30 OF THE 40 PEOPLE KILLED IN RACAK WERE KNOWN
KLA MEMBERS
www.slobodan-milosevic.org - April 26, 2005
Written by: Andy Wilcoxson
The testimony of Dragan Jasovic continued at the trial of Slobodan Milosevic
on Tuesday. Jasovic was a police detective working for the Urosevac SUP in
Kosovo until June of 1999.
The Urosevac SUP covered the area of Urosevac, Stimlje, Strpce, and Kacanik,
as well as the village of Racak.
As a detective, Mr. Jasovic took statements from numerous people living in the
area. He came to court with statements from 90 different people concerning KLA
activities in and around Racak. Jasovic personally took all 90 of the
statements.
The police took the statements to inform themselves about the activities of
the KLA. People gave the statements to the police on their own accord, and
their authenticity is evidenced by the fact that the person who gave the
statement signed each page of the document together with Jasovic and his
partner.
The statements identified 30 out of the 40 people killed in Racak on January
15, 1999 as members of the KLA.
In most cases, KLA members were identified by 3 or 4 different people. In some
cases as many as eight different people identified particular KLA members.
Ethnic Albanians gave the witness statements almost exclusively.
The statements detailed the activities of the KLA in the area. The location of
the KLA headquarters was named, and details about the KLA prison in Lapusnik
were also contained.
The statements spoke of a campaign of KLA terror against Albanians designed to
discipline them, and force them to support the KLA and its goals. According to
the witness statements, scores of Albanian civilians were kidnapped and killed
by the KLA throughout Kosovo.
Informers gave details of KLA training and weapons procurement operations.
Some members of the KLA received training in Switzerland, and a substantial
portion of the KLA’s weapons came from Albania, when rioters looted Albanian
Army depots in 1997. The statements also revealed that the KLA was recruiting
women and children for combat activities.
Mr. Nice has tried to undermine the credibility of the statements by alleging
that Albanians were tortured by Jasovic and forced to sign the statements
under duress. Jasovic has flatly denied these accusations. It is interesting
to note that Jasovic first came to the tribunal as a prosecution witness in
the Limaj trial, not as a defense witness for Milosevic.
One of the Albanians that Mr. Nice tracked down told the prosecution that he
had seen blood on the floor of the basement of the Urosevac SUP building, and
was so scared by the sight that he signed a statement without even reading it.
Jasovic, who worked precisely in the Urosevac SUP building, testified that the
building did not even have a basement.
Jasovic said that he understood why the Albanians would want to deny giving
statements to the police. He said that the KLA killed and terrorized Albanians
and their families if they cooperated with the Serbian authorities. Today,
Kosovo is fully in the hands of the KLA. The Kosovo Protection Corps (KPC) and
the Albanian National Army (ANA) are nothing more than the KLA under a new
name.
In order to protect the lives of the Albanians who gave statements to the
police, their names were not mentioned in open session. If it was necessary to
mention a name the court went in to closed session.
Jasovic will continue his testimony when the trial resumes on Wednesday.
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