BELGRADE, Aug 30 (Hina) - A Lieutenant Colonel in the Yugoslav Army and former member of the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA), Veselin Sljivancanin, indicted before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) for
the killings of 262 civilians from a hospital in the eastern Croatian town of Vukovar in November 1991, on Wednesday evening received ovations at the presentation of a book called "This is My Country", which Rada Milcinovic wrote to his "fame and glory". Sljivancanin, who has been indicted by the ICTY along with two other JNA officers for the crimes in Vukovar, said he did not feel guilty and dismissed all possibilities of surrendering to the ICTY. The war crimes tribunal in the Hague also indicted Mile Mrksic and Miroslav Radic. "I am a free man and I live freely in my country with my people and the things I am accused of are not true," Sljivancanin said and added he was
BELGRADE, Aug 30 (Hina) - A Lieutenant Colonel in the Yugoslav Army
and former member of the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA), Veselin
Sljivancanin, indicted before the International Criminal Tribunal
for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) for the killings of 262 civilians
from a hospital in the eastern Croatian town of Vukovar in November
1991, on Wednesday evening received ovations at the presentation of
a book called "This is My Country", which Rada Milcinovic wrote to
his "fame and glory".
Sljivancanin, who has been indicted by the ICTY along with two other
JNA officers for the crimes in Vukovar, said he did not feel guilty
and dismissed all possibilities of surrendering to the ICTY. The
war crimes tribunal in the Hague also indicted Mile Mrksic and
Miroslav Radic.
"I am a free man and I live freely in my country with my people and the
things I am accused of are not true," Sljivancanin said and added he
was convinced the Yugoslav and Serbian authorities would not
extradite him to the ICTY like Milosevic.
Sljivancanin said he and his unit were never in Ovcara, a farm near
Vukovar where civilians from the Vukovar hospital had been executed
and then buried in a mass grave.
He claims that under his control only terrorists, who were hiding in
the hospital, had been taken out and brought to a prison in Sremska
Mitrovica.
Then he referred to Marin Vidic and Vesna Bosanac as "the most
famous Ustasha" who were his prisoners, saying "the JNA did not
commit crimes in Vukovar". Then he put the blame on the residents,
stressing he did not know what the residents had been doing.
"Whether there were cases of revenge, I don't know, the history will
tell."
Sljivancanin said his battle for Vukovar "most probably could have
been won in some other way as well", and then he admitted, wittingly
or not, "...but our union received an order to complete a task and we
have..."
Even though, his presence has been previously announced, the
Yugoslav Army Chief-of-Staff, General Nebojsa Pavkovic, did not
attend the presentation.
(hina) it sb