War Crimes: Karadzic Issued a Warrant for Izetbegovic
by Momir Ilic and Marica Lalovic, Intervju, Belgrade, FR Yugoslavia, 2/13/96
As early as last fall, The Hague Tribunal for war crimes in the former Yugoslavia indicated that Izetbegovic's mane might be added to the list of war criminals. Soon after that, Goldstone's close collaborators let it be known, discretely but without a doubt, that they would like to open an investigation against Alija Izetbegovic [Bosnian president]. After such a public announcement of a new target for the Goldstone's team, the Serb side, with all its customary deficiencies, got down to work. As before, the first to do something concrete were non-governmental organizations, above all The Association of Camp Inmates 1991. The message traveled across the Drina river, and recently Dr. Radovan Karadzic stated that the Pale authorities have material evidence of Izetbegovic's guilt.
Directors of a Massacre
It is too early to talk about the quality of Serb evidence that will be presented to the Hague tribunal and which might be accepted by the tribunal as a basis for an indictment. Nevertheless, it is almost certain that the main arguments against Izetbegovic will be the suffering of Serbs in central Bosnia, specifically in camps in Konjic, Celebic and Tarcin. It seems that the crimes in Bradina might also be included. We've also heard that the Serb side will try to use the favorable attitude of the tribunal to present to the whole world the definite proof that the two Sarajevo massacres, in Vase Miskina Street and on Merkale Market, were planned and executed with knowledge of the top officials in the Muslim government. The testimony of Slavko Jovicic, a.k.a. Slavuj, leaves no room for doubt that Alija Izetbegovic knew about the camps in which mostly Serb civilians were detained, tortured and killed; it also shows that Izetbegovic used to visit those camps; Slavko Jovicic spent 1334 days, between 5/26/92 and 1/19/96 in the Tarcin camp. He was a police inspector, and before his arrest, the chief of security for the Serb parliamentarians and ministers in the then multiethnic parliament and government of Bosnia-Hercegovina.
"I saw Alija Izetbegovic on several occasions during my incarceration in the Tarcin camp. His first visit was in April, 1994. He left Sarajevo through the tunnel, and then, he was taken in a car to the helidrom in Tarcin; the helidrom had been built by us, camp inmates. From there he flew in a helicopter to Split.
"During Izetbegovic's visits to Tarcin, we were removed to a safe distance from him. But, even from 30 to 50 meters away from him, which was the distance between the silo in which we were incarcerated and the helidrom and the camp headquarters building, we were able to recognize him. I always found it easy to recognize him, since I had known both him and his escorts personally. Izetbegovic knew about me, he even knew my nickname, Slavuj."
Live Shield for Muslims
Slavko Jovicic continues: "It is true that I never personally met Izetbegovic in the camp, but I was visited by two of his escorts on one occasion. After that I started hoping that I would be released. My visitors were Fadil Pekic and Akir Sisic, both my former colleagues from the police. They were a part of Izetbegovic's escort during his stay in the building in which both military and camp headquarters for this area were located. When they entered my cell, I asked about the reason for their visit to Tarcin. 'We are here with the president', they said. I don't think that they could have walked away without Izetbegovic's approval; he must have known where they went. As I already said, the headquarters building was not further than 30 meters from the silo. Pekic and Sisic were well armed, dressed in camouflage police uniforms. They greeted me and one of them gave me two 'Marlboro' cigarettes, saying that they had come to the silo to see me. We talked for about 10 minutes." Serbs will try to convince the Hague tribunal that the Serb prisoners in Tarcin were not prisoners of war, but civilians who had been abducted from their houses as hostages or to be used as live shields during Muslim attacks on Serb trenches. The second part of Jovicic's statement confirms that:
"An event which occured in 1994 shows that Izetbegovic knew what was going on at the camp. At the beginning of that year, actually on 1/25, one of the top officers from Izetbegovic's closest circle, Nedzad Ajnadzic, who was then a security chief in the Muslim Army and is now the commander of the first Sarajevo Corps and brigadier general, came to the silo on instructions of general Rasim Delic [Bosnian Army commander]. On entering our cell he said: 'Gentlemen, I could kill you all right now. However, I won't do it since you are supposed to be exchanged for 187 Muslims from Hadzici [Sarajevo suburb]. Besides, I don't give a damn about you chetniks.' Then he asked:' Which one of you is Slavko Jovicic?' I replied and than he said:' Karadzic cannot help you here. You won't get out of here alive." He came back a month later.
