded in his left leg during combat operations. He was evacuated and underwent surgery as well as extensive post-operative treatment. A few months later, a commander and another officer visited him at his house while he was still on sick leave, asking him to interrupt his leave and return to brigade command, as preparations were under way to attack the besieged Srebrenica enclave, then designated a United Nations
-protected "safe area". Srebrenica was a base of operations for largely ethnic Bosniak Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina
(ARBiH) 28th Mountain Division - an undisciplined, untrained, poorly armed and totally isolated Bosnian government
force, now leaderless after Naser Orić
and most of his staff left Sebrenica on the orders from Sarajevo. Obrenović returned to duty at Zvornik Brigade command on July 1.
On July 2, 1995, Obrenović's brigade was given operational orders related to the operation. Detailed orders from Drina Corps regarding his brigade's involvement arrived later that same day. Obrenović drafted Zvornik Brigade deployment details, and a combat group of command and two battalions were set up. The 1st Battalion comprised the Podrinje attachment and the mobile combat group called Drina Wolves. The 2nd Battalion comprised one intervention platoon from all battalions except the fifth, then split into two companies. Captain Vinko Pandurević was in command of the whole brigade involvement. His deputy, Captain First Class Milan "Legenda" Jolović, commanded the Wolves.
From July 4 to July 15, 1995 Obrenović acted as deputy commander of the Zvornik Brigade while the commander was gone to Srebrenica during the assault. Obrenović later testified that he heard about fall of Srebrenica on July 11.
At 05:00 on July 12 Obrenović's Gucovo group reported communication intercepts indicating large foot column of Bosnians had formed, comprising parts of the ARBiH 28th Division as well as thousands of desperate refugees, and was heading northeast toward the city of Tuzla in the Bosnian government-held territory. At 07:00 Obrenović had a conversation with duty officer of Captain First Class Radika Petrović, commander of the 4th Battalion of the Bratunac
Brigade who briefed him on the details of the column passing between his area near Buljin and the Milici
Brigade. Obrenović had concerns that the customary travel vector might bring the column close to engaging with Zvornik Brigade forces just north of the village of Jaglici. Obrenović went to the 7th Battalion headquarters in Memici to deal with an impending attack by the ARBiH 2nd Corps
from Tuzla.
Needing more information on this column, Obrenović sent his assistant commander for intelligence affairs, one Captain Vukotić, to the 4th Battalion command in the Kajica village in Sekovici
, and asked him to seek direct details on this column. Two VRS units in the area meanwhile blockaded the column; one battalion of the Protection Regiment in Kasaba
and part of the units of the 55th Engineering Battalion in Konjević Polje. One company from Zvornik MUP were also present with one more preparing to head there. Obrenović received orders from Drina Corps to assist traffic regulation in Konjević Polje, he sent a detachment of a half squad of traffic police to assist. Later on he began receiving requests for trucks and buses for transport in Potočari
, where thousands of unarmed Bosnians were captured by the Serb forces at the base of UN Dutchbat
peacekeepers. He received more intel reports regarding the disposition of prisoners to be interrogated as well as predictions on movement of the column. Early on the evening of April 12 he got word from Vukotić that units of the 28th Division were carrying out a penetration and evacuation through this space and that practically the entire area was overwhelmed by people from this column. There was also a second VRS blockade in front of the column between Kravica
, Konjević Polje and near an asphalt road in Nova Kasaba. Small groups (about 150 men) from column broke through and were reaching Glogova
and Cerska
, so Obrenović was tasked to take all necessary measures in order to protect the elements of combat deployment of the brigade as well as populated Serb villages in the territory of Zvornik.
At midnight between July 12 and 13, Obrenović set out with some units north of Liplje to organize an ambush
of forward components of 28th Division. The ambush was laid, but no ARBiH units arrived. Leaving some troops at Snagovo, Obrenović and the rest returned to Zvornik. When he arrived at brigade headquarters, he was informed that the column had been stopped on the road from Kravica, Konjević Polje, to Milici, and that there were no troops in their area. Shortly thereafter he received word from intercept groups that chatter was picking up in the area stretching from Cerska toward Kamenica, despite Drina Corps' reassurance that there was no troop presence there. 28th Division radio intercepts showed that their security slipped up and the Serbs were able to learn that their numbers were 1,000-1,500 in that area. Later on July 13 Obrenović strengthened the units that had stayed up there providing the ambush, and he decided to organise a provisional unit, grouping squad and platoon from the units at his disposal: 15 soldiers from the engineers company, five or six soldiers from the staff command, and about 15 to 20 soldiers from the logistics battalion, a remaining platoon from the 5th Battalion, and an intervention platoon; this formed a unit with the strength of a company. Captain Milan Marić from the operations sector was made commander. Obrenović then sent the military police platoon to perform reconnaissance of the Drinjača River canyon by the village of Glodi, concluding that the column would likely use the two bridges there. An ambush team was assembled from military police platoon at Široki Put and the other at Džafin Kamen, another military platoon, and the rest of the ambush team from above the village of Liplje.
The column, which also went through a mine field and artillery shelling, would be ambushed by the Drina Wolves near Nova Kasaba on July 13 and then again by the VRS near Snagovo the next day.
, security officer of the Zvornik Brigade, regarding prisoners being transported to Zvornik. Obrenović suggested the use of the Batkovic POW camp to the north, and was told that the Red Cross
and UNPROFOR
knew about Batkovic, and these prisoners were to be shot and buried in the Zvornik area.
At 14:00 on July 14, Obrenović was at Snagovo when Major Zoran Jovanović brought in a reinforcement company, along with the information that Colonel Ljubiša Beara
, officer in charge of the VRS security service, had transported an abnormally large number of prisoners in buses to Zvornik. That same day Obrenović overheard a call for two engineers to be released from battle lines to build a road; suspicious of someone doing the engineers a favor, Obrenović checked on the message and was told that the engineers were needed in Zvornik because of a task being carried out by Beara, Popović, and Nikolić. Obrenović knew that this must involve mass burials; he released the two engineers and ordered his aides to refrain from discussing the issue. Throughout the next days, Obrenović spent most of his time trying to find a solution for the column problem, but he also released further military police and infantry personnel from battle lines to assist with the execution of prisoners, and supplied earth moving machinery from his engineering battalions to dig mass graves.
Throughout the day on July 14, members of the Military Police Company of Obrenović's Zvornik Brigade guarded and blindfolded approximately 1,000 non-Serb men and boys detained at the school in Grbavci. In the early afternoon of July 14, 1995, VRS personnel transported these prisoners from the school at Grbavci to a nearby field, where personnel including members of the 4th Battalion of the Zvornik Brigade ordered the prisoners off the trucks and summarily executed them with automatic weapons. That night, members of the Zvornik Brigade Engineering Company used heavy equipment to bury the victims in mass graves at the execution site, while the executions continued. On the evening of July 14, lights from the engineering machinery illuminated the execution and burial sites during the executions.
