VOJISLAV SESELJ – DAY 3: SREBRENICA WAS THE WORK OF FRENCH INTELLIGENCE
www.slobodan-milosevic.org - August 24, 2005

Written by: Andy Wilcoxson

Serbian Radical Party (SRS) leader Dr. Vojislav Seselj continued his testimony at the trial of Slobodan Milosevic on Wednesday. Seselj has finished testifying about Kosovo and is now testifying about events in Bosnia and Croatia.

Seselj testified about the Krajina-Serb Log Rebellion. It was called the Log Rebellion because the Krajina Serbs used logs to block the roads in order to keep the Croatian paramilitaries out of their villages. This was not a violent rebellion, placing logs in the road was purely defensive. The demand of the Krajina Serbs was territorial autonomy, and recognition as a constituent people – not secession from Croatia.

Dr. Seselj explained that the fascist regime of Franjo Tudjman provoked the log rebellion by revoking the Serbs’ status as a constituent people in Croatia.

According to Seselj, Croatian-Serbs began to come to Serbia as refugees as soon as Tudjman took power. He said that Tudjman forced them to sign loyalty oaths and created an atmosphere of fear in Croatia.

Vojislav Seselj, as the leader of the SRS, recruited volunteers for the JNA during the wars in Croatia and Bosnia. Seselj’s volunteers first made a name for themselves in the battle of Borovo Selo.

The Croats had made an agreement with the local Serbs in Borovo Selo. The agreement was that the Serbs would take their barricades down, and the Croats would not try to attack them. Unfortunately the Croats negotiated in bad faith and attacked anyway. Croatian ZNG together with foreign mercenaries attacked. Luckily, SRS volunteers were in the town and were able to fight the Croats off.

A number of the casualties on the Croatian side had fascist insignia in their possession; some even carried German Reich Marks from World War II.

Dr. Seselj explained that all of the Serbian Radical Party’s volunteers were members of the JNA and later members of the VRS or VRSK. Seselj did not command the volunteers himself; they were subordinated to the corps command of the respective armies they served in.

Seselj said that the Serbian Radical Party was the only party that rallied volunteers and did not establish any paramilitary formations. He said that other opposition parties rallied volunteers and created paramilitary groups. He added that Milosevic’s Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) never rallied any volunteers or established any paramilitary groups.

Dr. Seselj explained that he did not have anything to do with the so-called “White Eagles” paramilitary group. He said that they were a band of criminals and that their commander was Mirko Jovic, who was a member of Vuk Draskovic’s Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO).

Seselj testified that Draskovic’s SPO established another paramilitary group called the Serbian Guard. He said that this group was “scum” that they were rapists and murderers who exploited the war to loot and pillage. He explained that Draskovic’s real purpose behind the formation of the Serbian Guard was to use them to mount a coup in Serbia.

Vuk Draskovic’s old speeches were read out in court. Seselj said that Draskovic was a violent nationalist and that he took the rhetoric of Serbian nationalism too far.

Seselj contrasted Draskovic’s speeches with those of Milosevic. Slobodan Milosevic did not give nationalistic speeches. Milosevic’s position was that Yugoslavia should be preserved. Seselj added that Milosevic opposed the idea of “greater Serbia.”

Seselj said that Milosevic did not have good relations with Karadzic. He testified that Djindjic and Kostunica had the better relations with Karadzic than Milosevic. The Serbian Democratic Party (SDS) is the sister party of the Democratic Party (DS/DSS) in Serbia. The prefix “Serbian” was simply dropped by the party in Serbia.

Seselj said that the Democratic party (DS/DSS) was unable to rally volunteers from among its members because their membership was too effeminate. He said that Zoran Djindjic recruited Ljubisa Savic “Mauser” and his group of "Panthers" to go to Bosnia and fight. Apparently, Karadzic was not very happy with Djindjic’s assistance because he often complained that the Panthers were a gang of criminals.

Arkan was never attached to the Serbian Interior Ministry. Seselj said that Arkan had been attached to the Yugoslav Interior Ministry during the 1980s and that he had been involved with the assassination of political émigrés, but he never worked for the government of Serbia.

Srebrenica was another topic that Seselj testified about. He said that the mercenary group “Pauk” was involved with the execution of Muslims from Srebrenica. This group of mercenaries was multi-ethnic and was attached to the 10th Sabotage Division of the VRS, although it was outside of the corps command of the VRS.

“Pauk” was commanded by Milorad Pelemis, and was acting on the orders of French Intelligence in Srebrenica. Serbian intelligence reported that the French had paid “Pauk” 2 million DM to execute Srebrenica Muslims.

Seselj explained that this “Pauk” mercenary group was also sent to fight in Zaiere, and was involved in a plot to assassinate Slobodan Milosevic.

In 2000 the Serbian authorities arrested several members of “Pauk” and charged them with war crimes for the killing of 1,200 Srebrenica Muslim POWs. Unfortunately October 5, 2000 arrived, Milosevic was overthrown, and the DOS regime simply released these men.

Several “Pauk” members were identified by Drazen Erdemovic, who was convicted by the Hague Tribunal because he admitted to taking part in the killings when he was arrested by the Serbian government in 1996.

It is strange that nobody else from this group has been arrested. Seselj explained that men from “Pauk” have no trouble getting passports and they freely travel all over the world, even though Erdemovic identified them as having taken part in the executions. It is also strange that Erdemovic, who admitted to personally shooting more than 100 people, only had to serve 4 years in prison and is a free man today.

The protection that these men enjoy seems to corroborate the thesis that they are foreign intelligence operatives.

Miroslav Deronjic was another topic of Seselj’s testimony. Deronjic testified as a prosecution witness against Milosevic as part of a plea bargain that he struck with the prosecution.

Seselj said that Deronjic committed several very serious crimes against Muslims during the war and even killed his own wife. He said that Deronjic is not a credible witness.

The last part of Seselj’s testimony today dealt with the JNA. In 1991 the top JNA leadership had the following ethnic structure: 1 Yugoslav, 2 Serbs, 8 Croats, 2 Slovenians, 2 Macedonians, and 1 Muslim.

The ethnic composition of the JNA’s top command structure totally refutes the claim that the JNA was “Serb-dominated.”

Seselj confirmed that the JNA was commanded by the Yugoslav state presidency, not by Slobodan Milosevic. Slobodan Milosevic, as the president of Serbia, did not have the authority to command the JNA.

Dr. Seselj’s testimony will continue on Thursday.

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