DID YOU KNOW?  -- Three years before the 1995 Srebrenica Genocide, Serbs torched Bosniak villages and killed at least 3,166 Bosniaks around Srebrenica. In 1993, the UN described the besieged situation in Srebrenica as a "slow-motion process of genocide." In July 1995, Serbs forcibly expelled 25,000 Bosniaks, brutally raped many women and girls, and systematically killed 8,000+ men and boys (DNA confirmed).

24 November, 2010

OSTOJA KRSTIC, MILENKO KRSTIC, ZELJKO BOSKOVIC - AND BRYAN DENSON

Lenient Justice: Slap in the Face of the Victims

Earlier this month, Zeljko Boskovic, a 50-year-old Beaverton (Oregon) resident, received only 3 year probation for lying about his genocidal past to obtain asylum in the United States. Records introduced as evidence at trial showed that Boskovic was a member of the Zvornik Brigade of the Bosnian Serb Army that played a major role in the mass executions of 8,372 Srebrenica men and boys. Boskovic was an infantry man, carrying a machine gun, at the scene of the worst massacre in Europe since World War II.

Another suspect, Ostoja Krstic from Cedar Mill - brother of suspected war criminal Milenko Krstic from Beaverton area - admitted to a federal judge in Portland on Monday that he lied about his military past to fraudulently obtain asylum in the United States. Ostoja Krstic and his brother Milenko Krstic were members of the notorious Zvornik Briade of the Bosnian Serb Army that participated in the 1995 Srebrenica genocide. Ostoja carried a machine gun, while Milenko provided logistical support.

During his trial (few months earlier), Milenko Krstic presented himself as a former "peace activist" and denied he ever did anything wrong. He worked at the headquarters of the Bosnian Serb army providing logistical support to notorious Serb units responsible for terrorizing and systematically murdering more than 8,000 Bosniak civilians and prisoners in July 1995. As a proven habitual liar, Milenko Krstic regularly presents himself as a victim, claiming he was a 'peace-maker' who was "forced into war."

Reporter from The Oregonian, Bryan Denson, appears to have befriended Krstic's family and repeatedly spearheaded one sided news reports in support of the Serbs. Allegedly, Krstic was a "peace activist" whose village Zeljova (near Banovici, not in the Srebrenica region) was torched by "Slavic Muslims known as Bosniaks." He never mentioned that Milenko Krstic's Zvornik Brigade destroyed hundreds of Bosnian Muslim villages around Srebrenica - three years before the massacre. Denson mistakenly reported that the 1995 Srebrenica genocide was "the mass executions of unarmed 'Serbian' men and boys, acts later classified as genocide." Bryan Denson is a shame for journalism and unqualified to write factually and objectively.

Speaking of journalistic integrity, Bryan Denson never wrote about how survivors and victims of the massacre felt during this trial. He never contacted this blog or local Bosnian NGO to ask questions about Krstic's dark past. He never interviewed survivors of the Srebrenica massacre. His main focus was to promote the story invented by Krstic's defense and how nice Krstic was to put his two 'beautiful' daughters into college and make one of them (Danijela Krstic, aka Danijela Radeta) Miss Oregon. Despicable.

The fact is that Milenko Krstic of Beaverton, provided logistical support to Serb troos during the 1995 Srebrenica genocide. According to information released by the Hague Tribunal, Ostoja's brother Milenko directly participated in this genocidal operation:

"On 16 July 1995, Lieutenant Colonel Vujadin Popovic, chief of of the Drina Corps of the Army of Republika Srpska, requested 500 liters of diesel fuel from the Zvornik Brigade. According to intercepted telephone conversations, unless the diesel was delivered 'the work he is doing will stop'. [*the 'work' was code for the killings operation] Just a few days before, the Bosnian Serb Army had overrun the UN ‘Safe Area’ of Srebrenica, rounded up more than 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys and systematically executed them. The prisoners were taken to locations around Srebrenica where they were shot and buried in mass graves. The buses used to transport the men, the buses used to deport the women and children and the bulldozers used to dig the mass graves all needed a lot of fuel. Colonel Popovic’s urgent appeal was rapidly dealt with. Captain S. Milosevic issued an order to supply Popovic with the fuel. The person responsible for overseeing the delivery of the fuel to Colonel Popovic was Milenko Krstic, the Zvornik Brigade member who signed the dispatch note – the 'material list for dispatch'."

Unfortunately, the  courts in the United States refuse to deal with suspected war crimes violations, completely ignoring the United States Genocide Accountability Act. Local courts in Bosnia-Herzegovina are overburdened with too many of their own cases, so they will probably let these two dirt bags slip between the cracks. Hence, Milenko Krstic was sentenced to only one year probation in August, "the lowest federal sentence for a felony crime". His brother Ostoja is also expected to receive probation. Zeljko Boskovic has already received his 3 year probation earlier this month. You call this justice? At this point in time, there is nobody to testify against these three dirt bags, because thousands of victims are scattered in mass graves. They can't speak for themselves, so we have to speak for them.