In the early morning hours of July 15, 1995, VRS personnel from the Zvornik Brigade, including drivers and trucks from the 6th Infantry Battalion of the Zvornik Brigade, transported the surviving members of the group of approximately 1,000 prisoners from the school in Petkovci to an area below the Dam near Petkovci. They were assembled below the Dam and summarily executed by VRS or MUP soldiers with automatic weapons. VRS personnel from the Engineering Company of the Zvornik Brigade used excavators and other heavy equipment to bury the victims while the executions continued. Later that day, at Zvornik Brigade headquarters, Obrenović spoke with Chief of Operations Dragan Jokić briefly at 11:00 and discussed the problem with the burials of those executed and the guarding of prisoners still to be executed, as well as orders to not make records of any sort regarding the executions and burials.
Obrenović and his troops took part in three very fierce close quarters battles with the 28th Division during this time, and around 40 Serb troops were killed with over 100 wounded at Baljkovci, where the forward part of the column broke through the front line. Obrenović met with Colonel Dragomir Vasić and other officers. The idea was suggested of opening a corridor to Muslim territory and flushing the column and any stragglers towards it. It appealed to those present, to avoid casualties and relieve the threat the column posed on the security of Zvornik as well as the rear of their front lines. Attempts to discuss the matter with Obrenović's immediate superior on the phone were unsuccessful, and the General Radomir Miletić, acting Chief of General Staff of the VRS, rebuffed the idea and chastised Obrenović for using an insecure line. It was then that Obrenović was informed that General Radislav Krstić
, Drina Corps deputy commander, was now the commander. Obrenović telephoned General Krstić and explained the threat to Zvornik that the 28th Division column posed. Krstić assured him that Pandurević, "Legenda" and his men were on their way to Zvornik.
Colonel Vasić related security problems with prisoners in Bratunac. Because of lack of space, prisoners captured in Srebrenica had to be housed overnight in parked buses; they grew agitated later in the night and began rocking the buses. Police Colonel Ljubomir Borovčanin, commanding officer of the Special Police Brigade, indicated dissatisfaction that civilian police were being used to guard buses in Bratunac, and was determined for that not to be the case with the prisoners in Zvornik. Special Police officer Miloš Stupar related that more than 1,000 prisoners packed into a warehouse in Kravica had rebelled, and one had killed a Serb guard, sparking an all-out Serb assault on the prisoners in the warehouse with grenades and automatic weapons fire, killing almost all of them.
Obrenović then spoke with his superior, Vinko Pandurević, who had just arrived at Zvornik Brigade headquarters. He briefed him about the execution operations, which were depleting both manpower and equipment resources and diluting their ability to deal with the column. He discussed issues regarding the burial of execution victims as well as the guarding of those waiting to be executed. Pandurević expressed curiosity as to why Civil Defense wasn't doing the burials as initially planned. The commander then expressed disappointment that the column hadn't yet been cut off and destroyed. Obrenović repeated his suggestion to give the column an escape route, and his commander retorted "who has the right to barter using Serbian land?"
In the afternoon on the 15th, Obrenović met with Lazar Ristić at the 4th Battalion's forward command post in Baljkovice. He asked him why, if Ristić had been unable to provide reinforcements to him earlier, he was able to send men to Milorad Trbić to assist with guarding prisoners in Orahovac
. Ristić claimed to have been unaware that executions were going to be taking place, and upon learning of this had tried to remove his men from the area when Drago Nikolić stopped them and promised them new uniforms if they would stay and continue to help kill the prisoners.
The word of the executions by this time was spreading everywhere. Obrenović was briefed that there was a group at Orahovac from the Drina Corps Military Police assisting with the executions. An elderly man attached to the Rear Services of 4th Battalion related to him that he had heard that Drago Nikolić had personally taken part in the execution and that he could not believe what had happened. That evening and all that night, the ARBiH 28th Division cut off the 4th Battalion's communications lines and transport routes and mounted another attack. Obrenović and his troops extracted from Baljkovice the next day, having lost 40 soldiers to the enemy.
On July 16, at 14:00, VRS troops opened an escape corridor and began sweeping operations to drive the 28th Division forces through it. The corridor was closed four hours later at 18:00 that same day.
On the afternoon of July 16 Obrenović was sent to the 6th Battalion Rear Services commander, Ostoja Stanišić. He was told by Stanišić that his deputy had been wounded and that Ljubiša Beara had brought prisoners to the nearby school in Petkovci. Stanišić was evidently angry as the last group of prisoners were not taken to the dam to be executed, but were cut down right there at the school and that his men had to clean up the mess at the school, including the removal of the bodies to the dam. Obrenović was briefed that, while the 10th Sabotage Detachment from Vlasenica
took part in the executions, together with selected soldiers from Bratunac, the Zvornik Brigade’s 6th Battalion trucks and personnel were utilised to transport the corpses from the school, which were buried in a mass grave at the dam
On July 17, VRS personnel from the "R" Battalion of the Zvornik Brigade took most of approximately 1,200 prisoners from the school in Pilica and retrieved approximately 500 bodies of the victims from the Pilica Cultural Center and transported them to the Branjevo military farm, where the living prisoners were executed by the members of Bratunac Brigade and the 10th Sabotage Detachment, among them Dražen Erdemović
, while the Engineering Company of the Zvornik Brigade buried the victims in a mass grave.
At noon on July 18. Obrenović was ordered by Pandurević to report to and brief three senior officers from the Drina Corps Main Staff regarding the corridor opening for the column. He met Colonel Sladojević; Colonel Trkulja, who was in charge of the armoured units at Main Staff; and military police chief Colonel Stanković after their meeting had already begun. After the description of the operation, Obrenović was grilled on the VRS capabilities and weaknesses. He later complained that they believed "we never put up resistance to the 28th Division and just let them through." The senior officers were surprised to hear of the stiff Serb losses in the region. Obrenović was dismissed from the meeting before it was finished.
On that same day, a captured Bosnian soldier managed to kill a Serb soldier and wound a number of others before being killed. Drina Corps commanders then ordered that their units should no longer risk taking prisoners, and at that point VRS troops shot the surrendering Bosnians on sight more frequently and stopped bring captives in for processing. That same day, troops from the 16th Brigade of the 1st Krajina Corps, re-subordinated to the command of the Zvornik Brigade captured ten stragglers from the column and summarily executed them on spot at a place near Nezuk. On July 21 the no-prisoners order was rescinded for the Zvornik Brigade by Pandurević, who ordered that all prisoners should be transported to facilities and processed according to normal procedures. The next day, four men from the column were captured by Zvornik Brigade troops and turned over to the brigade's security personnel to be interrogated and then executed.
RK: Is that you, Obrenović?
DO: Yes.
RK: Krstić here.
DO: How are you General, sir?
RK: I'm great, and you?
DO: Thanks to you I am too.
RK: Way to go, Chief. And how's you're health?
DO: It's fine, thank God, it's fine.
RK: Are you working down there?
DO: Of course we're working.
RK: Good.
DO: We've managed to catch a few more, either by gunpoint or in mines.
