Manojlo Milovanovic, defence witness of Jovica Stanisic

In the cross-examination of VRS general Manojlo Milovanovic, Jovica Stanisic’s defense denied there was any link between the Serbian State Security Service and the Bosnian Serb police and army. In the re-examination, the prosecutor tried to prove the opposite, using excerpts from Ratko Mladic’s war diaries. According to Mladic’s notes, some Serbian paramilitary units operating in BH had been under the control of the Serbian secret service which also provided support to the Bosnian Serb forces. The issue is of key importance for the trial of Jovica Stanisic and Franko Simatovic as the indictment charges them with the crimes committed by the police and paramilitary units in Croatia and BH.

In the entry in his diary on 15 September 1992, Mladic writes that the Panthers unit, led by Ljubisa Savic Mauzer, had ties with the Serbian MUP. Having seen that, the witness said he couldn’t be certain but that it ‘probably’ was the case. Yesterday, Milovanovic claimed that the unit was under the control of the Bosnian Serb army.

The prosecutor put it to the witness that in the fall of 1995, the police and paramilitary units from Serbia controlled by the State Security Service operated in western BH, in the Bosnian Krajina. Milovanovic replied that Dragan Filipovic and Colonel Bozovic from the Serbian secret service visited him in September 1995. Colonel Bozovic spoke with a broad Montenegrin accent. They told Milovanovic that 900 police officers from Serbia were on their way. Milovanovic explained that the police officers never came, but he knew that 300 ‘Arkan’s men’ headed by their commander Zeljko Raznatovic did come. The prosecutor then quoted from the entries in Mladic’s diaries which show that the police officers did arrive in the Bosnian Krajina from Serbia and that Jovica Stanisic and the Serbian State Security Service sent them there.

On 29 September 1995 Mladic noted in his diary, ‘Jovica Stanisic gave 300 men and the United States are angry because we are promoting Arkan’s men’. After reading the entry for that date, the witness said it would appear that Stanisic did send those 300 men and that they were under Arkan’s command. However, the witness claimed ‘I don’t know to this day who allowed Arkan to come’. As he said, ‘I can hardly wait’ to discuss the issue with Radovan Karadzic if he is called to testify at his trial. Milovanovic said that he met Arkan at the time. Arkan told him he has been authorized to come by the supreme commander, Karadzic. However, Arkan didn’t have a written document to confirm it. ‘I suspect that he really came with Karadzic’s permission’, the witness concluded, adding that ‘Arkan’s men’ weren’t involved in combat. They took part in ‘disciplining the VRS’: catching deserters. Milovanovic’s claim contradicts the recent evidence of former Serbian MUP officer Srdjan Grekulovic who appeared as a defense witness. Grekulovic said that Arkan’s men didn’t participate in ‘hunting down deserters’.

The witness doggedly replied he thought that the police officers whose arrival Filipovic and Bozovic had announced ‘never came’ to Bosnian Krajina. This prompted the prosecutor to show an entry from Mladic’s diary from 30 September 1995. Mladic says that Stanisic sent 400 police officers as support in the fighting near Sanski Most and Novigrad in western Bosnia. Milovanovic said he didn’t know whether this had in fact come to pass. The presiding judge warned Milovanovic that his answer differed from his previous claims, when he said ‘I think they never came’. As the witness said, ‘I had to change my opinion’ after seeing the entries in Mladic’s diary.

After three days, General Milovanovic’s re-examination was completed. He had testified at the Stanisic and Simatovic trial in April 2010 and was recalled to answer questions about Mladic’s diaries and the minutes of the meetings of the Yugoslav Supreme Defense Council. At the time of Milovanovic’s initial testimony, the translated documents were not available to the parties.

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