Milosevic Allegedly Distrusted Army

Velma Šarić

IWPR-trained journalist

Friday, 24 September, 2010

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A defence witness in the case of former Yugoslav Army, VJ, chief of general staff Momcilo Perisic this week alleged that the late Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic had had little trust in the army leadership.

Sinisa Borovic served as Perisic’s chef de cabinet between November 1994 and September 1996.

Perisic is the most senior VJ officer charged for crimes in Bosnia and Croatia with 13 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity. These include aiding and abetting the 43-month siege of Sarajevo, the shelling of the Croatian capital Zagreb and the July 1995 massacre of some 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica.

He is accused of having provided material, personnel, logistical and other assistance to Serb armies in Bosnia, VRS, and Croatia, SVK, and therefore contributing to the crimes committed by these forces.

Perisic served as the most senior officer in the VJ from 1993 to 1998, which under Yugoslav law made him subordinate only to the president of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, FRY, and the FRY Supreme Defence Council, SDC.

At the outset of this week's trial, Borovic testified on the meetings Perisic held with the then-leadership of Yugoslavia and Serbia, including Yugoslav president Zoran Lilic and Milosevic.

Lilic served as FRY president from 1993 to 1997. Milosevic, who was the president of Serbia until 1997 and FRY president from 1997 to 2000, was indicted for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo. He died on March 11, 2006 while standing trial at the Hague court.

Borovic said that Lilic “often visited the cabinet of the chief of general staff and army units in general” and that “he had a decent attitude toward the VJ, with much understanding for its problems and the wish to help the army and strengthen federal organs”.

Asked by defence lawyer Novak Lukic how often Milosevic visited the general staff and Perisic, the witness answered “very rarely, and only when he [Milosevic] wanted it”.

“How often did you have the chance to meet Mr Milosevic?” asked Lukic.

“In relation to his rare visits, very often indeed,” answered the witness, clarifying that he had met him at occasions including state banquets and joint briefings.

The witness said Milosevic had not trusted “the army as an institution”.

"Our standing impression was that President Milosevic didn't understand us, didn't trust the army leadership or the army as an institution. It was not a relation of confidence and equal cooperation,” he said.

He also said that Milosevic relied “much more on the police”, adding, “This reflected in the standard of their equipment. President Milosevic preferred the police because they were subordinate to him, to the Republic [of Serbia], whereas he harboured a certain aversion toward the army, which was federal."

The witness also explained how General Ratko Mladic, the commander of the main staff of the Bosnian Serb army from 1992 to 1996, came to visit Perisic, but that his visits were “few and very brief”.

Mladic is wanted for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
“He probably afterwards went to see someone else. We would usually send a car to pick him up,” added the witness.

Borovic described his first meeting with Mladic as a “negative experience” which he would “rather not speak about, if not necessary”. He did testify about this meeting in a part of the hearing which was closed to the public.

Later, Lukic asked the witness whether he had “heard of the incident in the summer of 1995 at the Markale market in Sarajevo”.

On August 28, 1995, five mortars fired at the central Sarajevo marketplace killed 37 and wounded 90 civilians.

According to the indictment, Perisic aided and abetted crimes including unlawful killings, inhumane acts and attacks against the civilian population of Sarajevo, knowing that the aid in logistics and personnel which he supplied would be used in the commission of these crimes.

“Yes, we heard about it, just as the whole world [did],” replied the witness. “We heard that a mortar had hit the market and that there were many victims, and then we heard other information too. Our intelligence service gave its estimate of where the mortar could have come from and why it was done.”

The witness went on to add that “it seemed, from the very outset, very unconvincing that it had been fired from positions marked as positions of Serb forces”.

The location from which the mortars had been fired has been the subject of much speculation, as Serb authorities immediately denied having targeted the marketplace.

The witness said that although there was much controversy in the media about where the mortars came from, “the intelligence services knew very well exactly where it had been fired from”.

The defence lawyer then referred to an intelligence bulletin, numbered 28 and dated September 27, 1995, which came from the department chief of the VJ’s Second Directorate. This document was entered into the record.

“This document from the Second Directorate says that the Markale Two incident (there had been a previous incident at the same site in 1994) was staged by the USA and France. Let me ask you generally in terms of information you received from intelligence services: which ones were the most relevant and important to you?" asked the lawyer.

“The most relevant, important ones were from our own Second Directorate,” answered the witness.

“What happened after this incident?” asked Lukic.

“I remember that there was no true analysis, or rather that there was no international independent commission of experts which would undertake on-site research and give its final conclusions,” replied the witness. “There were individual inquiries but it seems bedazzling that the international community never formed a team to carry out this task, whatever its conclusion would have been.”

Perisic surrendered to the tribunal on March 7, 2005 and the case began on October 2, 2008.

The trial continues next week.

Velma Saric is an IWPR-trained journalist in Sarajevo.