The Serb Volunteer Guard ( sr, Српска добровољачка гарда, СДГ / ''Srpska dobrovoljačka garda'', SDG), also known as Arkan's Tigers (or only Tigers; sr, Арканови тигрови, links=no / ''arkanovi tigrovi'', or only Тигрови / ''Tigrovi'') or Arkan's men ( sr, Аркановци, links=no / ''Arkanovci''), was a Serbian volunteer

paramilitary A paramilitary is an organization whose structure, tactics, training, subculture, and (often) function are similar to those of a professional military, but is not part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. Paramilitary units carr ...

unit founded and led by

Arkan Željko Ražnatović (, ; 17 April 1952 – 15 January 2000), better known as Arkan (), was a Serbian mobster, politician, sports administrator, paramilitary commander and head of the Serb paramilitary force called the Serb Volunteer Guard duri ...

that fought in

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

(1991–93) and

Bosnia Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and He ...

(1992–95) during the

Yugoslav Wars The Yugoslav Wars were a series of separate but related#Naimark, Naimark (2003), p. xvii. ethnic conflicts, wars of independence, and Insurgency, insurgencies that took place in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, SFR Yugoslavia from ...

History and organization

The Guard was created on 11 October 1990 by twenty members of the

Red Star Belgrade Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club, ), commonly known as Red Star Belgrade in English-language media, is a Serbian professional football club based in Bel ...

football club

Ultra adopted by British military intelligence in June 1941 for wartime signals intelligence obtained by breaking high-level encrypted enemy radio and teleprinter communications at the Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS) at Bletchley Park. '' ...

group

Delije Sever Delije ( sr-cyr, Делије) is a name referring to the supporters of various sports clubs that compete under the Red Star Belgrade multi-sport club banner. The plural of the singular form ''delija'' (делија)—which in Serbian general ...

. The Guard was under the command of the Territorial Defense, a

regular military A regular army is the official army of a state or country (the official armed forces), contrasting with irregular forces, such as volunteer irregular militias, private armies, mercenaries, etc. A regular army usually has the following: * a sta ...

in charge of the territories of Croatia populated predominantly by

Serbs The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are the most numerous South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans in Southeastern Europe, who share a common Serbian ancestry, culture, history and language. The majority of Serbs live in their na ...

during the first half of the 1990s. Serb Volunteer Guard was organized as a gang of criminals and armed by Belgrade. The Serb Volunteer Guard set up their

headquarters Headquarters (commonly referred to as HQ) denotes the location where most, if not all, of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. In the United States, the corporate headquarters represents the entity at the center or the to ...

and training camp in a former military facility in

Erdut Erdut ( sr-Cyrl, Ердут, ) is a village and a municipality in eastern Croatia some 37 km east of the major city of Osijek. Lying on the border with neighbouring Serbia, it was the site of the signing of the Erdut Agreement, which initiate ...

. It saw action from mid-1991 to late 1995, initially in the

Vukovar Vukovar () ( sr-Cyrl, Вуковар, hu, Vukovár, german: Wukowar) is a city in Croatia, in the eastern region of Slavonia. It contains Croatia's largest river port, located at the confluence of the Vuka and the Danube. Vukovar is the seat of ...

region of Croatia. It was supplied and equipped from the reserves of the Serbian police force during the

War in Croatia The Croatian War of Independence was fought from 1991 to 1995 between Croat forces loyal to the Government of Croatia—which had declared independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY)—and the Serb-controlled Yugosl ...

and

War in Croatia (1991) & Bosnia-Herzegovina (1992)

After war broke out in the former Yugoslav republic of

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

in the fall of 1991 and in

in April 1992, Arkan and his units moved to attack different territories in these countries. In Croatia, the Tigers fought in various locales in Eastern Slavonia. Serb Volunteer Guard under Arkan command massacred hundreds of people in eastern Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina while in the early ethnic cleansing campaigns in eastern Bosnia this unit had a major role. In autumn 1995, Arkan's troops fought in the area of

Banja Luka Banja Luka ( sr-Cyrl, Бања Лука, ) or Banjaluka ( sr-Cyrl, Бањалука, ) is the second largest city in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the largest city of Republika Srpska. Banja Luka is also the ''de facto'' capital of this entity. I ...

