Radovan Stojicic Badza

Radovan Stojicic Badza started his career as a beat cop in Belgrade’s Tasmajdan park after graduating from the police high school in Sremska Kamenica. Even then he was know for his affinity for martial arts (judo and wrestling) and his efforts to always stay in shape. Those abilities and some more education (he graduated from the College for Physical Education and got a BA in physical training) secured him a promotion to the police special forces. When Slobodan Milosevic came to power he found Stojicic in command of the Serbian internal affairs ministry special purposes unit.

That unit played a prominent role in Milosevic’s plans to solve the Kosovo problem and played its part in those plans with enthusiasm under Stojicic’s command, especially during their operation to bring ethnic Albanian miners out of Stari Trg mine pits which they had completely blocked in 1989. The power of the unit grew with the rise in the use of mass force against certain segments of the population. When war loomed over the former Yugoslavia, Stojicic and his boys became irreplaceable. The time came for the Serbs "within the borders of the future state" to organize and arm themselves. That was a big job which had to be completed without the knowledge of leading figures in the federal administration and Yugoslav National Army (JNA) and the need arose for an informal group which would circumvent official channels and keep things under control. The key figures of that group which included Stojicic, Mihalj Kertes and Jovica Stanisic was called the military line. In the summer of 1990, Stojicic’s nickname Badza was mentioned from Ilok to Plasko but few people knew his real name and post.

At the same time, a number of volunteer units were formed and they included men who had been released from jail for that purpose. Vojislav Seselj named Stojicic as the man who ordered volunteers from him several times and Dragoslav Bokan mentioned him in a 1993 interview as the commander of the red berets, a secretive armed formation which performed delicate missions. Stojicic personally commanded the territorial defense forces in Slavonia, Baranja and Western Srem, coordinating volunteers, reserves and select JNA units and keeping direct contact with Milosevic from his headquarters in Borovo Selo. Later he set up the Serb Volunteer Guard training center in Erdut.

All that had a serious effect on reforming the Serbian Internal Affairs Ministry. Criminals were recruited as volunteers with police ID cards while real policemen were given fake IDs. The blending of criminals and the police began and that cooperation spread rapidly to anything involving a quick profit; at first that meant the "distribution" of stolen goods and later oil and tobacco smuggling, stolen cars and who knows what else.

At the same time as that process, Stojicic’s influence rose in the ministry which grew to a total of 80,000 men in 1992. His appointment as head of the public security service, the founding of the police academy and introduction of military style ranks was verification of those changes and the military line as the dominant faction in the police. Stojicic became one of a small circle of people with immediate and unlimited access to Milosevic and he stayed there to his death. His loyalty was never questioned.

As a policeman, Stojicic had the reputation of a solid operator, unused to planning but very capable in implementing plans. Although his name was linked to dubious imports and exports of certain goods he was never rumored to have grabbed more than his share. He secured other people’s deals more than he did deals of his own. He was soft towards his son, giving him guns and cars and changing cars himself whenever questions were raised.

Within the police where promotion before Stojicic was due mainly to diplomas from the higher police school, university law school or the military academy, many people saw him as a semi-educated trooper. He wasn’t liked in the state security service where some people felt that he didn’t deserve to be at the same level as that service’s chief Jovica Stanisic. The army viewed the new police ranks, police academy and the process of turning the police into a para-military formation with unease considering its own weakened role after Dayton.

Stojicic’s killing, in circumstances reminiscent of underworld clashes, reflects the overlapping of the police and underworld in a strange way. Stojicic fought for that kind of police and claimed there is no organized crime in the country. Milosevic has lost the commander of his praetorian guard and the Hague tribunal has lost a potential crown witness.