Jovan Dimitrijevic, defence witness of Franko Simatovic

Franko Simatovic’s defense continued its case today by calling Jovan Dimitrijevic, former member of the Serbian Volunteer Guard (SDG), run by Zeljko Raznatovic Arkan. Dimitrijevic joined the unit in late 1991 in Belgrade and was soon transferred with a group of other volunteers to the training center in Erdut. As he recounted, Raznatovic was there to welcome them. When he heard that the witness had a degree in economics, he said, ‘Finally, someone who’s literate. You’ll be my clerk from now on’.

In his replies to defense counsel Mihajlo Bakrac, the witness insisted on the ties between ‘Arkan’s men’ and various military and political structures, all except the Serbian State Security Service, while the indictment alleges that the Serbian Volunteer Guard was run by the Service.

As Dimitrijevic said, the Serbian Volunteer Guard was part of the Eastern Slavonia Territorial Defense before the Vance plan was signed. The unit then became part of the Krajina police. While the witness was in the training center in Erdut, from November 1991 to March 1992, ‘Arkan’s men’ were issued weapons by the local Territorial Defense and equipment by the JNA. The JNA also took care of the volunteers’ health insurance and other benefits. The witness recounted that some of Arkan’s officers carried Heckler guns: they got those as war booty, fighting the Croatian soldiers called the ‘Zengas’. The witness said that the Eastern Slavonia government supplied food to the center in Erdut, while companies and individuals donated money to cover other expenses. At the time ‘Arkan’s men’ didn’t get anything from the MUP and the Serbian State Security Service, the witness was adamant.

In the field, the Serbian Volunteer Guard was involved in joint actions with the Territorial Defense and the Novi Sad Corps of the JNA. Andrija Biorcevic, who commanded the Novi Sad Corps, worked closely with Arkan and his unit.

Various persons visited the center in Erdut, the witness recounted. The president of the self-proclaimed Serb government in the region, Goran Hadzic, and his ministers were there almost every day. General Biorcevic and the commander of the Eastern Slavonia Territorial Defense Radovan Stojicic Badza came five or six times a month. Various representatives of the international community would stop by from time to time. The only people who never came to visit the Erdut center were the people from the Serbian State Security Service, the witness claimed.

Today Dimitrijevic also talked about the missions carried out by ‘Arkan’s men’ in Bijeljina and Zvornik in the spring of 1992. The witness said they went there ‘on the instructions’ of Biljana Plavsic, who sat on the Bosnian Serb Presidency. The witness didn’t take part in the fighting, but after both towns were captured, he moved the injured and dead members of the Serbian Volunteer Guard to Belgrade. The witness heard that the attack on Bijeljina was ‘easy, quick and effective’ and that the JNA ‘viewed the entire action in a positive light’. The JNA stayed off the streets in order to ‘prevent casualties among the innocent people’. At the same time, the witness claimed that the JNA led the attack on Zvornik and that ‘Arkan’s men’ were under its control at the time.

Jovan Dimitrijevic’s examination-in chief continues tomorrow morning.

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