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Podujevo 1999 – Beyond Reasonable Doubtmore than that, while my platoon consisted of 20 to 30 men. At that timeDemirović must have been in another platoon. Later, when we returned toNovi Sad, I learned that he had wanted to come to our platoon for reasonsof personal safety. It was only later, after my return to Novi Sad that I metDemirović because he was detained, as I was, in Prokuplje.”In response to a question by the deputy public prosecutor, the defendantreplied: “Before leaving for Podujevo, we were not given any particular order,but it was understood that we were supposed to take along the battleequipment and board the buses. Nobody told us the reason we were goingto Podujevo, and I think that even our unit commander, Slobodan Medić,knew nothing about all this as, once we had arrived in Podujevo, he wentto attend a meeting with the leaders of the Ministry of the Interior.Leaving us, he ordered us to stay inside the buses, but my platoon commander,Rajko Olujić, asked me to come with him and look for suitable accommodation.Olujić was with me when I entered the courtyard of the storeyedhouse and when we entered the house near the staircase. I think hewas present when I fired a volley from my automatic rifle, but he was notwith me when I went to the upper storey and I did not see him when I wasrunning toward the courtyard of the house that the sounds of the shootingwere coming from, although it is possible that he was there somewhere. Isuppose he had gone to bring the other members of the platoon so the platooncould be accommodated in the house I had already entered.The house I had entered was suitable for platoon accommodation as itcould be approached from the street, because it was storeyed and new anddefinitely safer than any older house. Besides, it could accommodate thewhole platoon, with five or six men per room. The next order was for all ofus to board the bus and return. I believe that everybody in the bus was surprisedwith the return, at least I was and I asked for explanation for returning.It was believed it had something to do with the killing of the civiliansin Podujevo, but nobody told me that.In my unit and everywhere I spoke about running into a courtyard andcoming across the corpses. This was all I spoke about. I don’t know whoseinterests are served by my being charged with what I am charged with. Asfar as I know, a platoon remained in Podujevo, with the platoon command-279