Case closed as far as Slovenia is concerned (Shooting of surrendering Yugoslav soldiers)

B92 ^ | April 7, 2006

[joan]

LJUBLJANA -- The Slovenian State Prosecutor’s Office has denied the accusations coming from Serbia that war crimes were committed during conflicts near Holmec in 1991.

State Prosecutor Barbara Brezigar, said that her office confirmed back in 1991 that there were no suspicions of crimes committed at Holmec back in 1991, adding that a group of special prosecutors confirmed the same thing after an investigation in 1999.

The Holmec case is considered closed in Slovenia, or rather, it would be if the President of the Helsinki Monitor in Slovenia, Neva Miklavcic-Predan had not been charged for slander. A court process began two months ago against Miklavcic-Predan, who was accused of slander after she stated at a press conference in 2004 that there is documented video footage of war crimes committed at Holmec which Austrian TV ORF has in its possession.

During the opening statements of the trial, the Slovenian state prosecutor said that Miklavcic-Predan gave false statements that were damaging to the image and honour of the Slovenian military and police, naming 26 Slovenian war veterans who believe that they were slandered by her comments. Miklavcic-Predan said that this is a political process being taken care of in a verbal manner.

Miklavcic-Predan then told reporters that the report on Holmec which the Helsinki Monitor of Slovenia sent to The Hague, later resulted in a slew of uncomfortable questions asked to then Slovenian President Milan Kucan during Slobodan Milosevic’s court proceedings. Immediately afterwards the Holmec Council was created and charges were filed against Miklavcic-Predan, who said that there was no investigation prior to the charges being presses, nor proof, which is why she stated that this is more of a political process than a legal one.

Miklavcic-Predan said that since then, the Slovenian Government has put a block on the work of the Helsinki Monitor, which includes the exclusion of any reports regard the case being led against her.

Yesterday, the Serbian Prosecutor’s Office announced that an investigation into the Holmec incident was being reopened.

B92 was able to obtain a copy of the video footage of the Austrian television station in which the murder of three soldiers of the Yugoslav National Army is clearly seen. Those responsible for the murders were never held responsible, and the only related court process is the one being led against Miklavcic-Predan for slander.

The video shows three YNA soldiers, Zoran Jesic, Goran Maletic and Antonije Simonjic, who were shot and killed by members of the Slovenian Territorial Defence after clearly raising both their hands and white flags in surrender.

[joan]

This incident is some of the first killings, if not the very first, of the Balkans wars of the 1990's, and was filmed by Austrian TV ORF.

[joan]

I was going to post a longer and more detailed article from The Independent - Slovenia closes 'war crime' case despite TV evidence of killings - but FR software says there is an agreement that their articles can't be posted here.

But that article says one of the soldiers was a Croat:

"According to military archives, two of the three surrendering soldiers were Serbs, from the northern Serbian province of Vojvodina. They were Goran Maletic, 18, and Zoran Jesic 19, while the third was Antonio Simunovic, 19, a Croat from Bosnia-Herzegovina."

[FormerLib]

First, shmirst!

You know that only Serbs can be blamed for killings in the former Yugoslavia! What were they thinking?

[Red Badger]

"...The captured soldiers should be kindly treated and kept."

SUN TZU ON THE ART OF WAR THE OLDEST MILITARY TREATISE IN THE WORLD