THE HAGUE/ZAGREB, Feb 19 (Hina) - During the 1990s a special operations unit of Serbia's State Security Service (SDB) waged a secret war in Croatia and Bosnia and led 26 training camps for Serbian troops, it was stated on Wednesday at
the trial of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic before the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague.
THE HAGUE/ZAGREB, Feb 19 (Hina) - During the 1990s a special
operations unit of Serbia's State Security Service (SDB) waged a
secret war in Croatia and Bosnia and led 26 training camps for
Serbian troops, it was stated on Wednesday at the trial of former
Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic before the U.N. war crimes
tribunal in The Hague. #L#
On the first day of the testimony of Dragan Vasiljkovic, a.k.a
"Captain Dragan", the prosecutor introduced as evidence a 40-
minute video-recording of a visit Milosevic paid to the unit when it
celebrated an anniversary in Kula in Serbia in May 1997. On that
occasion Vasiljkovic received an SDB award for courage.
Describing the war path of the unit, also known as the red berrets,
senior SDB official Franko Simatovic said in court the unit had
taken part "in the liberation of all Serb areas" in Croatia's Knin
area and that it had later operated in eastern Slavonija, Baranja,
and western Srijem.
When the unit was formed its core was made of members of the SDB, the
Krajina police, and volunteers from Serbia, he said.
The unit later operated in Bosnia and Herzegovina as well, in
battles around the Brcko corridor, in the Drina River valley,
around Sarajevo, Maglaj, and in the west of the country, said the
witness.
He said the unit had led 26 training camps for Serb troops in the
self-styled Republic of Srpska Krajina in Croatia and Republic of
Srpska in Bosnia, and that in the latter it had a network of
airfields from which 1,000 combat and other aircraft had taken
off.
The video footage introduced today shows Milosevic, escorted by SDB
leader Jovica Stanisic, reviewing the unit, touring a training
centre, a rifle range, and a memorial room containing military
strategy maps and the unit's trophies, including Croatian and
Bosnian Muslim flags.
A friendly Milosevic is seen greeting the unit's commander, Milorad
Lukovic Legija, who is saying the unit is a "small, mobile, deadly,
and discreet unit". Milosevic is heard telling Legija's deputies
that he had "read their reports".
Vasiljkovic confirmed the footage was authentic and showed
"absolutely every member of Serbia's secret service, which is a
unique case in the world".
The defendant watched grim-faced the footage which confirms that
Serbia's interior ministry and its secret service -- SDB -- over
which he had full control, played a key role in the aggression on
Croatia and Bosnia.
(hina) ha sb