Milos Stankovic

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Milos Stankovic MBE (born 1962), a Major in the British Army, was arrested for treason in December 1997. He sued the Ministry of Defence for £1 million for the loss of his army career. In November 2007 he was awarded £5,000 damages while his costs in the action are estimated at £500,000.^[1][2]

Milos Stankovic was born in Southern Rhodesia, a British citizen whose father was a Royalist Yugoslav Serb. He was educated at Plymouth College and enlisted in the Parachute Regiment in 1981. He served with the British Army in Belize, Northern Ireland and Africa, and with the United Nations forces in Kuwait, Iraq and Bosnia. ^[3]

As a Serbo-Croat speaker he worked closely with General Sir Michael Rose, the commander of the United Nations Protection Force in Bosnia, negotiating with Bosnian Serb leaders. On his return from Bosnia he was arrested by by the Ministry of Defence Police on suspicion of betraying state secrets^{[4] [5] [6]}

As part of the British element in the United Nations presence in war-torn Bosnia, he ran a Schindler's List-type operation smuggling Serb, Croat and Muslim families out of besieged Sarajevo. The story behind his arrest and the sheepish backing down of the accusers and investigators was only revealed in Parliamentary Answers and the book A Trusted Mole which he subsequently wrote about his experiences.^[7]

[edit] References

1. ^ BBC NEWS | UK | Ex-major loses case against MoD
2. ^ Army officer sues for £1m over spy claim - Telegraph
3. ^ Milos Stankovic
4. ^ Army chief Jackson to be witness in spy trial - Times Online
5. ^ House of Commons Hansard Debates for 10 Dec 1997 (pt 13)
6. ^ House of Commons Hansard Debates for 14 Jul 1999 (pt 15)
7. ^ A Trusted Mole: A Soldier's Journey into Bosnia's Heart of Darkness, by Milos Stankovic, Harper Collins. ISBN 978-0006530909.