Aco Draca, defence witness of Franko Simatovic

Today, former chief of the Krajina State Security Service, Aco Draca, was examined by the lawyer representing Draca’s former colleague Jovica Stanisic, former head of the Serbian secret service.Defense counsel Jordash tried to prove that in early 1991, the weapons were supplied to Knin by the military and the political leadership, not by the Serbian police, in a bid to contest the prosecution case that the Serbian State Security Service, headed by the two accused, Jovica Stanisic and Franko Simatovic, had played a role in the effort to establish, fund and supply the Serb units in Bosnia and Krajina responsible for the crimes against civilians in the wars in Croatia and BH.

Defense counsel Jordash presented several documents showing that the Krajina authorities sent requests to the federal institutions in Belgrade and the requests were on the agenda of the SFRY rump presidency. The witness agreed that the requests from the Krajina authorities were forwarded to the Federal Secretariat of National Defense. Aid from Serbia came in, but not before early 1992, because before that time, Milan Martic, a Krajina Serb leader, purportedly had refused all contact with the Serbian authorities and the Serbian State Security Service and the police in particular.

The relations purportedly improved a bit in 1992. In early 1993, the Krajina and Serbian secret services started cooperating, Draca said. As he was cross-examined by the prosecutor, Draca remained adamant that the Serbian State Security Service never controlled or provided supplies its colleagues from Knin. However, Draca admitted that the two services exchanged correspondence.

From January 1993 to August 1995, the Krajina State Security Service sent reports and requests for information to the Belgrade service. As Draca said, the reports were initially scarce but by 1995, they came in twice a week. The reports were also sent to the 2^nd Directorate of the Serbian State Security Service, headed by Simatovic. Stanisic was also listed as a recipient on several documents.

The witness also admitted that the reports bearing the Serbian State Security Service stamp were sent from Belgrade to Knin. Draca contends that it was an exchange of intelligence between, as he put it earlier, ‘two friendly intelligence services’. The intelligence exchanged related primarily to the preparations for the peace talks which involved the Serbian and RSK authorities.

Aco Draca will continue his evidence next Tuesday.

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