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On June 28, Slobodan Milosevic entered the “Bel 212” helicopter with a single sentence. “Guys, good afternoon!” I was on the plane and muttered to myself, “I’m taking the day, President!” Before him, two JSO special forces boarded the “target”, followed by three officers from The Hague, and Sloba was the last to enter. He was calm and serious. “Bell” closed the door and put down the propeller, so we took off at the same time. Me with a “gazelle”.
The third “MI-17” helicopter was waiting for us near Obrenovac. I cannot say the name of the pilot of the helicopter “bel 212”, in which Milosevic was, because my colleague does not want it to be known. It is true that the former president flew to Tuzla in a helicopter that took him to Gazimestan, but the pilot was not the same, as Cedomir Jovanovic recalls. I, who was next to the helicopter, did not hear the president say “Today is Vidovdan” or that when he entered the “target” he said: “Hello, Serbs.” He just said “Good afternoon guys”.
This is how Colonel Vladan Kosic, former Commander of the Helicopter Unit of the Ministry of the Interior and the DB of Serbia, remembers the transfer of the former President of Serbia and FRY Slobodan Milosevic to the military airport and base “Dubrava” near Tuzla, June 28 of 2001.
The man who planned the last escape of the president of Serbia, remembers the painful scenes of that Vidovdan:
– It all happened on the plateau in front of the Security Institute building in Banjica. The small convoy of vehicles that transported Milosevic from the Central Prison included three officers from the Hague Tribunal, two men and a woman. Nobody entered the building and Milosevic was read the accusation of the Court, practically in front of our planes. During all that time, a young woman, turned out to be the daughter of Zoran Mijatović, the deputy head of the DB Department, relentlessly photographed both the president and the aircraft, as well as a completely inappropriate health examination, allegedly from Slobodan Milošević. . A great bald official from The Hague brutally searched the president, put his hands in his mouth … In short, a horrible scene, Kosic describes for “Vecernje Novosti”.
According to the “ad hoc” flight salary of “Dubrave”, two masked DB helicopters: “Bel 212” and “Gazelle” took off from the courtyard of the Security Institute, and the third, also masked “MI-17”, was waiting for them above of Obrenovac.
Kosic says that SMATSA announced a technical landing on the meadow near Obrenovac. That supposed landing was a maneuver, to possibly disprove the idea that the army or someone else shot down the plane with the president.
Colonel Kosić recalls that the DB pilots had previously received information that the army had activated all radar systems and that the fighter pair was ready.
That was the reason for the false maneuver.
– When we met in the air near Obrenovac, I issued an order to continue according to our internal plan without landing. The “Bel 212” crossed the Drina near Loznica and continued towards Tuzla, and the “MI-17” landed on the Drina a little further north, as did I with the “Gazelle”. The helicopter returned from Tuzla in 20 minutes, then we all gathered in the air and returned to the base in Surcin. Nobody said anything after the landing – recalls Kosic.
According to his report, the DB department began planning the transfer action about twenty days earlier. The pilot testified that he was invited to the Institute in Banjica with Zoran Mijatović, who asked him in that first meeting if it was possible to land in the Central Prison. Kosic says the nature of the task was clear to him at the time, as well as that the pilots “from afar” were exploring from the air if they could land. They concluded that it was possible, but Mijatović never mentioned that option afterwards.
In Vidovdan 2001, the unit commander, Dušan Maričić Gumar, called me to come to the Institute by helicopter. Gumar was sad and almost without saying a word he led me to Mijatović. The head of the DB department, Goran Petrović, was nowhere to be found, the colonel recalls.
He adds that he has never had a stranger dialogue than in the DB office:
– Can you fly abroad? asked Mijatović.
– Where and for what purposes? – I answered with a question.
– Can you transfer some cargo to Bulgaria? asked Mijatović.
– We can, but how – I replied with the comment that we had flown “officially” before, but also “below the line”.
– How are we with Banja Luka? – was the next question.
Kosic, as he states, “it became clear what they were asking the crew for.”
– I myself suggested Mijatović’s route with the words: “If that’s what I think it is, it is best to fly directly to Tuzla. In Banja Luka, we would have to refuel and it is not excluded that our people hit us when they saw it when we were driving. ”he nodded and went to make a phone call – says Kosić.
The pilots devised the shift action on their own. They pointed out to Commander Maričić the “problem” that there was a danger of keeping them in Tuzla with a plane. Maricic went to Mijatovic and told him that a helicopter could only go to Tuzla accompanied by two people from the JSO. The special forces, dark and armed, approached the “whites”, following under their eyes what someone was doing.
– If it weren’t for that disgusting painting and inhumane search, one could say that the proceedings against Slobodan Milosevic were correct. This is how … – Colonel Vladan Kosić ends his story.
STRANGE
Never before from Vidovdan in 2001 was I given a combat assignment in a similar way to Mijatović. The above “special” tasks for the DB pilots were assigned by the commander who came to the head of the department and he would openly say what should be done, and at the end he would ask, “What should we allow you to do the task?” This time, we teach the Department what is needed – says the colonel.
BAD LETEO
Sloba actually flew a bit and didn’t use his luxury “Sikor” helicopter, just a few times. Its penultimate flight was in 1998 to Kladovo, when the revitalized hydroelectric power station was put into operation. At that time, we followed him in flight with two armed MI-24s, because there was information about possible problems. After that, he no longer entered the plane, the pilot said.
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