Simatovic Commanded Operations in Bosnia Witness Testifies

A former member of a Yugoslav Army helicopter unit, popularly known as the Scorpions, gave startling evidence at the war crimes trial of Slobodan Milosevic. Testifying via videolink with face distortion, witness B-104 told the Court he flew missions into Bosnia to assist operations being conducted there under the command of Franko Simatovic (aka 'Frenki'), head of the Special Operations Unit of Serbian police intelligence. For all intents and purposes, the witness said, Simatovic was in charge of Yugoslav Army personnel as well as Serbian police and paramilitary forces operating in East-Central Bosnia.

Witness B-104 testified that on his first mission he was sent to transport a wounded soldier from a Yugoslav Army parachute brigade to the Belgrade military hospital. The soldier had been wounded in Srebrenica, Bosnia-Herzegovina. On other occasions, he transported materiel, performed reconnaissance and such.

Simatovic and the units he commanded were headquartered at Bajina Basta, Serbia just across the River Drina on the Bosnian border. They consisted of parts of various Yugoslav Army units, the Serbian police, and a paramilitary group known as the Drina Wolves. The latter included convicts who Simatovic got released from Kosovo prisons. All wore uniforms of one type or another with identifying insignia or patches. However, on arrival in Bajina Basta, they were told to exchange their Yugoslav Army insignia for Drina Wolves' patches. When asked the purpose of switching, the witness responded, 'I concluded the purpose was to conceal the fact that the Yugoslav Army was participating in the operations.' Identifying marks on helicopters were also removed.

While B-104 said he did not witness Frenki give orders to any Yugoslav Army soldier nor witness any soldier salute Frenki, he described an informal structure where Frenki would discuss with army personnel how the units could be deployed, and, after agreement was reached, a Yugoslav Army officer would issue the order. 'Frenki was in charge of everything going on in Bajina Basta. We were a unit that came under his command. There was always a commander with us in charge of communications between Frenki and the Yugoslav Army.'

In Bajina Basta, a house had been converted into a command center, while a hotel served to accommodate the troops. On cross examination, Milosevic suggested the hotel was used for R & R (rest and relaxation), rather than as a base of combat operations. The witness said he concluded that the men who returned to the hotel dirty and tired had been in the field, engaged in combat operations, though he did not personally take part in combat operations. His duties included reconnaissance and transport. On a number of occasions that transport involved flying Simatovic from Bajina Basta to Belgrade and back.

Segments of witness B-104's testimony were heard in closed session. Even so, his public testimony was highly significant. It placed the chief of the special operations unit of Serbia's State Security at the head of a combined force including Yugoslav Army, Serbian police, and paramilitaries, which was conducting what appear to have been combat missions into Bosnia-Herzegovina. Milosevic's main defense to the Bosnia and Croatia indictments is that he was president of Serbia, and Serbia had nothing to do with the wars in those places. Along with evidence in the Croatia phase of the case, witness B-104's testimony brings the charges a big step closer to Milosevic's doorstep. Yet it is only the beginning of the prosecution's Bosnia case, projected to last many more months.