Random Bosnian Thoughts

The whereabouts of Karadžić and Mladić

The Sarajevo daily Dnevni Avaz reported that state security agencies of Bosnia and Serbia and the Ministry of the Interior (MUP) of the Republika Srpska have been meeting once a week in Belgrade for the last several months in order to exchange information and intelligence on the whereabouts of the war crimes indictees.

Quoting sources close to the MUP of the Republika Srpska, the daily said that results are lacking despite intensive co-operation and efforts to find Radovan Karadžić and Ratko Mladić.

An unnamed source who attends the meetings told the daily that none of the three state security agencies has data on Karadžić.

“We all bring up new information at the meetings. Some had information that Karadžić was in Russia, Greece, or at the merger of the Serbian, Bosnian and Montenegrin borders. We are talking about unsubstantiated operational data. When we last met in Belgrade, it seemed like Karadžić had disappeared into thin air”, the source said.

The source revealed that operational data on Ratko Mladić were abundant and suggested that he has been hiding in Serbia, shielded by a well organized network of military intelligence structures.

“The key to the problem lies in the hands of Vojislav Koštunica, the outgoing Prime Minister, who has never issued an official warrant for Mladić’s arrest”, the source concluded.

Mladic in Belgrade - "completely legal"

According to Belgrade's B92 radio station, Yugoslav Army (VJ) retired officer, Lt. Col. Srboljub Nikolić said Monday in the so-called Mladić helpers trial, that the Hague fugitive’s stay in Serbia’s military structures until May 2002 way ”completely legal”.

Nikolić, who until 2002 held a high position with the Security Directorate, said that then Yugoslav president Vojislav Koštunica, head of military intelligence Aco Tomić, chief of the general staff Nebojša Pavković, as well as the High Defense Council knew about Mladić’s whereabouts.

Nikolić also testified that the late prime minister Zoran Đinđić tried to, via Momčilo Perišić, secure Mladić’s surrender, while then minister of the interior Dušan Mihajlović and deputy prime minister Nebojša Čović were busy persuading Dragoljub Ojdanić to do the same.

Nikolić told the court that Mladić was at one point offered a plane and a new identity, in order to have him leave the country. According to him, when Boris Tadić became defense minister, he ordered an investigation into allegations that Mladić was hiding in army facilities.

The witness testified that in May 2002, one of his superiors in the Security Directorate gave him an order over the phone to provide logistical support for Mladić, who was at that point preparing to leave the Guards barracks in Topčider, Belgrade.

Nikolić also said he discussed this with one of the accused, Jovo Đogo, who told him the decision to have Mladić leave that military facility was reached at a meeting held in the army HQs, as well as that the action would  be conducted by General Zdravko Tolimir.

After completing the task, Nikolić submitted his report to his superior officer, General Aco Tomić.

On Monday, the trial was interrupted because the Court Chamber allowed one of the suspects, Borisav Ivanović to leave the court to tend to his mother who had fallen ill while the court was reading testimony she had given to the investigative judge in April.

Ivanović is, among other things, accused of driving his mother to an apartment in New Belgrade where she would fix meals for Hague fugitive Ratko Mladić, who was hiding there at the time.

Two other suspects, Jovo Đogo and Stanko Ristić, asked to be removed from the court earlier, stating that the entire process was a set-up.

The court approved their demands and they will no longer have to be present in court.

Hague Watch - Vojislav Šešelj

While the defence lawyers of some indicted Croat generals are quarreling amongst each other, today in the Hague the case against Serbian Radical Party leader Vojislav Šešelj has started. The start of the trial has been postponed on several occasions.

He is indicted of war crimes in eastern Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Vojvodina. He is charged with recruiting Serb paramilitary forces, fanning ethnic tensions with hate-laced nationalistic speeches and planning the takeover of towns in Croatia and Bosnia as part of a criminal plot involving other political and military leaders including former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic to drive non-Serbs out of regions he considered part of a Greater Serbia they wanted to create.

Among atrocities committed by forces taking part in the alleged criminal plot were "the extermination or murder of many Croat, Muslim and other non-Serb civilians including women, children and the elderly," Seselj's indictment says. (you can find the full indictment here).

Before his indictment, while still politically active, he was notorious for threatening media and human rights groups. While in the Hague he also wrote a book called "Punk and War Criminal Javier Solana". It did not sell too well outside the circles of his party.

Šešelj, whom even Slobodan Milosevic once defined as “the personification of violence and primitivism”, is on hunger strike since November 10th, since he feels violated in his basic rights. Amongst others, he wants to represent himself in court and demands all the Court and Prosecution papers be delivered in Serbian, not in S-H-B (Serbo-Croat-Bosnian), a distinction that is difficult to understand for anybody outside extrem Nationalist circles. Many commentators see this hunger strike rather as a publicity stunt, since the ratings for Seseljs Serb Radical Party in front of the upcoming elections have fallen significantly.

The court since then allowed him to represent himself, alas, at today's first session he did not show up. It might be tough to defend oneself if one does not show up in court...