THE HAGUE/ZAGREB, March 24 (Hina) - Retired Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) Admiral Miodrag Jokic, who has been sentenced to seven years in prison for his role in an attack on Dubrovnik, began his testimony before the UN war crimes
tribunal in The Hague on Wednesday in the trial of General Pavle Strugar, the former JNA commander whose troops participated in the siege of Dubrovnik in the autumn of 1991.
THE HAGUE/ZAGREB, March 24 (Hina) - Retired Yugoslav People's Army
(JNA) Admiral Miodrag Jokic, who has been sentenced to seven years in
prison for his role in an attack on Dubrovnik, began his testimony
before the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague on Wednesday in the
trial of General Pavle Strugar, the former JNA commander whose troops
participated in the siege of Dubrovnik in the autumn of 1991.#L#
Jokic served as Serbian defence minister from 1989 to 1991 and was
appointed commander of the 9th Naval Sector based in Boka Kotorska,
Montenegro, at the start of a JNA campaign on Dubrovnik on 8 October
1991.
The witness used original documents and orders issued by the JNA to
describe the structure of the JNA Second Operations Group, which was
formed in mid-September 1991 for the purpose of attacking Dubrovnik.
The documents and orders were collected and made available to the
prosecutors by Jokic himself.
"General Strugar had most of the authority with regard to the targets
of the Dubrovnik operation and over all the units within the Second
Operations Group that participated in it," Jokic said.
He said that every day the accused had received instructions from the
JNA Command and carried them out through subordinate units.
"The Dubrovnik operation began with a directive from the JNA General
Staff that had been written before October 1991," the witness said.
Jokic specified that the JNA Second Operations Group consisted of the
Uzice and Podgorica corps, the 6,000-strong 472nd Motorised Brigade
from Trebinje, Bosnia-Herzegovina, which served as a strike force, and
his 9th Naval Sector.
In August 2003, Jokic pleaded guilty to war crimes committed in the
attack on Dubrovnik's Old Town on 6 December 1991, on the basis of
which he was given a seven-year prison term on 18 March 2004.
Under the plea agreement, Jokic pledged to cooperate with the
prosecutors and testify in other cases, including that of General
Strugar.
Strugar is accused of the same attack on Dubrovnik's historic part,
which left two civilians killed and three wounded and a large number
of buildings destroyed or damaged.
(Hina) vm