"When we thought that the worst was behind us, at the beginning of July, 1995, thirty Serbs were taken from the silo to Sarajevo [during the Muslim attempt to break out of Sarajevo]. They thought that they would be exchanged; instead they were used as live shields and work force to dig trenches and passes from Muslim to Serb positions. Those poor souls really went through hell. Imagine what they did to them: they would usually tie them with a 20 meter long rope and put explosives in their hands. Then the prisoners would be forced to walk towards Serb positions, through a previously dug trench, and throw the explosive in the Serb trench. Once they realized what the Muslims were doing to our people, Serb soldiers didn't want to shoot at them. They would even withdraw and leave food and weapons. After the Muslims captured first and endangered second defensive lines in Sarajevo, the Serbs had to respond with fire. A few of our people lost their legs in that fashion and a camp inmate, Dane Cica, died from a Serb bullet. It was so horrible that even Muslim guards were crying and saying:' We are really sorry, but if you don't do this Alija will kill us.'"
A Witness From Konjic
The testimony of S.L., a doctor from Konjic, will certainly become a part of the evidence against Alija Izetbegovic. Once she reached freedom, she wrote the following statement in front of the Serb investigators:
"... Alija Izetbegovic was a frequent visitor in Konjic. The commotion in the police security affected my place of work every time Alija came to Konjic. Even I, although a Serb, knew that Alija Izetbegovic was visiting Zajnel Delalic's headquarters located in a house below the hotel. In 1992 and 1993, Alija Izetbegovic was coming to Konjic almost every 10 days. He was there two days after the fall of the village of Bradina; I heard that he had ordered to burn down all Serb houses which hadn't been burned during the capture of this village... B.S., a Muslim, said in front of me that he had heard Alija Izetbegovic say that he had visited camps for Serbs in Celebici and Konjic and that he [Izetbegovic] personally ordered the camp staff to show no mercy toward Serbs. Guards from those two camps were frequent visitors in the building in which I worked and they mentioned Alija's name in their conversations a lot." The story of this Serb woman, who is a possible witness for the Hague tribunal, is confirmed by the Croatian intelligence, whose informations will be sent to the Hague; by chance or design the incriminating report also fell into Serb hands (we translated the report from the Croatian newspeak). Unexpected Croatian help and assistance is not that hard to understand if one knows that the Croats have stopped competing with the Muslims over who should get more credit for the decline of Serb population in the Konjic municipality from 18 percent to 0.5 percent.
A Secret Croatian Report
"Alija Izetbegovic's first visit to the Konjic municipality occured immediately after the fall of Bradina, on May 29-30, 1992. He stayed in Zejnel Delalic's house, which is located under the hotel in Konjic. After stopping in Zejnel Delalic's house, Alija Izetbegovic went to a meeting in a primary school "Zvonimir Berisa" on Musala, and from there to the Municipal Hall..."
The following sentence illustrates how closely the Croats followed every Izetbegovic's step:" Alija Izetbegovic arrived to Konjic from the direction of Dusina, specifically Klic."