RK: Kill them all. God damn it.
DO: Everything, everything is going according to plan. Yes.
RK: Not a single one must be left alive.
DO: Everything is going according to plan. Everything.
RK: Way to go, Chief. The Turks are probably listening to us. Let them listen, the motherfuckers.
DO: Yeah, let them.
, and brief the hospital staff regarding the prisoners being treated there on the orders of a colonel in the Medical Corps. He discovered that the Serb wounded were being housed in close proximity to the enemy wounded, and instructed the staff not to allow anyone into the room. He informed them that prisoners would be transported to Bijeljina as they recovered.
On July 23 at 08:00, Pandurević called the Drina Corps to resolve the issue of prisoners at the clinic. Obrenović received word from the Drina Corps that Colonel Popović would be coming to deal with the prisoners which suggested that they would likely not live to see Bijeljina. Military policemen took the prisoners away early one morning and shot the prisoners dead at an established execution site. Obrenović was later told that Popović had passed an order from General Ratko Mladić
to Drago Nikolić that these patients had to be executed and that Popović had acted as a courier.
Between August and November 1995, VRS soldiers took part in a large scale operation to cover up the murders and executions committed in the zone under the responsibility of the brigades from Zvornik and Bratunac. The bodies were exhumed from their graves at the army farm in Branjevo, and also from Kozluk
, the headquarters of the "Drina Wolves" where approximately 500 prisoners were killed by them on July 15, from the dam close to Petkovci, from Orahovac and from Glogova, to be transferred to secondary mass graves. Personnel and earth moving machinery from the Zvornik Brigade were used extensively throughout these operations. Obrenović later testified that on October 20 he learned that several members of the brigade’s engineering unit, military police and Drago Nikolić participated in the re-burial of those prisoners executed in July 1995. Popović brought in others to help, including units from the Drina Corps Military Police, who secured the area and traffic where the re-burials were taking place. Some Zvornik Brigade engineers were involved in the loading of bodies from the primary graves. Both Popović and Beara oversaw the re-burial operation, but were wearing civilian clothes.
It was around this time that SFOR
detected some explosives under unknown conditions (possible a cache of mines, which was common) which triggered a VRS internal investigation. During this investigation, Jokić accused Obrenović of working for SFOR. Obrenović requested relief from his commandant due to the ensuing friction. Jokić was subsequently transferred to the command of 5th Corps at Sokolac.
Obrenović maintained a residence in Zvornik at 5C Sveti Sava Street up until his arrest.
for complicity in genocide
, extermination
, persecution, and two counts of murder
.
On April 15, 2001, at 14:30, three armed men and one woman abducted Obrenović in the town of Kozluk. He was bundled into a vehicle that quickly sped away from the scene before shocked witnesses. Town police units caught up with the vehicle in short order, only to learn that the abductors were SFOR personnel with UN investigators. Obrenovic was transferred that same day to the Hague, he entered not-guilty pleas across the board at his arraignment on the 18th.
On May 20, 2003, Obrenović entered a plea agreement with the ICTY prosecutor's office. He pled guilty to one count of persecution, and in exchange for truthful allocution to his role in the massacre and his testimony against his co-accused (his indictment was to be joined with that of four others on May 27) he was promised a reduced sentence. On December 10, 2003 Obrenović was sentenced to 17 years in prison, with 969 days credit for time served.
Serbs
The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group of the Balkans and southern Central Europe. Serbs are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and form a sizable minority in Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. Likewise, Serbs are an officially recognized minority in...
senior officer and commander in the Yugoslav People's Army
Yugoslav People's Army
The Yugoslav People's Army , also referred to as the Yugoslav National Army , was the military of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.-Origins:The origins of the JNA can...
(JNA) and the Bosnian Serb Army (VRS).
In 2001, Obrenović was indicted for war crime
War crime
War crimes are serious violations of the laws applicable in armed conflict giving rise to individual criminal responsibility...
s and crimes against humanity
Crime against humanity
Crimes against humanity, as defined by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court Explanatory Memorandum, "are particularly odious offenses in that they constitute a serious attack on human dignity or grave humiliation or a degradation of one or more human beings...
by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
The International Tribunal for the Prosecution of Persons Responsible for Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law Committed in the Territory of the Former Yugoslavia since 1991, more commonly referred to as the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia or ICTY, is a...
(ICTY) in The Hague
The Hague
The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...
for his involvement in implementation of the VRS leadership's plan to kill the mostly Bosniak
Bosniaks
The Bosniaks or Bosniacs are a South Slavic ethnic group, living mainly in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a smaller minority also present in other lands of the Balkan Peninsula especially in Serbia, Montenegro and Croatia...
civilians and prisoners of war in the Srebrenica massacre
Srebrenica massacre
The Srebrenica massacre, also known as the Srebrenica genocide, refers to the July 1995 killing, during the Bosnian War, of more than 8,000 Bosniaks , mainly men and boys, in and around the town of Srebrenica in Bosnia and Herzegovina, by units of the Army of Republika Srpska under the command of...
during the Bosnian War
Bosnian War
The Bosnian War or the War in Bosnia and Herzegovina was an international armed conflict that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina between April 1992 and December 1995. The war involved several sides...
in July 1995. In 2003, Obrenović pled guilty to one of the counts of persecution
Persecution
Persecution is the systematic mistreatment of an individual or group by another group. The most common forms are religious persecution, ethnic persecution, and political persecution, though there is naturally some overlap between these terms. The inflicting of suffering, harassment, isolation,...
and in exchange agreeing to allocute to his crime and witness for the prosecution he was sentenced to 17 years in prison. He is currently serving out his sentence in Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
and will be eligible for release in April of 2018.
Early life
Obrenović was born on April 12, 1963 in the village of RogaticaRogatica
Rogatica is a municipality and town in eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina located 60 kilometres northeast of Sarajevo; midway on the road from Goražde towards Sokolac...
on Matinom Brdo, in the Rogatica municipality in Eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...
. He attended primary school in Rogatica and secondary school at a military gymnasium in Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
, Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
. Upon graduation at age of 18, Obrenović attended the military academy for ground forces of the JNA, specializing in armored and mechanized units. He graduated in 1986 at the age of 23, receiving a commission with the rank of 2nd Lieutenant
Second Lieutenant
Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces.- United Kingdom and Commonwealth :The rank second lieutenant was introduced throughout the British Army in 1871 to replace the rank of ensign , although it had long been used in the Royal Artillery, Royal...
.
Early military career
Obrenović's first assignment was a tank platoon command at the JastrebarskoJastrebarsko
- Antiquity :In 1865, remnants of a Roman settlement were uncovered in Repišće, Klinča Sela, a village in Jastrebarsko metropolitan area. Further archeological investigation in the late 20th century classified them as a villa rustica and a necropolis consisting of six tumuli, both dating to...
garrison in the SFR Yugoslav
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the abolition of the Yugoslav monarchy until it was dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav Wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of six socialist republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,...
republic of Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
. After six months he was promoted to tank company commander in the same brigade. This post he held until 1990 when he was promoted to deputy command of the armored battalion. In October 1991, during the Croatian War of Independence
Croatian War of Independence
The Croatian War of Independence was fought from 1991 to 1995 between forces loyal to the government of Croatia—which had declared independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia —and the Serb-controlled Yugoslav People's Army and local Serb forces, with the JNA ending its combat...
