Regional Report: Jorda's Eleven

Friday, 29 April, 2005

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Chris Stephen

Tribunal president Claude Jorda last week called on the international community to put pressure on Belgrade to surrender 11 war crimes suspects he said were at large in Yugoslavia. These are the men.

Gojko Jankovic (31/10/1954) and Dragan Zelenovic (12/02/1961)

Paramilitary Bosnian Serb commanders accused of mass rape Muslim women in Foca.

Charges: (3 co-defendants in total) Crimes against humanity, violations of the laws or customs of war.

Location: Unknown.

Status: Both men have refused offers to negotiate surrender.

Background: Jankovic’s paramilitary unit had 50 men. A small businessman in Foca before the war, he is accused of setting up a house for the interrogation and rape of Muslim women and girls there. After the war, he became head of a veterans association, then moved to Herceg Novi, Montenegro, where he owns a bar. He is currently believed to be living in Serbia.

Zelenovic moved to Serbia to avoid arrest in Bosnia. An electrician by trade, he became a paramilitary commander in the war. Serb police are reported to be following both men.

Vladimir Kovacevic (15/01/1961)

Yugoslav army captain commanded forces that allegedly shelled Dubrovnik, Croatia, in 1991.

Charged: (4 co-defendants total) Grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions, violations of the laws or customs of war.

Location: Yugoslavia

Status: April 2002 negotiated surrender via Yugoslav justice ministry, then withdrew.

Background: Nicknamed Rambo, he was allegedly in charge of units that shelled Dubrovnik in 1991. He later left the army to go into business.

In late 1990s, he was arrested in Montenegro and charged with being involved in an operation ordered by Milosevic to destabilise President Milo Djukanovic.

Milan Lukic (06/09/1967) and Sredoje Lukic (05/04/1961) (Cousins)

Paramilitary leaders accused of killing Muslim civilians.

Charges: (3 co-defendants in total) Crimes against humanity and violation of the rules or customs of war.

Location: Milan - hiding with wife and child near birthplace, Foca, Bosnia. Sredoje - Unknown.

Status: At large.

Background: They are cousins of Sretan Lukic, a powerful police officer during the Milosevic era.

Both are accused of numerous killings around the Visegrad area in Bosnia 1992, including burning 69 Bosnian Muslims alive in a barn.

Milan is also accused of kidnapping 17 Muslims from a train in Priboj and subsequently killing them.

Milan’s influence in Visegrad saw old communist-era slogan in the town centre “Comrade Tito, We Swear To You” replaced with “Comrade Lukic, we swear to you”.

Milan is the owner of several bars and restaurants in the town.

Sredoje was a member of White Eagles paramilitary unit.

Dragomir Milosevic (04/02/1942) *No relation to Slobodan.

Former commander of Bosnia Serb forces accused of shelling Sarajevo.

Charges: (2 co-defendants in total) Crimes against humanity and violations of the laws or customs of war.

Location: Unknown

Status: Negotiations for his voluntary surrender broke down when he demanded guarantees for cash for his family and pre-trial release that Yugoslavia could not give.

Background: Backed Karadzic in quarrel with Mladic. Indicted last year.

Milan Milutinivoc (19/12/1942)

Current Serbian president, accused with Slobodan Milosevic of Kosovo war crimes.

Charges: (5 co-defendants in total including Milosevic) Genocide, crimes against humanity, violations of the laws or customs of war and grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions.

Location: Serbian presidency building.

Status: He has said that he’s willing to give himself up when his presidential term expires in January 2003.

Background: Accused of being part of Milosevic inner team responsible for war crimes during the Kosovo war 1998-99.

Regarded by many as a Milosevic placeman, he took over as Serbia’s head of state when the constitution forced Milosevic to swap Serbian for Yugoslav presidency.

Sources in Belgrade say Milutinovic is frightened, and wanted to surrender to The Hague even earlier, but was refused permission by the Serb authorities.

Western diplomats are believed to want The Hague to allow Milutinovic to serve out his term, rather than provoke a new election in an already turbulent transition period.

Ratko Mladic (age unknown)

Former Bosnian Serb army commander accused of ordering Srebrenica massacre and bombardment of Sarajevo.

Charges: (with Radovan Karadzic) genocide, crimes against humanity, violations of the laws or customs of war and grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions.

Location: He is believed moving between Belgrade and Bosnia.

Status: At large.

Background: Along with Karadzic, he is top of unofficial “Most Wanted” list. Accused of a litany of crimes, the most notorious being the massacre of 7,000 Muslim men and boys in the eastern enclave of Srebrenica in July 1995.

Under the Milosevic regime, he lived openly in a Belgrade villa. He was spotted skiing, with four bodyguards, at a Bosnian Serb ski resort of Jahorina in 1996.

Mladic has since gone to ground, believed to be moving between Belgrade and Han Pijesak, former underground headquarters of Bosnian Serb army in eastern Bosnia.

Sources in Belgrade say he’s protected by the Yugoslav army, with officers young and old regarding him as a patriot. Unlike many former Bosnian Serb leaders, notably Radovan Karadzic, Mladic was not tainted with corruption. He is believed to have a 20-strong group of determined bodyguards protecting him.

Vinko Pandurevic (25/06/1959)

Bosnian Serb army, VRS, brigade commander at Srebrenica massacre.

Charged: Genocide, crimes against humanity and violation of the laws or customs of war.

Location: Belgrade.

Status: Ongoing negotiations in Belgrade and Bosnia for voluntary surrender.

Background: Considered the most educated and perceptive of senior Bosnian Serb wartime officers. He took the side of Karadzic in quarrels with Mladic during the war. In 1996, he hoped to become army chief of staff of army, but was foiled when Biljana Plavsic, with NATO backing, took reigns of power from Karadzic.

In 2000, after the Serbian Democratic Party, SDS, won elections in Bosnia, he became military adviser to the Republika Srpska president Mirko Sarovic.

Miroslav Radic (age unknown) and Veselin Sljivancanin (born 1953 - no exact date)

Yugoslav Army, VJ, officers accused of the massacre of civilians in Vukovar, Croatia, 1991.

Charged: (3 co-defendants in total) Grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions and the violations of the laws or customs of war.

Location: Unknown.

Status: Sljivancanin is at large. Radic made inquiries with Yugoslav justice ministry about voluntary surrender but later changed his mind.

Background: Sljivancanin was a VJ colonel. Like Mladic, he enjoys army support. Bodyguards and and small following of military supporters are believed to move him between Belgrade safe houses.

He spent time in Montenegro but the government ordered him out in 2001. Until recently, he gave interviews and appeared in public, saying he carries a grenade at all times and will blow himself up if arrested.

Radic was captain of VJ police guard unit at Vukovar. He later left the army and went into business. Milosevic-controlled media reported in the late Nineties that he was training Montenegrin police. This was unconfirmed. He is believed to live near Kragujevac.

Chris Stephen is IWPR bureau chief in The Hague and Zeljko Cvijanovic is an IWPR contributor and the editor of Blic magazine in Belgrade.