| Serbian Volunteer Guard Српска добровољачка гарда |
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Flag of the Serbian Volunteer Guard |
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| Active | 1990 - 1996 (became part of JSO) |
| Branch | Super Tigers (led by Milorad Ulemek) |
| Type | Paramilitary organization |
| Size | 12,000+ |
| Garrison/HQ | Belgrade (Serbia) Erdut (Republic of Serbian Krajina) |
| Nickname | Arkan's Tigers The Tigers |
| Engagements | Yugoslav Wars; Battle of Vukovar |
| Disbanded | In 1996 Željko Ražnatović ordered all members to join the Yugoslavia army |
| Commanders | |
| Commander | Željko Ražnatović |
The Serb Volunteer Guard (SDG) (Serbian: Српска добровољачка гарда, Srpska dobrovoljačka garda) also known as Arkan's Tigers (Serbian: Арканови Тигрови ,Arkanovi Tigrovi) was a Serbian volunteer paramilitary unit, founded and led by Željko Ražnatović, that fought in Croatia (1991–1992); Bosnia and Herzegovina (1992–1995) and in the Kosovo War (1998–1999).
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The Guard was created on October 11, 1990 by 20 volunteers, members of the Red Star Belgrade football club Ultra group "Delije Sever". Reportedly at most points the Guard had over 10,000 fighters.
The Guard's headquarters and training camp was in Erdut, SAO Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Syrmia, a part of the Republic of Serbian Krajina between 1991 and 1995. The Guard was responsible to the command of the Territorial Defense, a regular military in charge of the rebel territories of Croatia populated predominantly by Serbs during the first half of the 1990s.
Arkan's Tigers, a paramilitary force he created, set up their headquarters and training camp in a former military facility in Erdut. His volunteer army saw action from mid 1991 to late 1995, initially in Vukovar region of Croatia. It is reported that his irregular military unit consisted of up to 10,000 well-trained fighters equipped with modern weapons, including a few tanks and helicopters. His units were supplied and equipped by the reserves of the Serbian police force during the war in Croatia and Bosnia.
After war broke out in the former Yugoslav republic of Croatia in the fall of 1991 and in Bosnia in April 1992, Arkan and his units Bijeljina moved to attack different territories in these countries. In the Republic of Serb Krajina Arkan's Tigers fought in various locales in SAO Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Syrmia. In the Republika Srpska, Arkan's Tigers, fought in battles in and around Zvornik and Brčko where they along with other Serb units overpowered the Bosnian Army.
Paramilitary units are responsible for some of the most brutal aspects of «ethnic cleansing.» Two of the units that have played a major role in the «ethnic cleansing» campaign in BiH, the «Chetniks» associated with Vojislav Šešelj and the «Tigers» associated with Zeljko Raznjatovic (Arkan), have been active in the Republic of Serbia as well. ...Arkan's «Tigers» have staged military training exercises allegedly designed to intimidate Albanian residents in Kosovo.[1]
— Report of United Nations Commission on ethnic cleansing in Bosnia
In autumn 1995 his troops fought in the area of Banja Luka, Sanski Most and Prijedor where they were routed. Arkan personally led most of war actions, and rewarded his most efficient officers and soldiers with ranks, medals and eventually the products of the lootings.
Serb Volunteer Guard was officially disbanded in April 1996. Besides Arkan, a very notable member was his right hand man, Colonel Nebojša Djordjević Suca, murdered in late 1996, and notorious Milorad Ulemek, nicknamed "Legija", now serving 40 year sentence for the assassination of Serbia's pro-Western prime minister Zoran Đinđić
Members of the Guard were also ordered by Arkan to join the Yugoslav army and police forces in the fight against the Albanian rebels in Kosovo since the summer of 1998.
A few Chrysi Avyi members participated in the Bosnian War in the Greek Volunteer Guard (GVG), which was part of the Drina Corps of the Army of Republika Srpska. A few GVG volunteers were present in Srebrenica during the Srebrenica massacre, and they raised a Greek flag at a ruined church after the fall of the town.[2] Spiros Tzanopoulos, a GVG sergeant who took part in the attack against Srebrenica, said many of the Greek volunteers participated in the war because they were members of Hrisi Avgi.[3] Chrysi Avyi members in the GVG were decorated by Radovan Karadžić, but — according to former Chrysi Avyi member Charis Kousoumvris — those who were decorated later left the party.[3]
Željko Ražnatović was indicted in 1997 by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia for his commandment of the Guard as the unit was allegedly responsible for numerous crimes against humanity, grave breaches of the Geneva Convention and violations of the laws or customs of war, including active participation in the ethnic cleansing in Bijeljina and Zvornik in 1992.
The ICTY charged the Serbian Volunteer Guard, under the command or supervision of Zeljko Raznjatovic of:[4]
The plot of the Law & Order: Criminal Intent episode "Homo Homini Lupis" involves a fictional Serbian immigrant, Simon Matic, who kidnaps the wife and two daughters of a man who owes money to a loan shark and rapes the elder daughter. During Matic's interrogation, he claims to have served in the Serbian Army during the Yugoslav wars, but Detective Goren notes that Matic has the letters SDG tattooed on his lower back, and suggests that this would indicate that Matic's involvement in the wars was with Serb Volunteer Guard, which Goren deduces would likely mean that Matic is wanted for war crimes in addition to the charges of kidnapping and rape.