Ex Army chief "has no new information" in Guards murder case

Ex Army chief "has no new information" in Guards murder case

BELGRADE -- Retired General Branko Krga has told B92 that he does not know anything about the murder case of two members of the Guards unit, that took place in Belgrade.

Krga said that on the day they the two soldiers were shot and killed he was "not even in the country."

Dragan Jakovljević and Dražen Milovanović died on October 5, 2004, while on guard duty at the barracks in Topčider, Belgrade.

In response to legal representatives of the families of the victims, who now consider him a key witness in the case that has not been solved for a decade, Krga stated that "the only connection is the fact he was at the time the chief of staff of the Army of Serbia and Montenegro."

"The military never tried to obstruct the investigation. If I knew anything, I would not have waited ten years," he told B92 on Tuesday, and added:

"It was a surprise to me to be mentioned as an important witness in the process. I was not even in the country that day, I was on an official visit to Germany. Secondly, the Army has not conducted an investigation in a criminal-legal sense, this was done by an investigating judge of the Ministry of Defense. Thirdly, if I knew anything regarding the suffering of those two young men, I would have said it ten years ago, or in the meantime - had I come across some information, I would have said it, I would not have waited for anyone to mention me."

"So, the Army allowed for everything the investigating judge asked, and also (what was asked) by those that later defined themselves as a commission of inquiry... All they asked for, we made possible. Of course it's not a problem for me to, as a citizen, or as a responsible...