In 2003, Obrenović pleaded guilty to one of the counts of persecution and in exchange agreed to allocute to his crime and witness for the prosecution he was sentenced to 17 years in prison.

In October 1991, during the Croatian War of Independence, the JNA started its withdrawal from Croatia and Obrenović's unit was relocated to the Dubrava Airport in Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina, where he was promoted to acting commander of the armored battalion.

[citation needed] In early April 1992, with the international community rapidly approaching recognition of the independence of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina along former Yugoslav leader Josip Broz Tito's old boundaries, Serbia-controlled JNA forces began preparations to invade and conduct ethnic cleansing campaigns in the Bosanski Šamac, Prijedor, Vlasenica and Zvornik regions of the Drina Valley in Eastern Bosnia.

"[6] Five days later the JNA, including Obrenović's battalion, launched a massive simultaneous assault, starting with the attack by the Serb Volunteer Guard paramilitary forces on Bijeljina.

The attacks soon spread to Foča, Zvornik, Bosanski Šamac, Vlasenica, Prijedor, Brčko, and was punctuated by the blockading of the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo to the southwest.

[citation needed] Non-Serbs had their property confiscated, were deported en masse, and many men of military age or of political, community, religious or cultural importance were murdered on sight or in mass executions in villages such as Kozarac, Gornja Grapska in Doboj, the Hotel Posavina in Brčko, the Crkvina warehouse in Bosanski Šamac, and detention centers such as the Brčko Partizan sports hall.

Many other non-Serb men were interred at infamous concentration camps such as Omarska and Keraterm, while the women, children and elderly fled south toward the towns of Srebrenica and Žepa.

[4] Obrenović reported to Crna Rijeka, whereupon he was appointed acting Chief of Staff of the 1st Zvornik Infantry Brigade under the 17th VRS Corps at Tuzla.

[citation needed] Believing that the UN-protected enclaves of Srebrenica and Žepa were never demilitarized, and that they hid what amounted to "five or six brigades" of ARBiH troops and weapons,[8] the VRS Main Staff ordered the Drina Corps command to undertake an operation codenamed Krivaja '95.

At 05:00 on 12 July Obrenović's Gucovo group reported communication intercepts indicating large foot column of Bosniaks had formed, comprising parts of the ARBiH 28th Division as well as thousands of desperate refugees, and was heading northeast toward the city of Tuzla in the Bosnian government-held territory.

Obrenović had concerns that the customary travel vector might bring the column close to engaging with Zvornik Brigade forces just north of the village of Jaglići.

[citation needed] Later on he began receiving requests for trucks and buses for transport in Potočari, where thousands of unarmed Bosnians were captured by the Serb forces at the base of UN Dutchbat peacekeepers.

Early on the evening of 12 April he got word from Vukotić that units of the 28th Division were carrying out a penetration and evacuation through this space and that practically the entire area was overwhelmed by people from this column.

Small groups (about 150 men) from column broke through and were reaching Glogova and Cerska, so Obrenović was tasked to take all necessary measures in order to protect the elements of combat deployment of the brigade as well as populated Serb villages in the territory of Zvornik.

[citation needed] At midnight on 12 July Obrenović set out with some units north of Liplje to organize an ambush of forward components of 28th Division.

Shortly thereafter he received word from intercept groups that chatter was picking up in the area stretching from Cerska toward Kamenica, despite Drina Corps' reassurance that there was no troop presence there.

The column, which also went through a mine field and artillery shelling, would be ambushed by the Drina Wolves near Nova Kasaba on 13 July and then again by the VRS near Snagovo the next day.

[10] At 14:00 on 14 July Obrenović was at Snagovo when Major Zoran Jovanović brought in a reinforcement company, along with the information that Colonel Ljubiša Beara, officer in charge of the VRS security service, had transported an abnormally large number of prisoners in buses to Zvornik.

Throughout the next days, Obrenović spent most of his time trying to find a solution for the column problem, but he also released further military police and infantry personnel from battle lines to assist with the execution of prisoners, and supplied earth moving machinery from his engineering battalions to dig mass graves.

Throughout the day on 14 July members of the Military Police Company of Obrenović's Zvornik Brigade guarded and blindfolded approximately 1,000 non-Serb men and boys detained at the school in Grbavci.

Ristić claimed to have been unaware that executions were going to be taking place, and upon learning of this had tried to remove his men from the area when Drago Nikolić stopped them and promised them new uniforms if they would stay and continue to help kill the prisoners.

An elderly man attached to the Rear Services of 4th Battalion related to him that he had heard that Drago Nikolić had personally taken part in the execution and that he could not believe what had happened.

Obrenović was briefed that, while the 10th Sabotage Detachment from Vlasenica took part in the executions, together with selected soldiers from Bratunac, the Zvornik Brigade's 6th Battalion trucks and personnel were utilised to transport the corpses from the school, which were buried in a mass grave at the dam.

[3] At noon on 18 July Obrenović was ordered by Pandurević to report to and brief three senior officers from the Drina Corps Main Staff regarding the corridor opening for the column.

Drina Corps commanders then ordered that their units should no longer risk taking prisoners, and at that point VRS troops shot the surrendering Bosnians on sight more frequently and stopped bring captives in for processing.

Between August and November 1995, VRS soldiers took part in a large scale operation to cover up the murders and executions committed in the zone under the responsibility of the brigades from Zvornik and Bratunac.

[3] Obrenović later testified that on 20 October he learned that several members of the brigade's engineering unit, military police and Drago Nikolić participated in the re-burial of those prisoners executed in July 1995.

Popović brought in others to help, including units from the Drina Corps Military Police, who secured the area and traffic where the re-burials were taking place.

[9] On 16 March 2001 General Dragan Obrenović was indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague for complicity in genocide, extermination, persecution, and two counts of murder.

He pleaded guilty to one count of persecution, and in exchange for truthful allocution to his role in the massacre and his testimony against his co-accused (his indictment was to be joined with that of four others on 27 May) he was promised a reduced sentence.