The rest of the Croatian report is even more interesting:" At the end of his stay in Konjic, Izetbegovic went to Bradina. He was escorted by Jasmin Guska, Sefko Niksic, Rele Mujanovic, a certain Duracic and Fadil Spiljak... After that Jasmin Guska ordered that Serb houses in Bradina be burned down... Izetbegovic visited Konjic for a second time in mid June, 1992, after the village of Bradina had been totally destroyed. On this occasion, he allegedly stayed at 'Igman' factory, in the hills above Konjic; the transfer of the factory to Zenica began at about the same time. Izetbegovic stayed there for whole 15 days in a special residence in that military object, which had been built for the Yugoslav Army General Staff... During this visit he also went to Celebici camp..." There is no doubt that the Croats were well informed about the events in camps Celebici and Musala in Konjic. After all, their man, Zdravko Mucic Pavo, was in command of one of these killing fields. The report says the following about that:" ... In July, 1992, camp commander, Zdravko Mucic Pavo, cancelled all visits to the Serb inmates in the camp because president Alija Izetbegovic was supposed to visit Celebici camp on that day... From conversations with camp inmates we found out that Alija Izetbegovic had visited this camp at least twice: once in the summer of 1992 and the second time in the Fall of the same year. Ammunition which was later sent to Visoko was loaded during one of these visits. On that occasion, Alija Izetbegovic also visited tunnel number 9 in which a number of inmates, most of whom went abroad after the release, were kept. These people said that President Izetbegovic was with the group of prisoners who had loaded the ammunition..."
At the end of the report it says:" ...Jovan Divjak, a high rank military official in the Bosnian Army, often visited the camp in Celebici..."
Witnesses from Vase Miskina Street
International criminal law experts point out that the Serbs would make a big mistake if they don't try to prove their innocence in the tragedy in Vase Miskina Street. Unfortunately, as far as this event is concerned, it is not known who among those who collect evidence about crimes against Serbs has testimonies and other evidence about the massacre, nor how convincing this evidence is. The following testimony is kept in one of the centers in which the documents linked with this event are stored:
"...I witnessed the massacre in Vase Miskina Street in Sarajevo. Muslim soldiers had barred the entrance to this street from the Muslim part of the city for 40 minutes prior to the explosion, while they allowed access from the other parts. They had also prepared an ambulance and a TV van. I watched all this from my window because I had noticed that the soldiers closed off the access from one part of the city. A TV van was parked next to the market. They started broadcasting as soon as the explosion was heard. Bread and ice cream had been brought earlier that day to the street. I had known some of the people who died in that alleged artillery attack. I only heard an explosion; there was no sound of a flying grenade. Stretchers and an ambulance van had been prepared in advance; some of them were parked in front of my house..."
Another witness, whose statement is coded as 806/95-2 , gives a more detailed description of this crime. He wrote is his statement the following:
"... on May 28, 1992, a little after 9 o'clock, I was in Vase Miskina Street. I was walking from the direction on Vecna Vatra toward Bascarsija; on the opposite side of the (Vase Miskina) street, in front of the building on the left side, I saw TV cameras on tripods. The street was full of people and in front of a 'Upi-Klas' shop there was a long line of people who had been waiting to buy bread. In that moment I was greeted by Haris Avdic, who is the owner of a cafe 'Hacijenda' located at the 'Zeleznicar' soccer stadium and was a special forces soldier in Juka Prazina's unit at the time. He asked me where I was going and what I was doing there. I said that I was going to the market and he replied: 'Hurry up, we have some business here.' At the same moment I noticed the arrival of a red car; Adnan Sokolovic, a commander of Juka Prazina's unit, came out of the car. Sokolovic and Haris shook hands and went into the basement of 'Bosna Sport'. I hurried up past the bread line and turned around the corner behind Merkale market toward Marshal Tito Street. When I was about 30 to 40 meters away from the bread line, I heard two gun shots from the direction of the Economics faculty and then a strong explosion from Vase Miskina Street.
Doctored TV Film
"Without thinking, I ran back around the market and looked toward Vase Miskina Street. At the place where I had turned towards Marshal Tito Street I saw a large number of prostrate bodies, a commotion, a lot of half crazed people who shouted and screamed, smoke, dust and broken shop windows. I didn't stay there for a long time; I ran toward the police building, where I worked at the time. I was at most 300 meters from the building and I got there in less then 5 minutes.
