THE HAGUE/ZAGREB, July 22 (Hina) - Protected witness B-127, a retired officer of the JNA (Yugoslav People's Army) and the VRS (Republika Srpska Army), resumed his testimony on Tuesday in the trial of former Yugoslav president Slobodan
Milosevic before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague.
THE HAGUE/ZAGREB, July 22 (Hina) - Protected witness B-127, a
retired officer of the JNA (Yugoslav People's Army) and the VRS
(Republika Srpska Army), resumed his testimony on Tuesday in the
trial of former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic before the
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The
Hague. #L#
He spoke of the personnel, financial and logistical dependence of
the Bosnian Serb forces on Belgrade. He said that throughout the war
he had received his pay and other benefits from the Yugoslav Army
30th Personnel Centre in Belgrade although he was a VRS officer.
The witness said that more than 90 percent of men in his unit,
including both junior and senior officers, privates and civilians
working in the armed forces, were paid from Belgrade. He added that
promotions of VRS officers were approved by Yugoslavia.
B-127 then proceeded to confirm as authentic a series of documents
that had been sent to the 30th Personnel Centre, in which VRS
personnel and commanders sought resolution of issues relating to
personnel, pension, welfare, health care and housing in
Yugoslavia.
During the cross-examination, the session was declared closed
several times because Milosevic came close to revealing the
witness's identity through his questions.
After the witness claimed that Yugoslav aircraft had violated the
UN no-fly zone over Bosnia-Herzegovina, Milosevic got him to
acknowledge that those had been exclusively reconnaissance
aircraft. "That means that Yugoslav aircraft were not on combat
missions in Bosnia-Herzegovina," Milosevic concluded, to which B-
127 said that reconnaissance sorties were also considered combat
sorties.
Milosevic asked the witness if he knew that Croatian MiGs had
attacked the village of Svodno, near Prijedor, in 1995, killing
civilians. The witness said that there had been violations of the
no-fly zone by the Croatian side, but that he did not know of that
particular case.
The accused then asked B-127 if he knew that the commander of the
Croatian Air Force at the time was Imra Agotic.
"Do you know that after Operation Storm Agotic ordered aircraft to
bomb a Red Cross truck and a bus carrying Serb refugees near the
village of Dragotinja in Bosnia-Herzegovina? Do you know that
Croatian aircraft cut up a refugee column near Bosanski Petrovac?,"
Milosevic asked, trying to prove that the Croatian side had been
more involved in the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina than the Yugoslav
side and that it had committed war crimes. The witness said he had
heard something about it, but that he did not have any specific
information about the incidents.
The former Yugoslav president presented several documents in order
to prove that the VRS General Staff had made decisions on military
operations completely independently. Milosevic asked the witness
if he knew of any joint operation of the Yugoslav Army and the
Bosnian Serb forces in Bosnia-Herzegovina, and the witness said he
did not. B-127 answered the same when asked if he personally or any
of his superiors had received a direct order from a Yugoslav Army
officer.
The trial will continue on Wednesday with a testimony of a protected
witness known as B-83, a former official of Serbia's Defence
Ministry.
(hina) vm