, the JNA started its withdrawal from Croatia and Obrenović's unit was relocated to the Dubrava Airport in Tuzla
Tuzla
Tuzla is a city and municipality in Bosnia and Herzegovina. At the time of the 1991 census, it had 83,770 inhabitants, while the municipality 131,318. Taking the influx of refugees into account, the city is currently estimated to have 174,558 inhabitants...
, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...
, where he was promoted to acting commander of the armored battalion. On February 28, 1992, his battalion was relocated to Mali Zvornik
Mali Zvornik
Mali Zvornik is a town and municipality located in the Mačva District of Serbia. In 2011, the population of the town is 4,384, while the population of the municipality is 12,496. It lays opposite of the Drina river from the town of Zvornik, in Bosnia and Herzegovina.-History:There are traces of...
and Zvornik
Zvornik
Zvornik is a city on the Drina river in northeastern Bosnia and Herzegovina, located south of the town of Bijeljina in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The town Mali Zvornik lies directly across the river in Serbia, and not far north is Loznica.-History:Zvornik is first mentioned in 1410, although it was...
when the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina began to deteriorate as well.
JNA attack on Zvornik
In early April 1992, with the international community rapidly approaching recognition of the independence of the republic of Bosnia and HerzegovinaBosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...
along former Yugoslav leader Josip Broz Tito
Josip Broz Tito
Marshal Josip Broz Tito – 4 May 1980) was a Yugoslav revolutionary and statesman. While his presidency has been criticized as authoritarian, Tito was a popular public figure both in Yugoslavia and abroad, viewed as a unifying symbol for the nations of the Yugoslav federation...
's old boundaries, Serbia-controlled JNA forces began preparations to invade and conduct ethnic cleansing
Ethnic cleansing
Ethnic cleansing is a purposeful policy designed by one ethnic or religious group to remove by violent and terror-inspiring means the civilian population of another ethnic orreligious group from certain geographic areas....
campaigns in the Bosanski Šamac, Prijedor
Prijedor
Prijedor is a city and municipality in the north-western part of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is situated in the Bosanska Krajina region....
, Vlasenica
Vlasenica
Vlasenica is a municipality and town of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Administratively it is part of Vlasenica Region.-1912:...
and Zvornik regions of the Drina
Drina
The Drina is a 346 kilometer long river, which forms most of the border between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. It is the longest tributary of the Sava River and the longest karst river in the Dinaric Alps which belongs to the Danube river watershed...
Valley in Eastern Bosnia. Until this point, the Bosnian Muslim (Bosniak) population in the city of Zvornik enjoyed a 59.4% majority. Captain Dragan Obrenović appeared on public radio to assure the citizens of that area that the JNA's only mandate was to protect all citizens of Yugoslavia: "There is no reason for panic. The JNA, as a legal military force, is here disable those that would eventually try to threaten the security of all citizens and the entire nation."
Five days later the JNA, including Obrenović's battalion, launched a massive simultaneous assault, starting with the attack by the Serb Volunteer Guard
Serb Volunteer Guard
The Serb Volunteer Guard also known as Arkan's Tigers was a Serbian volunteer paramilitary unit, founded and led by Željko Ražnatović, that fought in Croatia ; Bosnia and Herzegovina and in the Kosovo War ....
paramilitary forces on Bijeljina
Bijeljina
Bijeljina is a city and municipality in northeastern Bosnia and Herzegovina. The city is the second largest in the Republika Srpska entity after Banja Luka and fifth largest city in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and is situated on the flat rich plains of Semberija...
. The attacks soon spread to Foča
Foca
Foča is a town and municipality in southeastern Bosnia and Herzegovina on the Drina river, in the Foča Region of the Republika Srpska entity.-Early history:...
, Zvornik, Bosanski Šamac, Vlasenica, Prijedor, Brčko
Brcko (city)
Brčko is a city in northern Bosnia and Herzegovina, administrative seat of the Brčko District. It lies on the country's border along the Sava river across from Gunja, Croatia...
, and was punctuated by the blockading of the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo
Sarajevo
Sarajevo |Bosnia]], surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of Southeastern Europe and the Balkans....
to the southwest. Non-Serbs had their property confiscated, were deported en masse, and many men of military age or of political, community, religious or cultural importance were murdered on sight or in mass executions in villages such as Kozarac
Kozarac
Kozarac is a town in northwestern Bosnia and Herzegovina, located in the Prijedor Municipality, near the city of Prijedor. It is located 10 km east of Prijedor and 45 km west of Banja Luka. The name Kozarac comes from a story saying Canyon from Kozara will make strong wind called Kozarac...
, Gornja Grapska in Doboj
Doboj
Doboj is a city and a municipality in northern Bosnia and Herzegovina, situated in the northern part of the Republika Srpska entity on the river Bosna. Doboj is the largest national railway junction; as such, the seats of the Republika Srpska Railways, and the Railways Corporation of Bosnia and...
, the Hotel Posavina in Brčko, the Crkvina warehouse in Bosanski Šamac, and detention centers such as the Brčko Partizan
Partizan Belgrade
Jugoslovensko Sportsko Društvo Partizan, commonly abbreviated as JSD Partizan is a sports association from Belgrade, Serbia. Founded on 4th October 1945, it's an umbrella organization featuring 26 clubs in 26 sports.-Sports/Clubs:-History:...
sports hall. Many other non-Serb men were interred at infamous concentration camps such as Omarska
Omarska camp
Omarska camp was a concentration camp run by Bosnian Serb forces, in Omarska, a mining town near Prijedor in northern Bosnia and Herzegovina, set up during the Prijedor massacre for Bosniak and Croat men and women. Functioning in the first months of the Bosnian War in 1992, it was one of 677...
and Keraterm
Keraterm camp
Keraterm camp was a concentration camp near the town of Prijedor in northern Bosnia and Herzegovina during the Bosnian War and genocide from 1992 to 1995. The camp was founded by the authorities of Republika Srpska and was used to collect and confine civilians of Bosniak and Bosnian Croat...
, while the women, children and elderly fled south toward the towns of Srebrenica
Srebrenica
Srebrenica is a town and municipality in the east of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the Bosnian Serb entity of Republika Srpska. Srebrenica is a small mountain town, its main industry being salt mining and a nearby spa. During the Bosnian War, the town was the site of the July 1995 massacre,...
and Žepa
Žepa
Žepa is a town in the east of Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina in the municipality of Rogatica. Žepa is located northeast of Rogatica itself, southwest of Srebrenica and northwest of Višegrad...
.
