Court Told Krajina Suffered “Systematic Campaign” of Destruction

A former United Nations official testifying in the trial of Croatian general Ivan Cermak this week spoke of the looting and burning of buildings he said he witnessed in the Serb-held Krajina in the summer of 1995.



Edward Flynn, an ex-member of the UN human rights action team which patrolled the region during this time, was testifying about events in the Knin district of Krajina in the aftermath of the Croatian military offensive known as Operation Storm which led to mass exodus of Serbs from this region.



The witness told the Hague tribunal of his disbelief when, at a meeting of Croatian and UN officials in August that year, Cermak had asked to be notified immediately of any crimes so that he could dispatch police to investigate them as soon as possible.



“I considered it implausible for the general to ask us to notify him of incidents of lawlessness, when in our travels around the region, it was very easy to see burning buildings and acts of looting; and we also investigated at that time a number of killings,” Flynn told the court.



Cermak is on trial along with two other former senior Croatian generals, Ante Gotovina and Mladen Markac. The three men are accused of having an instrumental role in the forcible removal of up to 200,000 Serbs from the Croatian region of Krajina between July and September 1995.



Cermak was appointed the commander of the Croatian garrison in Knin on August 6, 1995, two days after Operation Storm. With operational control over Croatian army units and the civilian police, the former general is charged with conducting a joint criminal enterprise against Serbs by “permitting, denying and/or minimising the ongoing criminal activity, including participating in the reporting of false, incomplete, [and] misleading information regarding crimes committed”.



According to Flynn, in August 1995, he and his UN colleagues informed the Croatian authorities – for which Cermak was the main point of contact – about crimes such as the looting and burning of houses in the region.



UN video footage of burning houses and dead civilians were shown to the court this week as Flynn confirmed that there was a “systematic campaign” of destruction which he tried to prevent by reporting it to Cermak.



“We conveyed to the general our concern about continuing lawlessness in the sector… A number of killings, more burning houses had been observed, there was a high level of looting taking place,” he said.



And according to Flynn, Cermak had the necessary power over security forces to prevent such crimes.



“Cermak spoke with great authority about these issues,” said Flynn. “His response was that he would take the necessary action… He spoke as if he could control military police and civilian matters in the region.”



But while Cermak assured him that crimes were being investigated, Flynn said that his visit 10 days later to the house of a murdered man in Grubori, in the Plavno valley of Krajina, showed this not to be the case.



“There was still a bullet casing on the floor of that room some 10 days to two weeks after the incident. So I personally doubt that a serious investigation took place, at least at that time,” said Flynn.



During the cross examination by Cermak’s defence lawyer, Stephen Kay, Flynn agreed that there was a “cordial” relationship between Cermak and the UN staff in Knin. But he said that although a “mutual respect” existed between the parties there was also “a difference in perception at what was taking place”.



“There were some times that plainly evident facts were disputed by the general, such as widespread burning that was taking place in August,” said Flynn.



Kay put it to the court that Flynn was making an assumption about Cermak’s authority and did not know precisely what it was. Kay quoted Flynn’s words that he was “not exactly sure of Cermak’s actual authority”.



The defence contested that Cermak had “actual authority” to act to prevent or punish crimes in the region. Flynn confirmed he only “believed” this to be the case.



Kay contended that Cermak’s role regarding police forces in Knin amounted to little more than cooperation and that they were definitely not subordinated to him. He pointed to “the difference between being in control of the police and actually cooperating and coordinating with them”.



The defence counsel then brought a number of documents before the court, including letters between chiefs of the military and civilian police in Knin, to show that Cermak was not responsible for law and order in the region during the summer of 1995. He attempted to demonstrate that it was the military and civilian police, and not Cermak, who had direct obligations concerning security in the region.



“There was a complete hierarchy working entirely on its own without Mr Cermak, with the civilian police and the military police at the highest level…the failure of these bodies was not the responsibility of Mr Cermak,” Kay told the court.



The witness agreed that this may have been the case, although he was not aware of it at the time. But he contended that the chief of the civilian police in Knin district worked on the basis that some security resources were dependent on Cermak.



In Cermak’s defence, Kay sought to paint a picture of highly organised administrative structures that were not affiliated to the office of the accused, and were trying to operate in “a scene of chaos” to bring the area under control.



Flinn disagreed with Kay’s description, referring to the situation as “lawless” rather than one of chaos, as it was a sparsely populated area.



And when asked if he was aware of “a whole series of orders” for the military and civilian police to work together to provide security, Flynn replied, “I find this very surprising because well into my stay there, there seemed to be a minimal police presence… I felt there was a serious deficiency in security in the area so it’s quite remarkable to see these orders.”



Kay further sought to defend Cermak in terms of the security forces’ failure to investigate the burning of houses and the looting of property. In order to show that civilian and military police received orders form Zagreb and not Cermak himself, he read out a letter from Croatia’s assistant minister of interior to the police administration in Knin, calling for police to clamp down on such crimes. The letter also implied that an amnesty existed on all such acts committed before August 18. According to Kay, the ministry of interior had decided not to investigate the burning and looting committed up to this date.



Simon Jennings is an IWPR reporter in The Hague.