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Podujevo 1999 – Beyond Reasonable DoubtThe man who handed over the weapons to the Scorpions members and lateron took the weapons from them, Sran Manojlović, gave the following statementson 28 May 2003 during the investigation and in the main hearings heldon 10 October 2002 and 6 February 2004:“When I was issuing weapons, it was not conducted according to the serialnumbers...”“The lack of time was the particular reason why we did not take numbers ofthe rifles, I mean serial number of a rifle for each soldier...”“We did not issue the rifles according to the serial number. I gave each soldiera rifle and they were returning them directly on the truck in my presence.”The commander of the Scorpions unit, Slobodan Medić stated on 28 March2002:“Sran Manojlović was handing the weapons; the weapons were handedas soon as we arrived. They were handed to each soldier without writingany numbers and without any formalities because we did not have time forthat.”Defendant Saša Cvjetan personally claimed in his statement given regardingthe issuing of weapons:“...we received patches and weapons, automatic rifles, which were conserved.They just handed them to us, nobody registered anything.”Cvjetan did not change this statement in the numerous statements he gaveduring the procedure.The Scorpions members Dragan Medić, Zoran Vukšić, Milovan Tomić, NebojšaCekić, Zdravko Smiljić, Petar Dmitrić, and Dragan Borojević confirmed that therifles were not issued to them according to the serial numbers and the SupremeCourt is calling on the statements given by the Scorpions members,Rajko Olujić and Željko ukić, who said that each soldier was issued with a rifleaccording to the rifle’s serial number. However, in the main hearing heldon 5 December 2003, Željko ukić gave the following statement in view ofthe weapons’ issuing process:225