STEVANOVIC DAY 7: THE NATURE OF THE SERBIAN MUP’S PRESENCE IN BOSNIA AND CROATIA
www.slobodan-milosevic.org – May 27, 2005

Written by: Andy Wilcoxson

Slobodan Milosevic concluded his examination of Gen. Obrad Stevanovic in The Hague on Friday. Stevanovic is Serbia’s former assistant Interior Minister.

Milosevic began the day by drawing the court’s attention to a document that he received from Mr. Nice pursuant to Rule 68. The document was a book entitled “The Phoenix of Freedom” it is a book that memorializes KLA members who died in battle. The book listed 12 of the names contained in the Kotlina portion of the Kosovo indictment as being KLA members killed in battle. This is bad news for the prosecution since they claim that the men killed in Kotlina were civilians.

Gen. Stevanovic’s testimony mainly focused on the activities of the Serbian MUP in the Krajina and Republika Srpska.

Stevanovic said that the Serbian MUP never participated in combat operations, and did not engage in any illegal activities.

The MUP was only present in a few areas along the border belt to guard the citizens of Serbia who, due to the composition of the border, had to travel through Republika Srpska to get to other parts of Serbia.

Stevanovic listed all of the areas where the MUP was present in Republika Srpska. An example of such presence was the case of the Belgrade-Bar railway, which passes through Republika Srpska for about 9 kilometers. Stevanovic said that the MUP was stationed along the railway to guard the trains from attacks coming from Serbian paramilitary groups operating in the region.

In another case a MUP unit was sent to Banja Luka, after the war, to assist the Republika Srpska authorities deal with the massive exodus of Krajina Serb refugees.

A similar case was noted in Eastern Slavonia and Baranja. A MUP unit was sent there after “Operation Storm” to help what remained of the Serbian Krajina take care of refugees. This was the only example of MUP presence in the RSK.

Stevanovic testified that the MUP presence in the RSK and Republika Srpska was always made known and coordinated with UNPROFOR and the international forces.

Gen. Stevanovic denied that the MUP had any relationship with paramilitary groups operating in Bosnia and Croatia. He said that the MUP arrested members of paramilitary groups when they attempted to cross into Serbia.

Following the conclusion of Gen. Stevanovic’s examination-in-chief, administrative matters related to the cross-examination of Dragan Jasovic were discussed (Jasovic has been examined by the defense, but not cross-examined by the prosecution).

Mr. Nice wants to suspend the defense case so that he can call witnesses to refute Jasovic’s evidence. This is unprecedented; the ICTY has never suspended a defense case to allow the prosecution to call witnesses to rebut a defense witness. As a rule, the prosecution is required to wait until the end of the defense case to call witnesses in rebuttal.

Mr. Nice wants to prevent evidence, that 30 of the 40 corpses found in Racak were KLA members, from going in as exhibits. Jasovic was a police investigator in Kosovo, and he took statements from citizens in the area around Racak. Those statements show that 30 out of the 40 people found dead in Racak were known to be KLA members.

Mr. Nice wants to call some of the Kosovo-Albanians who gave statements to Jasovic as witnesses. Mr. Nice wants them, or the ICTY investigators that spoke to them, to come to the tribunal and testify that they only gave statements to Jasovic under duress. Given the current state of affairs in Kosovo, it is unlikely that any Albanian would readily admit to collaborating with the Serbian police against the KLA.

Carla del Ponte herself told the Koha Ditore newspaper, on October 12, 2004, "You cannot imagine what kind of problems we are having in the investigations into UCK leaders in Kosova. There is huge intimidation of witnesses in Kosova, and now they do not want to cooperate with us.“

After the discussion regarding Jasovic was concluded, Mr. Nice began his cross-examination of Gen. Stevanovic. Mr. Nice is expected to take-up most of next week in cross-examination. The trial will resume next Tuesday at 9:00 AM.

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