'You Were Belgrade!' Witness says Milosevic was in charge
Day 119
Friday, 1 November, 2002
'You Were Belgrade!' Witness says Milosevic was in charge
Day 119
Friday, 1 November, 2002
Slobodan Lazarevic, in his second day of direct testimony, told of receiving advance notice of Operation Storm and discovering that all other units of the Army of the Republika Srpska Krajina (ARSK), Serbian MUP and paramilitaries had been withdrawn, leaving 4000 men of the 21st Corps and about 20,000 civilians to fend for themselves. Discovering they were surrounded by 40,000 Croatian Army and the Bosnian 5th Corps troops, while being shelled by the Croatian Air Force, the commanders tried to establish contact by satellite telephone with Milosevic's office. Colonel Bulat, head of the 21st Corps, got through to General Perisic, head of the Yugoslav Army (VJ), explained the situation and asked for advice. With the witness and others listening to the conversation on speaker phone, Perisic responded, 'Persevere,' and hung up the phone. Colonel Pajic, head of the RSK police, then called Serbian President Zoran Lilic. After listening to Pajic's description of their plight, Lilic also answered, 'Persevere,' and severed the connection. The final call was to Jovica Stanisic, head of the Serbian State Security, whose reply was exactly the same, 'Persevere.' The 21st Corps realized they had been 'sacrificed.' The witness speculated the reason might have been so they could be used for propaganda purposes against Croatia.
Within days, they were surrounded without an escape route. Taking refuge near the UN Headquarters, they decided to surrender in exchange for safe passage to Serbia, which was negotiated. A column of 25,000 soldiers and civilians, 30 kilometers long set off for Serbia escorted by Croat soldiers and the UN. When they arrived at the Serbian border, however, they were not welcomed. Units of police from Serbia conducted a thorough search of everyone, confiscating all military equipment, before they were allowed to enter. People protested vigorously because even the Croat soldiers had not done this. But more ill treatment awaited them.
As the convoy proceeded toward Belgrade, they found all exit ramps into the city blocked. Police directed them to continue moving south in the direction of Kosovo. Despite efforts to escape this routing, Mr. Lazarevic found himself detained with other Croatian Serb refugees from the Krajina in the Krusevac police station. From there they were loaded on buses and taken to Arkan's camp near Dalj. On disembarking, they were made to run a gauntlet between Arkan's men who beat them. According to the witness, 'Someone had the idea they [the Croatian Serbs] needed to be retrained. Arkan was paid 100 Deutschmarks per head for that.' Conditions in the camp were 'atrocious.' Property and identity cards were taken. Men were severely beaten on a daily basis. Three Serbs were chained to three telephone poles every day and 'anyone who went past could beat them.' Men were forced to carry huge rocks; if they dropped any, they were beaten. This led the witness to characterize the detention facility as a concentration camp -- and to break down in court. According to him, Arkan addressed the 2500 prisoners: 'For five years we supplied you with weapons, food and manpower and you wouldn't even fight in the end.' As Mr. Lazarevic learned, the men were being retrained to fight on the front lines against Croatia, with Arkan's Tigers behind them, ready to shoot any in the back who tried to withdraw. Some of their relatives later sued the government of Yugoslavia (FRY) for this forced conscription, as the witness pointed out on cross examination.
During cross examination, Milosevic pressed the witness hard trying to discredit him. Except for a few relatively minor discrepancies, the strategy appeared to backfire. When Milosevic said Mr. Lazarevic had very eloquently 'told a story' about his recruitment of United Nations and Euoprean Community Monitoring Mission (ECMM) personnel by getting them drunk and supplying them with women, but it was not true, Mr. Lazarevic immediately responded that he would name names if the Court would go into closed session. It did. On returning to public session, Milosevic did not repeat the challenge.
Having called Mr. Lazarevic a liar who was motivated by greed, Milosevic argued that neither the Yugoslav Army (JNA) nor Serbia controlled the ARSK. When Yugoslavia broke up, officers and soldiers of the JNA merely went to their home communities to serve in the newly established armies, according to Milosevic. But, answered the witness, the officers remaining in the RSK continued to be paid and supplied by Belgrade, were in regular contact with Belgrade, and the JNA had left heavy weapons for the ARSK when it 'withdrew,' unlike in Croatia and Bosnia. In addition, 100% of the officers in the ARSK were JNA officers, retaining their rank and pay.
When Milosevic presented his main defense that he, as President of Serbia in the early 1990's, had nothing to do with the JNA, Mr. Lazarovic shot back, 'You were head of the Yugoslav Army and you know it full well.' Going farther than he had on direct examination, the witness said that 'everyone did Milosevic's bidding.' Initially, he said, there was some strain in Milosevic's relationship with the JNA, though 'they cooperated and carried out his wishes.' By gaining control of KOS, the JNA intelligence unit in which Mr. Lazarevic served, Milosevic gained greater control of the JNA. He also secured power to appoint and promote officers, replacing those who questioned him with ambitious young men who would not. 'You were in charge,' concluded the witness. 'You pulled the strings.' When pressed about who he meant by orders coming from 'Belgrade,' Mr. Lazarevic obliged the accused by answering, 'You were Belgrade.'
Milosevic's cross examination continues tomorrow.
