War, Crime and the Military Law

The Defence Minister Veljko Kadijevic gave an interview to "Narodna Armija", an army newspaper, and gave an illuminating reply to the question concerning "the strategic factors and problems the Army is faced with" . The second factor he mentioned was "the organized disruption of mobilization as a factor which significantly influences the overall fighting potential of the armed forces". And further: "It is well known what was being done to disrupt the process of mobilization and who participated in that "game" - from the confirmed enemies, cowards and deserters known to all the wars in history, to the muddling so-called politicians who resort to all kinds of means to get power. And lastly: "It is known that mainly the measures of the corresponding political and state institutions were missing, including the military organs, to efficiently offset the negative effects". ( By the way, general Kadijevic said in the same interview that: "The Army was not prepared for the war of this magnitude... We were supposed to have undertaken a thorough transformation of the Army and its doctrine").

The military circles take the statement concerning "the inadequate behaviour of political and state organs" to mean the official Serbian politics and its theory "we are not in war", rather than saying that it is a war of the Army. Thus, it frequently happened that the reservist answered the call for mobilization, only to say that he will not go to fight out of Serbia. This syndrome has, as we were told, been somewhat mediated by the statements of Tomislav Simovic, the Serbian defence minister, in which he emphasized that "we are protecting the Serbs outside Serbia". Added to this, the SPO (Serbian Revival Party) is opposed to mobilization, while no political factor has so far reacted".

Thus, claim the military sources, the Army had been left to its own devices, while up to 2000 soldiers left the front. It seems that the Army circles hold in an especially dear memory 600 reservists from Valjevo (one of the major Serbian towns), who fled Herzegovina "for whom the municipal authorities organized a comeback" . Concerning the insufficiently dedicated military organs which Kadijevic spoke about, our interlocutors do not think the general meant to criticize the legal military organs but various traitors within the Army.

The desertion is regulated by the Yugoslav criminal law, in the section called "Criminal acts against the armed forces". Under the normal circumstances, the deserters are covered by Act 217 Criminal Law and the legal sanctions provide for the sentence of up to five years in prison. However, considering that the so-called Presidency proclaimed the imminent war danger, and that the Army is obeying the so-called Presidency, the military court could in certain cases pass a death sentence. Let us sum up: in peacetime a sentence of up to one year in prison can be given to an officer who "of his own free will leaves his unit or his service and does not resume his duty in the space of five days, as well as to an officer who leaves his unit or service during an important assignment or in the state of increased military readiness of the unit": that also goes for the one "who induces the officer" to act in this way. In peacetime, "an officer who is preparing to flee the country to evade the service in the armed forces" will get a prison sentence ranging from six months to five years in prison.

In the case of an immediate war danger, the least he could get would be three years in prison. In the identical circumstances, the prison sentence ranging from six months to five years for "an officer who is hiding to evade the military service within the armed forces, or who leaves his unit or service out of his own free will and does not report back on duty within 30 days..." gets transformed into a five year prison sentence or a death sentence. In the state of the imminent war danger the same punishment goes for the ones who leave the country or remain abroad to evade "the service within the armed forces". The minimum sentence before the war was up to a year in prison.

According to the unofficial information from the Military Court of Justice in Belgrade, it was decided that the deserting reserve officer staff should stand for trial. The "ordinary" reservists who desert, however, can expect a milder sentence. It was published that the military headquarters in Kragujevac have started court proceedings against 138 reservists who evaded mobilization. The fine or the prison sentence of up to a year will be applied in the case of those who unjustifiably fail to report to the authorities, to learn of their war schedule and to get their arms contingent, or to do the military service". He will get from one to ten years in prison in the state of the imminent war danger. The ones who are in hiding despite being called, will get from three months to five years in prison in peacetime, and in the present situation a five years in prison at least or a death sentence. Following the same Act, "whoever leaves the country or stays abroad to escape conscription" would before the war be punished with a sentence ranging from one to ten years in prison, whereas now he would get at least five years in prison or a death sentence.

According to the as yet unconfirmed information from the military, the ones who do not answer the call for mobilization will be held accountable before the regular court and will only be fined, "unless we are dealing with drastic cases". What are these? These are the ones who "have on several occasions refused to answer the call for mobilization or the ones who a priori refuse to go, who make a spectacle out of it", but also the ones who induce others not to answer these calls. If they are "drastic" they will go before the Military Court and can, in all likelihood, count on getting a prison sentence.