Transfer to the VRS
On May 19, 1992, two weeks after the JNA established a total blockade of the Bosnian capital and began the now-infamous Siege of SarajevoSiege of Sarajevo
The Siege of Sarajevo is the longest siege of a capital city in the history of modern warfare. Serb forces of the Republika Srpska and the Yugoslav People's Army besieged Sarajevo, the capital city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, from 5 April 1992 to 29 February 1996 during the Bosnian War.After Bosnia...
, the JNA began withdrawing from Bosnia while personnel and equipment from the second military district remained behind to be absorbed into the forming Bosnian Serb rebel army. Obrenović's unit was relocated the following day to the garrison in the Vršac
Vršac
Vršac is a town and municipality located in Serbia. In 2002 the town's total population was 36,623, while Vršac municipality had 54,369 inhabitants. Vršac is located in the Banat region, in the Vojvodina province of Serbia. It is part of the South Banat District.-Name:The name Vršac is of Serbian...
municipality in Serbia. After a brief 30-day assignment in Zvornik, he was given orders on December 1, 1992 to report to the newly-formed Army of Republika Srpska
Republika Srpska
Republika Srpska is one of two main political entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina...
, or VRS.
Obrenović reported to Crna Rijeka, whereupon he was appointed acting Chief of Staff
Chief of Staff
The title, chief of staff, identifies the leader of a complex organization, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a Principal Staff Officer , who is the coordinator of the supporting staff or a primary aide to an important individual, such as a president.In general, a chief of...
of the 1st Zvornik Infantry Brigade under the 17th VRS Corps at Tuzla. Initially, the armored vehicles still carried the emblems of the JNA and it was only later that they sported the Bosnian Serb flag
Flag of Republika Srpska
The flag of Republika Srpska was adopted on February 28, 1992. The flag is a rectangular tricolour with three equal horizontal bands of red, blue and white....
and badges showing the Bosnian Serb coat-of-arms. At the same time, the members of the units - officers and soldiers alike - had been wearing Bosnian Serb badges on their uniforms from the very beginning. In April 1993 Obrenović was promoted to the post of permanent Chief of Staff of 1st Zvornik Infantry Brigade.
On April 16, 1995 Obrenović was wounded in his left leg during combat operations. He was evacuated and underwent surgery as well as extensive post-operative treatment. A few months later, a commander and another officer visited him at his house while he was still on sick leave, asking him to interrupt his leave and return to brigade command, as preparations were under way to attack the besieged Srebrenica enclave, then designated a United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
-protected "safe area". Srebrenica was a base of operations for largely ethnic Bosniak Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina
The Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina was the military force of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina established by the government of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1992 following the outbreak of the Bosnian War...
(ARBiH) 28th Mountain Division - an undisciplined, untrained, poorly armed and totally isolated Bosnian government
Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina
The Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina was the direct main predecessor to the modern-day state of Bosnia and Herzegovina...
force, now leaderless after Naser Orić
Naser Oric
Naser Orić is a former Bosniak military officer who commanded the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina forces in the Srebrenica enclave in Eastern Bosnia surrounded by Serb forces, during the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.In 2006, he was sentenced to two years' imprisonment by...
and most of his staff left Sebrenica on the orders from Sarajevo. Obrenović returned to duty at Zvornik Brigade command on July 1.
VRS attack on Srebrenica
Believing that the UN-protected enclaves of Srebrenica and Žepa were never demilitarized, and that they hid what amounted to "five or six brigades" of ARBiH troops and weapons, the VRS Main Staff ordered the Drina Corps command to undertake an operation codenamed Krivaja '95.On July 2, 1995, Obrenović's brigade was given operational orders related to the operation. Detailed orders from Drina Corps regarding his brigade's involvement arrived later that same day. Obrenović drafted Zvornik Brigade deployment details, and a combat group of command and two battalions were set up. The 1st Battalion comprised the Podrinje attachment and the mobile combat group called Drina Wolves. The 2nd Battalion comprised one intervention platoon from all battalions except the fifth, then split into two companies. Captain Vinko Pandurević was in command of the whole brigade involvement. His deputy, Captain First Class Milan "Legenda" Jolović, commanded the Wolves.
Ambushes on the ARBiH/civilian exodus column
At 05:00 on July 12 Obrenović's Gucovo group reported communication intercepts indicating large foot column of Bosnians had formed, comprising parts of the ARBiH 28th Division as well as thousands of desperate refugees, and was heading northeast toward the city of Tuzla in the Bosnian government-held territory. At 07:00 Obrenović had a conversation with duty officer of Captain First Class Radika Petrović, commander of the 4th Battalion of the Bratunac
Bratunac
Bratunac is a town and municipality located in eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina. The easternmost point of Bosnia and Herzegovina is located in the municipality of Bratunac which lies in the Republika Srpska.-1971:26.513 total...
Brigade who briefed him on the details of the column passing between his area near Buljin and the Milici
Milici
Milići is a small town and a municipality in Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina.-1991:total: 16,038* Serbs - 7,931 * Muslims by nationality - 7,805 * "Yugoslavs" - 68 * Croats - 7...
Brigade. Obrenović had concerns that the customary travel vector might bring the column close to engaging with Zvornik Brigade forces just north of the village of Jaglici. Obrenović went to the 7th Battalion headquarters in Memici to deal with an impending attack by the ARBiH 2nd Corps
2nd Corps of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina
The 2nd Corps was one of five, later seven corps in the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina established in early 1992.- History :...
from Tuzla.
Needing more information on this column, Obrenović sent his assistant commander for intelligence affairs, one Captain Vukotić, to the 4th Battalion command in the Kajica village in Sekovici
Šekovici
Šekovići is a municipality and town in northeastern Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Municipality Šekovići for the most part is equal with territory “Donjeg Birča” and has an area of , which represents 0.365% of BiH territory which is , or 0.806% of Republika Srpska which is . The main...
, and asked him to seek direct details on this column. Two VRS units in the area meanwhile blockaded the column; one battalion of the Protection Regiment in Kasaba
Kasaba
Kasaba or Kasabaköy is a small town 17 kilometres from Kastamonu, Turkey. Its population in 1905 was about 23,000, but the village has shrunk to only a few dozen households. The town does not occupy any ancient site of importance but there is a mosque, the Mahmut Bey Camii, built by a...
and part of the units of the 55th Engineering Battalion in Konjević Polje. One company from Zvornik MUP were also present with one more preparing to head there. Obrenović received orders from Drina Corps to assist traffic regulation in Konjević Polje, he sent a detachment of a half squad of traffic police to assist. Later on he began receiving requests for trucks and buses for transport in Potočari
Potocari
Potočari is a village in eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina, 6 km north-west of the town of Srebrenica. In the 1991 census it had 4,338 inhabitants, of whom 93% were Bosniaks and 7% were others, mainly Serbs.-War period:...
