War Criminals - Arrests and Liquidations

AIM Banja Luka, 20 January, 1999

The arrest of Dragan Gagovic, indicted for war crimes, which was recently attempted by SFOR near Srbinje (Foca) and which ended with his murder, roused a gust of public reactions in Republika Srpska.

Gagovic was shot in his vehicle at the chackpoint put up there by members of SFOR for the purpose of the arrest on the road near Srbinje. He was on his way back from preparations for a karate competition on mount Tara with five children at the age between 8 and 12. On that same evening Serb Television broadcast a picture of the vehicle riddled with bullets and a statement of a girl who described the shooting and showed her knapsack and bag with her things pierced by bullets.

Spokesman of NATO in Brussels immediately carried the statement of secretary General Javier Solana, according to which Gagovic was shot in "self-defence" when he "charged at members of SFOR in his car, threatening to kill them". After that, SFOR came out in public with a statement which says that the operation of the arrest was in accordance with the mandate of SFOR and that Gagovic himself bears full responsibility for his own death. "Soldiers of SFOR had the intention to peacefully arrest Gagovic, but he unfortunately decided to ignore the checkpoint and refused to stop and endangered the lives of the soldiers and his travelling companions", declared SFOR spokesman, Sheana Thompson. After explaining how Gagovic had threatened the lives of the soldiers, Thompson said that Gagovic refused to stop and in great speed headed at the check-point, the barbed wire and beam. According to SFOR, this was enough for the soldiers to feel threatened and open fire.

The domestic political public immediately reacted to the tragic attempt of the arrest. Nikola Poplasen, president of RS, sent a letter to the commander of SFOR, general Montgomery Miggs, warning him that "the mandate of SFOR was contravened by this operation". "I express special discontent because in the car together with the deceased Gagovic were five children whose lives were directly exposed to danger and who were seriously traumatised...", it is stated in the letter of the president of RS. Poplasen insists that such operations had to stop and warns that "on the contrary, nobody can take responsibility for possible reactions of disturbed and discontented citizens". "It is inexplicable and inconceivable that members of SFOR could have disregarded the fact that in the vehicle in which Gagovic was and at which fire was opened, there were five children under age whose lives were seriously threatened", it is said in the statement of the government. The Socialists, the Party of Independent Social Democrats and the Serb National League of Biljana Plavsic also pointed out the heavily transgressed mandate of SFOR.

Sharp condemnation of the action of SFOR arrived from the ranks of parties of the right and national orientation. "We were shocked by brutality of SFOR. It is unacceptable and inexcusable to shoot in self-defence at children", said Dusan Cavic, deputy president of the board of the Serb Democratic Party (SDS), wondering if this was the way in which SFOR was building relations with RS. Predrag Lazarevic, president of the Serb Coalition for RS, compared SFOR's operation with shooting of pupils in Kragujevac, crime committed by the Germans in the Second World War.

The circumstances and the fact that a vehicle was shot at in which small children were riding, agitated the ordinary public as well. On that same day, citizens of Srbinje demolished offices of the IPTF in demonstration, injured a few policemen and turned a few of their vehicles upside down.

International officials, without exceptions, declared that the operation of SFOR was justified. In their statements they repeated the stand that Gagovic was on the list of publicly indicted persons and that he had had the possibility to give himself up. "Since he had not done it, by his irresponsible behavior he jeopardized the lives of the children", David Mayo, spokesman of SFOR in Banja Luka, replied to a journalist's question. Carlos Westendorp, High Representative of the international community for B&H, replied to a journalist's question in the same manner, stressing that Gagovic had to be aware that he was on the public indictment.

Gagovic is the second victim in the operation of arresting Serbs indicted for war crimes. Simo Drljaca from Prijedor was killed before him. Recent spectacular arrest of general Krstic has also agitated the public. In the line of duty Krstic had regular contacts with members of SFOR and according to statements of the officials, he could have been arrested at any time.

"Methods of the arrests applied by SFOR do not abide by the rules of criminology. The rules of making arrests in every police in the world pay maximum attention to safety of the third persons, persons who make the arrest and the person who is arrested. The police patiently negotiate with kidnappers if a possibility exists that even a single innocent person is in danger" says Dusko Vejnovic, professor at the college of internal affairs in Banja Luka. Professor Vejnovic believes that Gagovic could have been arrested at night or in any other situation which would not have been dangerous for other persons. "This is a psychological and propagandist game which is intentionally and purposefully designed to intimidate the public and the indicted for war crimes" Vejnovic explains operations of SFOR.

Vejnovic believes that the murder of Gagovic in the attempted arrest in the presence of children who are under age brings into question professional credibility of SFOR and international institutions which had absolutely no understanding for the traumatic experience which this liquidation exposed the children to. "If anything of the kind had happened in America or any other western country", he says, "the entire public would have raised its voice in defence of the children. Unfortunately, even the fundamental humanness here is subordinated to political interests".

Different views of the latest incident with Gagovic's arrest point out the full sensitiveness of the problem of the arrest of the indicted for war crimes. The mandate of SFOR to arrest the indictees who refuse to give themselves up is not questioned, nor the fact that the domestic state institutions are failing to carry out this obligation. The manner in which the arrests are made is disputed by the public. Spectacularity of some of the arrests caused agitation even among the people who do not bring into question the right of SFOR to do it.

Dejan Novakovic (AIM)