The reasons for the benevolent attitude towards the "ordinary" reservists should not be difficult to find. Again according to the military sources, around 20,000 conscripts from Serbia alone did not wish to answer the Army call or have left their positions. It would be interesting to note that most of them are from Sumadija - Kragujevac, Valjevo, Arandjelovac, Sabac, Loznica... (major Serbian towns). There are more deserters from these towns than from the whole of Vojvodina. Whole units are leaving the battlefield. There are thousands of reported cases of those who failed to report to the authorities. A conscientious officer reported more than 800 reservists - he just handed over the list. At the Military Court, however, they were less than enthusiastic about this. They gave him the list and asked of him to define the criminal charges against each individual. Out of all those "traitors", only a very small number of "around a 100" as we were informed at the Belgrade Military Court were charged. Around a thousand were accused of desertion, mainly Croatians, Moslems, Albanians and,

increasingly Macedonians. Since it is obvious they can not all be brought to court, especially the ones who do not answer the calls for mobilization, then, according to the formulation of one of the colonels, "the organs of justice are forced to make a selection". So, "the selected few" include, apart from the reserve officers, the reservists who leave their units armed, regardless of the fact whether we are dealing with a tank, a gun or a bomb, and regardless of whether the arms represent the war trophy or whether they are Army arms. The intensified persecution of this category of deserters was undertaken by the military organs because of the "increased threat over the society as a whole" who are represented in the streets and cafes of Belgrade. Since there are a lot of these, instead of keeping them in custody they let them go home, but the legal proceedings are still held against them.

Another group refers to common criminals. It refers to war profiteers of all kinds. One of the cases refers to a reserve lieutenant from Osijek who in the village of Korvate, "while his unit was in action, profited from the distress of the local people", who were forced to flee their homes and stole a refrigerator, a freezer, three washing machines, a cassette player, a typewriter... He placed his loot on the "military vehicle", but got caught. There is a case of a man who stole 15 TV sets and video-recorders. These looting expeditions are well organized. A uniformed thief is in the front, another one, usually a relative, waits for his signal to send him the truck where his "goods" will be transported to the "end user".

The military sources confirm that the volunteers are the ones who have the priority in looting, and especially the ones headed by Zeljko Raznatovic Arkan. According to certain sources, his fighters can be divided into those who have come to fight and the ones who have come to steal. They, however, are not legally persecuted. Why? "Well, you can see what media coverage Arkan has on television; who knows what would happen if we start capturing his men!" It is interesting to note that the representatives of the legal military organs claim that "the followers of Seselj /leader of the Serbian Radical Party and a Serbian rightist/) do not excel in these looting escapades. They are considered to be the most disciplined, since that is what Seselj requires of them. There are at present no criminal charges against any of Seselj's fighters.

Uniformed thieves are being tried for looting or heavy looting. Although it sounds strange, the criminal charges are being brought against them on the basis of the Croatian Criminal Law, since the criminal act has been committed on the Croatian territory. The most severe sentence amounts to 15 years in prison. Arm theft is included in the criminal act against the armed forces. According to Act 223 which is applicable in peacetime for such a criminal act one can get a three months to five years prison sentence. In the conditions of imminent war danger, a sentence of up to 15 years in prison can be implemented. At the Belgrade Military Court one person was sentenced to two years in prison because he fled the front with arms. Several officers were tried for "ordinary" theft in the past few weeks.

Superior officers who fled to the other side are not treated as the ones who have to be "persecuted at all costs". An investigation following the criminal act of general Trifunovic who gave over the Varazdin Corps and the case of colonel Cavar who gave over the barracks in Gospic and who killed his lieutenant colonel along the way for resisting him is under way. Anton Tus was much more skilful. He was present at the farewell cocktail held in his honour at the Air Fleet Command, he coolly collected his golden handshake and announced that he is retiring - to, only a few days later, appear as the head of the Croatian armed forces. The Army can't touch him. As of January 1 he will be getting the Army pension as if nothing had happened, since that is his "earned right". The story about the four reserve officers from Kragujevac, against whom the criminal charges were brought, obviously did not impress around 200 reservists from the Knin Corps who came to Belgrade to ask for replacement. These people, originally from Kragujevac, Svetozarevo, Smederevo and Cuprija were held at Bubanj potok (an Army training centre), but around fifty of them managed to get through to the Serbian Assembly. Important functionaries, however, insisted that they be returned to Bubanj potok, far from the Belgrade publicity, to then be comforted with the words "now is not the time for your replacement", "you are coming from the cities which disgraced Serbia in connection with mobilization, while your present protest spoils the little good you have done for Serbia". Tomislav Simovic, the Serbian defence minister, was not ready for a direct confrontation with them - he said that he will "take their remarks into account".

In the view of this it will be interesting to see how this "policy of punishing the reservists" will be implemented. At the Belgrade Military Court we have learnt that it is only natural that the court persecution was started, since "when a certain negative practice establishes itself, it is only natural that the society should defend itself from it". It is just as natural for the people to be protesting against the war which has degenerated into looting and crime.