Dangerous Hoax by a Croatian Journalist: What Lies Behind Margetić's 'Documents' on Sarajevo Safari

“Slavko Aleksić left some of his archive of the Novo Sarajevo Chetnik Detachment to some of his comrades, with instructions that this archive be used in case something happened to him. His comrades handed me a large number of various documents that seriously incriminate Aleksandar Vučić” – this was published on January 25th this year by Croatian journalist Domagoj Margetić, claiming to possess original documents from the war period that prove Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić directly participated in the organization of the so-called “Sarajevo safari”, as a “guide and escort for foreign guests who came for human safaris”.

Margetić has so far published several documents which he claims originate from the archive of the recently deceased Chetnik warlord Slavko Aleksić, former commander of the Novo Sarajevo Chetnik Detachment (NČO), who, along with his comrades, terrorized the citizens of besieged Sarajevo for years from their positions at the Jewish Cemetery. The investigation has thoroughly analyzed the documents published by Margetić – we compared them with proven authentic documents of the Novo Sarajevo Chetnik Detachment used in cases at the International Tribunal in The Hague and signed by Slavko Aleksić, as well as with documents from other sources that were previously publicly released. The analysis unequivocally led us to the conclusion that the documents published by Domagoj Margetić in recent days are fake. We will argue this further in the text below.

AND WHERE IS THE STAMP?

Slavko Aleksić, as commander of the NČO, wrote and signed all orders, decisions, requests to the command, etc., exclusively in Cyrillic. Below is a document that Aleksić sent to the command of the Third Infantry Battalion of the First Sarajevo Motorized Brigade of the VRS (to commander Blagoje Kovačević) on December 16, 1993, in which he requests that ammunition be provided for the unit at the Jewish Cemetery. This document was used in the trials of Radovan Karadžić and Ratko Mladić in The Hague and bears the stamp of the Hague Tribunal.

In another document, dated September 28, 1993, Aleksić, on behalf of the NČO command, writes a letter of thanks to Zlatko Novković, a “Serbian volunteer from New York”, and awards him the rank of Chetnik captain. This document is also written in Cyrillic, as are all others signed by Aleksić.

Unlike these verifiably authentic documents, all alleged documents of Slavko Aleksić published by Margetić are written in Latin script. Only Aleksić's signature at the bottom of the document is in Cyrillic.

This is a document published yesterday by Domagoj Margetić, in which Aleksić allegedly asks the detachment's logistics to assign Aleksandar Vučić a “papovka” rifle.

In addition to being written in Latin script, the “documents” published by Margetić, another very important difference is easily noticeable – all original documents signed by Slavko Aleksić bear the stamp of the Chetnik detachment. On Margetić's documents – there is no stamp at all.

Further doubts about the authenticity of the documents released to the public by the Croatian journalist are raised by Slavko Aleksić's signature itself (with a ballpoint pen). Namely, although similar to the one on authentic documents, Aleksić's signature on Margetić's papers is unusually expressive and striking if we consider that these are documents allegedly created more than three decades ago.

A month before his death, Chetnik warlord Aleksić denied Domagoj Margetić's claims about Vučić's participation in the “Sarajevo safari” in an interview for the Montenegrin Borba.

“What the Ustaše journalist Domagoj Margetić claims is not true. They accuse Vučić of being a volunteer in my unit, which is absolutely not true. I responsibly claim that there is nothing to it, not a drop of truth in it. No snipers, no foreign mercenaries, because I had Russians, Greeks, Bulgarians, and even some Macedonians in my unit, but they were Orthodox volunteers. But for someone to have been engaged in sniping, killing, that's out of the question,” Aleksić claimed.

Aleksić also stated that he “reliably knows” that human safaris were indeed organized, but not in Sarajevo, but in Mostar.

“Those hunters came to that part of divided Mostar held by Croats, that is known, who were shooting at Muslim civilians, both children and others, in another part of Mostar,” Aleksić recounted.

Regardless of whether his claims are true or not, it is unclear why Slavko Aleksić would entrust his legacy to Domagoj Margetić, whom he called an “Ustaše journalist” and against whom he announced lawsuits for defamation.

Read the full text of Istraga HERE