"At the entrance of the building I met Mehmed Hadzimesic who was on duty. He immediately asked:' Do you know what happened?', and then added:' A massacre in Vase Miskina Street.' He told me that an investigation team led by Emir Kreko, a murder inspector in Sarajevo police, had left. Hadzimesic's words surprised me. Because of that I asked him when the team had left and he said that they had left five minutes ago. This was confusing, and without making any additional comments, I concluded that this team must have left the building before the explosion. Maybe a minute after my arrival to the building, Hadzimesic turned on a TV; scenes from the massacre were already being broadcasted. I concluded that they were recorded by the cameras which I had seen earlier in front of the post office.
"I remained in the police building. 20 to 30 minutes later, Mirza Jamakovic, head of the anti-terrorist squad and a well-known explosives expert, arrived. He didn't say anything. He seemed nervous and left soon afterwards. After that event, he avoided the building for days.
The signal for the explosion
"The same evening I saw a TV Sarajevo report from the spot; in that report, among others, the remnants of the grenades which had exploded in Vase Miskina Street were shown. It was a large caliber grenade with pretty wide fins on its tail. I remember that a few days later I saw photographs of the grenade at the police operative center; it was a small caliber grenade and with dense fins. Therefore I concluded that the TV report was re-edited.
"Later, I was imprisoned in 'Viktor Bubanj' camp; several members of Ramiz Delalic's , a.k.a. Celo, and Musan Topalovic's, a.k.a. Caco, groups were also detained at the camp. They would often try to communicate by shouting and would loudly protest their arrests. The other prisoners, myself included, could hear this. On one occasion I heard Hasan Kreko from Topalovic's group: 'F... them, where are Ganic [Bosnian vicepresident] and Mahmutcehajic now? When they needed us, we killed our own people. Where are they now to help us?'
"Haris Kreko shared a cell with L.; L. later told me that Haris had told him that the group under command of Musan Topalovic Caco, whose member Haris had been, had been ordered by Mahmutcehajic and Ejup Ganic to set up an explosion in Vase Miskina Street; the signal for an explosion was given by two sniper shots fired from the Economic faculty building; the grenades were fired from a location near Kazan, on a left side of the Miljacka river."
Clinton knew about it
Let us remind about the events at the village of Bradina; Muslims and Croats first surrounded and that burned down the village; its male inhabitants were massacred, and the rest of the population, mostly women, children and elderly kept in a tunnel for a while. This massacre was noticed by the world public. Unfortunately, the enmity against the Serbs was so strong that the news about Serb suffering were lost in the noise which followed the announcement of the sanctions. The best illustration of that is the article which was published on June 4, 1992, in 'The New York Times', less then a week after the crime in Bradina, under title "Victims and Criminals on All Sides". Journalist John Burns had talked with the victims of the massacre:[the original text will be substituted as soon as I obtain a copy of the article]
"The report given today by the Serbs from Bradina, a village located 25 miles southwest from Sarajevo, seems to confirm that some groups of Muslims and Croats, which are united in the fighting against the Serb forces, are using the tactic of ethnic cleansing of Serbs in other contested parts of this republic..."
Burns concludes his report by saying that:
"The members of the United Nations Security Council today expressed concern and a degree of uneasiness because of the information that Serbs had been victims of the crimes committed by the Muslims and Croats near Bradina... The Security Council members have received the report about this crimes two days after they had introduced sanctions in order to force Belgrade to stop the war. The report was submitted on Monday by Secretary General, Boutros Boutros Ghali. The Security Council imposed the sanctions against Belgrade on Saturday. French ambassador, Jean Bernard Merime stated that:' I am certain that we would have prefered to have received the information (about Bradina - Momir Ilic's remark) before we had considered the draft resolution'."
Understanding how wrong they were in their belief that the truth [about the conflict in Bosnia] will on its own spread through the world, San Francisco Serbs have recently taken a thick file of documents with evidence about the crimes of Alija Izetbegovic to the White House, and gave it to president Bill Clinton.
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Translated on 2/28/96
Topic: War Crimes: Karadzic Issued a Warrant for Izetbegovic (Read 2885 times)