MILOSEVIC'S FRIEND NASER ORIC NAILED BY SARAJEVO COURT

NASER ORIC SAGA CONTINUES...

[reading time: 3-5 minutes]

Naser Oric, a former bodyguard of late Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic, has been sentenced to two years in prison by the Sarajevo court for illegal possession of weapons. Who exactly is Naser Oric?

Oric had organised the defence of the eastern enclave of Srebrenica during the 1992-1995 war. He had a warm post-war relationship with both Slobodan Milosevic and his son Marko. Marko supported Naser Oric thoughout his trial. They were in constant telephone communication according to the Serbian state prosecutor Bruno Vukaric. Milosevic's son Marko even congratulated Oric on his acquittal of all charges in relation to defence of the Srebrenica enclave. (source: Sarajevo X).

At the Hague Trial, Oric and Milosevic had a very friendly relationship. Milosevic once jokingly told Oric that he would be grateful if Oric would write him a report about the war time situation in Srebrenica to which Oric responded by saying that he believed that Milosevic already had all that information, prompting Milosevic to say, "Yes but I would like to get your perspective on it."

In his recently published book titled "Target" (Meta), radical Serbian ultra-nationalist Vuk Draskovic wrote that he remembers Naser Oric as one of the most polite security officers in Serbia. Oric arrested Draskovic and his wife Danica in Belgrade on March 9, 1991 during violent Belgrade demonstrations. Draskovic still remembers Oric as a nice guy.

Draskovic is, perhaps, the best known for his hatred against Muslims. In 1990, Draskovic held a meeting in Sanjak, - which is a small region in Serbia and Montenegro where Bosniaks once consisted ethnic majority. At that time, Draskovic had issued a threat to non-Serb population: "Those who, on Serbian land, lift any flag other than a Serbian one, whether it's a Muslim, Albanian, or Croat flag, will be left without the flag and without the hand".

Five years later, in July 1995, Serbs committed genocide against Bosniaks in Srebrenica. Then, as expected, Serbian propaganda focused its failed efforts to deny that genocide ever took place.

In order to justify Srebrenica genocide, Serbian nationalists started propagating grossly inflated claims that over 3,000 Serb civilians were murdered around Srebrenica under Naser Oric's command - a lie often repeated by the Serbian government propaganda. In fact, only 151 Serb civilians died around Srebrenica from 1992 - 1995 according to the Research and Documentation Center's data which had been audited and backed-up by the experts from the Hague Tribunal.

Milivoje Ivanisevic, who came up with this "3000 Serbs killed" figure, is a Srebrenica genocide denier himself. Ivanisevic's claims were discredited by the International Criminal Tribunal, Serbia's Human Rights Watch, and Bosnia's State-level Research and Documentation Center.

On the other hand, more than 14,000 Bosniaks died in 1992 as a result of Serb attacks, massacres, and ethnic cleansing perpetrated against the Bosnian Muslim population of Podrinje. (see Research and Documentation Center).

As a result of bogus Serbian allegations against Oric, he stood the trial at the Hague Tribunal. In July 2008, the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia acquitted him of all charges brought against him.

Oric is in no way a perfect man. According to BalkanInsight, "A Sarajevo Court based its Wednesday ruling on a large cache of weapons and ammunition, which were found in Oric’s apartments in Sarajevo, Tuzla and his summer cottage in Olovo. At the same time, the court found Oric not guilty of other charges, including extortion and threats."

So, in conclusion, what can be said about Oric's latest behavior? He broke the law. Now he has to pay it. Two years in prison. Fair and Square.