GEN. STEVANOVIC'S TESTIMONY DETAILS POLICE ACTIVITY AND REFUTES CONSPIRACY ALLEGATIONS
www.slobodan-milosevic.org - May 11, 2005

Written by: Andy Wilcoxson

The trial of Slobodan Milosevic heard testimony from Gen. Obrad Stevanovic on Wednesday. Stevanovic formerly served as Serbia’s assistant interior minister. He has worked in the field of law enforcement since the late 1970s.

Stevanovic briefly testified about the 1981 riots in Kosovo. He was part of the force that the SFRY Interior Ministry sent to Kosovo to quell the rioting in 1981. He said that the character of the riots were secessionist in their tone, as evidenced by slogan of the rioters which was “Kosovo Republic.”

He testified that Kosovo-Albanians deserted the police force in the late 80s and early 90s. He said that the Interior Ministry tried to convince them to stay, but they left their jobs anyway. He categorically denied that Albanians were dismissed from their jobs in the police.

Gen. Stevanovic’s testimony dealt extensively with the structure of the Serbian Interior Ministry, and the laws and regulations that governed the ministry. Anybody who is curious about the nuts and bolts operation of the Serbian Interior Ministry would be well served to read the transcript of Gen. Stevanovic’s testimony.

The prosecution contends that Serbia was a police state. They claim that the Serbia’s police were militarized, politicized, and that they were under the direct centralized control of Slobodan Milosevic.

Serbia was not a police state under Milosevic, according to Gen. Stevanovic’s testimony there was only 1 policeman for every 400 citizens. France, for example, has a higher ratio of policemen to citizens than Serbia ever had. The level of policing in Serbia while Milosevic was in power is comparable to the level in Great Britain.

Gen. Stevanovic testified that politics never entered the activities of the police. He said that police were given jobs and given promotions according to their skill level, not their political affiliation.

He testified about the sorts of weapons that the police had. From what he described, and from what the written regulations he exhibited showed, the Serbian police were armed at a level comparable to American policemen.

The witness explained how the interior minister is selected. According to the law, the Interior Minister is elected by the Serbian parliament, not by the President of Serbia. The Interior Minister is the one who controls the Ministry of the Interior, not the President of Serbia. The President of Serbia can promote personnel in the ministry to a higher rank, provided that the minister recommends their promotion.

Gen. Stevanovic testified about special police units. These units were established in all of the Yugoslav republics in the 1970s following a 1972 terrorist attack in Bosnia that killed a large number of policemen.

Stevanovic testified that the special police units were comprised of regular policemen, who had received special training to participate in the units. He said that the special police units were always subordinated to the secretariat they were serving in. For example, if a special police unit from Belgrade were operating in Pec, then they would be subordinated to the commander of the Pec Secretariat of the Interior, not to anybody in Belgrade.

Documents exhibited by Stevanovic showed the relevant laws and regulations that applied to all policemen though-out the territory of Serbia, while Milosevic was in power. According to the regulations, nobody could order the police to violate the law. If the police received an order that violated the law they were not supposed to follow it, they were obliged to report the illegal order to an official above the authority that issued it.

The police were required to enforce the law at all times, even when they were off duty. The police did not have to be ordered to enforce the law. It was always their responsibility to enforce the law.

The indictment depends on the existence of a so-called “joint criminal enterprise” or conspiracy.

The conspiracy is the sole element linking Milosevic to the crimes alleged by the indictment. Milosevic is charged with crimes on the basis that he organized and directed a conspiracy. He is charged with crimes that were allegedly committed in the pursuit of the alleged conspiracy.

If Milosevic can show that the conspiracy didn’t exist, then the entire indictment falls apart. The so-called “joint criminal enterprise” is the keystone that the entire indictment rests on. Without the existence of a conspiracy, the prosecution has nothing to link Milosevic to any of the crimes alleged by the indictment.

The testimony of Gen. Stevanovic takes aim at the heart of the indictment. His testimony is aimed at showing that a conspiracy to ethnically cleanse Kosovo could not have existed in the conditions that prevailed in the Serbian Interior Ministry.

He will continue his examination-in-chief when the trial resumes next Tuesday, May 17th.

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