Case No IT-95-14
1 Monday, 25th August 1997
2 (10.00 am)
3 JUDGE JORDA: Please be seated. The hearing is resumed.
4 Madam Registrar, please have the accused brought in.
5 (Accused brought in)
6 JUDGE JORDA: Are the booths ready? Yes. All the booths?
7 Can everyone hear me, the Defence, the Prosecution?
8 Mr. Blaskic, can you hear me?
9 MR. BLASKIC: Good morning, your Honours, I hear you well.
10 JUDGE JORDA: Thank you? We have the assistance with us of
11 the new Registrar. Could she please introduce herself
12 so that everybody knows her?
13 THE REGISTRAR: My name is Natacha Fauveau.
14 JUDGE JORDA: So, Mme Fauveau, you are going to serve Trial
15 Chamber number 1. Without delaying any further, we are
16 going to ask Mme Fauveau to have the witness brought in,
17 Major Baggesen.
18 (Witness entered court)
19 JUDGE JORDA: Major Baggesen, good morning, can you hear
20 me?
21 A. Good morning, Mr. President, your Honours. I can hear
22 loud and clear.
23 JUDGE JORDA: Please be seated. We are going to continue
24 with the cross-examination and I think it is Mr. Hayman
25 who is doing the cross-examination. You may continue,
1 Mr. Hayman.
2 MAJOR LARS BAGGESEN (continued)
3 Cross-examination by MR. HAYMAN (continued)
4 MR. HAYMAN: Thank you, Mr. President, your Honours. Good
5 morning, Major Baggesen.
6 A. Good morning, Mr. Hayman.
7 Q. Do you have your diary and any other materials you would
8 like before we continue your testimony?
9 A. I have my diary, but if you are going to question me
10 about some of my reports, I would like to have a copy of
11 those as well.
12 Q. Very well, I will try and prompt the Registrar to give
13 those to you before any such questions, but if at any
14 time we are discussing an area where you do not have a
15 document that you would like to have, for the purposes
16 of referring to the document, please stop me and do not
17 hesitate to ask for the document, okay?
18 A. Thank you.
19 Q. Let me ask you, since your tour in Bosnia ended, have
20 you undertaken any study of the war or of ECMM materials
21 or anything of that sort?
22 A. Yes, because after I came back after the mission in
23 Bosnia, I was asked to train the new Danish monitors who
24 were going to the former Yugoslavia, to the European
25 Community monitor mission, and at that time, I had
1 access to see different kinds of reports from that area,
2 so the new monitors should be -- I was able to tell the
3 new monitors how the situation was at the present time.
4 Q. So those were current reports rather than reports from
5 the time-period of your service in Bosnia?
6 A. Yes, it was new reports.
7 Q. What was the time-period or timeframe of those reports?
8 A. I think I trained some of the monitors one year after
9 I came back, because after a year, one of the other
10 monitors had to take over this task, because it was
11 different from when I have been down there. I think it
12 was too long ago for me, so I want some fresh people in
13 to train the monitors.
14 Q. So you believe it was June 1994 approximately when you
15 would have undertaken a review of current ECMM reports
16 about Bosnia?
17 A. Yes.
18 Q. After you left the theatre, did you undertake any study
19 or review of materials directed at the 1993 timeframe,
20 events in 1993 in Bosnia?
21 A. No, only the reports we made at the time.
22 Q. Would you say that Tihomir Blaskic supported efforts to
23 expand the work of the ECMM in Central Bosnia during
24 your tour?
25 A. I think that both Colonel Blaskic and Hadzihasanovic did
1 their best.
2 Q. In that regard to facilitate the work of ECMM; is that
3 what you mean?
4 A. Yes, but it was not always enough.
5 Q. You still faced many difficulties, is that what you
6 mean?
7 A. Yes, we did.
8 Q. Do you recall anything in particular concerning
9 Colonel Blaskic's efforts to promote ECMM involvement in
10 the areas of Vares and Zepce?
