Naser Orić (born 3 March 1967) is a Bosnian former officer who commanded Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (ARBiH) forces in the Srebrenica enclave in eastern Bosnia surrounded by Bosnian Serb forces, during the Bosnian War.

In 2006, he was sentenced to two years imprisonment by the Trial Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in the Netherlands for failing to prevent the deaths of five Bosnian Serb detainees and the mistreatment of eleven other detainees from late 1992 to early 1993 on the basis of superior criminal responsibility.

Orić was acquitted on other charges of wanton destruction and causing damage to civilian infrastructure beyond the realm of military necessity. On 3 July 2008, the Appeals Chamber of the ICTY reversed the Trial Chamber's conviction and acquitted Orić of all charges brought against him. In November 2018, he was formally acquitted by a Bosnian appeals court.

Early life

Naser Orić was born on 3 March 1967 in Donji Potočari, about from the town of Srebrenica to Džemal and Hata. His grandfather had fought with the Ustaše, a ultranationalist movement, during World War II. Orić graduated from high school with a metalworking certificate. As a member of the police unit for special actions, he had courses for two more years. He guarded Milošević during the celebration of the 600th anniversary of the Battle of Kosovo at Gazimestan in Kosovo Polje in June 1989, when the Serbian president delivered a speech in front of hundreds of thousands of Serbs. Thereafter, he returned to Belgrade. He worked in quelling the civil unrest during the March 1991 mass anti-war protests, arresting Vuk Drašković. On 12 July 1994, Orić was promoted to the rank of Brigadier, and sometime before the first of March he was awarded the Order of the Golden Lily, the highest award given by the Chief of Staff of the Supreme Command of the ARBiH. In November 1991, a Bosnian Serb plebiscite reflected support for BiH to remain within the SFRY. However, an overwhelming majority of Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Croats voted for BiH independence, in the next few months.

Srebrenica was a focal point in the Serb strategy and was gradually isolated by the Serb forces in 1992. By April 1992, the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) had set up artillery at all strategic points surrounding Srebrenica.

The Prosecution at the ICTY alleged that between September 24, 1992 and March 20, 1993, the military police, under Orić's command and control, subjected several Serb individuals to physical abuse, serious suffering and injury to body and health, inhumane treatment, and in some cases, murder.

Bosnian Serb forces committed a massacre in the village of Glogova on 9 May, which resulted in the deaths of 64 Bosniak civilians. On 12 July 1992, 69 Bosnian Serb soldiers and civilians were killed in the villages of Zalazje and Sase in the municipality of Srebrenica, and Biljača and Zagoni in the municipality of Bratunac, after an attack by the ARBiH led by Orić.

General Philippe Morillon of France, Commander of the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR), visited Srebrenica in March 1993. By then the town was overcrowded and siege conditions prevailed. There was almost no running water as the advancing Serb forces had destroyed the town’s water supplies; people relied on makeshift generators for electricity, and food, medicine and other essentials were extremely scarce. Before leaving, General Morillon told the panicked residents of Srebrenica at a public gathering that the town was under the protection of the UN and that he would never abandon them.

The attacks

The attacks under Orić's command mentioned in the ICTY indictment, by Deputy Prosecutor David Tolbert, are listed below:

:*15–20 May, the villages of Viogor, Orahovica and Osredak were attacked. The main objective of these attacks was to link up various Bosniak resistance centers around Srebrenica.

:*21-27 June, the villages of Ratkovici, Bradjevina, Ducici, and Gornji Ratkovici were attacked by Orić's forces. The objective of the attack was reportedly to prevent further shelling of Srebrenica enclave.

:*6 November, Bosniak forces, led by Orić, attacked and captured the village of Kamenica (Bosnia and Herzegovina).

:*14-19 December, Bosnian Army and irregulars under the command of Orić attacked the villages of Bjelovac, Voljavica, Loznica, and Sikirić after an attack by the Serb Army.

:*16 January 1993, Orić attacked the village of Skelani, on the border with Serbia, killing at least 40 Serbs.

UN Safe Area

On 10 January 1993 the Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladić launched a full-scale offensive against Srebrenica. On 17 April 1993, the city was made a safe haven by the United Nations, while fighting between Serb forces and Orić's units in Srebrenica continued with the Serbs retaking much of the territory lost during 1992.

In July 1995, the partially disarmed "UN safe area" was ultimately overrun by the Bosnian Serb Army, resulting in the Srebrenica massacre. Orić, along with rest of the command staff of 8th OG, was evacuated by helicopter in May 1995 two months prior to the fall of the enclave.

ICTY war crimes trial

After the Dayton Peace Accords, Orić opened a fitness club in Tuzla. In a post-war TV interview, he stated "It's a fact that I was one of the main commanders in Srebrenica and, if I have to answer to someone, I'll answer; but I'd first have to bring up the time, space and situation in which we lived, as well as what the Serbs did to us compared to what we did to them. If Naser has to answer to someone, I'm right here and I'm not running away from responsibility, I'm not running away from the court, I'm not running away from the Hague or anyone. You just have to call on me and no problem."

