Milosevic 'praised paramilitaries'

Milosevic 'praised paramilitaries'

Dragan is a key prosecution witness

Prosecutors at the war crimes trial of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic have shown a secret video which captured him allegedly paying tribute to Serb paramilitaries accused of ethnic cleansing.

The 1997 footage - shot in a paramilitary camp in the Vojvodina region of northern Serbia - was played during the testimony of a former Serb commander who fought in Croatia.

Dragan Vasiljkovic - known as Captain Dragan - told the judges Serb paramilitaries did not act independently but were part of "the security services, the army or the police".

No one could participate without being a part of the security services, the army or the police

Dragan Vasiljkovic
former Serb paramilitary

The evidence - supporting that of a key military adviser to Mr Milosevic early this month - comes as the prosecution tries to establish a line of command between the former president and atrocities committed during the Balkan wars in the 1990s.

Mr Milosevic has been on trial since last February for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide during three Balkan wars, in Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo.

Integrated

Prosecutors asked Mr Vasiljkovic to authenticate the video that showed the founder of the special operations unit of the Serbian state security services boasting about its war exploits.

In the video, Franko Simatovic - known as Frenki - recounted how the unit operated 26 training camps and an air squadron to ferry men and material into the territory. Some 5,000 men fought under its command, he said.

It also shows Serbia's former state security chief Jovica Stanisic, who is accused of overall responsibility for the paramilitary units.

Mr Stanisic - who has helped the tribunal gain documentary evidence showing that the Serbian security service was subordinated directly to Mr Milosevic - is pictured showing him a map where the units fought in both wars.

Milosevic denies command responsibility

Wednesday's witness said he was in no doubt that Belgrade controlled, financed and supported Serb operations in the battle for territory in the Serb-populated region of Krajina in Croatia.

"Throughout this theatre of operations, no one could participate without being a part of the security services, the army or the police," Mr Vasiljkovic said.

"Many good men died believing they were serving on the police force or in the army or in the state security service and today some people are trying to wash their hands of them," he said.

Mr Milosevic, who was president of Serbia at the time, maintains the conflict in Croatia was an uprising of local Serbs that had nothing to do with him.

He has yet to cross-examine Mr Vasiljkovic.