Massacre Detailed at Trial; 2nd Serb Pleads Not Guilty

THE HAGUE —  A 62-year-old Muslim told a U.N. genocide trial Friday how he survived a mass execution by Serbian soldiers by pretending for hours to be dead while column after column of refugees were gunned down around him.

In the gripping testimony at the trial of Bosnian Serb Maj. Gen. Radislav Krstic, the witness detailed his escape across a field strewn with bloody bodies after the Serbs’ seizure of Srebrenica--an event that focused world attention on the brutality of the Bosnian war.

As many as 1,500 refugees might have been killed at an agricultural center known as Branjevo farm that day in July 1995, said the man, whose identity was concealed during his testimony before the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia.

“They mowed them down,” the witness said. “You could hear the bullets hitting the bodies.”

In July 1995, Serbian forces broke through U.N. defense posts around Srebrenica and slaughtered at least 7,500 Muslim men and boys, prosecutors say. The remaining refugees escaped or were deported to Muslim-held territory.

The witness testified as the trial completed its fourth week. Earlier testimony has come from other massacre survivors, forensic experts and U.N. peacekeepers. Krstic has pleaded not guilty.

Earlier Friday, Momcilo Krajisnik--right-hand man to former Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic--pleaded not guilty to multiple war crimes charges, including genocide.

Seized Monday by NATO troops, Krajisnik, 55, is the biggest catch yet for the tribunal. He listened impassively to the nine counts against him, responding “not guilty” to each.