Veljko KadijeviÄ
Veljko KadijeviÄ ŠŠµŃŠŗŠ¾ ŠŠ°Š“ŠøŃŠµŠ²ŠøŃ | |
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5th Federal Secretary of People's Defence | |
In office 15 May 1988 ā 8 January 1992 | |
Preceded by | Branko Mamula |
Succeeded by | Blagoje AdžiÄ (acting) |
Personal details | |
Born | Glavina Donja, Imotski, Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes | 21 November 1925
Died | 2 November 2014 88) Moscow, Russia | (aged
Nationality | Serb, Russian |
Political party | League of Communists of Yugoslavia |
Military service | |
Allegiance | Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia |
Service/branch | Yugoslav People's Army |
Years of service | 1943ā1992 |
Rank | General of the Army |
Commands | Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) |
Battles/wars | World War II in Yugoslavia, Ten-Day War, Croatian War of Independence |
Veljko KadijeviÄ (Serbian Cyrillic: ŠŠµŃŠŗŠ¾ ŠŠ°Š“ŠøŃŠµŠ²ŠøŃ; 21 November 1925 ā 2 November 2014) was a general of the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA).[1] He was the Minister of Defence in the Yugoslav government from 1988 until his resignation in 1992,[2] which made him the de facto commander of the JNA during the Ten-Day War in Slovenia and the initial stages of the Croatian War of Independence.
Biography
Veljko KadijeviÄ was born on 21 November 1925 in the village of Glavina Donja, near Imotski, Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. His father was a Serb and his mother was an ethnic Croat.[3] KadijeviÄ self-declared as a "pro-Yugoslav Serb".[4] He joined the Yugoslav Partisans in 1941, following the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia during World War II. In 1943, he joined the Communist Party of Yugoslavia (KPJ). He was given the task of performing important duties almost immediately. He remained an active soldier after the war and graduated from the Military Academy in Belgrade.[5]
KadijeviÄ became the fifth Minister of Defence of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia on 15 May 1988.[3] Following the collapse of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, he was one of the founders of the party called League of Communists - Movement for Yugoslavia. In May 1991 he stated that if federal and republic officials "failed to ensure peace, the Yugoslav armed forces could efficiently do so themselves."[6] After resigning from his post at federal secretary of people's defence on 6 January 1992, KadijeviÄ retired to live in Serbia.[3]
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) tried to contact him in the spring of 2001. He was to be called as witness, he however fled to Moscow the next day.[7] He applied for refugee status in 2005 and received Russian citizenship on 13 August 2008 by decree of president Dmitry Medvedev.[8]
Legal proceedings
The first indictment for KadijeviÄ was issued in November 1992 in Bjelovar, the second one in 2002 in Vukovar and the third one in May 2006 by Osijek-Baranja County's attorney general. On 21 March 2007, the Croatian Ministry of Interior issued an arrest warrant for KadijeviÄ for "war crimes against the civilian population".[9] Interpol issued an arrest warrant on 23 March.[10] After KadijeviÄ received Russian citizenship the Croatian Government sent a request to Russia for his extradition. It is still unknown whether Russia will comply with the request.[11]
According to Marko Attila Hoare, a former employee at the ICTY, an investigative team worked on indictments of senior members of the ājoint criminal enterpriseā, including MiloÅ”eviÄ, KadijeviÄ, Blagoje AdžiÄ, Borisav JoviÄ, Branko KostiÄ, Momir BulatoviÄ, among others. However, upon Carla del Ponteās intervention, these drafts were rejected, and the indictment limited to MiloÅ”eviÄ alone, as a result of which most of these individuals were never indicted.[12][13]
November 2007 public appearance
Public interest in KadijeviÄ and his whereabouts intensified again in 2007. It was widely speculated at the time that he was living in Florida, United States, which proved to be false.[14] In March 2007 Croatian press reported seemingly contradictory information: that KadijeviÄ is working as a special counsel to the U.S. Army in search for bunkers in Iraq, and also that he is in Moscow as a guest of Dmitry Yazov.[15] On 26 March 2007, the Croatian news portal published an interview with KadijeviÄ in which he confirmed that he is a military adviser to the Coalition in Iraq, but stated that it "doesn't mean that he is permanently located there", without stating his current whereabouts.[16]
