By Terance Walsh
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe
BELGRADE, Serbia — Serbia’s war crimes prosecutor decided not to take up a complaint against newly appointed Serbian Armed Forces Chief of Staff, Ljubisa Dikovic. The prosecutor, Vladimir Vukcevic, determined there was no basis to proceed against Dikovic for alleged crimes that occurred during the Kosovo war in 1998 and 1999.
The Humanitarian Law Center, the group that brought the complaint, alleged “numerous grave and massive” offenses that occurred in the region of Kosovo that was under Dikovic’s command. The HLC cited such specific offenses as rape, execution of citizens, and looting.
Natasa Kandic, Humanitarian Law Center, president, declared, “An officer like Ljubisa Dikovic is not suitable to head the army.”
Dikovic was commander of the 37th Motorized Brigade of the Yugoslavian Army. His brigade was deployed in the Drenica region, where many war crimes alleged against Serbian paramilitary and police took place. One incident alleged was the massacre of 130 Kosovo Albanian men in March 1999 near the city of Izbica. This massacre was cited in the indictment against former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.
Evidence for the HLC’s claim is derived from Dikovic’s testimony at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. In his testimony, Dikovic described “terrible crimes happening.”
“First of all, we have Izbica: Dikovic’s testimony as defense witness before the ICTY is pretty clear. Not once did he deny his units were in Izbica. He said they had contact with civilians,” Kandic said. “In other discussions, based on prosecution questions, he said that the army — his units actually — entered Izbica village. But then he said they only wanted to stop the shooting and get the civilians out.”
Dikovic’s appointment raises concerns Serbia’s relations with its neighboring countries. Jelena Milic, director of the Belgrade Center for Euro-Atlantic studies said, “The Dikovic appointment will seriously affect regional cooperation, especially when we have in mind the current situation in North Kosovo, since we cannot rebuild trust if we have a leading man in the army with a dubious past.”
The HLC’s complaint claims that Dikovic should have prevented those crimes and even admitted that soldiers under his command committed the crimes.
Dikovic and other Serbian government officials have denied the claims out of hand. Defense Minister Dragan Sutanovac has dubbed the allegations and vouched for their falsity. “We are absolutely at ease; the allegations are false,” he added.
“Lieutenant General Dikovic is truly inappropriately — and in some instances truly monstrously — accused for crimes he allegedly participated in by approving them or ignoring them,” Sutanovic says. “I must say that before Dikovic was appointed, we conducted all background checks in regards to his past. And [this week] we checked all claims made in this report. So I can say it is completely false.”
In response to the allegations, Dutanovic says that Serbian officials will take action against the HLC for its libelous complaint.
About 10,000 people died during the Kosovo War. Serbia’s harsh response to an ethnic Albanian uprising prompted NATO to intervene and bomb the country until they left Kosovo. Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia in 2008. Belgrade does not recognize Kosovo as a independent country.
For more information please see:
RFE/RL — Belgrade Dismisses War Crimes Claims Against Army Chief — 25 January 2012
Balkan Insight — NGOs Question Serbian Army Chief’s Wartime Past — 24 January 2012
Denver Post — Rights Group Accuses Serb Army Chief Of War Crimes — 24 January 2012
RFE/RL — Rights Group Accuses Serb Army Chief Of War Crimes — 24 January 2012
