[ALBSA-Info] Interview with a vampire

[KreshnikBejko]

(a Serb soldier telling of how massacres happend and how the special
police forces killed civilans undiscrimintely.The army units are 
exonerated.)


There was a village around B. Early in the morning, we were given an 
order to take the village in front of us...that's how it was said...we 
have to take this village...we were told to take our places and wait for 
the support which was the police...They arrived, we had to take our 
positions and fire a few projectiles, after which the [police] would go 
into the village. This particular one was Albanian civilians, there were 
no terrorists, and because there was no planning, there was this big 
incident where one of the men, because one of his friends was killed in 
the previous night, took around 30 women and children, put them against 
the wall, and shot them. . . . When he heard the news that his first 
neighbor was killed in the bombing, he wasn't the same person any more, 
he went berserk. I was just passing when I saw a lot of civilians, mainly 
women and children. They were crouching. He was in front of them with a 
machine gun. From the noise of the motor I couldn't make out what he was 
saying to them, I just saw that he was shouting at them, he was probably 
saying that they were guilty for his neighbors death. He lifted his gun, 
and started firing at them. The women and children were just falling. 
When he finished his business, his crime, he turned around and went away. 
They were left there lying in the grass. 
I felt crazy, heavy. My colleague was trying to calm me down saying, "You 
didn't do this, you are not to blame for this, we had to come here, we 
were mobilised. You have your family at home. Think of them. You have to 
make it back." He managed to calm me down a little, but that picture will 
be in front of my eyes for the rest of my life. 

What did you want to do when that happened?

First, I wanted not to be there. Secondly, I wanted to even kill myself, 
because I couldn't bear what I saw. Maybe I could have killed him as 
well. I started to scream, to tear my hair out. I tell you, if I didn't 
have my friend beside me, I would have surely gone mad, without a doubt. 
. . . 

Do you think that these sort of things were happening often ?

I am certain of it... but I can just tell you this...as far as the Army 
was concerned, these sort of things didn't happen very often. One man is 
in command of 100 men, and among that 100 there is maybe the 99th man is 
the exception. But as far as the police, those sort of things [happened] 
often.

. . . 

That village where that incident happened was the first and the last 
village that we entered. Later on . . . everything came to this: we would 
stop in front of a village and from a distance fire a few times, after 
which the [police] would go in clean it, rob it burn the houses . . . 
only then we would go in . . . 

Did you see them "engage" the civilians?

Yes, most of the time. The terrorists would run as soon as they saw the 
tanks, especially when we started to fire. We could see them running from 
the other side of the village . . . . [The police] didn't care whether 
they were terrorists or civilians, it was enough that they were 
Albanians...they would take them out of the house and shoot them 
immediately and carry on. They would move on as soon as they shot, 
because behind them, there was a column of vehicles [whose] job was to 
collect the bodies and the loot. . . 

What was the "horseshoe"?

That was the system that was applied in all the wars. You would surround 
the village from three sides, and the 4th would be left for the civilians 
to run. They had the opportunity to leave the village. . . . 

Under whose command were the special police units?

They had their officer in charge. I think that they were above us in 
terms of authority. The Army is bigger as an institution than the police, 
but they had control over us. We couldn't enter the village until they 
were finished with their looting and killing. Only when it was 
communicated to us that the village is free, we would enter. . .