Byzantine Blog

Serbian Major in British Army: Gallant Officer Treated Disgracefully

Army officer sues for £1m over spy claim by Sean Rayment, Defence Correspondent, Sunday Telegraph

A former Paratrooper whose career was destroyed after he was falsely accused of spying is to sue the Government for record damages.

Milos Stankovic, who was decorated by the Queen for bravery, will claim in the High Court that he was forced to leave the Army by a “malicious investigation” by Ministry of Defence (MoD) police acting on false information.

Mr Stankovic, 44, who at the time of his arrest held the rank of major in The Parachute Regiment, is seeking more than £1 million compensation for the loss of his career, salary and pension, and unpaid legal fees, The Sunday Telegraph has learned.

Mr Stankovic was arrested under the Official Secrets Act on suspicion that, while serving as a Serbo-Croat interpreter for senior British Army officers in Sarajevo, he passed secret information to the Bosnian Serbs. The major was taken into custody while attending the Joint Services Staff College in Bracknell, Berkshire and subjected to two criminal investigations, one by the Ministry of Defence police, the other by the Royal Military Police.

Neither investigation, which had a combined cost of more than £250,000, found any evidence of espionage, which had been claimed to have taken place in 1994.

More than 100 witnesses were interviewed in Britain and the investigating team traveled to United Nations headquarters in New York in its search for evidence against Mr Stankovic.

His legal team intends to call high-profile former Army officers who will testify to Mr Stankovic’s good character and reject the suggestion that the former Army major was a Bosnian spy. Witnesses due to attend the three-week hearing in October include Gen Sir Mike Jackson, the former chief of the General Staff; Gen Sir Michael Rose, whom Mr Stankovic served as an interpreter during the Bosnian War, Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton, a former SAS commander and now private secretary to Princes William and Harry, and Martin Bell, the former MP and BBC war reporter.

Bosnian Muslims and Americans Wanted Stankovic Removed

At the time of his arrest in 1997, Mr Stankovic was described by Martin Bell, then MP for Tatton, as a “gallant British soldier” who “had been treated disgracefully”.

Mr Stankovic said he was unable to speak freely about the forthcoming case for legal reasons but added: “This is not about vengeance. But I want to get compensation for my loss of earnings and loss of pension. I had a good career in the Army to which I was dedicated and that was wrongfully taken away from me.”

He said it would also represent compensation for the lawyers who have represented him on a “no-win, no-fee” basis for the past 10 years.

[...] Mr Stankovic, whose father [and mother are] Serbian but who was brought up in Britain, was a regular figure in Pale, Bosnia-Herzegovina working on behalf of UN commanders. When UN troops were sent to the Balkans in October 1992, he was one of only two fluent Serbo-Croat speakers in the British Army and was initially attached to the Cheshire Regiment and Col Bob Stewart. He proved his value both in his knowledge of the language and in his understanding of the people and the ethnic problems between them.

When the Cheshire Regiment returned to the UK after six months, Mr Stankovic remained and became attached to Gen Rose’s staff in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo. The work was often dangerous and Mr Stankovic took to wearing two flak jackets. He was known as Mike Stanley by colleagues because his real surname marked him out as a Serb.

It was not long before some on the Muslim side complained privately that his relationship with Mladic and Karadzic was too close. It is widely believed that it was partly the concerns of the Bosnian [Muslim] authorities, passed on to the Americans, that triggered the investigation which led to Mr Stankovic’s arrest.

UK’s Ministry of Defence Took Away Milos’ Entire Career

After returning to the UK, he was awarded the MBE in recognition of his work in Bosnia. He received his medal from the Queen during a ceremony at Buckingham Palace.

Qaiser Khanzada, Mr Stankovic‘s solicitor, said they would be suing the MoD for abuse of public office which caused him to lose his career.

Mr Khanzada said: “We will be seeking significant damages to cover loss of earning, loss of pension rights, false imprisonment and a myriad of other issues including legal costs. We are saying that the actions of the defendant (the MoD) caused Milos to sustain the loss of his career.”

“Trusted Mole”

Book by Milos Stankovic, illustrated; HarperCollins Publishers Limited, 476pp, ISBN 0006530907. Buy this book at Amazon

Praised by the Sunday Times as “by far the best book to have come out of the Balkan wars,” description of Milos Stankovic’s book reads:

“Fuelled by outrage at his arrest in December 1997 by MoD police, Milos Stankovic, a major in the Parachute Regiment of the British Army and the son of a Royalist [Chetnik] Serb, decided to write his extraordinary story: a dramatic tale of life on the edge in war-ravaged Bosnia. His life was constantly at risk; nevertheless, he ran a ‘Schindler’s List’ operation, smuggling families (Serb, Croat or Muslim) out of besieged Sarajevo. His arrest came as a thunderbolt. What lay behind it will be revealed in the book and will ignite an international controversy.”