Serbia Supplied Weapons to Croatian Serbs
Day 139
Serbia Supplied Weapons to Croatian Serbs
Day 139
Speaking slowly, protected witness C-013 made an important link between Belgrade and the war in Croatia. He told the Court that a police officer from the Serbian MUP (Ministry of the Interior) was in charge of transporting and distributing JNA weapons across the Danube to arm the local Serb territorial defense (TO) in Croatia in 1991. The weapons were stored in Dalj, where the TO would arrive to pick them up. He also implicated the head of Milosevic's Security Service in the campaign to take Vukovar.
Though his identity was protected, C-013 revealed that he was a member of the local Serbian police in the Vukovar area. As such, he was well placed to see the weapons transfer. He also testified to the involvement of Yugoslav Army (JNA) troops and paramilitaries in fighting in the region. While he said that the JNA intervened early to help the Croats withdraw from an action they initiated, he also testified that after coming to the area, the JNA established a headquarters near the Serbian TO and stayed. JNA cooperation with the TO included advice, as well as participation in attacks against villages, including Dalj and Erdut, by Serbian forces.
Zejlko Raznatovic (Arkan) also set up a headquarters in the area, arriving with 50 to 60 of his paramilitary 'Tigers.' C-013 testified they wore black uniforms and were well-armed and equipped, commensurate with the status of an elite unit. While there, the Tigers grew to 300 to 400 men, mostly arriving from Serbia. They engaged in looting and terrorizing the local population, as well as murder and extortion.
C-013 testified that the TO operated two detention facilities in the area -- one at Dalj and another at Borovo Selo, where civilians were detained. On at least two occasions, Arkan and some of his men arrived at the detention facilities and took people way. The bodies of eleven of them turned up later in the exhumation of bodies from a well. Two men were reportedly able to buy their safety with one or two million Deutschmarks.
C-013 knew about or participated in a number of meetings with members of the alleged Joint Criminal Enterprise, including Arkan, Jovica Stanisic and Goran Hadzic. While the content of these meetings was disclosed in private session, C-013 publicly related an incident where Stanisic arrived with an entourage, emerging from his vehicle shouting and behaving arrogantly. He demanded to see Hadzic, President of the Serbian National Council of the SAO Slavonia, Baranja and Western Srem, and to know why they had not yet taken Vukovar. He ordered a meeting with Hadzic and all TO commanders. Jovica Stanisic as chief of Serbian State Security was allegedly Milosevic's right hand man. On cross examination, Milosevic enticingly disclosed that his own name was mentioned at some of these meetings.
The bulk of Milosevic's cross examination occurred in private session. Judge May cautioned him at the outset not to ask questions that might reveal the witness's identity as he has been wont to do. Apparently, the Judge erred on the side of caution, given the potential danger to witnesses. After an hour or more, Judge May interrupted Milosevic's questioning to point out that he was wasting both his and the Court's time by repetitively asking the witness things he'd said he knew nothing about. A frustrated Judge May commented, 'It is the Accused's practice to put as much information as he claims he has to the witness.' Turning to Milosevic he advised him to challenge the testimony the witness had given rather than trying to present his case. 'All you've done is to put a lot of allegations of what you claim happened to Serbs,' Judge May continued. 'It is your usual practice but it is time to deal with the evidence the witness has given, concerned with what is in the indictment.' Before cutting off a persistent Milosevic, the Presiding Judge acknowledged, 'You have your own reasons for doing [this] -- to get publicity. As far as the Court is concerned, it is a pointless exercise.'
In his final public cross examination, Milosevic managed to elicit more details which substantiated C-013's earlier testimony on weapons supply from Serbia. He should have stuck with his pointless exercise.
Though his identity was protected, C-013 revealed that he was a member of the local Serbian police in the Vukovar area. As such, he was well placed to see the weapons transfer. He also testified to the involvement of Yugoslav Army (JNA) troops and paramilitaries in fighting in the region. While he said that the JNA intervened early to help the Croats withdraw from an action they initiated, he also testified that after coming to the area, the JNA established a headquarters near the Serbian TO and stayed. JNA cooperation with the TO included advice, as well as participation in attacks against villages, including Dalj and Erdut, by Serbian forces.
Zejlko Raznatovic (Arkan) also set up a headquarters in the area, arriving with 50 to 60 of his paramilitary 'Tigers.' C-013 testified they wore black uniforms and were well-armed and equipped, commensurate with the status of an elite unit. While there, the Tigers grew to 300 to 400 men, mostly arriving from Serbia. They engaged in looting and terrorizing the local population, as well as murder and extortion.
C-013 testified that the TO operated two detention facilities in the area -- one at Dalj and another at Borovo Selo, where civilians were detained. On at least two occasions, Arkan and some of his men arrived at the detention facilities and took people way. The bodies of eleven of them turned up later in the exhumation of bodies from a well. Two men were reportedly able to buy their safety with one or two million Deutschmarks.
C-013 knew about or participated in a number of meetings with members of the alleged Joint Criminal Enterprise, including Arkan, Jovica Stanisic and Goran Hadzic. While the content of these meetings was disclosed in private session, C-013 publicly related an incident where Stanisic arrived with an entourage, emerging from his vehicle shouting and behaving arrogantly. He demanded to see Hadzic, President of the Serbian National Council of the SAO Slavonia, Baranja and Western Srem, and to know why they had not yet taken Vukovar. He ordered a meeting with Hadzic and all TO commanders. Jovica Stanisic as chief of Serbian State Security was allegedly Milosevic's right hand man. On cross examination, Milosevic enticingly disclosed that his own name was mentioned at some of these meetings.
The bulk of Milosevic's cross examination occurred in private session. Judge May cautioned him at the outset not to ask questions that might reveal the witness's identity as he has been wont to do. Apparently, the Judge erred on the side of caution, given the potential danger to witnesses. After an hour or more, Judge May interrupted Milosevic's questioning to point out that he was wasting both his and the Court's time by repetitively asking the witness things he'd said he knew nothing about. A frustrated Judge May commented, 'It is the Accused's practice to put as much information as he claims he has to the witness.' Turning to Milosevic he advised him to challenge the testimony the witness had given rather than trying to present his case. 'All you've done is to put a lot of allegations of what you claim happened to Serbs,' Judge May continued. 'It is your usual practice but it is time to deal with the evidence the witness has given, concerned with what is in the indictment.' Before cutting off a persistent Milosevic, the Presiding Judge acknowledged, 'You have your own reasons for doing [this] -- to get publicity. As far as the Court is concerned, it is a pointless exercise.'
In his final public cross examination, Milosevic managed to elicit more details which substantiated C-013's earlier testimony on weapons supply from Serbia. He should have stuck with his pointless exercise.
