Scorpions

The Scorpions was a Serbian paramilitary unit active during the Yugoslav Wars. The unit was involved in war crimes during the wars in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Kosovo. After the wars, four members of the unit were found guilty of killing six prisoners during the Srebrenica massacre of July 1995 and five were found guilty of killing fourteen civilians, mostly women and children, during the Podujevo massacre in March 1999. History The Scorpions were founded in 1991 by Jovica Stanišić, the head of Serbia's State Security Services, who also had a secret relationship with the Central Intelligence Agency. It began as a regular unit of the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA). They identified as Chetniks (monarchist Greater Serbia troopers). Dozens of men joined the unit in mid-1991. Initially composed of Serbs from eastern Slavonia, the unit began its operations during the Battle of Vukovar in late 1991. It was led by two brothers, Slobodan and Aleksandar Medić, and was named after their favourite weapon—the Škorpion vz. 61. The unit was one of several hundred armed groups used by Bosnian and Croatian Serb military authorities for the purpose of terrorizing the non-Serb population in the Republika Srpska and the Republic of Srpska Krajina. In 1992, the Scorpions came under the command of the Army of the Republic of Serb Krajina (ARSK). The Scorpions became part of the Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs at some point in 1995. They participated in the Srebrenica massacre in July 1995. During the Kosovo War, the Scorpions were placed under the command of the Special Anti-Terrorist Unit (SAJ). They were involved in the Podujevo massacre in March 1999. The massacre resulted in the deaths of 14 Kosovo Albanians, mostly women and children. Following the Yugoslav Wars, the majority of soldiers who fought with the Scorpions moved to the town of Šid. Some remained in Vukovar. In 2021, a mass grave containing at least 10 Srebrenica victims was confirmed near Kalinovik, within the Scorpions' area of operation.