WHO WILL MANAGE TO SAVE HIS NECK

Great Spring Denunciation

AIM, Belgrade, April 15, 1995

In the night between September 9 and 10 last year, Risto Djogo, the Editor-in-Chief of Television of the Republic of Srpska, did not fall off the high terrace of Zvornik hotel "Vidikovac" into the Drina river and drown. He was murdered, and light on this mystery was shed quite incidentally, as part of a complex espionage scandal explained in detail by the New York Times, which came like a bombshell in the Serb public.

Cedomir Mihajlovic, Djogo's friend and, since 1990, a high official of Serb State Security Service (SDB) (evidently in charge of financing military operations via Cyprus and arms deals), wished to avoid similar destiny. He defected to Western Europe on October 6 with a Dutch passport. He put the documents about atrocities perpetrated at the beginning of the war in Croatia and Bosnia at the disposal of the Tribunal for War Crimes in the Hague which, as he stated he "trusted deep in his heart". If they are authentic, these documents lead to Zeljko Raznatovic Arkan, Jovica Stanisic, head of the Serb State Security Service, and all the way to the President Milosevic himself. It turned out later that the originals were "mislayed" somewhere between the Tribunal and the Dutch police, which does not deprive the story of any of its seriousness or authencity, but "aggravets" it by the awareness that one cannot get away from "higher causes" either at home or abroad.

"Instructions" in Writing for War Crimes

The political leadership of Bosnian Serbs refused to obey Slobodan Milosevic last summer. Or, more precisely, Slobodan Milosevic refused to support the war policy of Radovan Karadzic any longer. Serbia introduced sanctions against the Serbs across the Drina. This was a shock that shook up two related state security services, that of Serbia and of the Republic of Srpska. At the time, Mico Stanisic was at the head of the service in RS. At the head of the service in Serbia - his relative, Jovica Stanisic. Soon after that, in Pale, Mica Stanisic was accused of working for Milosevic, and of "crushing the leadership of the RS from within", and he was forced to leave Pale.

In such a situation, Cedomir Mihajlovic and Risto Djogo began collecting material on war crimes and implication of Serb secret services and President Milosevic. As New York daily writes, they are documents and video-tapes Mihajlovic gradually deposited in a safe of "Invest banka" in Skoplje. When Djogo drowned (on the very night the present wife of Zeljko Raznatovic Arkan, Ceca Velickovic, had a concert), he saw that matters are getting serious, travelled to Skoplje, handed the documents over to an official of the United Nations, and during several weeks in October, he was interrogated by prosecutor Richard Goldstone, in the Hague.

Neither American officials nor prosecutors of the Hague Tribunal, Richard Goldstone and Graham Blewitt, according to what the New York daily claims, doubt that Mihajlovic held an influential post at the State Security Service. And Mihajlovic claims that the "Tigers" of Zeljko Raznatovic Arkan, who is mentioned in most of the documents handed over to the Hague Tribunal as the person who carried out direct orders of the SDB, are directly responsible for the death of Risto Djogo. Cedomir Mihajlovic also testifies that the first Serb attacks against the Bosnian Muslims, as well as the attacks on Vukovar, were directed by agents of State Security Service of the Serb Ministry of Internal Affairs. And that these agents were chosen by President Milosevic himself. They had special training, and then gave orders to paramilitary units such as Arkan's tigers or "knindzas" of captain Dragan Vasiljkovic. "Instructions" in writing for war crimes (dated April 8 and May 24, 1992 and November 19, 1991) include orders to Arkan how to act during actions of ethnic cleansing in Bijeljina, how to operate detention camps, or how to divide the plunder from Vukovar. The key man in the operations, according to the words of Cedomir Mihajlovic, was Jovica Stanisic, head in the SDB whose signature is on many documents handed over to the Hague court.

Jovica Stanisic graduated at the Faculty of Political Sciences, and this minor investigation of AIM shows that his promotion is linked to the days of the Eighth Session of the League of Communists and the time of the so-called antibureaucratic revolution when Slobodan Milosevic came to power. In August last year, the journal "Intervju" published that "those well informed about the circumstances in the police claim that Jovica Stanisic is close to Slobodan Milosevic whom he is allowed to see without being announced in advance and without Minister Sokolovic". The same journal claims that he "deserves credit" for kidnapping of the journalist Dusan Reljic. He controlled the operation of Dafina Milanovic and Jezdimir Vasiljevic together with Mihalj Kertes (provided secret funds with money for the needs of the Ministry of the Interior of Serbia, but the Yugoslav Army, and the army in Bosnia as well). He armed the Serbs in Banija and organized the uprising in Knin. He cooperated with the Air-Force with the discharged general Bozidar Stevanovic. Jovica Stanisic is believed to have brought Sento Milenkovic to be Slobodan Milosevic's bodyguard and that he enjoys the support of Radmilo Bogdanovic, the grey eminence of the Ministry.

Denunciations

Since people in Serbia began talking about the Tribunal in the Hague, it could be anticipated that direct participants in the events would try to "buy" their skin with documents which charge others. Questions who the President of Serbia would sacrifice and turn in to the Hague became quite frequent. Denunciations could begin.

