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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.
Pre-war
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.
Police career
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 Special Police unit of the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Serbia. Thereafter, he returned to Belgrade, where he was rumored to be a bodyguard to Slobodan Milosevic.
On 5 August 1991, he was transferred to a police station in Ilidza, on the outskirts of Sarajevo, Bosnia. 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 Bosnian government forces in the Srebrenica enclave.
Territorial Defence
With the disintegration of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, a cadre staff consisting of former JNA officers began to prepare for the defence of Bosnia and Herzegovina. On 8 April 1992, the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina transformed the existing Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina TO (Territorial Defence) into the TO of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
On 17 April 1992, the Potocari TO was established and Naser Oric became its Commander. On 20 May 1992, members of the Crisis Staff of the TO Srebrenica too appointed him as the Commander. On 27 June 1992, Sefer Halilovic, Chief of the Supreme Command Staff of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina (ABiH) officially confirmed him as the Commander of the Srebrenica TO Headquarters (HQ). Oric also became a member of the War Presidency in Srebrenica upon its creation on 1 July 1992.
Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina
On 3 September 1992, the Srebrenica TO HQ was re-named the HQ Srebrenica Armed Forces; Naser Oric remained the Commander. Oric's command was further extended when he was appointed the Commander of the Joint Armed Forces of the Sub-Region Srebrenica in early November 1992. Now his command encompassed the geographical regions of several municipalities: Srebrenica, Bratunac, Vlasenica and Zvornik in Eastern Bosnia. On 15 April 1993, Oric received a Certificate of Merit.
On 1 January 1994, all units under the command of Naser Oric were named the 8th Operative Group Srebrenica HQ of the ABiH. On 12 July 1994, Naser Oric was promoted to the rank of Brigadier. Sometime before 1 March 1994, Oric was awarded the "Golden Lily", the highest award given by the Chief of Staff of the Supreme Command of the ABiH.
In early 1995, the 8th Operative Group Srebrenica HQ was re-named the ABiH 2nd Corps 28th Mountain Division. In the July 1995, Srebrenica "UN safe area" enclave was overrun by the Bosnian Serb Army. However, Orić, along with rest of the command staff of 8th OG, had been evacuated by helicopter prior to the fall of the enclave.
UN 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 has been incarcarated at the ICTY since April 11, 2003; he appeared before the court on April 15, 2003, and pleaded "not guilty" to all the counts of the Indictment.
Naser Oric is accused of failing to take necessary and reasonable measures to prevent the 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 is also 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. In the course of such combat activities, Bosnian Serb buildings, dwellings, and other property in predominantly Serb villages, were burnt and destroyed; as a result, thousands of Serb individuals fled the area.
- Naser ORIC, is individually responsible, pursuant to Article 7(1) of the Statute of the Tribunal, for the crimes of wanton destruction of cities, towns or villages not justified by military necessity and plunder of property as alleged in this indictment. Individual criminal responsibility includes planning, instigating, ordering, committing or otherwise aiding and abetting in the planning, preparation or execution of any acts or omissions set forth in this indictment. Naser ORIC's continued failure to take reasonable measures to prevent wanton destruction of cities, towns or villages and to punish the perpetrators who committed such crimes, as well as his active involvement in the attacks during which such wanton destruction was caused, instigated the commission of the crimes and aided and abetted the perpetrators of these crimes.
The trial began on October 6, 2004 and the prosecution completed its case on June 1, 2005. A week later the tribunal dropped two 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. 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 before the three year anniverary of his arrest). A decision is expected in the case by the end of June 2006.
Bosniak allegations
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 Tuzla 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 of Srebrenica and as such are untrustworthy. The prosecution has also been accused of providing forged documents which three expert witnesses 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 7 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 included 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.