Desanka Maksimović Primary School in Petkovci

From 14 to 16 July 1995, the Desanka Maksimović Primary School in the settlement of Petkovci, Municipality of Zvornik served as a site of detention for Bosniaks from Zvornik, Srebrenica and surrounding villages. On 14 July 1995, members of VRS transported prisoners from a detention site in Bratunac to the primary school in Petkovci with another 1000 or so prisoners and several young men captured from the column that was making its way out of the UN Safe Zone of Srebrenica, after the enclave had been overtaken by VRS, or who were separated from the women and children in Potočari where they had sought refuge with the UN troops that were stationed there. They were held inside the school where they were abused, tied up and denied water. Around 1000 of them were killed in front of the school and on the plateau beneath the Red Silt Dam.

For war crimes committed in the area of Zvornik, including the crime of genocide in Srebrenica, for crimes committed in the Desanka Maksimović Primary School and at the Red Silt Dam near Petkovci, Municipality of Zvornik, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) convicted, under the command responsibility doctrine, Radovan Karadžić, the wartime president of Republika Srpska and supreme commander of its armed forces, sentencing him to 40 years in prison, and Ratko Mladić, the wartime commander of the Main Staff of the Army of Republika Srpska, sentencing him to life imprisonment.
Among those responsible for the crimes in Petkovci as integral participants of the campaign of genocide, terror, expulsion and murder, the ICTY convicted Dragan Obrenović, sentencing him to 17 years in prison, Momir Nikolić, sentencing him to 20 years in prison, Zdravko Tolimir, sentencing him to life in prison, and Radoslav Krstić, sentencing him to 35 years in prison.
The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina convicted Ostoja Stanišić, commander of the 6th Battalion of the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS) Zvornik Brigade, for the crime of genocide, and sentenced him to 5 years in prison.