Jovan Dimitrijevic, defence witness of Franko Simatovic

Former member of Arkan’s Serbian Volunteer Guard (SDG) Jovan Dimitrijevic claims that Milorad Ulemek Legija joined the unit after the joint Serb forces entered Zvornik in the spring of 1992. Continuing his evidence in the defense of Franko Simatovic, the witness said that the Muslims had captured Legija on the eve of the attack, but he was soon released, when the JNA interceded on his behalf. Legija then volunteered to join the SDG.

The witness first checked Ulemek’s personal details in Belgrade. Zeljko Raznatovic Arkan authorized Ulemek’s application. Ulemek was soon sent to Arkan’s training centre in Erdut as a trainer. Ulemek was promoted to the rank of colonel and remained in the unit until 1996. As the witness explained, Ulemek then decided to join the Serbian State Security Service; this purportedly made Arkan angry.

The rest of the examination-in-chief went on in closed session. Jovica Stanisic’s defense counsel asked the witness a few questions. The defense lawyer put it to the witness that the Serbian State Security Service had nothing to do with ‘Arkan’s men’. The witness agreed, adding that as Arkan’s clerk in late 1991 and early 1992 he was in charge of the running of the training center in Erdut. There were only two addresses he went to when he needed weapons: the Ministry of Defense of Eastern Slavonia, which issued weapons from the local Territorial Defense depots, and General Biorcevic, the commander of the JNA Novi Sad corps. Jovica Stanisic and Franko Simatovic are charged with the crimes committed by the police and paramilitary units under the control of the Serbian State Security Service, including Arkan’s volunteers.

At the beginning of the cross-examination, prosecutor Marcus ‘went through’ the witness’s entire war career. Yesterday, the witness said he was in Erdut between November 1991 and March 1992; he then returned to Belgrade and worked in the logistics in the SDG headquarters in Arkan’s house in Belgrade. The witness added that he was on vacation from August to November 1992. He worked for Raznatovic’s political party, called the Serb Unity Party, until he had a traffic accident in 1994. For a few of months, the witness had a job in the Pristina Football Club. Dimitrijevic shared Arkan’s passion for football and he went on to work in Arkan’s football club, Obilic. Today the witness is an official in the Serbian Football Federation.

In the examination-in chief, the witness insisted that the SDG worked well with the Territorial Defense and the Ministry of Defense of Eastern Slavonia. This prompted the prosecutor to ask Dimitrijevic if he was aware of the fact that the defense minister Ilija Kojic, his deputy Milan Milovanovic a/k/a Mrgudand the Territorial Defense commander Radovan Stojicic a/k/a Badza were in the Serbian MUP employ at the time. Dimitrijevic wasn’t aware of it.

The cross-examination of the witness will end tomorrow.

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