Milan Milosevic, defence witness of Franko Simatovic

At the very beginning of her cross-examination of Milan Milosevic, who teaches at the Police Academy in Belgrade, prosecutor Marcus put it to him that he didn’t know anything about the actual activities of the accused Jovica Stanisic and Franko Simatovic. She claimed that Milosevic’s entire expert report was based on an analysis of various laws and regulations. Milosevic agreed with the claim to an extent, saying that he was not a fact witness but a police expert. Milosevic wrote an expert report, Study of the Police Work and the State Security System for Franko Simatovic’s defense. Simatovic is on trial with the former Serbian secret service chief Jovica Stanisic Simatovic for crimes committed by the police and paramilitary formations in the wars in Croatia and BH.

In the examination-in chief, Milosevic claimed that the Serbian State Security Service personnel were obliged by the Constitution and law to take part in intelligence gathering missions in the former Yugoslav republics under the aegis of protecting the Serbs outside Serbia. The prosecutor argued their involvement was unlawful and was deliberately covered up. The prosecutor brought up several documents signed by Jovica Stanisic in which Simatovic and other Serbian secret service personnel are assigned to Kosovo in 1991 and 1995, although there is evidence showing that at the time they took part in the combat activities side by side with the Serbian military and police in Croatia and BH. Stanisic’s order sending Serbian secret service personnel to Kosovo was backdated; it was actually written after they completed their missions in Croatia and BH. The witness was unable to comment when the prosecutor put it to him the involvement was unlawful and covered up.

The document of 16 June 1991 shows that Simatovic issued an order for the transfer of weapons from the special unit training center in Golubic near Knin. According to the prosecution, this contradicts the defense’s claim that Simatovic was there only to collect intelligence vital for Serbia’s interests. The witness agreed that the order didn’t actually have to do with intelligence gathering, but he insisted the document’s authenticity was questionable as the letterhead said ‘Republic of Serbia – SAO Krajina’. Simatovic’s defense also contests the document’s authenticity, claiming that the signature was not Simatovic’s.

At the time, records show Simatovic was in Kosovo, just as they did in July 1991 when he received a report about the combat operations of the Krajina police and Territorial Defense in Obrovac and Benkovac. The prosecutor asked what regulations called for such a report to be sent to Simatovic when he was purportedly in the province in the south of Serbia. The witness said, ‘I don’t know how to answer this question’, adding, ‘I’m not aware such regulations existed, which doesn’t mean they didn’t’.

Prosecutor Markus will continue cross-examining Milosevic next week.

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