Was Stanisic the CIA's main contact under Milosevic?

France 24
Apr. 01, 2009

The international criminal tribunal for the former Yugoslavia is to reopen the case against Jovica Stanisic. Accused of crimes against humanity, the former head of the secret services under Milosevic received strong support from the CIA.

The international criminal tribunal for the former Yugoslavia will, in the following days, decide to reopen the case against Jovica Stanisic. The ex-head of the secret services under Milosevic is accused of crimes against humanity during the wars in Croatia and Bosnia. It was he who put together the Serb paramilitary groups that committed numerous war crimes in Yugoslavia.

“Under Milosevic’s rule, Stanisic was assigned a very special mission: to construct, to generate a civil war… A mechanism had to be built to cause war. People here were living in peace at that time. Stanisic was the one provided with the agents, the weapons and the power to recruit soldiers for his paramilitary units", says Aleksandar Radic, intelligence specialist.

At the beginning of March, Stanisic’s defence had strong support: that of the CIA. It is known that Stanisic had helped liberate UN soldiers taken as hostages in Bosnia. In addition, according to former members of the CIA, Stanisic secretly met with American agents during the wars. It is claimed that he was the CIA’s main contact.

Stanisic was arrested in 2003, although he lives today discreetly in a luxury apartment in Belgrade. Proof of the war crimes he is accused of exists. However, whilst waiting for the case to begin, Stanisic was liberated, with support from the US government.