Borislav Bogunovic, former interior minister in the self-proclaimed Serb autonomous region in Eastern Slavonia, confirmed in his evidence at the trial of Jovica Stanisic and Franko Simatovic that the Serbian MUP had crucial influence over Goran Hadzic and his ‘government’


For some months in 1991, witness Borislav Bogunovic served as interior minister in the self-proclaimed government of the Serb Autonomous Region (SAO) of Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Srem. Bogunovic stated that Belgrade controlled Goran Hadzic, ‘the prime minister’, and his entourage through the Serbian MUP. Bogunovic who has heart problems is testifying via video link from the Tribunal’s office in Belgrade.

In the second half of 1991 and later, Hadzic often went to Belgrade to meet Slobodan Milosevic. The chief of the secret police Jovica Stanisic was also usually there. A while later, Stanisic’s assistant Franko Simatovic set up the Red Beret headquarters in Ilok near Vukovar, Bogunovic recounted.

Bogunovic confirmed his earlier statement that Hadzic’s government was ‘virtual’ because all important decisions were made in Belgrade. The authorities in the SAO couldn’t function at all without the support from Belgrade, Bogunovic explained. Bogunovic noted that the police and territorial defense received their salaries from Serbia; their uniforms, weapons and other equipment also came from there. As Bogunovic explained, he personally arranged the purchase of uniforms and weapons at a meeting with Stanisic in Novi Sad in late August 1991. The witness received the items in the Vojvodina MUP depot in the Novi Sad neighborhood of Klisa.

According to the witness, the late Radovan Stojicic Badza played an important part in establishing power in Slavonia. In 1991, Stojicic served as assistant to the Serbian interior minister and as commander of the Territorial Defense in Vukovar. Zeljko Raznatovic Arkan also played an important role; he occasionally attended sessions of Hadzic’s Government. ‘Arkan and Badza worked on the same level, they saw each other every day’, Bogunovic said.

As the witness said, the paramilitary unit Red Berets arrived in Ilok in late 1991; Simatovic commanded the unit. In Ilok, the unit searched houses and seized vehicles from the locals; they did not act on anyone’s orders. ‘They took cars without any documents’, Bogunovic recounted, adding that their owners never saw the cars again.

In the cross-examination, the defense reminded Bogunovic that in his first statement to the OTP investigators in 2003 he said that he ‘didn’t have any contacts with the Serbian state security service’. Stanisic’s defense counsel went on to put it to the witness that the arms had been pouring into Slavonia from various sources, based on individual arrangements made by local commanders of the Territorial Defense and from the Yugoslav People’s Army.

Stanisic and Simatovic are charged with crimes perpetrated in BH and Croatia by the Red Berets, Arkan’s Tigers and other paramilitary units under Stanisic’s and Simatovic’s control. The trial continues tomorrow.

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