Dragomir Andan, defence witness of Mico Stanisic

In 1992, Dragomir Andan, former Republika Srpska police official, was the chief of the Bijeljina police. Today, he continued his evidence at the trial of Bosnian Serb police officials Mico Stanisic and Stojan Zupljanin. Stanisic and Zupljanin are on trial for crimes committed by the Serb forces against Croats and Muslims in 20 BH municipalities in 1992.

Andan described the paramilitaries as a ‘permanent problem’ the police had to deal with; their primary goal ‘was not to defend the Serbs but to loot and rape’ and then sell their loot in Serbia. The witness was involved in the action when the Yellow Wasps, a paramilitary group, were arrested in Zvornik in late July 1992. Andan personally arrested Vojin Vuckovic Zuco, the leader of the Yellow Wasps. According to Andan, Vuckovic killed Muslims both for personal gain and because they were Muslims.

During the arrest it was established that the members of the Yellow Wasps unit had received supported from the top police brass in Zvornik. According to the witness, the top Zvornik police officers were all dismissed after the action.An inspector helped Vuckovic legalize stolen vehicles by issuing temporary permits and license plates. Cars were then resold in Serbia.

Interior minister Mico Stanisic asked for detailed reports about the action. After the first arrests were completed, Stanisic ordered another action, this time to arrest the paramilitaries in the Foca area, Andan recounted.

The defense counsel showed a number of criminal reports and dispatches the witness had sent to the minister and the judiciary after the arrest of the Yellow Wasps unit. The witness explained that the police did all it had to do under the law when it issued criminal reports and handed Vuckovic and the others over to the court in Bijeljina. An investigative judge then ordered their release. As the witness said, the lives of all the people involved in the arrest were in danger after their release, because Vuckovic Zuco ‘kept a close watch’ on their homes. Andan was put under police protection by the Yugoslav Federal Secretariat of the Interior; police officers from the FRY secured his family home.

The witness also commented on an order Mico Stanisic issued in early August 1992; Stanisic asked for all the information on how the Serb authorities treated prisoners of war and their living conditions. As the Bijeljina police was not responsible for the prison facilities and as the police knew that the Batkovic prison camp was under the military jurisdiction, the request was forwarded to the military security service. No answer ever came. As Andan noted, the military bodies may have replied directly to the interior ministry.

Former Bijeljina police chief, who went on to become a high-ranking police official in Republika Srpska, continues his evidence tomorrow.

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