, where thousands of unarmed Bosnians were captured by the Serb forces at the base of UN Dutchbat
Dutchbat
DUTCHBAT nominally was a Dutch battalion under command of the United Nations in operation United Nations Protection Force...
peacekeepers. He received more intel reports regarding the disposition of prisoners to be interrogated as well as predictions on movement of the column. Early on the evening of April 12 he got word from Vukotić that units of the 28th Division were carrying out a penetration and evacuation through this space and that practically the entire area was overwhelmed by people from this column. There was also a second VRS blockade in front of the column between Kravica
Kravica
Kravica is a predominantly Serb populated village in Bratunac county near Srebrenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina....
, Konjević Polje and near an asphalt road in Nova Kasaba. Small groups (about 150 men) from column broke through and were reaching Glogova
Glogova
Glogova is a commune in Gorj County, Romania. It is composed of five villages: Cămuieşti, Cleşneşti, Glogova, Iormăneşti and Olteanu....
and Cerska
Cerska
Cerska is a small town in the municipality of Vlasenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina located 12 kilometers from the town of Vlasenica itself and 11 km from the Serbian border....
, so Obrenović was tasked to take all necessary measures in order to protect the elements of combat deployment of the brigade as well as populated Serb villages in the territory of Zvornik.
At midnight between July 12 and 13, Obrenović set out with some units north of Liplje to organize an ambush
Ambush
An ambush is a long-established military tactic, in which the aggressors take advantage of concealment and the element of surprise to attack an unsuspecting enemy from concealed positions, such as among dense underbrush or behind hilltops...
of forward components of 28th Division. The ambush was laid, but no ARBiH units arrived. Leaving some troops at Snagovo, Obrenović and the rest returned to Zvornik. When he arrived at brigade headquarters, he was informed that the column had been stopped on the road from Kravica, Konjević Polje, to Milici, and that there were no troops in their area. Shortly thereafter he received word from intercept groups that chatter was picking up in the area stretching from Cerska toward Kamenica, despite Drina Corps' reassurance that there was no troop presence there. 28th Division radio intercepts showed that their security slipped up and the Serbs were able to learn that their numbers were 1,000-1,500 in that area. Later on July 13 Obrenović strengthened the units that had stayed up there providing the ambush, and he decided to organise a provisional unit, grouping squad and platoon from the units at his disposal: 15 soldiers from the engineers company, five or six soldiers from the staff command, and about 15 to 20 soldiers from the logistics battalion, a remaining platoon from the 5th Battalion, and an intervention platoon; this formed a unit with the strength of a company. Captain Milan Marić from the operations sector was made commander. Obrenović then sent the military police platoon to perform reconnaissance of the Drinjača River canyon by the village of Glodi, concluding that the column would likely use the two bridges there. An ambush team was assembled from military police platoon at Široki Put and the other at Džafin Kamen, another military platoon, and the rest of the ambush team from above the village of Liplje.
The column, which also went through a mine field and artillery shelling, would be ambushed by the Drina Wolves near Nova Kasaba on July 13 and then again by the VRS near Snagovo the next day.
Mass executions
Around 19:00 on July 13, Obrenović was contacted by Lieutenant Drago NikolićDrago Nikolić
Drago Nikolić is a Bosnian Serb who participated in the War in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He was the 2nd Lieutenant who served as Chief of Security for the Zvornik Brigade of the Bosnian Serb Army....
, security officer of the Zvornik Brigade, regarding prisoners being transported to Zvornik. Obrenović suggested the use of the Batkovic POW camp to the north, and was told that the Red Cross
International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement
The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is an international humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million volunteers, members and staff worldwide which was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure respect for all human beings, and to prevent and alleviate human...
and UNPROFOR
United Nations Protection Force
The United Nations Protection Force ', was the first United Nations peacekeeping force in Croatia and in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the Yugoslav wars. It existed between the beginning of UN involvement in February 1992, and its restructuring into other forces in March 1995...
knew about Batkovic, and these prisoners were to be shot and buried in the Zvornik area.
At 14:00 on July 14, Obrenović was at Snagovo when Major Zoran Jovanović brought in a reinforcement company, along with the information that Colonel Ljubiša Beara
Ljubiša Beara
Ljubiša Beara is a Bosnian Serb who participated in the War in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He was Colonel and Chief of Security of the Bosnian Serb Army Main Staff....
, officer in charge of the VRS security service, had transported an abnormally large number of prisoners in buses to Zvornik. That same day Obrenović overheard a call for two engineers to be released from battle lines to build a road; suspicious of someone doing the engineers a favor, Obrenović checked on the message and was told that the engineers were needed in Zvornik because of a task being carried out by Beara, Popović, and Nikolić. Obrenović knew that this must involve mass burials; he released the two engineers and ordered his aides to refrain from discussing the issue. Throughout the next days, Obrenović spent most of his time trying to find a solution for the column problem, but he also released further military police and infantry personnel from battle lines to assist with the execution of prisoners, and supplied earth moving machinery from his engineering battalions to dig mass graves.
Throughout the day on July 14, members of the Military Police Company of Obrenović's Zvornik Brigade guarded and blindfolded approximately 1,000 non-Serb men and boys detained at the school in Grbavci. In the early afternoon of July 14, 1995, VRS personnel transported these prisoners from the school at Grbavci to a nearby field, where personnel including members of the 4th Battalion of the Zvornik Brigade ordered the prisoners off the trucks and summarily executed them with automatic weapons. That night, members of the Zvornik Brigade Engineering Company used heavy equipment to bury the victims in mass graves at the execution site, while the executions continued. On the evening of July 14, lights from the engineering machinery illuminated the execution and burial sites during the executions.
In the early morning hours of July 15, 1995, VRS personnel from the Zvornik Brigade, including drivers and trucks from the 6th Infantry Battalion of the Zvornik Brigade, transported the surviving members of the group of approximately 1,000 prisoners from the school in Petkovci to an area below the Dam near Petkovci. They were assembled below the Dam and summarily executed by VRS or MUP soldiers with automatic weapons. VRS personnel from the Engineering Company of the Zvornik Brigade used excavators and other heavy equipment to bury the victims while the executions continued. Later that day, at Zvornik Brigade headquarters, Obrenović spoke with Chief of Operations Dragan Jokić briefly at 11:00 and discussed the problem with the burials of those executed and the guarding of prisoners still to be executed, as well as orders to not make records of any sort regarding the executions and burials.
Obrenović and his troops took part in three very fierce close quarters battles with the 28th Division during this time, and around 40 Serb troops were killed with over 100 wounded at Baljkovci, where the forward part of the column broke through the front line. Obrenović met with Colonel Dragomir Vasić and other officers. The idea was suggested of opening a corridor to Muslim territory and flushing the column and any stragglers towards it. It appealed to those present, to avoid casualties and relieve the threat the column posed on the security of Zvornik as well as the rear of their front lines. Attempts to discuss the matter with Obrenović's immediate superior on the phone were unsuccessful, and the General Radomir Miletić, acting Chief of General Staff of the VRS, rebuffed the idea and chastised Obrenović for using an insecure line. It was then that Obrenović was informed that General Radislav Krstić
Radislav Krstic
Radislav Krstić was the Deputy Commander and later Chief of Staff of the Drina Corps of the Army of Republika Srpska from October 1994 until 12 July 1995...
