RECORDINGS OF DUDAKOVIĆ'S ORDERS TO KILL SERBS AND BURN VILLAGES

BIJELJINA, AUGUST 6 /SRNA/ – On August 7, 2007, television stations in Republika Srpska and Serbia aired footage showing Atif Dudaković, commander of the 5th Corps of the so-called Army of BiH /Muslim forces/, issuing orders to burn Serb Krajina villages during a military operation conducted between September 14 and 17, 1995.

Even before the criminal Croatian military-police Operation Storm, in which Croatian and Muslim forces acted jointly, Dudaković had issued criminal orders. One recording from April 14, 1995, captures him giving the following directive: "The breakthrough must be made. Kill everything in front of you. I'm sorry you don't have knives… I approve and order that the enemy be destroyed by any means - knife, hand grenade, razor, teeth, by strangling… You have every right," Dudaković said at the time. Before defecting from the Yugoslav People's Army /JNA/, where he had advanced to the rank of lieutenant colonel and served as a battalion commander in Knin, Dudaković was a close associate of Ratko Mladić, who later became the commander of the Main Staff of the Republika Srpska Army. With the support of Croatian Armed Forces and NATO aviation, Dudaković's units took control of nearby Serb-populated areas during Operation Storm and attacked the forces of the Autonomous Province of Western Bosnia loyal to Fikret Abdić. There is irrefutable evidence that during these military operations, Dudaković ordered the killing of prisoners and the burning of Serb villages. In August 1995, during Operation Storm, under Dudaković’s command, Serb refugees retreating from Republika Srpska Krajina were cut off and captured, and killings of prisoners occurred in the municipality of Dvor in what was then Republika Srpska Krajina. After video recordings of these killings were made public, the then-President of Republika Srpska, Dragan Čavić, and Prime Minister Milorad Dodik submitted a criminal complaint to the prosecutor’s office, including video evidence against Dudaković. Dudaković also led the assault on the western Krajina municipalities of Republika Srpska - Petrovac, Krupa, Sanski Most, Ključ, and Mrkonjić Grad in the fall of 1995. During these operations, 892 Serb civilians and soldiers were killed, 120,000 Serbs were displaced, and over 30 villages were burned. These crimes were also video-documented. After the war, Dudaković served as commander of the Joint Command of the Federation of BiH Army. It wasn't until 2018 that an indictment was filed against him for serious crimes against Serb civilians - the trial is still ongoing.