Ex-MUP officer testifies at Suva Reka trial

Retired Interior Ministry (MUP) official Dragan Karleusa has testified today in the Suva Reka war crimes trial. He told the Trial Chamber of the Belgrade District Court War Crimes Sector that MUP had been behind the transfer and burial of bodies found floating in a freezer in the Danube River in 1999 to a mass grave in Batajnica. Ex-MUP officer testifies at Suva Reka trial About 80 bodies were discovered in the giant freezer that floated to the surface in 1999 near Zajecar. Karleusa said that police officials at the scene had told him that the freezer had been discovered and that MUP had ordered the bodies to be taken to Batajnica for burial. Asked who was able to organize the transfer of the bodies from Kosovo to Serbia, Karleusa said that he suspected senior MUP officials, naming Generals Vlastimir Djordjevic, Petar Zekovic, Dragan Ilic and Obrad Stevanovic, adding that most stories regarding the incident revolved around Djordjevic. He said that MUP had informed the district prosecutor of operative information regarding the bodies in Batajnica on May 31, 2001. “Five pits had been dug. There were 35 or 36 clothed corpses in the first one. All the documents were found. They were ethnic Albanians. There was a total of 600 corpses,” he said, adding that autopsies were performed afterwards. Karleusa said that a total of 900 victims had been found in the mass graves in Batajnica and the ones unearthed later in Petrovo Selo and Peruc. He said that he had received many threats as head of the investigation, and that he had been called a traitor to the Serbian people, adding that his family had received threats too. Vlastimir Djordjevic (Beta-AP, archive) Ex-DB chief denies involvement Former security services (DB) chief Radomir Markovic told the Suva Reka war crimes trial yesterday that he had first heard about the crime in prison in 2001. Markovic is serving a lengthy prison sentence for his part in the assassination of former Serbian President Ivan Stambolic, the attempted murder of Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO) leader Vuk Draskovic in Budva, and the murders of four SPO officials on the Ibarska highway. The former DB chief told the Belgrade District Court Trial Chamber that he had been questioned by Hague investigators in 2001 over mass graves in Serbia, claiming that he had heard about this for the first time in prison too. He said that he had “no say in operative activities in Kosovo,“ and that this had happened “at the level of the Public Security Department and the army.“ Markovic said that information from Kosovo had gone via the DB’s man in Pristina, and that it was up to him to decide whether that information should be passed on to central HQ. He said that he had received no information on the 1999 Suva Reka massacre, nor on the transfer of bodies from Kosovo to mass graves in Serbia. According to the former DB chief, an order had been issued to clear territory in Kosovo, which involved mine and UXO clearance, as well as clearance of dead livestock and human corpses. Markovic said that the man in charge of this had been Dragan Ilic from Serbian MUP, who had liaised with Police General Sreten Lukic and the army, and that “clearance was conducted at that level.“ The witness said that a meeting of senior MUP personnel with then President Slobodan Milosevic had been held during the NATO air strikes to discuss ground clearance in Kosovo, but not the transfer of bodies. He said that information had “arrived“ at the time that columns of refugees were heading towards Albania and Macedonia, and that he had called Lukic to receive confirmation of this. Markovic added that he had contacted then Yugoslav deputy prime Minister Nikola Sainovic afterwards, who promised to do all he could to stop the exodus. The witness claimed that there had been no orders to drive the Albanian population out of Kosovo. The Albanians had left out of fear of being bombed, while the Kosovo Liberation Army members had insisted on the exodus in order to provoke a humanitarian disaster and prompt a military intervention, he stressed. Eight former Serbian police members are accused of the murder of 48 members of the Berisha family in Suva Reka on March 26, 1999.

Ex-MUP officer testifies at Suva Reka trial

About 80 bodies were discovered in the giant freezer that floated to the surface in 1999 near Zaječar.

Karleuša said that police officials at the scene had told him that the freezer had been discovered and that MUP had ordered the bodies to be taken to Batajnica for burial.

Asked who was able to organize the transfer of the bodies from Kosovo to Serbia, Karleuša said that he suspected senior MUP officials, naming Generals Vlastimir Đorđević, Petar Zeković, Dragan Ilić and Obrad Stevanović, adding that most stories regarding the incident revolved around Đorđević.

He said that MUP had informed the district prosecutor of operative information regarding the bodies in Batajnica on May 31, 2001.

“Five pits had been dug. There were 35 or 36 clothed corpses in the first one. All the documents were found. They were ethnic Albanians. There was a total of 600 corpses,” he said, adding that autopsies were performed afterwards.

Karleuša said that a total of 900 victims had been found in the mass graves in Batajnica and the ones unearthed later in Petrovo Selo and Peruć.

He said that he had received many threats as head of the investigation, and that he had been called a traitor to the Serbian people, adding that his family had received threats too.

Ex-DB chief denies involvement

Former security services (DB) chief Radomir Marković told the Suva Reka war crimes trial yesterday that he had first heard about the crime in prison in 2001.

Marković is serving a lengthy prison sentence for his part in the assassination of former Serbian President Ivan Stambolić, the attempted murder of Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO) leader Vuk Drašković in Budva, and the murders of four SPO officials on the Ibarska highway.

The former DB chief told the Belgrade District Court Trial Chamber that he had been questioned by Hague investigators in 2001 over mass graves in Serbia, claiming that he had heard about this for the first time in prison too.

He said that he had “no say in operative activities in Kosovo,“ and that this had happened “at the level of the Public Security Department and the army.“

Marković said that information from Kosovo had gone via the DB’s man in Priština, and that it was up to him to decide whether that information should be passed on to central HQ.

He said that he had received no information on the 1999 Suva Reka massacre, nor on the transfer of bodies from Kosovo to mass graves in Serbia.

According to the former DB chief, an order had been issued to clear territory in Kosovo, which involved mine and UXO clearance, as well as clearance of dead livestock and human corpses.

Marković said that the man in charge of this had been Dragan Ilić from Serbian MUP, who had liaised with Police General Sreten Lukić and the army, and that “clearance was conducted at that level.“

The witness said that a meeting of senior MUP personnel with then President Slobodan Milošević had been held during the NATO air strikes to discuss ground clearance in Kosovo, but not the transfer of bodies.

He said that information had “arrived“ at the time that columns of refugees were heading towards Albania and Macedonia, and that he had called Lukić to receive confirmation of this.

Marković added that he had contacted then Yugoslav deputy prime Minister Nikola Šainović afterwards, who promised to do all he could to stop the exodus.

The witness claimed that there had been no orders to drive the Albanian population out of Kosovo.

The Albanians had left out of fear of being bombed, while the Kosovo Liberation Army members had insisted on the exodus in order to provoke a humanitarian disaster and prompt a military intervention, he stressed.

Eight former Serbian police members are accused of the murder of 48 members of the Berisha family in Suva Reka on March 26, 1999.