, Drina Corps deputy commander, was now the commander. Obrenović telephoned General Krstić and explained the threat to Zvornik that the 28th Division column posed. Krstić assured him that Pandurević, "Legenda" and his men were on their way to Zvornik.
Colonel Vasić related security problems with prisoners in Bratunac. Because of lack of space, prisoners captured in Srebrenica had to be housed overnight in parked buses; they grew agitated later in the night and began rocking the buses. Police Colonel Ljubomir Borovčanin, commanding officer of the Special Police Brigade, indicated dissatisfaction that civilian police were being used to guard buses in Bratunac, and was determined for that not to be the case with the prisoners in Zvornik. Special Police officer Miloš Stupar related that more than 1,000 prisoners packed into a warehouse in Kravica had rebelled, and one had killed a Serb guard, sparking an all-out Serb assault on the prisoners in the warehouse with grenades and automatic weapons fire, killing almost all of them.
Obrenović then spoke with his superior, Vinko Pandurević, who had just arrived at Zvornik Brigade headquarters. He briefed him about the execution operations, which were depleting both manpower and equipment resources and diluting their ability to deal with the column. He discussed issues regarding the burial of execution victims as well as the guarding of those waiting to be executed. Pandurević expressed curiosity as to why Civil Defense wasn't doing the burials as initially planned. The commander then expressed disappointment that the column hadn't yet been cut off and destroyed. Obrenović repeated his suggestion to give the column an escape route, and his commander retorted "who has the right to barter using Serbian land?"
In the afternoon on the 15th, Obrenović met with Lazar Ristić at the 4th Battalion's forward command post in Baljkovice. He asked him why, if Ristić had been unable to provide reinforcements to him earlier, he was able to send men to Milorad Trbić to assist with guarding prisoners in Orahovac
Orahovac
Orahovac is a town and municipality in western Kosovo, in the District of Đakovica.-Name:Its Serbian name stems from the Serbian word orah , meaning "walnut"....
. Ristić claimed to have been unaware that executions were going to be taking place, and upon learning of this had tried to remove his men from the area when Drago Nikolić stopped them and promised them new uniforms if they would stay and continue to help kill the prisoners.
The word of the executions by this time was spreading everywhere. Obrenović was briefed that there was a group at Orahovac from the Drina Corps Military Police assisting with the executions. An elderly man attached to the Rear Services of 4th Battalion related to him that he had heard that Drago Nikolić had personally taken part in the execution and that he could not believe what had happened. That evening and all that night, the ARBiH 28th Division cut off the 4th Battalion's communications lines and transport routes and mounted another attack. Obrenović and his troops extracted from Baljkovice the next day, having lost 40 soldiers to the enemy.
On July 16, at 14:00, VRS troops opened an escape corridor and began sweeping operations to drive the 28th Division forces through it. The corridor was closed four hours later at 18:00 that same day.
On the afternoon of July 16 Obrenović was sent to the 6th Battalion Rear Services commander, Ostoja Stanišić. He was told by Stanišić that his deputy had been wounded and that Ljubiša Beara had brought prisoners to the nearby school in Petkovci. Stanišić was evidently angry as the last group of prisoners were not taken to the dam to be executed, but were cut down right there at the school and that his men had to clean up the mess at the school, including the removal of the bodies to the dam. Obrenović was briefed that, while the 10th Sabotage Detachment from Vlasenica
Vlasenica
Vlasenica is a municipality and town of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Administratively it is part of Vlasenica Region.-1912:...
took part in the executions, together with selected soldiers from Bratunac, the Zvornik Brigade’s 6th Battalion trucks and personnel were utilised to transport the corpses from the school, which were buried in a mass grave at the dam
On July 17, VRS personnel from the "R" Battalion of the Zvornik Brigade took most of approximately 1,200 prisoners from the school in Pilica and retrieved approximately 500 bodies of the victims from the Pilica Cultural Center and transported them to the Branjevo military farm, where the living prisoners were executed by the members of Bratunac Brigade and the 10th Sabotage Detachment, among them Dražen Erdemović
Dražen Erdemovic
Dražen Erdemović is an ethnic Bosnian Croat who fought during the Bosnian War for the Army of Republika Srpska and who was later sentenced for his enforced participation in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre.-Background:Erdemović fought in the Croatian Army during the Siege of Vukovar before returning...
, while the Engineering Company of the Zvornik Brigade buried the victims in a mass grave.
At noon on July 18. Obrenović was ordered by Pandurević to report to and brief three senior officers from the Drina Corps Main Staff regarding the corridor opening for the column. He met Colonel Sladojević; Colonel Trkulja, who was in charge of the armoured units at Main Staff; and military police chief Colonel Stanković after their meeting had already begun. After the description of the operation, Obrenović was grilled on the VRS capabilities and weaknesses. He later complained that they believed "we never put up resistance to the 28th Division and just let them through." The senior officers were surprised to hear of the stiff Serb losses in the region. Obrenović was dismissed from the meeting before it was finished.
On that same day, a captured Bosnian soldier managed to kill a Serb soldier and wound a number of others before being killed. Drina Corps commanders then ordered that their units should no longer risk taking prisoners, and at that point VRS troops shot the surrendering Bosnians on sight more frequently and stopped bring captives in for processing. That same day, troops from the 16th Brigade of the 1st Krajina Corps, re-subordinated to the command of the Zvornik Brigade captured ten stragglers from the column and summarily executed them on spot at a place near Nezuk. On July 21 the no-prisoners order was rescinded for the Zvornik Brigade by Pandurević, who ordered that all prisoners should be transported to facilities and processed according to normal procedures. The next day, four men from the column were captured by Zvornik Brigade troops and turned over to the brigade's security personnel to be interrogated and then executed.
"Everything is going according to plan"
On July 19 the following conversation between Obrenović and Drina Corps commandant General Radislav Krstić was intercepted:RK: Is that you, Obrenović?
DO: Yes.
RK: Krstić here.
DO: How are you General, sir?
RK: I'm great, and you?
DO: Thanks to you I am too.
RK: Way to go, Chief. And how's you're health?
DO: It's fine, thank God, it's fine.
RK: Are you working down there?
DO: Of course we're working.
RK: Good.
DO: We've managed to catch a few more, either by gunpoint or in mines.
RK: Kill them all. God damn it.
DO: Everything, everything is going according to plan. Yes.
RK: Not a single one must be left alive.
DO: Everything is going according to plan. Everything.
RK: Way to go, Chief. The Turks are probably listening to us. Let them listen, the motherfuckers.
DO: Yeah, let them.
Wounded prisoners at "Standard"
On July 20 Obrenović was ordered to inspect the clinic at "Standard" (converted Novi Standard shoe factory) in KarakajKarakaj
Karakaj is a town located 2 km north from the city Zvornik in Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina, on the Drina River, it has also the border checkpoint with Serbia. The word Karakaj comes from Turkish word which means dark stone...
