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Podujevo 1999 – Beyond Reasonable Doubt“As the court has allowed me now to say what I have to say in my defence,I would like to point out the following.“In May 2000, in Novi Sad, in a cafe Bonaparta, there was an attempt to liquidateme by the State Security Service, that is, by some people hired fromthe South of Serbia and who had rented out a summer house in the vicinityof Novi Sad. I learned about it from a policeman who warned me aboutit. The execution was intended to prevent me from appearing in this courtand from saying what I have said today.”Asked by the public prosecutor why he has claimed today, at the time of determinationof the identity of the defendant’s statements, for the minutes,that he did not have a nickname, while in the minutes dated 24 May 1999,recorded before the investigative judge, it was written that his nicknamewas Kobra, and what the truth in connection with all this was, the defendantreplied: “My only nickname could be Sale, an endearment, nobody hasever called me Kobra, and the investigative judge could have written mynickname was Rambo.”Asked by the public prosecutor to explain why Vuk, the commander ofthe Special Antiterrorist Unit had come and cursed him, the defendant replied:“I have already explained this, when the commander had come to thescene, he addressed the people on the right, the group that I was in, helooked at us, which means, looked at me, and if he cursed, I thought hecursed me, which is why I replied. He cursed us, saying ‘You are pussies!’and I replied ‘You are a pussy yourself!’ I replied to his curse with an identicalcurse. And that’s the end of it.”Asked by the public prosecutor to explain a part of his statement of 24 May1999, practically the very end of the statement, the defendant said: “I amsaying that every order has to be carried out not only in this unit but in everyunit for special operations irrespective of the consequences. Our immediatesuperior in the field was Guljo. We followed his orders.”275