After his split with Slobodan Milosevic, Vojislav Seselj, the leader of the Radicals in Serbia, was the first to threaten that he would go to the Hague if he had to, but with Milosevic and Arkan preceding him. His recent arrest was accompanied by a story that, through a lawyer in Basel, a comprehensive material arrived in the Hague from Belgrade, with accusations of two Serb politicians, eight high Serb police officers, a Serb general, and five high-ranking Serb officers. Allegedly, Vojislav Seselj deposited evidence in two different places in Switzerland, ready to give them up to the prosecutors in exchange for destroying evidence of his own crimes.

• I know positively that the Americans possess documents and a video-tape which directly accuse Zeljko Raznjatovic Arkan. And wherever he is - Milosevic is close by, these two cannot be separated. And when I say Milosevic, I also mean Radnmilo Bogdanovic - Seselj told us. - As concerning me, if charges against me are brought, I will travel to the Hague immediately.

One can only assume that Zeljko Raznjatovic Arkan has not failed to save his neck. The official stance of his party is that they should not react to the "roll call", since the whole story is pure speculation. Unofficially, as we learn from a person in the immediate vicinity of Arkan, he does not even consider the idea that he would be extradited, and he relies on the Constitution which does not prescibe anything on the kind.

• I think that this is a wrong judgement and I don't know why he trusts Milosevic so much - Arkan's associate who wishes to remain anonymous tells us. - I judge that preparations for extradition will begin. And I have arguments for that. The Croat press published stories about Arkan as the criminal from a 'wanted' poster, but they were either not carried at all here or they were put in the context of Croat misinformation. Now, however, "Telegraf" carried a text from Zagreb "Globus" without any comments, together with the warrant for his arrest. Later, daily newspapers wrote about it, a lot of publicity was stirred up. This is an attempt to threaten him. It is also no secret that Mirjana Markovic has called his spectacular wedding, a parade of kitsch, competition, lack of taste and horror. It could also be recognized in the stance of Radmilo Bogdanovic who did not come to the wedding although he was invited. Arkan is a tragic figure for me, naive for the game going on above him. After all, the issue of war crimes is always put on the agenda in the world when pressure on Milosevic needs to be increased.

Natasa Kandic, the Director of the Humanitarian Law Fund who was a guest of the Tribunal in the Hague, says that the news in the affair is that documents are arriving from Bosnia which could reveal who were the order-issuing authorties at the very top.

• The trial to the greatest names will depend on the relations of the regime in Belgrade and the one in Pale. If the awareness of the Bosnian Serbs that Milosevic has really turned his back on them begins to grow, more documents will emerge. This is a politically, not ethically motivated revelation. If major defeats occur over there, denunciations will start from this side, Natasa Kandic believes.

The Club and the Carrot

New elements were also introduced in the story by the revelation that parallel with the Tribunal, some actions are taking place which could jeopardize its operation by removing witnesses or destroying material. There is no person immune to political pressure, so an American official interprets "straying of documents" as a concern of the Western administrations that original documents at this moment could have negative effect now that Milosevic is being given the central role in peace efforts for interruption of the war in Bosnia.

Cedomir Mihajlovic is not in Netherlands any more, and it can be assumed that he is in the USA. He has a son over there, the whole affair started from there, the CIA is studying copies of the documents, and it is quite clear that the USA are conducting their own investigation. Can one assume that the Americans have decided to be less patient than their European colleagues and to "push" Milosevic in some other way to recognize Bosnia?

It is interesting that "Srpska rec", the journal of Vuk Draskovic's Serb Renewal Movement, two months ago already published that "according to information from Paris, the Contact Group offered to the President of Serbia, Slobodan Milosevic, more significant and sensational concessions which are still unknown to the public in exchange for his recognition of Croatia and Bosnia. Three concessions Slobodan Milosevic himself insists on are still out of the question because of the stance of the USA. They are the return of Yugoslavia into the OSCE, opening of the lines for financial assistance and loans, and exemption of Serbia (Montenegro is not mentioned) from the competence of the International Tribunal in the Hague. Well informed circles claim that the Hague Tribunal will be the last carrot the world will swing in front of Slobodan Milosevic's nose, but also the thickest club for his back, if he does not recognize B&H and Croatia in a foreseeable future." This information was assessed in February as yellow press speculations. Nowadays it surely can be given a different value.

• Without going into details whether the documents are authentic or not, I do not think publishing of the news at this moment is wise, because Milosevic is mentioned, and he is doubtlessly chosen by the international community as the main actor of the present peace process - Konstantin Obradovic from the Intitute of International Policy in Belgrade, says. - To publish such news means to have a negative impact of Milosevic and his stance. If they have made up their minds to take him to court, then he should first be allowed to finish the job, and then they should get him, he will not disappear. Now things are becoming quite serious, documents are mentioned, and this weakens his negotiating position and prolongs the war. It does not necessarily mean that the US administration has revealed everything on purpose, it might be that someone did it of one's own accord. And that one who believes that this might frighten Milosevic is not reasonable.

And finally, the Contact Group has been in Belgrade and left. Milosevic did not recognize Bosnia. Radovan Karadzic exclaimed: "Milosevic was again his 'old self'. If he decided to lead the jobs concerning Serb liberation again, we would all support him." Momir Bulatovic assessed that the relations of the FR of Yugoslavia with the Republic of Srpska started to improve.

And Christian Chartier, the spoksman of the Tribunal in the Hague told us: "No comments. No comments at all".

Gordana Igric