Posted by
Darko Trifunovic on Tuesday, March 25, 2008 8:07:52 PM
Church Desecration Video Serves as Jihad Fund-Raiser
(CNSNews.com) - A violent video showing the desecration of a
church and the murder of a Serbian soldier is one of many "jihad"
videos currently making the rounds in Western countries to raise funds
for Muslim terrorists, according to counter-terrorism experts
interviewed by Cybercast News Service.
The graphic
footage, stamped Sept. 16, 1995, was videotaped approximately two
months before the Dayton Peace Accords, which brought an end to the
civil war in Bosnia.
Darko Trifunovic, deputy director of the
Center for Security and Investigation of Terrorism at the Belgrade
Institute for Political Studies, provided Cybercast News Service with a copy of the video during his recent visit to Washington, D.C. Cybercast News Service has edited the video to remove portions dealing with the killing of the Serbian soldier and other grisly images of corpses.
Trifunovic,
an attorney, previously served as first secretary in the
Bosnia-Herzegovina Mission to the United Nations in New York City and
conducted war crimes research for The Hague's International Criminal
Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. In the latter capacity, Trifunovic
interrogated mujahedeen who were involved in the fighting in Bosnia.
"The
video was shot in western Bosnia," said Trifunovic. "It has been shown
in Germany, Austria, Norway, Sweden and North America for fund-raising
purposes."
Evan F. Kohlmann, a Washington D.C.-based terrorism
consultant and author, confirmed that videos of Bosnian battles and
church desecrations were currently being circulated as inspiration and
as a fund-raising tool for jihad-minded terrorists. Kohlmann has
previously testified before Congress on terrorism issues.
The
video opens with mujahedeen interrogating a Serbian soldier. The
soldier was recognized by a relative as 32-year old Rade Rogic, said
Trifunovic.
According to a translator consulted by Cybercast News Service, the lead captor asks Rogic, "Do you know who we are?"
"You're the mujahedeen," Rogic replies on the video.
"That's
right, we're the mujahadeen." When questioned about his duties, Rogic
insists he serves in the "workers' battalion" and only digs ditches.
After repeatedly striking the soldier in the face, the interrogator
then pressures him to say "Allah is great," before telling the
videographer to turn off the camera.
Subsequent footage shows
one of the mujahedeen armed with a machine gun and then preparing the
weapon for what appears to be a planned execution. Rogic is then shown
bloodied and lying face-down on some rocks, apparently having been
killed by his captors.
In June of this year the Belgrade
newspaper Vecernje Novosti identified Rogic as part of the Radnicki
Battalion. The newspaper published a still photograph of his corpse and
reported he was born in 1957 in Sanski Most. He apparently was captured
after becoming lost in the surrounding forest.
The video footage
also depicts mujahedeen forces entering an Orthodox Christian church.
One combatant throws down what appears to be a vial of incense before
others mock sacred items, break up the altar and vandalize
Byzantine-style icons while smiling and singing. One combatant raises
his rifle and fires at the cross atop the altar.
The scene is
followed by images of an elderly civilian dead by the roadside and a
tractor dragging the body of what appears to be a civilian through the
village.
Knowledge of the video has spread among citizens in
the Balkans, said Trifunovic. "Approximately 10,000 people have now
viewed it at the Sava Center in Belgrade."
The popularity of
videos like the one from western Bosnia can be traced to "The Martyrs
of Bosnia," which told the story of Arab mujahedeen fighting in the
civil war, said Kohlmann. "That first video is considered an al-Qaeda
'classic,'" he added. "Footage of the desecration of the church in Guca
Gora was featured in the video." It also includes footage of al Qaeda
leaders and a cousin of Osama bin Laden.
"The Martyrs of Bosnia"
was distributed by Azzam Publications, whose London-based leader, Babar
Ahmad, is currently facing extradition to the U.S. related to charges
that he materially supported terrorism and conspired to kill persons in
a foreign country.
When that tape was released, said Kohlmann,
law enforcement wiretaps recorded Islamists praising the participants
in the videotape, calling for the killing of Serbs and fighting for the
honor of Islam. "It inspired many terror cells," said Kohlmann.
The
"Martyrs of Bosnia" was followed by two other compilations: "Operation
Black Lion" and "Operation Badr." The latter featured "suicidal" waves
of mujahedeen rushing Serbian soldiers. "It terrified everybody who
watched it," said Kohlmann.
Earlier this year, Dragomir Adnan, police chief for the Republic of Srpska
(RS), showed the video of Rade Rogic's killing and the church
desecration in western Bosnia to an undisclosed group of people.
Subsequently, the European Union Police Mission sought to downplay the
video by issuing a statement on June 22 criticizing Adnan for his role
in the civil war and stating that the video footage had been in the
Republic of Srpska Office for Cooperation with the Hague for "a few
years and it's nothing new."
The Mission's press release stated
that the RS had been asked to forward the video material to The Hague
and that "the transfer is on course."
According to a June 15 BBC
report, the Belgrade newspaper Vecernje Novosti stated that its
journalists were able to view the footage, which was said to be of the
505th Buzim Brigade of the Bosnian government. According to the report,
the video originally featured other footage before the scene involving
Rogic. That footage, the Belgrade newspaper reported, allegedly showed
"heaps of mutilated bodies" and "torched villages."
The BBC reported that the Vecernje Novosti concluded the tape was not fit for broadcasting.
In
the same report, the BBC noted that the publication of the Belgrade
newspaper occurred a week after Serbian television showed video of Serb
paramilitaries executing Muslims in Srebrenica ten years ago.