CONTENTS Introduction the Role of the Military Judiciary in Defending
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CONTENTS Introduction The role of the military judiciary in defending the dictatorship Goran Matić and his brigands The role of the military leadership in electoral fraud The fear of a regime change The fifth of October A revolution unfinished Koštunica addresses Milošević’s generals The Army establishes its own TV channel Preserving the Milošević cadres in the VJ Koštunica’s second address to the generals The arrest of Milošević The JUL SDB cadres take revenge The fear of truth The ‘Perišić affair’ Proceedings before the Military Court In lieu of a conclusion Addenda Book Review I worked in the office of the Chief of the General Staff of the Yugoslav Army (VJ) during the Kosovo crisis, as well as in the post-war period up to 5 October 2000. I was permitted to attend the VJ General Staff collegium meetings in my capacity as a technical officer charged with making recordings and short-hand notes. Having attended such meetings at the time when Milošević was trying to politicize the VJ, I had access to information which indicated clearly that the politicization coupled with a negative personnel policy had the object of achieving total and unquestioning political subjugation of the Army to the then political leadership of the country. This was deemed necessary in order to eliminate the political opponents of the regime in both Serbia and Montenegro. The constant unnecessary tensions and conflicts with Montenegro provoked by the military establishment on dictates from the political leadership, as well as the surveillance of the Serbian opposition, caused me to resent the misdeeds being hatched at those meetings. The choice between being a party to a political and military ruination of the state and the nation and helping however little I could, never posed a dilemma for me. Being of the same mind as the author of this book, I decided to help my people to leave the well-trodden path leading them to ruin. Not making my assistance conditional on anything, and being fully aware of the risks and consequences I faced in case my intentions were revealed, I did what every normal person would do. Thanks to the information and the documents at my disposal, the Montenegrin government and the Serbian opposition obtained insight into everything that went on in the military leadership and the state between July 1999 and August 2001. 1 I was fully conscious of what would happen to me if my intentions regarding the information in my possession were so much as suspected. I did what I did in order to prevent a fratricidal war in Montenegro and a repetition of the first act in the drama which lasted 78 days during the spring of 1999. I found this necessary in order to avoid further casualties and loss of young life, and to mitigate the misery and poverty born of some people’s arrogance and obstinacy. While I was prepared to bear the consequences in the event the politicized General Staff found out my intentions, I was not prepared for my ordeal following the coming to power of the people and political parties espousing European ideals to whom the information had been of great help in averting a cataclysm that once seemed inevitable. Prior to October 5, I was an officer who had been awarded top achievement marks, my family life was in order, I was working for a doctorate in information science and held the rank of colonel with a military future before me. Since then, I have been relieved of duty and my pay has been halved; with no prospects before me, I am awaiting judgement from very the people and authorities I had helped unselfishly, for I believed then and still do that I did the right thing. I have no regrets about anything I did and wish to certify the truthfulness of every word of this book, although its contents tells us about only a fraction of the evil done to us. Notwithstanding the price I had to pay for what I did, I am sure that there are enough officers who will put their professional honour and pride before their personal interests and who will prevent the monstrous brainchild of certain politicians and generals from being put into practice regardless of how it is presented to the people. Belgrade, December 2003 Miodrag Sekulić, MSc Article 133 of the Constitution of the FRY (Federal Republic of Yugoslavia): ‘The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia has an Army which defends the sovereignty, territory, independence and constitutional order...’ ‘The defendants Aca Tomić, Borislav Mikelić and Dragan Vujičić, In the course of 2002 in Belgrade, they became party to the conspiracy organized by the late Dušan Spasojević and Milorad ‘Legija’ Luković, which is described under point I of the indictment, with defendant Aca Tomić establishing contact on several occasions with the late Spasojević and Luković, both in the building of the VJ Security Directorate on Kneza Miloša street and in his flat, where they discussed the current political situation and where he passed on to them the results of “listening-in measures”, telling them that following the arrest of General Perišić on grounds of espionage, who had not been stripped of his immunity by the Assembly, the whole government ought to be arrested and a state coup carried out, that they should adhere to their political position towards the authorities to prevent the country falling into the hands of traitors, that the VJ special units the Cobras would not interfere and confront the JSO [Special Operations Unit], suggesting that Ljiljana Buha, who was in Spasojević’s custody in New Belgrade, 2 should be moved to another, more secure location, [Tomić] having received the gift of a Nokia mobile phone equipped with a camera from the late Spasojević during a meeting in the building of the VJ Security Directorate, with defendant Mikelić acting as go-between and fixing meetings between Luković and Spasojević and Tomić, repeatedly going to Šilerova street to meet Spasojević and Luković or receiving them in his flat and passing on information whether Carla Del Ponte had brought in a Hague indictment against “Legija” and Šešelj, whose arrest, he said, was expected to be spectacular, with defendant Vujičić passing on information about Spasojević and Luković which he had gathered during contacts with people from government, as well as information that people from the JSO would be delivered to the Hague, and recruiting Mikelić to arrange meetings between defendant Luković and the late Spasojević and defendant Aco Tomić.’ The foregoing is an extract from the indictment of General Aco Tomić, former head of the VJ Security Directorate. NOTE: The original shorthand notes (in Serbian) were not corrected for grammatical and spelling errors made during the transcription of the audio recording. I dedicate this book to my brother Goran ‘Viraga’ Vlajković, who was born on 14 August 1966 and died tragically on 28 December 2002. INTRODUCTION ‘History is but a catalogue of crimes and calamities’ Voltaire If we assume that history teaches us about life - which indeed it does - then the testimony contained in this book should help history to explain to the succeeding generations where we stand now and why we erred, at the same time warning them not to trip over the same stone again. Military Secret is a testimony born of a strange conjuncture of historical circumstances and my desire to expose fully and at all costs the place and role of the military leadership in maintaining, at the beginning of the 21st century, a sick regime uncharacteristic of both Serbs and Montenegrins. Having been drawn into the games of big services and dragged out of anonymity, as well as subjected to a personal ordeal, I have tried, drawing on the services of honest people in the Army and the police and encouraged by the generosity of others, to throw light on the course of historical events in the former Yugoslavia. Bearing in mind the fact that the individual has the gratitude of the state only as long as he is needed, and having no desire for revenge or any remorse for what I did, I shall try in the succeeding pages to give my own account of my persecution at the hands of the regime and to present authentic evidence about how certain politicians and generals abused their office and rank to the detriment of the people to which they belong. The book does not deal with the evil perpetrated on others; it deals primarily with the nationally destructive suicidism in the minds of generals who won their epaulets by annulling everything that used to adorn the Serb and Montenegrin soldier, namely humanity and valour. With all due respect for some 3 generals, admittedly very few, I shall try to present the reader with an authentic account of the places, people, events and decisions which brought the nation to the very brink of ruin, a place from which there is no easy return. By throwing light on the generals’ collective madness as evidenced in the shorthand excerpts from the VJ General Staff collegium meetings, which are here given in their original form including grammatical and spelling errors, I shall try to illuminate this dark chapter of our history and break the seal of ‘military secret’ on the crimes committed against own people. The book came into being after the murder of prime minister Đinđić, an expression of my anger and desperation at the fact that people from the Milošević era still hold high positions, so that today we remain their hostages torn between dying nationalism and enforced cosmopolitism. Had the Milošević oligarchy been swept away, had the murder of prime minister Đinđić never happened, and had the immoral people shut up and the wise ones spoken out, this book would not have been written.