[3] Naser Orić was born on 3 March 1967 in Donji Potočari, about 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) from the town of Srebrenica to Džemal and Hata.

[6] Orić was conscripted into the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) in 1985/1986, where he served in a special unit for atomic and chemical defence.

[9] 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.

[7] Now his command encompassed the geographical regions of several municipalities: Srebrenica, Bratunac, Vlasenica and Zvornik in Eastern Bosnia.

[7] On New Year's Day 1994, all units under the command of Orić were named the 8th Operative Group Srebrenica HQ, 2nd (Tuzla) Corps of the ABiH.

[11] Srebrenica, and the surrounding Central Podrinje region, held immense strategic importance to both the Serbs and the Bosniaks during the ensuing Bosnian war.

According to the Naser Orić trial judgement:[11]"Between April 1992 and March 1993, Srebrenica town and the villages in the area held by Bosnian Muslims were constantly subjected to Serb military assaults, including artillery attacks, sniper fire, as well as occasional bombing from aircraft.

Serb soldiers and paramilitaries surrounded a Bosnian Muslim village or hamlet, called upon the population to surrender their weapons, and then began shelling and shooting.

However, Naser Orić and a handful of lightly-armed fighters based in Potočari ambushed and killed a number of Serb paramilitaries.

[11] On 6 May, Bosniaks led by Naser Orić carried out their first attack on a village, Gniona, to the north of the town of Srebrenica in which some Serb civilian were massacred.

[11] 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.

[citation needed] General Philippe Morillon of France, Commander of the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR), visited Srebrenica in March 1993.

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.

[citation needed] In July 1995, the partially disarmed "UN safe area" was ultimately overrun by the Bosnian Serb Army, resulting in the Srebrenica massacre.

[19] 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 acquitted of direct involvement in the murder or cruel treatment of Serbs, and of responsibility for the "wanton destruction" of homes and property.

[24] 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.

[23] The judges stated in the verdict that Orić had reason to know about murder and cruel treatment of Serbs on two specific occasions in the police station but acquitted him of all other crimes.

Orić was acquitted of direct involvement in the murder of prisoners in the early years of the Bosnian War, but the court found he had closed his eyes to their mistreatment and failed to punish their killers.

[23] As for the destruction in the villages of Kravica, Bjelovac, Fakovići and Sikirić, the judgment stated that "the accused and members of his group of fighters participated in the attack."

[30] 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.

[31] 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.

[33] 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.