The Danger of Justice-Making: Serbian journalist threatened after testifying to JNA involvement in war crimes

Before his testimony was closed to the public for his protection, Serbian journalist Jovan Dulavic began a description of what he saw in Visegrad and Zvornik in Bosnia-Herzegovina. To prepare the Serbian population for war in Bosnia, he testified, the Serbian media (largely controlled by Slobodan Milosevic) began a campaign of 'gross exaggeration' and lies 'about the great danger looming over Serbs in Bosnia.' Media accounts included 'incredible details,' such as Serb children being fed to lions in the Sarajevo Zoo.

With a pass from the Yugoslav Army (JNA), Mr. Dulavic went to Zvornik on April 10, 1992. Despite the pass, he was not allowed to enter Zvornik though Seselj's paramilitaries were. From his vantage point in Mali Zvornik across the river, he heard gunfire, shelling and artillery fire. He also saw corpses. Making his way downstream on the Serbian side of the river, he ran into several local Serb civilians. They identified the smoke rising from across the river as burning villages and houses. Mr. Dulavic then came upon a Golf car full of armed men, including two sitting in the trunk. When he asked what they were doing, they told him they were going to burn a mosque. Shortly, Mr. Dulavic saw an intact mosque across the river. He also saw JNA tanks in Bosnia. When he returned along that route, the mosque's minaret had been destroyed.

Later that month, Mr. Dulavic traveled to Uzica in Serbia. There he learned that the Uzica Corps of the JNA was preparing to enter Visegrad in Bosnia. He made plans to accompany them. At the entrance to Visegrad, he found fortifications and saw houses on fire. There was no fighting. He entered the city with an advance party of JNA. Paramilitaries were already there and appeared to have been looting.

At one point, he saw a column of several hundred civilians following a truck. They carried suitcases and belongings with them. Mr. Dulavic's companion, another journalist, approached a woman wearing Muslim pantaloons, and asked her what had happened. 'The woman replied she didn't know but her son had gone out to feed the cattle in front of the barn and had been killed by armed people.' She and others were gathered into groups and forced to join the column. They were walking to Tuzla. Mr. Dulavic testified that the JNA would have been unable to organize this exodus so soon after its arrival. It must have been done by paramilitaries.

Leaving Visegrad he came upon the body of an old man lying near the river. The man's hands were tied behind his back. A doctor on the scene said he was Muslim and that he had been strangled.

When Mr. Dulavic came to a bar with a public telephone, he called in his story about the entrance of the JNA into Visegrad. Because of the noise, he had to shout. One of several men dressed in camouflage sitting in the bar, jumped to his feet and pulled a pistol. Pointing it at Mr. Dulavic, he said the JNA hadn't entered Visegrad first. It had been his unit, who he identified as one of Arkan's units.

While describing war crimes, this part of the witness's testimony provides only tenuous links to the JNA. Most of the activity appears to have been committed by paramilitaries, with no indication of JNA control. Where he did testify to JNA control, it was of a JNA officer ordering the arrest of a paramilitary who had broken into the Hotel Visegrad. Obviously, this is only a brief glimpse of the prosecution's evidence on Visegrad and Zvornik. The witness was also to testify on his experience in Bratunac -- but that fell under closed session. The majority of the Bosnia part of the case is anticipated to be presented after the first of the year. In the meantime, where witnesses, like Mr. Dulavic, have evidence pertaining to Bosnia as well as Croatia, they provide a glimpse of what can be expected.

At the beginning of Mr. Dulavic's testimony, Prosecutor Dermot Groome led him through a list of people he would testify about. Those names are part of the public record and include: JNA: Colonel Taso, Commander of the Pancevo mechanized unit, Major Veselin Slivancanin, Commander of the Guards Brigade in Vukovar, Commander Aleksandar Bojkovski, also in Vukovar, Captain Miroslav Radic, Spasui Petkovic (Stuka) a regular JNA soldier; TO: Stanko Vujanovic, Commander of the first detachment of the TO in Vukovar, Ivica Andric, volunteer in Vukovar, Radovan Stojicevic (Badza), also in the Serbian MUP leadership, Marko Pavlovic (aka Branko Popovic), TO Commander in Zvornik; Serbian MUP: Momir Gavrilovic (aka Colonel Peric); Paramilitaries: Zelko Raznatovic (Arkan) seen in Borovo Selo; Major Peja, one of Arkan's officers, also Peja the Gypsy, another member of Arkan's group, Vojislav Seselj, President of the Serbian Radical Party and head of paramilitary units, Miroslav (Cele), Commander of a group of Seselj's men, Kameni, associated with Seselj's men in Vukovar, Mico Teadocejevic, another Seseljici known as 'The Screwdriver,' Vojin Vuckovic, leader of the paramilitary group known as the Yellow Wasps and Federal SUP martial arts instructor, and Dragica, a woman paramilitary from Novi Sad who served in Vujanovic's TO unit in Vukovar.

As this extensive list shows, Mr. Dulavic had access to high echelons of power in military and paramilitary forces. One can only speculate about those he did not name -- for security purposes -- and about the activities he described in closed session. Unfortunately, Milosevic's cross examination will likely be closed from public view as well. Given prosecutor Geoffrey Nice's warning that there may be an increase in danger faced by witnesses in this part of the case, the public may be denied access to more testimony. Presiding Judge May is sensitive to the need for a public trial, as he expressed before Mr. Dulavic took the stand. He and the other two judges can be expected to continue balancing the public's right to know against the witness's need for anonymity to be safe. It will be a shame if criminal elements still at large in the Balkans prevent the public from full participation in justice. It is a comment on how dangerous justice-making is in a region where impunity for war criminals still reigns. That does not bode well for domestic trials of war crimes cases, which are a necessity if there is to be stability and peace in the region.