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White Eagles (paramilitary)
Encyclopedia
Paramilitary
A paramilitary is a force whose function and organization are similar to those of a professional military, but which is not considered part of a state's formal armed forces....
group associated with the Serbian National Renewal
Serbian National Renewal
The Serbian National Renewal was the first Serbian nationalist political party founded in the country. It was formed in 1989 by Vuk Drašković, Mirko Jović and Vojislav Šešelj...
and the Serbian Radical Party
Serbian Radical Party
The Serbian Radical Party is a far-right Serbian nationalist political party in Serbia, founded in 1991. Currently the second-largest party in the Serbian National Assembly, it has branches in three of the nations that currently border Serbia – all former federal republics of Yugoslavia...
. The White Eagles fought in Croatia and the Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnian War
The Bosnian War or the War in Bosnia and Herzegovina was an international armed conflict that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina between April 1992 and December 1995. The war involved several sides...
during the Yugoslav Wars
Yugoslav wars
The Yugoslav Wars were a series of wars, fought throughout the former Yugoslavia between 1991 and 1995. The wars were complex: characterized by bitter ethnic conflicts among the peoples of the former Yugoslavia, mostly between Serbs on the one side and Croats and Bosniaks on the other; but also...
.
In the 2003 ICTY Vojislav Seselj
Vojislav Šešelj
Vojislav Šešelj, JD is a Serbian politician, writer and lawyer. He is the founder and president of the Serbian Radical Party and was vice-president of Serbia between 1998 and 2000...
indictment, the group is included as an alleged party to the joint criminal enterprise
Joint Criminal Enterprise
Joint criminal enterprise ' is a legal doctrine used by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia to prosecute political and military leaders for mass war crimes, including genocide, committed during the Yugoslav wars 1991-1999....
to which Vojislav Seselj is allegedly a party. In the indictment the group is identified as a "volunteer units including 'Chetnik', or 'Seseljevci' (translated into English as 'Seselj’s men')". This association has been denied by SRS leader Vojislav Seselj.
Name
Although the group's members were occasionally referred to as ChetniksChetniks
Chetniks, or the Chetnik movement , were Serbian nationalist and royalist paramilitary organizations from the first half of the 20th century. The Chetniks were formed as a Serbian resistance against the Ottoman Empire in 1904, and participated in the Balkan Wars, World War I, and World War II...
, they are not to be confused with the Serbian anticommunist guerrilla group during and after World War II also known as the White Eagles and also referred to as Chetniks. The name White Eagles comes from an anti-communist organization that was formed during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and continued a guerrilla war against Tito’s
Josip Broz Tito
Marshal Josip Broz Tito – 4 May 1980) was a Yugoslav revolutionary and statesman. While his presidency has been criticized as authoritarian, Tito was a popular public figure both in Yugoslavia and abroad, viewed as a unifying symbol for the nations of the Yugoslav federation...
government after the war. White Eagle refers to the national symbol of Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
, the double headed white eagle under a crown.
History
The White Eagles paramilitary group was formed in 1991-1992 by Dragoslav Bokan and Mirko JovićMirko Jovic
Mirko Jović is a Serbian politician who stood for president of Serbia in the Serbian presidential election, 2004 for the Radical Party of People, Serbia, Diaspora and European Bloc. He lives in Nova Pazova.-Political career:...
. Jović called for "a Christian, Orthodox Serbia with no Muslims and no unbelievers".
Šešelj states that the group was started by Jović but they got out of his control. According to Šešelj the White Eagles and Arkan's Tigers operated with help from the Yugoslav counterintelligence service.
War crimes
Testimony at the International War Crimes TribunalInternational Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
The International Tribunal for the Prosecution of Persons Responsible for Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law Committed in the Territory of the Former Yugoslavia since 1991, more commonly referred to as the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia or ICTY, is a...
indicates that the White Eagles were responsible for a number of atrocities during the Croatian
Croatian War of Independence
The Croatian War of Independence was fought from 1991 to 1995 between forces loyal to the government of Croatia—which had declared independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia —and the Serb-controlled Yugoslav People's Army and local Serb forces, with the JNA ending its combat...
and Bosnian wars, including: the Voćin massacre
Vocin massacre
Voćin massacre was a massacre committed against Croatian civilians in the village of Voćin by Serb paramilitary units in December 1991, during the Croatian War of Independence....
, Višegrad massacre
Višegrad massacre
The Višegrad massacres also known as the Visegrad Genocide were acts of mass murder committed against the Bosniak civilian population of the town and municipality of Višegrad during the ethnic cleansing of eastern Bosnia by Serb police and military forces during the spring and summer of 1992, at...
, crimes at Foča
Foca massacres
The Foča massacres, also known as the Foča genocide, were a series of killings committed by Serb military, police and paramilitary forces on Bosniak civilians in the Foča region of Bosnia and Herzegovina from April 7, 1992 to January 1994...
, Gacko
Gacko
Gacko is a town and municipality in southeastern Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Republika Srpska entity. It is situated in the Foča Region.-Geography:The town is in a short distance from Montenegro...
and others. Various members of the White Eagles were indicted by the Tribunal. Mitar Vasiljević
Mitar Vasiljevic
Mitar Vasiljević is a Bosnian Serb war criminal convicted of crimes against humanity and violation of the customs of war by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia for his actions in the Višegrad region during the Bosnian War...
received a fifteen year sentence.
It has been also reported that White Eagles managed detention camp in Liješće, near Bosanski Brod
Bosanski Brod
Brod also known as Bosanski Brod is a town and municipality located on the south bank of the river Sava in the northern part of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is situated in the north-western part of the Republika Srpska and the western part of the Posavina region.-Name:Prior to the Bosnian War it...
.
Reappearance
In December 2010 a self-declared terrorist group called "Beli Orlovi" (White Eagles) took responsibility for the killing of Kosovo's Bosnian leader Šefko Salković in the north of Kosovo. The group also took responsibility for obstructions of the election process in northern Mitrovica, as well as for attacking KFOR troops.See also
- Chetnik
- Serb Volunteer GuardSerb Volunteer GuardThe Serb Volunteer Guard also known as Arkan's Tigers was a Serbian volunteer paramilitary unit, founded and led by Željko Ražnatović, that fought in Croatia ; Bosnia and Herzegovina and in the Kosovo War ....
, Arkan's Tigers - Serbian paramilitary
- Serbian war crimes in the Yugoslav Wars