11 A. I cannot remember from the Vares area, but for the Zepce
12 area where I had an area of responsibility during my
13 period of time down there, we normally had no contact
14 with Colonel Blaskic because when we were working in
15 that area, there was no tension between BiH and HVO at
16 that time.
17 Q. If the usher could assist, your Honour, I have a
18 document I would like placed before the witness. It is
19 short, it is in English; I regret I have no translation
20 at this time. The document for the record was provided
21 by the Office of the Tribunal Prosecutor and was
22 identified as a daily summary report dated 19th March
23 1993. I note that does not appear on the document; that
24 appeared on an index we received, so may I repeat it:
25 daily summary report, 19th March 1993.
1 Major, did ECMM call one of its routine types of
2 reports a daily summary report?
3 A. Normally the daily summary report was a report made by
4 the Regional Centre and sent to the headquarters in
5 Zagreb.
6 Q. I am sorry to disturb the usher again, but if we could
7 place this one paragraph of this document on the ELMO,
8 I would like to call your attention to the first couple
9 of sentences of the report and ask you if you have any
10 other information about this issue mentioned in the
11 report. Thank you.
12 Let me read the first couple of sentences, Major,
13 and then I will ask you about them. The document is
14 entitled "Tuzla, Busovaca Commission/Zenica:
15 "The Commission met along with the HRC and the
16 COO ECMM with Colonel Blaskic, HVO. A wide variety of
17 topics were discussed, but the main purpose of the
18 meeting was to familiarise the COO with the issues in
19 the area of RC Zenica. Colonel Blaskic stressed the
20 need for ECMM involvement in the areas of Vares and
21 Zepce in order to continue/stabilise the situations
22 there and to maintain calm in these areas."
23 First, Major, if you could help us, COO ECMM, what
24 would that be a reference to?
25 A. I think the COO ECMM was -- I think it was a staff
1 officer from our headquarters in Zagreb, and if it was
2 not senior operations officer in Zagreb, it could be our
3 own operations officer in Zenica, but because this
4 meeting was before I arrived, I do not know, but I think
5 it could be the senior operations officer from Zagreb.
6 Q. After you arrived, that is a few weeks after this report
7 was generated and you arrived in the country, did you go
8 during your tour to either Vares or Zepce on behalf of
9 ECMM?
10 A. Yes, I did.
11 Q. Did the HVO local commander in Zepce support the efforts
12 of the ECMM?
13 A. Yes, actually at that time when I visited that area it
14 seems that it was very calm in that area and I can
15 remember when going to that area we saw there were some
16 checkpoints manned with HVO and BiH in co-operation.
17 Q. Did you find it odd that within the same operative zone,
18 there were points where co-operation seemed to be so
19 positive between the HVO and the army and yet there were
20 other points where the situation was so poor?
21 A. In the Zepce area and the Zavidovici area and Maglaj
22 area and the northern part of that area we were
23 operating in, it was necessary for the HVO and BiH to
24 work together because this area was surrounded on three
25 sides by the Bosnian Serb Army, so therefore they had to
1 work together, and if not the Bosnian Serb Army would
2 have taken over that area.
3 Q. They would have all perished; is that your point?
4 A. Yes.
5 Q. Have you reviewed the documents which gave rise to the
6 Busovaca Joint Commission? That is the founding
7 documents.
8 A. I have seen that document, but I cannot recall all the
9 details in it.
10 Q. Among that -- within that document or among those
11 documents, was there a joint order from Hadzihasanovic
12 and Blaskic giving certain powers to their deputies and
13 their representatives on the Commission?
14 A. I cannot recall that.
15 Q. Were there times, when you were travelling with the
16 Commission and Mr. Nakic, the Deputy Commander of the HVO
17 in the operative zone was with you, when the group was
18 not allowed to pass through a checkpoint?
19 A. Yes, there were.
20 Q. Did you find that odd, that the Deputy Commander of the
21 HVO in the zone could not get through an HVO checkpoint
22 within his zone of command?
