Dozens of people in military uniforms and red berets showed up today in Pionirski Park in Belgrade to show their support for those opposing the blockade of the university. The N1 editorial team identified several people among them who were members of the "Red Berets", the media outlet reports.
At the head of the column of veterans who came to the students was Goran Radosavljević Guri, a retired police colonel and the last commander of the Special Police Units and the first commander of the Gendarmerie. His name is mentioned in connection with the 1999 Račak operation in Kosovo, as well as in the case of the murder of the Bytyći brothers, US citizens and members of the KLA. Since 2010, he has been a member of the Serbian Progressive Party.
In the footage posted on the social network "X", the most attention was drawn to an older man with a cane, who was leading a column of veterans alongside Guri. This is Živojin Ivanović, aka Žika Crnogorac, who some claim was the first commander of the "Red Berets" after Captain Dragan.
Žika Crnogorac participated in the wars in the former Yugoslavia and retired with the rank of colonel. In 1997, Ivanovic attended the unit's formation in front of the then President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) Slobodan Milošević in Kula, a video recording of which exists.
Živojin – Žika "Crnogorac" Ivanović was mentioned back on August 7, 1992, at a meeting of the Supreme Defense Council (VSO) of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, which was then to be attended by three presidents: Dobrica Ćosić (FRY), Slobodan Milošević (Serbia), and Momir Bulatović (Montenegro), a Montenegrin portal wrote in November 2020.
Milošević was absent, but the session was attended by invitation by the Prime Minister of Montenegro Milo Đukanović, Pavle Bulatović, Federal Minister of the Interior, General Života Panić (Chief of the General Staff), and Pavle Strugar (Commander of the 2nd Army, Podgorica Command). The Minister of the Interior of Serbia Zoran Sokolović was also present.
N1 states that at that meeting, according to the stenographic notes and the writing of the Montenegrin portal, Momir Bulatović asked how and in what way the paramilitary formations "are emboldened and constantly seek some protection", claiming that they are in the leadership of the VJ army, what their connections are with the Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs, but at that meeting he also made claims that "around 350 barrels were distributed by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Serbia to the citizens of Pljevlja, among which there are the most modern machine guns".
On that occasion, Pavle Bulatović stated that Žika "Crnogorac" Ivanović, "commander of a special purpose unit", with bases in Ilok and Tikveš in Croatia, and at that time within the so-called Republic of Serbian Krajina, was cruising around Pljevlja with a group of 20 armed men.
In his May 2017 article titled "Bloody Secrets of the 'Red Berets': The Dark Road from Knin to Sarajevo under Milošević's Command", Vuk Cvijić, explaining the formation of the JSO and its connections with the Serbian State Security Service, also mentions Ivanovic, who joined the "Berets" as a prominent member of the DB.
"Upon arrival in Knin, the 'red beret' was adopted as the symbol, which did not change and which was an informal name for members of the unit, regardless of what it was called at the time. A man was appointed commander who was then only introduced by his code name: Captain Dragan (Vasiljković). In addition to Vasiljković, prominent members of the DB Dragan Filipović - Major Fića and Živojin Ivanović - Žika Crnogorac also came to Knin, and everything happened under the watchful eye of Franko Simatović Frenki and the Serbian DB," Cvijić states in the text.
However, the name of Žika “Crnogorca” Ivanovic became known to the wider public at the trials of former heads of the Serbian State Security Service (SDB), Jovica Stanišić and Franko Simatović. The two were charged with persecution, murder, deportation and forcible transfer of civilians during the wars in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, crimes allegedly committed by paramilitary formations under the control of the Serbian SDB, such as the “Red Berets”.
According to the indictment, the Red Berets in Doboj were led by Živojin Ivanović, known as Žika Crnogorac, a prominent member of the Special Operations Unit of the Serbian State Security Service. Žika Crnogorac did not end up in court, but is mentioned in the indictment as the commander of the Red Berets, who, according to testimonies, killed Bosniak and Croat prisoners in that town in 1992.
According to unofficial information, Živojin Žika Crnogorac left for Canada after the fall of Slobodan Milošević's regime.
The second man identified by N1 in Pionirski Park is Željko Benak. Benak, in addition to being a member of the Serbian Progressive Party, is the owner of four active companies, while the fifth is in bankruptcy. All four active companies have their accounts blocked due to large debts.
The company "Line power doo" has been blocked since March 2020 and has the largest debt, more than two billion dinars. The total debt of all four companies is about three billion dinars.
According to available public data, the company "Prodexim doo" alone owes 997,5 million dinars in taxes.
Benak was active on social media until 2013. That year, on March 12, on the tenth anniversary of the assassination of Zoran Đinđić, he wrote "God bless you, my friend Zvezdan Jovanović" on the "X" network (then Twitter).
On the same day, he also wished Ratko Mladić a happy birthday.
A year earlier, Benak wrote that he was a member of the SNS because of then-Minister Aleksandar Vučić and Serbian President Tomislav Nikolić.
Among the so-called veterans, or people wearing the insignia of the Red Berets, there are people who could not possibly have been members of that unit given their age. Social media users have recognized Aleksa Paunović among these "veterans", who they claim was photographed in 2017 during the inauguration of President Aleksandar Vučić attacking journalists. N1 could not confirm that this is the same person.
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