Mladic’s Warnings from 1992

Describing a meeting of core staff of the future Main Headquarters of VRS, which was held on the eve of the Assembly Session in Banja Luka on May 12, 1992, Milovanovic said:
“At that moment, that evening, we just assumed that the Assembly would appoint General Mladic Commander of the Main Headquarters. We knew that the Main Headquarters had no doctrinal documents about leading a war in case the Assembly opts for the war option, which it did on the following day.”

At the same session Milovanovic was appointed Chief of the Main Headquarters of VRS and Mladic’s Deputy.

The witness confirmed that Mladic warned the assembly representatives that forced separation of Serbs from Muslims and Croats, as a proclaimed goal of the war, would represent “genocide”.

“Therefore, we cannot clean or use a riddle so only Serbs would stay or go through it, while others would leave…Well, that is…that will not…I do not know how Mr. (Radovan) Karadzic and Mr. (Momcilo) Krajisnik explain that to the World. People, that is genocide,” Milovanovic said, quoting Mladic’s words from minutes taken during the session.

The indictment charges general Mladic with genocide in Srebrenica, persecution of Muslims and Croats throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina, which reached the scale of genocide in seven municipalities, terror against civilians in Sarajevo and taking UNPROFOR members hostage.

Milovanovic said that Mladic told him, on May 11, that it seemed that the war was inevitable in Bosnia and Herzegovina and that “territories” of the future RS “have already been framed” around Sarajevo, where Muslim forces conducted attacks against JNA forces, which were withdrawing from the city.

“According to what General Mladic said, the Serbian Democratic Party distributed weapons to Serb conscripts and we had between 85,000 and 90,000 armed people at that moment,” Milovanovic said.

Milovanovic said that Supreme Commander Karadzic and VRS Commander Mladic could issue orders to any members of the Army, while informing each other about it.

Milovanovic used an anecdote to describe his relation with Mladic:
“I once asked him why he selected me to be his Deputy. He said: ‘I start in the first and you in the third gear. Being a tank operator, you should know that the second gear is the best for driving’. Also, he said that we were “two bodies and one soul’.”

Introducing Milovanovic as his Deputy to members of the VRS Main Headquarters on May 12, 1995, Mladic said: “Whatever I know, he too must know”.

The Tribunal issued a special warrant, obliging Milovanovic to testify. At the beginning of his testimony he denied having concluded an immunity agreement with the Prosecution in turn for his testimony.

Milovanovic is due to continue testifying on September 18.