23 A. Yes. Normally, we did not have problems at those
24 checkpoints I marked at the board last week. Sometimes
25 when we were going to do some fact-finding in one of
1 those areas where there have been complaints, there was
2 maybe a small, newly established checkpoint and
3 sometimes we were not allowed to pass that checkpoint.
4 Then we had to ask Colonel Blaskic's office to have a
5 written order to pass that.
6 Q. Have you finished your answer?
7 A. Yes.
8 Q. Was that on more than one occasion then that the
9 Busovaca Joint Commission group, including Deputy
10 Commander Nakic, was not allowed to pass through an HVO
11 checkpoint?
12 A. Yes.
13 Q. Was it on several occasions that that occurred?
14 A. It happened a few times.
15 Q. Can you tell us briefly what specific training or study
16 you have received or undertaken concerning the
17 organisation and functioning of armies within the Warsaw
18 Pact or the armies organised according to the Soviet
19 model?
20 A. I have studied all the Warsaw Pacts, how they were
21 organised, and I have studied how the former Yugoslavia
22 National Army, how they were organised, and actually, we
23 could see that the same type of organisation used in the
24 Yugoslavian National Army, the JNA, was copied to HVO
25 and BiH.
1 Q. Your study of the Soviet model and the JNA, was that
2 formal coursework or independent reading and study?
3 What type of study was it?
4 A. It was a study during my training as an intelligence
5 officer.
6 Q. As part of a survey course of different military
7 systems?
8 A. Yes.
9 Q. Any other study or particularised research you did on
10 either the Soviet military model or the former Yugoslav
11 National Army model?
12 A. I do not think I would be able to tell all this in
13 court, because that is something to do with the Danish
14 Army.
15 Q. I do not want you to reveal any confidential
16 information. Speaking at a very general level, is it
17 other coursework you have received or are you referring
18 to some type of tour or duty that you have had that
19 involved the Soviet or Warsaw Pact model?
20 A. I think I already had answered that I know how the units
21 were organised.
22 Q. I do not want you to reveal any confidential
23 information, but I am trying to determine the depth and
24 nature of any studies or training you have received in
25 that area. If you feel you have given a complete answer
1 and you are not able to provide any more information, so
2 be it.
3 How many men under the JNA system of organisation
4 would a captain command?
5 A. You know, the JNA, until 1991, there was national
6 service in Yugoslavia, so when we came in 1993, all men
7 that were -- they started in the JNA at 18 so I think in
8 1993 all men about 20 have done national service in the
9 JNA and so therefore a lot of the soldiers in HVO and
10 BiH have done military service. That included a lot of
11 the officers.
12 Q. You may not have heard my question. My question was:
13 under the JNA model or system of organisation, how many
14 men would a captain command, that is a captain in the
15 JNA would be in command of how many men?
16 A. You had a structure where normally a company were around
17 100 men, battalion level had three, four or five
18 companies and the brigade units had a lot of battalions;
19 it would all depend on what type of brigade it was.
20 Q. What type of unit would a captain typically command?
21 A. Can you use another word --
22 Q. For captain? Apparently in the JNA, that position would
23 be known as "capitan", something to that effect. In
24 English it is captain, as in the captain of an ocean
25 vessel.
1 A. In Denmark a captain is normally a company commander.
2 Q. About 100 men then?
3 A. Yes.
4 Q. That is in the Danish system?
5 A. And normally in all NATO and former Warsaw Pact units.
6 Q. Thank you. Do you know whether, in terms of training
7 and organising military units within the JNA, was a
8 distinction drawn between the basic training of soldiers
9 and the training of men within units; that is training
10 them to perform as part of a unit?
11 A. They were trained to perform as a part of the unit and
12 actually JNA was one of the biggest armies in Europe,
13 and it was a very -- I think they were very clever, the
14 soldiers in the JNA and well trained.
15 Q. They emphasised both types of training, is that right,
16 personal basic training and training to operate as part
17 of a unit?
