Scorpions Trial
Jasmina Tesanovic, Belgrade
First day of trial, March 13, 2006
Boca’s Squad / Military Box 9189/19 Vukovar
That’s how today’s witness presented himself: a
low-key
thirty-nine-year old locksmith, grim and uncomfortable
in his role. He executed his legal duty with obvious
physical pain and loud moans and groans. as if
barbecued
slowly by the impatient woman judge, who looks every
time more like a Hollywood star.
“Boca” is just a nickname here, commonly given to the
nice
kid round the corner, and Vukovar used to be a
time-honored
city in Croatia. However now, we are talking about
Scorpions destroying that city, together with the
Jugoslav
National Army, the JNA. Recently a movie was made
about that scene of the crime and bloodshed. Once
again the reality show and the documentary material
beat all the moralizing words of
the accused war criminals.
This guy, Boca, today knows nothing. His most common
words
are Probably, Maybe, This, That. Again, if one didn’t
know
the cultural context and the body language of
intentional
lying , one would say that the guy is bewildered and
stupid.
The judge burst out angrily:
According to you NOTHING happened? In one of the worst
places of the crime, he overslept the war, while
wearing one of the scariest uniforms in the world.
He says: all of us wore uniforms with animals:
the Croatians had tigers, we had Scorpions, Wolves.
Other questions, as to where whom and why, he answers
NATURALLY , NORMALLY. Then he looks helplessly at his
defense lawyers.
Tell us what you have to say, shouts the judge at him/
We heard you were threatening one of our chief
witnesses here, the cameraman, who claimed he knows
that the indicted commander gave the orders…
All of a sudden the scene changes. This is not a
common dumb and deaf witness under pressure. This is
the gray grim guy who is threatening in the name of
the incarcerated criminals. A professional criminal,
he threatens and intimidates those accomplices who are
not yet behind bars and are willing to speak out.
With girlfriends from Women in Black, I am munching
sweets . At the break a security policeman screams at
me: I will throw you out next time you eat. This is
court not a cinema. Right, I say… He is shaming us
and humiliating us, because, last time, one of the
criminal’s family made a public scene and the judge
threatened us all.
At that point a man from the first rows in the
audience smiles
broadly at me, as if to protect me from this
overbearing court
security. It takes me five minutes to realize that he
is a Scorpion.
We in the audience are mixing way too much. It is
getting scary and unpleasant.
The witness goes on: So I talked to the cameraman and
told him that I was worried for his life, since I
heard
death threats after he testified against the
commander.
A wave of alarm runs through the courtroom lawyers.
Both prosecution and defense are breaking in with
questions,
Yes, says the judge, the cameraman has reported death
threats to the court few days ago.
The know-nothing man knows too much. Too much to say
the
name of those who are still giving the orders.
The relatives of the victims are sighing too. They
just gave an interview to CNN. They, too, came to
Belgrade for this trial, notwithstanding the death of
Milosevic as the highest-ranked in the chain of
responsibility.
But yes, the show does go on.
– – – – –
Jasmina Tesanovic is an author, filmmaker, and wandering thinker who shares her thoughts with BoingBoing from time to time. Email: politicalidiot at yahoo dot com.
Previous posts on BoingBoing:
– Milosevic Arrives in Belgrade
– Milosevic Funeral
– Link to previous posts about Jasmina’s work.