Secretary Confronts Milosevic: Arkan Took Orders from Serbian State Security

Despite Milosevic’s best efforts over several hours, he failed to sway witness B-129 from the core of her testimony: The Serbian State Security Service directed the combat operations of Arkan’s Tigers (Serbian Volunteer Guard or SDG) in Bosnia and Croatia.

One tactic he used to try to discredit the one-time secretary in Arkan’s offices was to suggest someone must have helped prepare her testimony because it wasn’t logical that someone in her position could have remembered details from so long ago. It badly backfired, giving her the opportunity to add to her direct testimony and to explain why she came forward: “I have to tell you that you over there – had you worked over there, you would have remembered things your entire life, because to bury 12 young men who were fighting for the Serbian people is a very difficult thing, and that is why I wanted to say what I know, because it would appear that the war boiled down to smuggling and that those young men had died for no reason whatsoever.”

If her motives were not crystal clear from this exchange, Milosevic gave her another opportunity when he challenged her statement that 5000 Krajina Serbs were arrested in September/October 1995. It was merely a mobilization of members of the Army of Republika Srpska Krajina, he said. But witness B-129 would not go along with this distortion: “[T]hat was not the army of the Republic of Serbian Krajina. Those were refugees, men, refugees who had fled to Serbia in August, after the Operation Storm of 1995.” She went on to explain that in Serbia, the refugees were sought everywhere –“ in coffee bars, in the streets.” They were arrested and imprisoned in Sremska Mitrovica, then sent to Arkan’s training camp in Erdut in preparation for fighting on the front lines. Milosevic countered that the RSK considered them deserters, who were mobilized to fulfill their military duty. To this cynical statement, the witness responded, “I personally do not consider them deserters because, after the Operation Storm in August 1995, those people lost everything. And if you had seen them at the camp in Erdut, you would share my opinion.”

It was precisely this kind of cynicism and disregard for ordinary people that appeared to motivate this ordinary secretary to confront the power behind the machinations that caused so much suffering. During the years she spent in Arkan’s office, she heard and saw many horrible things. From wounded Tigers, no longer fit for combat, she learned of the brutal torture and murder of Muslim prisoners. On direct examination, she testified how one form of torture left an indelible imprint in her memory – the anal rape of a Muslim prisoner with a bottle.

In addition to the stories she heard of Tiger and DB (Serbian State Security) military operations in 1991 and 1992, she gave direct testimony about several operations in which they engaged in 1995. In Treskavica in July 1995, 60 to 70 Tigers joined the DB, under the command of Vaso Mijovic, to cut the Muslim communication line with Sarajevo. From Jugoslav Simic, one of the Tigers who took part, she learned that members of the DB tortured most of the captured Muslims, then killed them.

In September and October 1995, 200 Tigers joined a DB operation headed by Raja Bozovic to save Banja Luka from falling to the “enemy” after the VRS (Army of the Republika Srpska) fled in retreat. Witness B-129 said Arkan participated and was in regular contact with Frenki Simatovic, head of the Serbian DB, throughout.

While Milosevic challenged the witness’s testimony about Serbian involvement in operations in Velika Kladusa and Bjeljina, he avoided questioning her about Serbian DB involvement in Treskavica and Banja Luka. Based on firsthand knowledge, she was firm that in Treskavica and Banja Luka the Tigers participated under command of the Serbian DB. In Velika Kladusa, Tigers were paid by Fikret Abdic and fought alongside the Red Berets (a paramilitary unit which was also connected to the Serbian DB and Frenki Simatovic, according to other testimony). As for Bjeljina, the witness conceded that Biljana Plavsic, then a member of the presidency of the Republika Srpska, requested Arkan’s help.

Providing yet more evidence of his need for professional representation, Milosevic gave the witness another chance to expand her testimony against him. Reading through a list of names she provided of people she knew to be associated with the Tigers or Red Berets, Milosevic pointed out Aleksandar Martinovic. “Was he a fighter or a member of the Serbian Volunteer Guards, or was he working as a driver carrying flour for the bakery?” the accused inquired, attempting to discredit the importance of her list. Her reply may have shocked Milosevic as much as it did trial observers: “The flour is important because that flour was taken from the Red Cross and carried for Arkan’s bakery.” The accused protested, providing yet another opening: “How could you get the flour from the Red Cross for the bakery when that is a commercial establishment?” To which B-129 answered, “Because the Serbian Volunteer Guard could, on the basis of something, I don’t know what myself. Aleksandar Martinovic was a driver in the headquarters of the SDG, and he would go to the Red Cross and he would always say that he would have to wait until Frenki’s men took what they needed from the Red Cross, after which he would take flour and cooking oil, which were essential for the bakery.” One wonders what ordinary people in Serbia think about the plunder of these basic foodstuffs which were intended to ease their plight during international sanctions.

While Arkan severely punished looting and other violations of his rules by his Tigers, his primary business was smuggling. To conduct this business, he had the help of the Serbian DB, according to B-129, though the DB limited the quantity of goods he could bring into Serbia illegally at any one time. “The state security did not approve smuggling to such an extent. They were aware that the Guard (SDG) has to finance itself in some way, and part of the money came from them but not all of it. We had to buy food, clothing, and the rest. So that they tolerated it up to a degree.”

Later, Milosevic attempted to capitalize on the distinction she made between looting and smuggling, insinuating that the prosecution's investigators tried to get her to say Arkan tolerated looting by his troops. “So I think that you owe this to your dead commander so that his name shouldn’t be slandered and that things should not be attributed to him that he didn’t do.” The witness appeared to have less regard for her “dead commander” than Milosevic anticipated as she promptly snapped, “I don’t owe him anything.”

The one thing this witness could not do was connect Milosevic directly to the operations of this Serbian paramilitary unit in Bosnia and Croatia. She unequivocally stated on both direct and cross examination that she never heard or saw any connection between the Tigers and Milosevic. Nevertheless, what she did say all but makes that connection. The Serbian State Security Service under Franko Simatovic and Jovica Stanisic controlled the operations of the SDG. When Milosevic asked how she concluded that he and Stanisic were close, she replied, “It is normal for the chief of the state security to be accountable to the president of the Republic of Serbia.” Perhaps, considering his recent jailing in Belgrade, Mr. Stanisic will come to The Hague to explain whether his relationship with Milosevic was normal or abnormal.