Sanski Most Sanski Most ( sr-cyrl, Сански Мост, ) is a town and municipality located in the Una-Sana Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is situated on the banks of the Sana River in northweste ...

and

Prijedor Prijedor ( sr-cyrl, Приједор, ) is a city and municipality located in the Republika Srpska entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. As of 2013, it has a population of 89,397 inhabitants within its administrative limits. Prijedor is situated in ...

where they were routed. Arkan personally led most war actions, and rewarded his most efficient officers and soldiers with ranks, medals and eventually the products of lootings. The Serb Volunteer Guard was officially disbanded in April 1996. Besides Arkan, a notable member of the Guard was his right-hand man, Colonel Nebojša Djordjević, who was murdered in late 1996. Another notable member was

Milorad Ulemek Milorad Ulemek ( sr, Милорад Улемек; born 15 March 1965), also known as Milorad Luković () and "Legija" (), is a Serbian former commander of the Serbian police special unit, the Special Operations Unit (JSO) and a former paramilitary ...

, who is now serving a 40-year sentence for his involvement in the assassination of Serbia's pro-Western prime minister

Zoran Đinđić Zoran Đinđić ( sr-Cyrl, Зоран Ђинђић, ; 1 August 1952 – 12 March 2003) was a Serbian politician who served as the prime minister of Serbia from 2001 until his assassination in 2003. He was the mayor of Belgrade in 1997. Đinđi� ...

in 2003.

War crimes charges

Željko Ražnatović was indicted in 1997 by the

International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was a body of the United Nations that was established to prosecute the war crimes that had been committed during the Yugoslav Wars and to try their perpetrators. The tribunal ...

for his command of the Guard, as the unit was allegedly responsible for numerous

crimes against humanity Crimes against humanity are widespread or systemic acts committed by or on behalf of a ''de facto'' authority, usually a state, that grossly violate human rights. Unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity do not have to take place within the ...

, grave breaches of the

Geneva Convention upright=1.15, Original document in single pages, 1864 The Geneva Conventions are four treaties, and three additional protocols, that establish international legal standards for humanitarian treatment in war. The singular term ''Geneva Conven ...

and violations of the

laws or customs of war The law of war is the component of international law that regulates the conditions for initiating war (''jus ad bellum'') and the conduct of warring parties (''jus in bello''). Laws of war define sovereignty and nationhood, states and territor ...

, including active participation in the

ethnic cleansing Ethnic cleansing is the systematic forced removal of ethnic, racial, and religious groups from a given area, with the intent of making a region ethnically homogeneous. Along with direct removal, extermination, deportation or population transfer ...

Bijeljina Bijeljina ( sr-cyrl, Бијељина) is a city and municipality in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is the provincial center of Semberija, a geographic region in the country's northeast. Administratively, Bijeljina is part of the Republika Srpska e ...

and

Zvornik Zvornik ( sr-cyrl, Зворник, ) is a city in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is located in Republika Srpska, on the left bank of the Drina river. In 2013, it had a population of 58,856 inhabitants. The town of Mali Zvornik ("Little Zvornik") lies ...

in 1992. The ICTY charged the Serb Volunteer Guard, under the command or supervision of Željko Ražnatović with: *Forcibly detaining approximately thirty non-Serb men and one woman, without food or water, in an inadequately ventilated boiler room of approximately in size. *Transporting twelve non-Serb men from

to an isolated location in the village of Trnova, where they shot and killed eleven of the men and critically wounded the twelfth. *The rape of a Muslim woman on a bus outside the Hotel Sanus in Sanski Most. *Transporting approximately sixty-seven non-Serb men and one woman from Sanski Most, Šehovci, and Pobrijeze to an isolated location in the village of Sasina and shooting them, killing sixty-five of the captives and wounding two survivors. *Forcibly detaining approximately thirty-five non-Serb men in an inadequately ventilated boiler room of about five square metres in size, beating them, and depriving them of food and water, resulting in the deaths of two men.

