THE HAGUE/ZAGREB, Oct 17 (Hina) - Resuming his testimony against former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic before the Hague war crimes tribunal on Tuesday, the chief Serb negotiator for the signing of the 1995 Erdut Agreement,
Milan Milanovic, confirmed that he received instructions from the defendant during the negotiations.
THE HAGUE/ZAGREB, Oct 17 (Hina) - Resuming his testimony against
former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic before the Hague war
crimes tribunal on Tuesday, the chief Serb negotiator for the
signing of the 1995 Erdut Agreement, Milan Milanovic, confirmed
that he received instructions from the defendant during the
negotiations. #L#
"In most cases I acted on instructions which the then president of
Serbia, Milosevic, gave me on a number of meetings," said Milanovic
who on 12 November 1995 signed the Erdut Agreement on the peaceful
reintegration of Serb-occupied parts of eastern Croatia's Danube
River Region into Croatia's constitutional order.
The witness, a former assistant defence minister of the Republic of
Serb Krajina, rebel Croatian Serbs' parastate, said he signed the
agreement at the recommendation of Milosevic, who was in Dayton at
the time, but also out of fear that Operation Storm, by which Croats
liberated Serb-occupied parts of Croatia, would reoccur in the
Danube River Region.
Milanovic said Milosevic instructed him to sign the agreement with
Zagreb with the explanation that then Croatian President Franjo
Tudjman was making it a condition to sign the Dayton peace accords.
The witness confirmed that Milosevic appointed the chief political
and military officials in eastern Croatia, and that key operations
figures came from Serbia's state security (SDB).
The prosecution introduced a number of taped conversations among
top SDB people, whose voices the witness recognised.
During cross-examination by Milosevic, the witness confirmed what
he said during the main hearing, which has rarely happened with a
so-called insider witness.
Milanovic dismissed the defendant's claim that Radovan Stojicic
aka Badza came to eastern Croatia in August 1991 as a patriot and
volunteer. He said Badza came at the helm of his special Serbian
interior ministry unit, with arms and equipment, to organise the
Serb territorial defence and the attack on Vukovar.
The witness also dismissed Milosevic's attempts to amnesty the
former Yugoslav People's Army (JNA), Serbia's interior ministry,
and volunteers from Serbia from the mass crimes at Ovcara and Lovas
as well as other crimes in eastern Croatia, for which the defendant
is charged in the part of the indictment referring to Croatia.
"Anyone carrying arms and wearing a uniform in Slavonia, Baranja
and western Sirmium was under the command of the JNA, which had
36,000 troops in the area from August to November," said
Milanovic.
He also spoke about 300 Serbian police who came to the region after
Operation Storm, and about his direct contacts with Belgrade via
special telephone lines.
Milanovic, who will continue his testimony on Wednesday, will be
succeeded by protected witnesses C-28 and C-62.
One of the most interesting witnesses is due to take the stand on
November 3 and 4 -- Lord David Owen, the peace negotiator for the
former Yugoslavia in 1992-5 whom the Trial Chamber subpoenaed to
testify.
(hina) ha sb