How did the Legion become the commander of the Red Berets? Jovica Stanisic said: I provided a nice guy with war experience

Milorad Ulemek Legija, Photo: Illustration

In the continuation of the Hague trial of Jovica Stanisic and Franko Simatovic-Frenki, retired Serbian Interior Minister Obrad Stevanovic said today that he heard for the first time about the “red berets” from the Serbian State Security Service (SDB ) in March 1996, the day that at his assertion, that unit was officially formed.

During his testimony in defense of Simatovic, Stevanovic testified that in 1993-96, members of the Special Police Units (PJP) of the Department of Public Security (RJB) of the Serbian MUP, under his command, operated on several occasions in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, but did not carry out offensives there. behavior.

Stevanovic denied not only the participation in those operations of the Serbian SDB combat unit, but also the existence of such a formation.

– I have not heard, nor have I seen, any formation of the Serbian SDB, nor did I know that such formation exists. That was not the tradition of the SDB – underlined the witness who was the commander of the PJP and the deputy head of the RJB of the Ministry of the Interior of Serbia.

For the “red beret” officers, such as Rajo Bozovic, who were present on the battlefields with his men at that time, the witness claimed that they were part of the forces of the Republika Srpska (RS) or the Republika Srpska Krajina ( RSK).

According to the indictment against Stanisic (70), the then head of the Serbian SDB, and Simatovic (70), the main operative of the Service, the “red berets” and “scorpions”, as units of the Serbian SDB, committed many crimes in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1991-95.

Stanisic and Simatovic are charged with the persecution, murder, forcible transfer and deportation of Croats and Muslims.

General Stevanovic claimed that he first learned about the Serbian SDB combat unit on May 13, 1996, at a service reception on the occasion of Safety Day.

– Jovica Stanišić informed us for the first time that the SDB will form, or has formed, the Special Operations Unit (JSO). She told us that she had provided a good person with experience in operations for the commander, (Milorad Ulemek) Legija – said the witness.

Speaking about the war actions and successes of the “red berets” during the wars in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1991-95, which Simatovic delivered a year later, in May 1997, at a celebration at the JSO base in Kula, Stevanovic said it was “inaccurate” and full of “self-promotion and hype”.

– The speech was illogical, if we take into account the character of the Serbian SDB … Everything I heard was not entirely logical or true –

According to the indictment, Simatovic was the commander-in-chief of the “red berets” during the war.

Stevanovic described the operation of the PJP of Serbia in Eastern Bosnia during 1993 as the protection of the borders of Serbia, and in Krajina Bosnia and Eastern Slavonia in 1995 as the routine security of the territory, at the invitation of the RS and RSK authorities, after the Croatian Operation Storm.

During the operation in Eastern Bosnia in March 1993, according to Stevanovic, “instructors” with “war experience” under Vasilije Mijovic were added to the PJP units until he passed through Simatovic.

Prosecutors claim that Mijovic was one of the “red beret” commanders of the Serbian SDB.

The witness reiterated that the objective of the operation was to expel the Bosnia and Herzegovina Army forces from the Serbian border and that the police forces only secured the territory from which the enemy had previously been expelled by the Yugoslav Army (VJ).

According to prosecutors, the combined forces of the VRS, VJ, MUP of Serbia and SDB of Serbia expelled not only Naser Orić’s forces, but also the Muslim population from the territory around Skelani.

As “nonsense”, Stevanović rejected the claim that Simatović was his deputy at the Serbian Interior Ministry Headquarters in Bajina Bašta, who was in command of the action.

About 400 members of the PJP from the Serbian Interior Ministry were deployed to Bosnia Krajina from August to November 1995, “due to a column of refugees and a humanitarian catastrophe following the fall of Knin,” Stevanovic testified.

He had enormous power: Jovica Stanisic, Photo: Fonet / AP

He said that he “met Zeljko Raznatovic-Arkan and some of his members” in that field.

According to the indictment, Raznatovic’s Serbian Voluntary Guard was a unit of the Serbian SDB and committed crimes in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In his statement that there were between 400 and 450 Serbian police officers in the vicinity of Banja Luka at the time, Stevanovic remained even after he was presented with a note from the VRS commander, Ratko Mladic, saying that “the SDB team from Serbia Radojica Bozovic appeared here “and that” the Serbian Interior Ministry ordered 1,200 fighters to come. “

At the same time, around 800 members of the PJP from the Serbian Interior Ministry were deployed to Eastern Slavonia and Baranja for fear of a new Croatian offensive, which would launch a wave of refugees into Serbia, Stevanovic said.

The witness said he “did not know, so it was not” that there were Serbian SDB units in that area. However, he confirmed that he met Simatovic at a facility on the border between Serbia and Croatia, whose name he did not remember.

According to the defense, it was the wiretapping center of the Serbian SDB in Pajzoš, while, according to the prosecution, there was a “red beret” base there.

In meetings with the commander of the RSK army, Dušan Lončar, Stevanović saw Radojica Božović and “one Gavrilović”, who he assumed were members of that army.

The witness heard that (Momir) Gavrilovic was a member of the Serbian SDB only after Gavrilovic was assassinated in 2001 in Belgrade.

Stevanovic also met with the commander of the “scorpions”, Slobodan Medic-Boca, in Eastern Slavonia, and learned that this unit of the RSK army was providing oil fields in Djeletovci.

General Stevanovic will continue with his testimony tomorrow.