18 A. Yes.
19 Q. Do you know, within the JNA model, what period of
20 training was deemed necessary to train the smallest
21 group of soldiers; that is approximately 10 soldiers, to
22 train them to work as a unit. How long was that deemed
23 to take under the JNA system?
24 A. It all depends on what type of units. Normally I think
25 they had to do their national service for a minimum of
1 12 months and, of course, you have to start with the
2 basic training and all depending on what kind of unit,
3 this basic training was I think two or three months,
4 just where they would teach how to be an individual
5 soldier and after that we were training how to
6 co-operate in an unit.
7 Q. So you agree that at least in the JNA system, there is a
8 sequential order of training, starting with basic
9 training of the individual, followed by training
10 individual soldiers to function as part of a basic unit
11 of perhaps, say, 10 soldiers?
12 A. Yes, that is normally in all armies the world over.
13 Q. After that, is there also a period of training deemed
14 necessary to train members of a platoon to work
15 together; that is a larger unit of soldier?
16 A. That is normally what you are doing; when you are able
17 to co-operate in a small unit then you are trained to
18 co-operate in a bigger unit and after that in a bigger
19 unit again.
20 Q. So the progression would be roughly the ten-men unit,
21 then a platoon type of unit --
22 A. Then a company.
23 Q. And then a battalion; is that right?
24 A. Yes.
25 Q. And then finally to operate as part of a brigade?
1 A. Sometimes that was at the same time.
2 Q. That is they would be teaching those different levels of
3 organisation at the same time?
4 A. Yes, sometimes.
5 Q. Do you know how long within the JNA model it would take
6 to complete all of that training for a given soldier?
7 A. I think they would use most of their national service to
8 train that.
9 Q. Which would be about 12 months?
10 A. Yes.
11 Q. Have you reviewed any JNA manuals or other materials in
12 that record?
13 A. No.
14 Q. You are giving your best answer as you sit here today?
15 A. Yes, because that is the normal way for all armies in
16 the world to train like that.
17 Q. So your answer is not specific to the JNA; it is a
18 generic answer based on your experience of all
19 militaries?
20 A. Yes, that is right.
21 Q. First within NATO, the NATO context or NATO language, is
22 an operative zone the same thing as a zone of
23 responsibility, or is there a distinction between those
24 two terms?
25 A. I think that the operative zone is the same as the area
1 of responsibility.
2 Q. It is the same as AOR, area of responsibility?
3 A. Yes.
4 Q. How about in the JNA model? Do you know whether it is
5 the same or whether there was a distinction?
6 A. There was a distinction.
7 Q. What was the distinction?
8 A. As I can recall, I do not think the JNA was operating in
9 operative zones, but they had their brigades and their
10 corps level and those units had their own area of
11 responsibility when they are going to a war.
12 Q. So the JNA did not have operative zones; that is your
13 recollection?
14 A. Yes. Not during peacetime. Maybe during wartime they
15 would do something similar to that to give a special
16 unit an area of responsibility, and then you call this
17 type of unit an operational zone.
18 Q. Would you agree that within the JNA model, there is a
19 distinction between a corps as a method of organising
20 soldiers or units of soldiers and an operative zone?
21 A. Yes.
22 Q. What is the distinction that you would see in those two
23 concepts?
24 A. Because the corps is a unit who have a lot of men and OZ
25 is the area of responsibility.
1 Q. Would you agree that a corps is a tactical group of
2 units?
3 A. Yes.
4 Q. Whereas an operative zone is more of an administrative
5 concept?
6 A. I think that is the area this unit had --
7 Q. It is a geographic concept then?
8 A. They have their area of responsibility in that specific
9 area. That is normally when you -- in a war, every unit
10 has their own area of responsibilities and the commander
11 there is commander of all the operations inside this
12 AOR.
13 Q. Within the Danish or NATO model, approximately how many
14 soldiers would exist within a corps? I understand an
15 estimate is probably required. There may be no specific
16 number.
17 A. Maybe 10,000 soldiers.
18 Q. To effectively command a corps within the NATO concept,
19 what size of headquarters staff would be required?
