“SELF-INFLICTED INJURIES” IN SARAJEVO

Former JNA military prosecutor in Sarajevo, General Radomir Gojovic testifies at the trial of Slobodan Milosevic how in 1992 “the Muslim forces shelled themselves” and how “Muslim snipers recognized Serbian men by their caps and Serbian women by the black clothes they wore.”

THE HAGUE, 15.3. (SENSE) - In the first three days of May 1992, JNA lost 26 officers and soldiers in Sarajevo, without firing a single bullet - this is what General Radomir Gojovic claimed today at the trial of Slobodan Milosevic. When the war broke out in BH, he was a military prosecutor in Sarajevo. The witness agreed with the proposition of the accused that the JNA in those days in Sarajevo “did not even exercise its elementary right to self-defense.”

Gojovic’s testimony, as Milosevic indicated, should focus on what the military judiciary in the FRY did in 1999 to prosecute the Yugoslav Army soldiers who committed crimes against the Albanian population or their property in Kosovo. Through Gojovic’s testimony, Milosevic wants to challenge the prosecution’s argument that he bears command responsibility for failing to prevent or punish the crimes in Kosovo. General Gojovic got to that topic at the end of his testimony today, which mainly dealt with his experience and observations in the period from April to June 1992 in Sarajevo.

At one point, the judges found “difficult to understand what the relevancy” of the witness’s Sarajevo experience and observations was, as Presiding Judge Robinson admitted at one point. However, Milosevic managed to convince them that they were relevant. As he explained, “Muslim forces shelled their own buildings and civilians over the witness’s head, and the indictment alleges that I am responsible for that.” The witness previously claimed that he had witnessed the shelling of civilian buildings in the city from the positions held by Muslim forces in Mojmilo. The shells flew over the Viktor Bubanj barracks, where the seat of the Military Court was at the time. Then, he added, “they would report that the army was shelling fiercely the city.”

General Gojovic also recounted a story he had “heard from an eyewitness” regarding the infamous massacre in Vase Miskina Street in late May 1992. The eyewitness, he claims, passed through that street immediately before the explosion as saw “the cameras being set up”. When he returned later, he saw the killed and wounded, but he did not see any mark of the impact of a shell on the sidewalk. The witness claims that the next day people were “knocking away on the asphalt with hammers to create some impact marks.”

When Judge Bonomy asked him to identify the person who had told him that, General Gojovic said he had heard it from a man by the name of Nedeljko Lizdek, a military police officer who unfortunately died in 1994. Despite the objection raised by the prosecutor that this was in fact “anecdotal hear-say evidence”, the judges decided to accept Gojovic’s testimony about the massacre in Vase Miskina Street; they will decide later what weight to give to it.

General Gojovic presented an interesting theory about how the “Muslim snipers” recognized Serbs in the streets of Sarajevo”: women by their black clothes and men by their caps.

The trial has been very quiet in the press, so Slobo must be scoring big points.

Big points for the prosecution, Andy.

Looks like your boy is abandoning plan "A", the outright denial of the crimes on his indictment, in favor of plan "B", which would clear his name by showing that he presided over the prosecution those responsible for the crimes on his indictment.

Just one problem - those prosecutions never took place under Slobo: The first case brought in Serbia against Serbs for crimes in Kosovo during the war was entirely in 2002, long after Slobo was in the Hague.

Now here's the really funny part - and I'll quote the passage from B92 in full here:

The former Yugoslav president, who stands accused by The Hague for crimes against humanity allegedly committed in Kosovo and acts of genocide in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, presented 12 cases in which 28 Albanians were killed, and three cases of rape. He also cited several criminal reports that were filed in May 1999, against “unidentified persons” for the murder of 144 Albanian civilians, whose bodies were found in the village of Izbica.

Do ya see the problem, Andy?

The bodies from the Izbica massacre were unearthed and then trucked into Serbia and hidden in the mass graves on the Serbian MUP training grounds at Petrovo Selo, and poor old Slobo is on the top of the MUP's chain of command.

Slobo's defence is nothing short of a pathetic comedy of errors.

He'd have been better off retaining the services of Lionel Hutz.

Seriously.

The Izetbegovic - islamist forces, however, were the only Balkan faction that repeatedly bombed and killed in mass numbers civilians of a city they controlled in order to blame their enemies .

So say the Serbs, and that view has been weighted accordingly.

Say, if the Muslims are going to reject the SDA's islamism, what are the chances of the Serbs rejecting Milosevic's idiocy?

