"Martic said Zagreb should be shelled with Orkan launchers because only they and the Luna rocket system had that range. He said to target Ilica Street and Ban Jelacic Square because the Croats did not choose targets and we had many losses," said the prosecution witness who was often by Martic's side during the war as a radio-operator at the headquarters of Martic's militia.
Martic asked to target the Ban Jelacic statue because it is "the symbol of the Croatian people, a historical figure, a military leader and a ruler," said the witness.
On 2 and 3 May 1995, Orkan missiles also hit Draskoviceva and Klaiceva streets as well as Marulic Square, killing seven people and wounding hundreds.
The Hague tribunal accused Martic of this crime against civilians, the persecution, killing and deportation of Croatian civilians in areas occupied by rebel Serbs from 1991 to 1995, and war crimes against non-Serbs in western Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1994.
On March 5 this year Martic's prosecutors lost a key witness after Milan Babic killed himself at the detention unit, but the next witness, MM-003, offered direct evidence of Martic's accountability for the crimes described in the indictment.
MM-003 confirmed that on 18 August 1990, when a state of war was declared in Knin, saw Martic in nearby Golubic "distributing arms to reserve police who covered the wider Knin municipality".
The witness also said that "Martic organised and led the barricades" in villages around Knin on 17 August 1990, known as the tree-trunk revolution.
Asked by the prosecutor who armed and financed Martic's troops, the witness said the arms and the money came from Belgrade, via the Serbian Interior Ministry State Security Service (SDB) and its leaders Jovica Stanisic and Franko Simatovic, who were also indicted by the UN court.
"Simatovic often came to Knin, from November 1990, bringing money and other things. He would previously leave the weapons, brought in trucks, with his man in Bosansko Grahovo," said the witness, adding that Dusan Orlovic, SDB's man in Knin, would bring the arms from Grahovo in a Lada.
Simatovic met Martic at the latter's office in Knin, after which Martic would say he got everything he wanted, said the witness. He described how telephone experts from Belgrade arrived in Knin in early 1991 to "clean" the town hall of bugs and set up secure lines.
Stanisic rarely came to Knin but Martic would meet him in Belgrade, where he also met Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic, said the witness.
He described the training of Martic's special police in Golubic, saying it was conducted under the supervision and with the logistic support of Simatovic. The instructors were Captain Dragan Vasiljkovic and others from the SDB, added the witness.
MM-003 witnessed some crimes Martic was accused of, such as an attack on Kijevo and massacres in Saborsko and Skabrnja, committed in the second half of 1991. He said that Martic ordered that some Croatian villages be "cleansed" because they hampered communication with Serbia or the frontline had to be moved or for other reasons.
The witness described Martic's reaction after an attack on Saborsko, saying that Martic swore and said "this is now clean Serbian land". MM-003 said Martic reacted the same way upon learning of the massacre at Skabrnja, saying "the Opacic brothers from Benkovac did an excellent job and cleansed everything".
The witness said "Martic hated the (Croatian) checker-board (coat of arms) and Croatian President Franjo Tudjman, whom he often imitated, the most".
He will be cross-examined by the defence on Friday.