THE HAGUE/ZAGREB, Nov 27 (Hina) - A former Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) commander said in the trial of ex-Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic on Thursday that written orders for JNA operations in easternmost Croatia in the early
1990s had been issued as cover for other JNA plans, and that they had been accompanied by verbal instructions to commanders which were not in accordance with international rules of warfare.
THE HAGUE/ZAGREB, Nov 27 (Hina) - A former Yugoslav People's Army
(JNA) commander said in the trial of ex-Yugoslav President Slobodan
Milosevic on Thursday that written orders for JNA operations in
easternmost Croatia in the early 1990s had been issued as cover for
other JNA plans, and that they had been accompanied by verbal
instructions to commanders which were not in accordance with
international rules of warfare. #L#
Testifying before the Hague war crimes tribunal as a protected
witness, C-57 said his unit had received a written order in July
1991 to go to Erdut "to divide troops after a clash between local
Serbs and Croatian police".
"There had been no clash," he said with his image and voice
distorted, adding that the day before the order, on July 26, JNA
troops had shelled Erdut, where Croatian police had been
stationed.
The witness said that a written order to JNA troops to open fire
"only in self-defence" had been followed by a verbal instruction
that opening fire was allowed "in order to prevent any attempt to
attack" JNA troops.
He also described how in being "prepared" for going to Croatia, JNA
commanders in Serbia had been told that they would have a hard time
there "because the entire Croatian population was Ustasha-
oriented".
At the start of the cross-examination, Milosevic quoted an order to
JNA troops to respect the Geneva Conventions on Croatia's
territory, but the witness said that "later, grave breaches of the
Geneva Conventions were committed".
The trial resumes on Tuesday, when Milosevic should complete the
cross-examination.
(hina) ha sb