THE HAGUE/ZAGREB, March 17 (Hina) - Protected witness B1738, a former member of Serb warlord Arkan's troops, testified at the trial of Slobodan Milosevic in The Hague on Monday.
THE HAGUE/ZAGREB, March 17 (Hina) - Protected witness B1738, a
former member of Serb warlord Arkan's troops, testified at the
trial of Slobodan Milosevic in The Hague on Monday. #L#
Along with today's testimony, with the witness' identity being
concealed and the session frequently interrupted to close it to the
public, the prosecution also introduced as evidence the witness'
deposition.
The witness spoke about the circumstances of his joining the Serb
Volunteer Guard, which was the official name of the troops of the
late indictee of the U.N. war crimes tribunal, Zeljko Raznatovic
Arkan. He also testified about his training in Erdut, the attack on
Bijeljina and other operations.
Most of his testimony addressed the assault by Arkan troops on
Bijeljina on March 31, 1992, one of the first operations by Serbian
paramilitary units at the beginning of armed conflicts in Bosnia.
By tribunal regulations, witnesses are protected from self-
incrimination, so during the open part of the session, witness
B1738 did not speak in detail about civilian victims in the attacks,
confirming only he had shot at Muslims. Video footage and
photographs shown in the court spoke more. Among them was an
infamous photography of a member of Arkan's troops kicking the body
of a woman who had been shot.
The witness also spoke about the looting which ensued after the town
was occupied, including the confiscation of 40 vehicles, a bus and a
fire-engine, which were taken to Erdut.
B1738 also spoke about crimes in the nearby village of Janja and in
Zvornik, committed by some members of his unit in April 1992.
Milosevic, who is defending himself in the proceedings, tried to
prove during the cross-examination that the witness had joined
Arkan's troops as a victim of "the persecution of Serbs in Croatia"
and that most of the people drafted at the Erdut base had been from
Croatia.
The witness confirmed that he "was a victim of ethnic cleansing in
Croatia before and after the war", explaining that in 1998 he fled
Borovo, but added that most of Arkan's recruits were from Serbia.
Retired General Nojko Marinovic will testify via video link from
Dubrovnik on Tuesday. Marinovic was the defence commander of
Dubrovnik at the time of the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) attacks on
the city in the autumn of 1991. The attack on Dubrovnik is one of
some two dozen individual war crimes from Milosevic's indictment
for Croatia.
(hina) lml sb