An indictment at the ICTY against Orić was submitted on 17 March 2003 and confirmed on 28 March. He was indicted on two counts of individual responsibility and four counts of command responsibility for violations of the laws or customs of war, and was arrested at his club by SFOR on 10 April 2003 and transferred to the Hague the next day. Orić appeared before the court on 15 April and pleaded "not guilty" to all the counts of the indictment. He was denied a provisional release on 25 July 2003 and was held at the ICTY from 11 April 2003 until 30 June 2006.

The indictment

Orić was accused of torture and cruel treatment of eleven and killing of seven Serb men being detained in the Srebrenica police station in 1992/1993, and to punish the perpetrators thereof. He was also accused of having ordered (and led) numerous guerrilla raids into as many as 50 Serb-populated villages in 1992–1993, particularly in the municipalities of Bratunac and Srebrenica. Bosnian Serb buildings, dwellings, and other property in predominantly Serb villages, were burnt and destroyed, hundreds of Serbs were murdered, and thousands of ethnic Serbs fled the area.

The trial

The trial began on 6 October 2004 and the prosecution completed its case on 31 May 2005.

The defense case commenced on 4 July 2005 and ended on 10 April 2006. In all there were 196 trial days, 83 witnesses testifying (52 called by prosecution, 30 by defense and 1 by the trial chamber) and 1,649 exhibits presented as evidence. The decision in the case was delivered on 30 June 2006. was released immediately for time already served. He was acquitted of direct involvement in the murder or cruel treatment of Serbs, and of responsibility for the "wanton destruction" of homes and property.

The judges noted that militarily superior Serb forces encircled the town and that there was an unmanageable influx of refugees there, as well as a critical shortage of food and the breakdown of law and order. The judges also noted that it was in those circumstances, Orić, then 25, was elected commander of a poorly trained volunteer force that lacked effective links with government forces in Sarajevo. His authority was scorned by some other Bosnian leaders and his situation became worse as the Serb forces increased the momentum of their siege.

The appeal

On 31 July 2006, UN chief prosecutor Carla del Ponte announced she would appeal against the two-year sentence, saying it was too short. Orić's lawyer said she would also launch an appeal, saying her client did not commit any crime and should be acquitted.

After 2006 release from imprisonment

As Orić had already spent more than two years in detention, following his trial he was released. He arrived at Sarajevo International Airport on 1 July 2006. On 4 July, he gave an interview to the Sarajevo daily Dnevni Avaz in which he stated among other things that the atmosphere in the ICTY detention unit was jovial and that there was no hostility between the inmates who were former war time adversaries. Orić said he passed the time by working out and learning English. He added that he believed that the behavior of an indictee in the detention unit and in the courtroom would reflect the severity of the prison term one would receive.

Naser Orić was arrested on 3 October 2008 by Bosnian police. He was charged in November 2008 with extorting 240,000 Bosnian Marks ($157,000) and illegal possession of weapons and ammunition. In July 2009 he was found guilty of illegal possession of weapons and ammunition but acquitted of extortion, and sentenced to two years in prison by a Sarajevo court. The sentence was subsequently reduced to four years probation and he was pardoned by the Bosnian Federation Presidency in 2012.

2015 imprisonment in Switzerland and extradition on new charges

On 2 February 2014, Interpol National Central Bureau for Serbia issued an arrest warrant for Naser Orić at the request of the Serbian Justice Ministry on suspicion of war crimes against civilian populations in the villages around the Srebrenica municipality in July 1992.

Swiss border police arrested him on 10 June 2015 on the French-Swiss border based on a warrant from Serbia.

Reactions came from the Bosniak-dominated government of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and organisations which support his innocence. The Bosnian government saw this as an attack by Serbia to cause tensions a month before the 20th anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide.

In 2015, the mayor of the Srebrenica municipality, Ćamil Duraković, ordered, with the agreement of local authorities, a delay of the marking of the 20th anniversary of the genocide, if Orić were transferred to Serbian authorities.

The warrant by the Serbian prosecution alleges that Orić and Bosnian Army soldier Sabahudin Muhić killed three Bosnian Serb prisoners of war in the villages of Zalazje, Lolici and Kunjerac in 1992, three years before the infamous 1995 attack on Srebrenica. He was, however, extradited to Bosnia and Herzegovina, not Serbia. In 2018 the State Court of Sarajevo acquitted him.

References

  • ICTY Case Information Sheet on Naser Orić
  • ICTY latest Indictment: Third Amended Indictment, 30 June 2005
  • ICTY Indictment against Naser Orić
  • Naser Orić profile , Hague Justice Portal
  • John Pomfret, Orić profile, washingtonpost.com, February 1994
  • "Thousands Welcome Srebrenica Commander", washingtonpost.com
  • Suspects who went to war over diversity pass jail days in harmony