, and brief the hospital staff regarding the prisoners being treated there on the orders of a colonel in the Medical Corps. He discovered that the Serb wounded were being housed in close proximity to the enemy wounded, and instructed the staff not to allow anyone into the room. He informed them that prisoners would be transported to Bijeljina as they recovered.
On July 23 at 08:00, Pandurević called the Drina Corps to resolve the issue of prisoners at the clinic. Obrenović received word from the Drina Corps that Colonel Popović would be coming to deal with the prisoners which suggested that they would likely not live to see Bijeljina. Military policemen took the prisoners away early one morning and shot the prisoners dead at an established execution site. Obrenović was later told that Popović had passed an order from General Ratko Mladić
Ratko Mladić
Ratko Mladić is an accused war criminal and a former Bosnian Serb military leader. On May 31, 2011, Mladić was extradited to The Hague, where he was processed at the detention center that holds suspects for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia...
to Drago Nikolić that these patients had to be executed and that Popović had acted as a courier.
After the massacre
Obrenović was the Chief Of Staff of the 1st Zvornik Infantry Brigade until August 8, when he acted as Brigade commander in Pandurević's absence. During this time General Krstić visited Zvornik and requested that Obrenović take him to the soldiers in the field who had been involved in the most fierce fighting. Obrenović decided to take him to the men in the trenches of the right flank of the 7th Battalion. Next to a trench one of the soldiers was listening on a transistor radio to the broadcast account of a survivor from one of the executions. General Krstić ordered that the radio be switched off, ordering them to not listen to enemy radio. He asked Obrenović if he had issued orders that enemy radio should not be listened to and Obrenović said that he had not. Obrenović later asked Krstić why the killing of so many ordinary people took place, saying that even if they were all chickens that were killed, there still had to be a reason. Krstić asked Obrenović where he had been. When Obrenović answered that he'd been at the field at Snagovo as ordered, Krstić cut the conversation short.Between August and November 1995, VRS soldiers took part in a large scale operation to cover up the murders and executions committed in the zone under the responsibility of the brigades from Zvornik and Bratunac. The bodies were exhumed from their graves at the army farm in Branjevo, and also from Kozluk
Kozluk
Kozluk, formerly Hazzo or Hazo, is a district of Batman Province, Turkey. The mayor is Mehmet Raşit Haşimi ....
, the headquarters of the "Drina Wolves" where approximately 500 prisoners were killed by them on July 15, from the dam close to Petkovci, from Orahovac and from Glogova, to be transferred to secondary mass graves. Personnel and earth moving machinery from the Zvornik Brigade were used extensively throughout these operations. Obrenović later testified that on October 20 he learned that several members of the brigade’s engineering unit, military police and Drago Nikolić participated in the re-burial of those prisoners executed in July 1995. Popović brought in others to help, including units from the Drina Corps Military Police, who secured the area and traffic where the re-burials were taking place. Some Zvornik Brigade engineers were involved in the loading of bodies from the primary graves. Both Popović and Beara oversaw the re-burial operation, but were wearing civilian clothes.
After the wars
On April 30, 1996, Obrenović was promoted to the post of commander of the 303rd Motorized Brigade. Four months later the 303rd was absorbed into the 505th, and he retained his post as commander.It was around this time that SFOR
SFOR
The Stabilisation Force was a NATO-led multinational peacekeeping force in Bosnia and Herzegovina which was tasked with upholding the Dayton Agreement. It replaced the previous force IFOR...
detected some explosives under unknown conditions (possible a cache of mines, which was common) which triggered a VRS internal investigation. During this investigation, Jokić accused Obrenović of working for SFOR. Obrenović requested relief from his commandant due to the ensuing friction. Jokić was subsequently transferred to the command of 5th Corps at Sokolac.
Obrenović maintained a residence in Zvornik at 5C Sveti Sava Street up until his arrest.
Arrest and trial
On November 1, 1998 General Dragan Obrenović was indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The HagueThe Hague
The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...
for complicity in genocide
Genocide
Genocide is defined as "the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group", though what constitutes enough of a "part" to qualify as genocide has been subject to much debate by legal scholars...
, extermination
Genocide
Genocide is defined as "the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group", though what constitutes enough of a "part" to qualify as genocide has been subject to much debate by legal scholars...
, persecution, and two counts of murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
.
On April 15, 2001, at 14:30, three armed men and one woman abducted Obrenović in the town of Kozluk. He was bundled into a vehicle that quickly sped away from the scene before shocked witnesses. Town police units caught up with the vehicle in short order, only to learn that the abductors were SFOR personnel with UN investigators. Obrenovic was transferred that same day to the Hague, he entered not-guilty pleas across the board at his arraignment on the 18th.
On May 20, 2003, Obrenović entered a plea agreement with the ICTY prosecutor's office. He pled guilty to one count of persecution, and in exchange for truthful allocution to his role in the massacre and his testimony against his co-accused (his indictment was to be joined with that of four others on May 27) he was promised a reduced sentence. On December 10, 2003 Obrenović was sentenced to 17 years in prison, with 969 days credit for time served.
I find it very hard to say this truth. I am to blame for everything I did at that time. I am trying to erase all this and to be what I was not at that time. I am also to blame for what I did not do, for not trying to protect those prisoners. Regardless of the temporary nature of my then-post. I ask myself again and again, what could I have done that I didn't do? Thousands of innocent victims perished. Graves remain behind, refugees, destruction and misfortune and misery. I bear general part of the responsibility for this. There is misfortune on all sides that stays behind as a warning that this should never happen again. My testimony and admission of guilt will also remove blame from my nation because it is individual guilt, the guilt of a man named Dragan Obrenović. I stand by this. I am responsible for this. The guilt for which I feel remorse and for which I apologise to the victims and to their shadows. I will be happy if this contributed to reconciliation in Bosnia, if neighbours can again shake hands, if our children can again play games together, and if they have the right to a chance. I will be happy if my testimony helps the families of victims, if I can spare them having to testify again and thus relive the horrors and the pain during their testimony. It is my wish that my testimony should help prevent this ever happening again, not just in Bosnia, but anywhere in the world. It is too late for me now, but for the children living in Bosnia now, it's not too late and I hope that this will be a good warning to them.
Family
Dragan Obrenović is married to an economist with whom he had a son in 1997. His parents still reside in Rogatica, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and he has two brothers.External links
- ICTY case information sheet, United NationsUnited NationsThe United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
- [About Dragan Obrenović], United States Holocaust Memorial MuseumUnited States Holocaust Memorial MuseumThe United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is the United States' official memorial to the Holocaust. Adjacent to the National Mall in Washington, D.C., the USHMM provides for the documentation, study, and interpretation of Holocaust history...
- The killing fields of Zvornik, Bosnian InstituteBosnian InstituteThe Bosnian Institute is an organisation principally devoted to providing information on, and promoting the common good of, Bosnia and Herzegovina. It publishes a quarterly online magazine. It is directed by Quintin Hoare....
- Trial Watch : Dragan Obrenovic