THE HAGUE/ZAGREB, June 27 (Hina) - Croatia's Territorial Defence (TO) was disarmed under the false pretext that it was not storing weapons safely, Imra Agotic, the Croatian president's adviser on national security, told the Hague war
crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia on Friday.
THE HAGUE/ZAGREB, June 27 (Hina) - Croatia's Territorial Defence
(TO) was disarmed under the false pretext that it was not storing
weapons safely, Imra Agotic, the Croatian president's adviser on
national security, told the Hague war crimes tribunal for the
former Yugoslavia on Friday. #L#
At the beginning of his testimony in the trial of ex-Yugoslav
President Slobodan Milosevic, Agotic said Croatia's TO was
disarmed in May 1990 on orders from Blagoje Adzic, the former
Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) chief-of-staff, with the explanation
that weaponry warehouses were unsafe.
"The essence of the order was not a safer control, but the goal was
to replace TO and MUP (interior ministry) guards with JNA guards."
After those events, the former federation's defence secretariat
did not reply to then Croatian Defence Minister Martin Spegelj's
request for new weapons for Croatia's interior ministry, said
Agotic.
He then described how the Croatian National Guard Corps and Army
were formed, and how Croatian troops were armed.
The trial resumes after a break.
(hina) ha