FRY Army colonel Dragomir Krstović was responsible for protection of Hague Tribunal fugitive Ratko Mladić until the end of 2002, the former head of Serbia’s secret police said today. Goran Petrović told Belgrade daily Blic that Krstović was the commander of logistics and a member of the army’s General Staff Headquarters. He was one of ten people in the army responsible for securing everything Mladić needed, said Petrović, adding that he believes that Krstović is doing the same job today. Petrović says that the Serbia-Montenegro Army and the Army of Republika Srpska have coordinated Mladić’s security for a long time and that the coordinator was Colonel Jovo Đogo. He claims that service records on this were forwarded to the then prime minister Zoran Đinđić, police minister Dušan Mihajlović and FRY president Vojislav Koštunica. ‘Dragomir Krstović didn’t make his own decision to take care of Mladić, he received orders to do so. He needs to say from whom,’ said Petrović. The evidence which points to Krstović as Mladić’s chief protector is in records of the secret police which show that a current member of the General Staff helped Mladić to hide in Serbia. Because Krstović reports only to service chiefs, says Petrović, everything points to someone from the top level of the army having helped Mladić and the same person is probably still protecting him today.

Report issued by B92, Belgrade, 20 July 2005

‘We had the precise names of the colonel in charge of his security, the major, the captain and his entire security staff, amounting to about ten military personnel. They had telephone numbers and by tracing the switchboards we ascertained that Mladić was somewhere in the neighbourhood of Valjevo. We pinpointed his location, followed his movements and his conversations, and I gave the detailed information to minister Mihajlović and premier Đinđić. Đinđić then went to see Koštunica, but the latter gave him an answer along the lines of: "Don’t touch that, don’t meddle",’ says Petrović. Serbian premier Vojislav Koštunica was at that time president of FRY, hence commander in chief of the Yugoslav Army.

Blic (Belgrade), 20 July 2005

                                                        Corax, Vreme (Belgrade)