Looking around here on FR, it doesn't look hopeful, does it Pythag.

" Say, if the Muslims are going to reject the SDA's islamism, what are the chances of the Serbs rejecting Milosevic's idiocy?

Looking around here on FR, it doesn't look hopeful, does it Pythag."

Relatively few Serbs or friends of the Serbian people on FR or elsewhere are today loyal Milosevic fans. Milosevic is an ambiguous, failed & discredited politician whose appeal depends exclusively on his continuous relentless demonization. Many of his defenders, myself included, have little personal sympathy for him, but clearly understand that attacks against him by both western and islamist power centers are a weapon to weaken the historically proud, freedom-loving, empire-despising Serbian people. Plain old geostrategic power politics. The Milosevic (& the Perisic) Bosnian indictment is transparently not about establishing "individual responsibility" but about placing a legal responsibility on Serbia for the war in Bosnia and absolving western politicians, journalists and other professional propagandists of their role in fanning it. The continuous blackmailing of Serbia, as of other Balkan countries, serves, among other goals, to promote their political and financial control by the EU and various financial interests.

In contrast to the negligible role of Milosevic in defining Serbian identity, the Izetbegovic - SDA legacy is unfortunately still extremely influential in defining Muslim Slavic identity. The core of the "Bosnian Muslim" dilemma is that they are ethnically identical to Serbs, the only distinguishing feature being religion. Therefore, any notion of separate "Bosniak" identity is inevitably based on Islam. This is precisely the Izetbegovic approach, followed faithfully since his "Young Muslims" days, through his "Islamic declaration", his wartime alliance with Iran, Saudi Arabia & assorted islamists and the continuous presence of all these players in Bosnia. This strenghtening of islamic identity inevitably contributed to conflict and, if persistent, will continue to do so, as the wider conflict between Islam and secular Christianity in Europe is certain to continue.

Muslim Slavs have a much better option. They can appreciate the common ancestry and ethnic identity they share with Serbs, put the insane war behind them, stop antagonizing Serbia and realize that they have much more to gain by reintegrating with Serbian people for a better common future. People like Rasim Ljajic or Emir Kusturica can serve as constructive examples.

Pythag: The SRS, who's leader still espouses the notion of "Greater Serbia" in his unguarded moments, and who just helped set up the Krajina Government in Exile, are the biggest party in Serbia, with the support of 33% of the electorate.

Tack on an additional 7% for the SPS, and you've got 40% of the Serbian electorate who are still fans of the disastrous ideas that Milosevic co-opted down in Kosovo back in 1987 and made synonymous with his name. Tragically, the remainder of the parties in Serbia are collectively too pusillanimous or stupid to unite in order to face down the minority of dead enders and put an end to the gangrene that's eating up Serbia's body politic.

Serbia is still willingly embracing Milosevic's legacy under the guise of their self perceived neverending one-sided victimization at the hands of everybody else, and every day the Government in Belgrade refuses to step up the plate and extradite the indicted war criminals living in Serbia, rather than begging them to voluntarily surrender, is just another day Serbia moves down the road to further isolation and poverty.

Meanwhile, here you are spewing all your fanciful explanations and shifting the blame wherever you see fit, regardless of the facts of the matter.

Just don't think for one second that similar behavior in Serbia isn't costing them dearly.

I see no point in dignifying your comments regarding Bosnia with a response.

Your apparent preference for violent arrests instead of voluntary surrenders in Serbia hints at a wish not for peace and justice but for chaos and the humiliation of Serbia. But Serbia survived much worse situations for a thousand years and will do just fine.

Not so the artificial UN protectorate of Bosnia, since the "Bosniak" nation has no real history or identity. It has only existed in the imagination of Islamists like Izetbegovic, psychopaths like Suzan Sontag and failed opportunists like Ashdown. It is becoming increasingly obvious, especially after 9/11 and 3/11, that "Bosnia" is non-viable. Muslim Serbs of Bosnia and Santzak will sooner or later peacefully follow Kusturica's example.

"violent arrest"?

Who said anything about violence? If the perps resist, or the perp's psychotic daughter starts firing off random rounds, the arresting officers should take whatever action their SOP calls for.

This isn't about getting rid of or punishing Serbia simply out of some malicious desire to stick it to the Serbs - it's about getting them to act responsibly and police up their trash, rather than letting it further stink the place up while crying about how put upon they are by the rest of the world.

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