Former member of the Red Berets continues his evidence at the trial of the former Serbian State Security Service chiefs Jovica Stanisic and Franko Simatovic. State Security payroll lists from 1992 were admitted into evidence. The lists have been provided to the prosecution by the Serbian Security and Information Agency


At the trial of the former Serbian State Security Service chief Jovica Stanisic and his assistant Franko Simatovic, the prosecution today put together a paper trail establishing a direct link between the Serbian secret police and the war commanders of the Special Operations Unit, known as the Red Berets. The Special Operations Unit, operating under the protection of the State Security Service run by Stanisic and Simatovic, participated in the wars in Croatia and BH. The composition and purpose of the unit was kept secret for long time.

Former Red Berets member is testifying with protective measures, under the pseudonym JF-005. He identified four officers on the payroll lists shown to him by the prosecution. In the spring of 1992, just before the war in Bosnia, those officers trained the witness in a secret camp on Mount Ozren. The four officers are Radojica ‘Rajo’ Bozovic, Njegos Kusic, Davor ‘Tiki’ Subotic and Nikola Loncar.

The witness described Bozovic as the commander of the Red Berets on Mount Ozren. Bozovic was in command of the unit when it came down the mountain in early May 1992 and took over Doboj, the witness said. ‘On 3 May 1992, the absolute power was seized by the men headed by Bozovic’, said the witness. In the months that followed, the non-Serb population in the town was thoroughly cleansed and many civilians were killed.

According to the prosecution, the payroll lists were obtained from the Security and Information Agency, formerly the Serbian State Security Service. When the defense’s motion to dismiss the evidence was rejected, Stanisic’s defense counsel Wayne Jordash tried to get the witness to confirm that Bozovic in fact commanded another unit operating under similar name in another town (Petrovo). The witness nevertheless stuck to what he had stated earlier.

Stanisic and Simatovic are on trial for crimes perpetrated by the Special Operations Unit and other paramilitary units in Croatia and BH. Both Stanisic and Simatovic have denied their command responsibility over the Red Berets, noting that many military and paramilitary formations wore similar headgear and had a similar name. Yesterday the witness said that Simatovic personally founded the Special Operations Unit on 4 May 1991. The witness also recounted that the training camps for the unit personnel were located throughout Serbia, Bosnia and Croatia.

[IMAGE]4524[/IMAGE]The witness was shown a photo of an unusual exhibition in the memorial hall of the Special Operations Unit HQ in Kula. The framed photo shows a red beret surrounded by the barrels of various weapons. ‘This means that the unit was tougher than anything’, the witness replied when asked what it meant.

Most of the hearing today went on in closed session. The defense will continue its cross-examination of the Red Berets insider witness on Monday.

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