agents of State security (DB),
who are ordinarily housed in the regular police stations
throughout Serbia alongside their colleagues in the MUP
and are not involved in combat-style operations, and the
State security special operations units (Jedinica za
Specijalne Operacije, "JSO", also sometimes
referred to as the Red Berets), which are irregular
formations constituted as need dictates and who wear a
variety of uniforms, depending much on availability and
group affiliations. These Serbian forces, as organised in
the period relevant to the present report21, may be simply represented on a diagram
as follows:
PRESIDENT OF
SERBIA
PRIME MINISTER OF SERBIA
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|
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MINISTER OF
INTERIOR
Vlajko Stojkovic
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PUBLIC SECURITY
DEPARTMENT (MUP)
(Chief: Vlastimir Djordevic)
Local police-------PJP--------SAJ
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STATE SECURITY
DEPARTMENT (DB)
(Chief: Jovica Stanisic)
JSO-----Plain clothes DB
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In overall command of the
local police in Kosovo at the relevant time was General
Sreten Lukic, who clearly had the formal authority to
control the MUP forces on the ground and with whom
international organisations, including KDOM observers,
communicated concerning matters of security for
themselves as well as for the local Kosovar population.
The members of the PJP were generally drawn from the
ranks of the ordinary police throughout the FRY and were
dispatched to Kosovo for short periods on a rotation
basis in order to boost the local police forces. General
Lukic would thus have had nominal authority over these
forces also, for the duration of their presence in the
province. The SAJ, however, is a much smaller group of
elite MUP personnel, established in 1995, originally
under the command of Radovan Stojcic, who are utilised in
specific situations in the role of "commandos".
These forces generally wear dark, blackish, uniforms and
balaclavas, and have sophisticated equipment and weaponry
at their disposal. Once again, there is some speculation
about who is in command of the SAJ forces on the ground,
and it would appear unlikely that this would be a local
MUP officer. The available information, however, names
General Obrad Stevanovic as the present commander of all
SAJ formations, including those in Kosovo. Sources have
also revealed that the overall Chief of the MUP forces,
Vlastimir Djordevic, was himself in Kosovo during the
relevant period, ensuring the co-ordination of
operations.
As stated above, public
information on the JSO forces is relatively limited. The
transient
- It
should
be noted that recent changes within the hierarchy
of the Ministry of Interior, as well as in the
Yugoslav Army, have affected the individuals
incorporated into the structures of command.
Nonetheless, the present report seeks only to
represent the position at the time relevant to
the events described
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