Prominent members

* Željko "Arkan" Ražnatović – SDG Commander *

Borislav Pelević Borislav Pelević ( sr-cyr, Борислав Пелевић; 22 November 1956 – 25 October 2018) was a Serbian politician. He was president of the nationalist Party of Serbian Unity (SSJ), a party with marginal importance in Serbian politics, u ...

– Serbian presidential candidate in

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

and

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

* Milorad "Legija" Ulemek – JSO Commander * Zvezdan "Zmija" Jovanović *Mihajlo Ulemek – SDG Colonel

In popular culture

* in the 2001 film Behind Enemy Lines (loosely based on the story of pilot

Scott O'Grady Scott Francis O'Grady (born October 12, 1965) is a former United States Air Force fighter pilot. On June 2, 1995, he was shot down over Bosnia and Herzegovina by a 2K12 Kub mobile SAM launcher and forced to eject from his F-16C into hostile ter ...

), the unit appears as the main antagonists, led by the fictional Miroslav Lokar. * In the 2008 Serbian film '' The Tour'', a group of Serbian actors go on a tour in war-torn Bosnia. Among other factions, they meet an unnamed paramilitary unit wearing insignia similar to those of the Serb Volunteer Guard. Unit's commander (played by

Sergej Trifunović Sergej Trifunović ( sr-cyr, Сергеј Трифуновић, ; born 2 September 1972) is a Serbian actor, comedian, singer, politician and citizen activist.

) is obviously based on Arkan. * In the 2012 Japanese anime '' Jormungand'', one of the antagonists is Dragan Nikolaevich, commander of the Balkan Dragons. His looks and even his biography bear resounding resemblance to those of Arkan. * Twice Born (2012) film is based on a novel by

Margaret Mazzantini Margaret Mazzantini (; born 27 October 1961) is an Italians, Italian-Irish people, Irish writer and actress. She became a film, television and stage actor, but is best known as a writer. Mazzantini began her acting career in 1980 starring in th ...

set in the background of

Bosnian War The Bosnian War ( sh, Rat u Bosni i Hercegovini / Рат у Босни и Херцеговини) was an international armed conflict that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995. The war is commonly seen as having started ...

. * In fourteenth episode of the first season of the crime procedural ''

Law & Order: Criminal Intent ''Law & Order: Criminal Intent'' is an American police procedural Drama (film and television), drama television series set in New York City, where it was also primarily produced. Created and Executive producer#Motion pictures and television, p ...

'', "Homo Homini Lupis", the suspect of the investigation is accused of raping a young girl. In the course of the detectives' interrogation, they identify the suspect as a former member of the volunteer guard due to a

tiger The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is the largest living cat species and a member of the genus '' Panthera''. It is most recognisable for its dark vertical stripes on orange fur with a white underside. An apex predator, it primarily preys on u ...

tattoo A tattoo is a form of body modification made by inserting tattoo ink, dyes, and/or pigments, either indelible or temporary, into the dermis layer of the skin to form a design. Tattoo artists create these designs using several Process of tatt ...

on his back and attempt to establish a pattern of behavior by pointing to the war crimes that occurred in Bosnia.

References

Books

External links

ICTY indictment against Arkan
{{Serbian minority institutions and organizations in Croatia Paramilitary organizations in the Yugoslav Wars Paramilitary organizations based in Serbia Military units and formations of the Bosnian War Military units and formations of the Croatian War of Independence National liberation movements Serbian war crimes in the Croatian War of Independence Serbian war crimes in the Bosnian War Serbian nationalism in Bosnia and Herzegovina 1990 establishments in Serbia 1990 establishments in Croatia Defunct paramilitary organizations