Naser Orić
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Naser Orić (born March 3, 1967) is a former Bosniak soldier who is currently a war crimes indictee at the ICTY.
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Police career
He was born in Potočari, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Yugoslavia. Following conscription in the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) in 1985/1986, he served in a special unit for atomic and chemical defence. He left the JNA with the rank of Corporal.
In 1988, he completed a six month training course in Zemun and served in Savski Venac in Belgrade as a trainee policeman. As a member of the police unit for special actions, he had courses for two more years. In 1990, Naser Oric was deployed to Kosovo as a member of a police unit for special actions of the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Serbia. Thereafter, he returned to Belgrade. On 5 August 1991, he was transferred to a police station in Ilidza, on the outskirts of Sarajevo. In late 1991, Naser Oric was moved to the police station in Srebrenica and on 8 April 1992 was made the Police Chief of the Potocari police sub-station.
War
During the Bosnian War, Oric became commander of the irregular Bosnian government forces in the Srebrenica enclave (formally designated 28th Mountain Division, redesignated 8th Operational Group in 1995) 1992-1995. He was accused of having ordered (and led) numerous guerilla raids into as many as 50 Serb-populated villages in 1992-1993, particularly in the municipalities of Bratunac and Srebrenica.
However in the July 1995, the Srebrenica enclave was overrun by the Bosnian Serb Army. Orić, along with rest of the command staff of 8th OG, had been evacuated by helicopter prior to the fall of the enclave.
Trial
After the Dayton Peace Accords, he opened a fitness club in Tuzla.
On March 28 2003 he was indicted by the ICTY on two counts of individual responsibility and four counts of command responsibility for violations of the laws or customs of war, and was arrested without further incident at his club by SFOR on April 10 2003. He appeared before the court on April 15, 2003, and pleaded "not guilty" to all the counts of the Indictment.
He is accused of ordering the cruel treatment of eleven and killing of seven Serb men after being detained in the Srebrenica police station in 1992/1993. His troops are accused of pillaging at least fifty Serb-inhabited villages and hamlets in fifteen raids, causing the flight of its population. The trial began on October 6, 2004 and the prosecution compleated its case on June 1, 2005. A week later the tribunal dropped 2 of the counts against him, withdrew all allegation of plundering public and private property. The tribunal also dropped two villages from the list of alleged raids along with the names of 2 persons allegedly killed by Oric's men. The defence case commenced on July, 4 2005 (a week before the 10th anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre) and ended on April 10, 2006 (a day bfore the three year anniverary of his arrest). A decision is expected in the case by the end of June 2006. He has been incarcarated at the ICTY since April 11, 2003.
Unfair Trial?
There have been allegations that the tribunal has been biased against Oric. A number of witnesses testefied that Oric was aware of his impending indictment and told the commanders of SFOR in the Tuzla are that he would surrender peacefully, but SFOR chose to arrest him forcefully in spite of this. On July, 25 2003 the tribunal denied his appeal for a provisional release, even though it was clear he was no flight risk. Many of the 52 witnesses that the prosecution called were members of the Bosnian Serb Army who participated in the siege and massacre and as such are untrustworthy. The prosecution has also been accused of providing forged documents which three expert witnesess failed to authenticate, and has also been warned but not sancioned for witholding exculpatory evidence. The judges at one point attempted to reduce the time that defence witnesses were allowed to testify, until an appeals chamber overturned this decision. There is also outrage at the 18 year sentence that the prosecution has asked for. Oric is charged with failing to prevent and punish his subordinates for allegedlly killing 12 people. Drazen Erdemovic, was a Bosnian Croat soldier serving in the Bosnian Serb army in Srebrenica and although he confessed to killing 70 people during the Srebrenica massacre he only recived a 5 year sentence.
Serb allegations
The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia submitted a report of dubious accuracy to the United Nations on May 6, 1994, which elaborated, among other things, the Orić-led crimes in the Srebrenica area. It includes a list of 371 Serb people who were killed in a guerilla raids. Serb media in recent years have reported a higher potential death toll, ranging from 1,000-3,000.