In early October 2007 KadijeviÄ finally surfaced in Moscow where he attended the presentation of his latest book Kontraudar: Moj pogled na raspad Jugoslavije.[17] After that, 81-year-old KadijeviÄ gave interviews to both Serbian and Croatian media. On 9 November 2007 he was interviewed by journalist Olivera JoviÄeviÄ from Serbian public broadcaster RTS and the interview aired 13 November 2007 in prime time as a special edition of her Upitnik programme.[18] The very next day, 14 November, Croatian Radiotelevision's journalist Josip SariÄ conducted an interview with KadijeviÄ .[19]
In those interviews KadijeviÄ stated that he lives in Russia since 2000 where he has a refugee status. Ha said that he found out about the Vukovar massacre only after retiring because the head of his intelligence, General Aleksandar VasiljeviÄ, didn't inform him of this event.[14] KadijeviÄ claims that neither he nor the JNA committed any war crimes in former Yugoslavia because it was the only legal armed force in Yugoslavia at the time. He also stated that both he and the JNA were trying to prevent illegal armament and to defend Yugoslavia from emerging paramilitaries and dismissed the ICTY as being a political institution which he does not recognize.[20]
Furthermore, he stated that he and the JNA never considered orchestrating a military coup to solve the Yugoslav crisis.[21] This statement is in stark contrast with the claims of president of the Yugoslavia presidency Borisav JoviÄ who says that precisely KadijeviÄ and the army suggested a coup as a way out of the crisis but then changed their minds four days later.[21] KadijeviÄ's response to this was that "JoviÄ is lying".[21] KadijeviÄ proceeded to mention a March 1991 meeting two days after the huge protests organized by Vuk DraÅ”koviÄ on the streets of Belgrade in JoviÄ's office to which KadijeviÄ had been invited by Slobodan MiloÅ”eviÄ where, according to KadijeviÄ, MiloÅ”eviÄ requested that the army take control of the country through a military coup.[21] KadijeviÄ's apparent response was informing MiloÅ”eviÄ that he couldn't make such a decision by himself, and that he'd discuss the request with army leaders and later inform JoviÄ's office about their decision.[21] KadijeviÄ then said that their decision was against the putsch and that he informed JoviÄ's office in written form about it.[21] JoviÄ for his part, claims that such document doesn't exist.[21]
References
- ā
- ā "Smrt Jugoslavije / UÄesnici dogaÄaja". Retrieved 2005-08-09.
- ā 3.0 3.1 3.2 Cencich, John R. (2013). "The Devil's Garden: A War Crimes Investigator's Story". Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press. p. 115. ISBN 978-1-61234-173-6.
- ā Thomas S. Szayna; Michele Zanini (2000). "The Yugoslav Retrospective Case". In Thomas S. Szayna. Identifying Potential Ethnic Conflict: Application of a Process Model. Santa Monica, California: RAND Corporation. p. 83. ISBN 978-0-83302-842-6.
- ā Matjaž KlemenÄiÄ; Mitja Žagar (2004). The Former Yugoslavia's Diverse Peoples: A Reference Sourcebook. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. p. 380. ISBN 1-85109-547-0.
- ā Dr. Timothy L. Sanz and Dr. Jacob W. Kipp. "The Yugoslav Peoples's Army: Between Civil War and Disintegration". Retrieved 2005-07-04.
- ā SEEbiz. "Veljko KadijeviÄ dobio rusko državljanstvo" (in Serbian). Retrieved 2008-09-29.
- ā (Russian) Š£ŠŠŠ ŠŃŠµŠ·ŠøŠ“ŠµŠ½ŃŠ° Š Š¤ Š¾Ń 13.08.2008 No 1219
- ā (Croatian) Arrest warrant by Croatian police
- ā Interpol arrest warrant for KadijeviÄ
- ā "Russia wonāt extradite ex-Yugoslav defense minister" b92.net 1 October 2008 Link accessed 01/10/08
- ā Attila Hoare, Marko (January 10, 2008). "Florence Hartmannās āPeace and Punishmentā". Wordpress.com. Retrieved 9 April 2011.
- ā Attila Hoare, Marko (June 2005). "The Capitulation of the Hague Tribunal". BalkanWitness. Retrieved 9 April 2011.
- ā 14.0 14.1 (Croatian) Partial interview with KadijeviÄ on HTV
- ā (Croatian) March 2007 article on KadijeviÄ's whereabouts
- ā (Croatian) Interview with KadijeviÄ on business.hr
- ā (Serbian) KadijeviÄ in Moscow
- ā RTS interview with Veljko KadijeviÄ, November 2007 on YouTube
- ā (Croatian) KadijeviÄ HTV-u naplatio intervju?
- ā (Croatian) Rusija bi trebala uhapsiti KadijeviÄa
- ā 21.0 21.1 21.2 21.3 21.4 21.5 21.6 RTS interview with Veljko KadijeviÄ, November 2007 on YouTube
External links
- Interpol arrest warrant for KadijeviÄ
- Interview by RTS in Moscow 2007: Part 1/5, 2/5, 3/5, 4/5, 5/5 (Serbian)
Military offices | ||
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Preceded by Branko Mamula |
Federal secretary of people's defence 15 May 1988 ā 8 January 1992 |
Succeeded by Blagoje AdžiÄ (acting) |
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