THE HAGUE/ZAGREB, June 4 (Hina)- Slobodan Milosevic had armed Chetnik forces that warred and committed war crimes in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, protected witness C-47, who was the commander of one of those units, said Wednesday
at the trial of the ex-Yugoslav president before the U.N. war crimes tribunal at The Hague.
THE HAGUE/ZAGREB, June 4 (Hina)- Slobodan Milosevic had armed
Chetnik forces that warred and committed war crimes in Croatia and
Bosnia-Herzegovina, protected witness C-47, who was the commander
of one of those units, said Wednesday at the trial of the ex-
Yugoslav president before the U.N. war crimes tribunal at The
Hague. #L#
!You supplied us with arms, you and the Yugoslav army," witness C-47
said responding to Milosevic who is defending himself before the
ICTY.
He said that a unit of the Serb Chetnik movement from Subotica,
which was under his command, was equipped with uniforms and arms at
the barracks in Bubanj Potok, near Belgrade, before going to the war
front in Croatia and Bosnia.
Milosevic cited an order given by the Yugoslav Peoples' Army (JNA)
in 1991 to remove voluntary units from war zones in Croatia because
of war crimes and looting that they had committed. Witness C-47
dismissed Milosevic's claim saying that not one unit was withdrawn
from the front, that each unit had its own emblem and that
everything that was looted was transferred to Serbia.
He also stressed that all Chetnik forces on the war front were under
the command of the JNA and later, the Army of Yugoslavia. The
witness confirmed several documents presented by the prosecution
confirming the existence of the line of command. Amongst the
documents presented was an order to attack Vukovar.
Milosevic attempted to discredit the witness with claims that he
was apt to drinking and criminal acts which resulted in his being
excluded from the Serb Radical Party (SRS) and that he lied during
his main testimony.
Milosevic refuted the witness' testimony regarding the campaign
aimed at the expulsion of Croats and Hungarians from Vojvodina in
which Milosevic's socialists (SPS) also took part, and named
Croatian and Hungarian officials from the SPS. The witness,
however, said that these were "several individuals".
At Milosevic's attempt to undermine the witness's statement that
the JNA and Yugoslav Army were the aggressor in Croatia and Bosnia,
C-47 said Croatian civilians and Bosnian Muslims did not posses
tanks, cannons and planes.
Witness C-47 also spoke about the involvement of his Chetniks in the
war in Eastern Bosnia in 1993 along with the Red Berets and special
Yugoslav Army units.
He described how in 1995 he became a member of the Serbian voluntary
guard, which was under Zeljko Raznatovic aka Arkan's command,
adding that members of this unit were mostly criminals and
murderers who were released from jail and escaped to Erdut.
Most of today's testimony was conducted behind closed doors despite
Milosevic's objections whom Judge Richard May had to reprimand on
several occasions due to his frequent interruptions.
(Hina) sp