20 A. You have the commander and the deputy commander and then
21 you will have staff officers who are responsible for the
22 operations, staff officers who are responsible for the
23 intelligence services, staff officers who are
24 responsible for the logistics, transport of men,
25 ammunition and fuel and things like that, and you will
1 have staff officers who are responsible for the
2 administrative work.
3 Q. Would you say though -- is this work that can
4 effectively be performed by a headquarters staff of ten,
5 or does it typically require a headquarters staff of a
6 couple of hundred officers to get the work done so there
7 is effective command over that corps?
8 A. It all depends what kind of corps, but I think you can
9 have ten high rank officers and then you will have a lot
10 of non-commissioned officers and civilians who are doing
11 a lot of the paperwork.
12 Q. What is the minimum number -- if this is not a question
13 you feel you can answer, please say so. Is there a
14 minimum number of professional officers, that is
15 professional, trained officers, to function effectively
16 as a corps headquarters staff?
17 A. I think as a minimum the commander, his deputy and staff
18 officers who are responsible for the beforementioned
19 operations and the intelligence and the logistics and
20 the administering of things, they had to be professional
21 soldiers that have been trained at the Military Academy.
22 Q. You think it would only take about seven professional
23 officers therefore to command a corps of about 10,000
24 men?
25 A. Yes, because all the commanders had to be professional
1 soldiers as well, all the brigade commanders.
2 Q. Is that also true in wartime, that in your opinion,
3 seven professional officers together with brigade
4 commanders, could effectively command 10,000 soldiers
5 within a corps?
6 A. No. Normally in wartime you will have a lot of officers
7 who have been doing the -- they have been given some
8 officers' training, and they will have been officers
9 prepared and they are in the reserve, so you can bring
10 in those officers who had a former officers' training to
11 be a member of the staff.
12 Q. So you think in wartime it would take a greater number
13 of officers to effectively run the corps?
14 A. Yes.
15 Q. Within the NATO model, how many professional officers
16 are typically assigned or attached to the command
17 headquarters staff at the corps level?
18 A. 20 or 25.
19 Q. Then how many non-commissioned officers and other
20 administrative type of personnel?
21 A. A lot more; I cannot say how many.
22 Q. Hundreds of NCOs and administrative assistants?
23 A. I think 50.
24 Q. Putting aside the issue of communications which we will
25 discuss later, what else is necessary in terms of a
1 headquarters staff and the functioning of a headquarters
2 staff for a commander to exercise effective command?
3 A. It is necessary for the commander, when he has given his
4 orders, that he controlled -- that these orders were
5 carried out in the way he wants them to be. He can do
6 that himself or he could let one of his staff officers
7 to inspect the soldiers, the units, to see if their
8 orders the commander gave were carried out in the way
9 the commander wanted them to do.
10 Q. What about logistical requirements? Does whether or not
11 you have supplies to provide to troops under your
12 command affect the ability of a commander to actually
13 control those troops, money to pay them, guns, those
14 types of things?
15 A. We have seen in a lot of armies that getting the money
16 to the troops has been a problem. I think in the former
17 Yugoslavia that was a problem, but I do not think that,
18 especially not for HVO, they had a lot of weapons and
19 equipment from the former JNA, but, of course, when the
20 commander is going to order his units to do something,
21 it is vital that those units had the proper equipment,
22 the proper weapons to carry out those orders.
23 Q. Yes, but if troops are not paid, does that affect the
24 ability of a commander to exercise command over those
25 troops?
1 A. Not in wartime, because when the soldiers are in the
2 front, he does not have anything to use his money for.
3 Q. What about if soldiers are not regularly fed, if they
4 are getting one meal a day, does that affect the ability
5 of the commander to exercise command over those troops?
6 A. It all depends on how disciplined the unit are.
7 Q. If they are not operating at a high level of discipline,
8 would a lack of, for example food, could that affect a
9 commander's ability to exercise command?
10 A. Yes, it could.
11 Q. Have you ever worked in the area of institution building
12 within the military sphere? I can define that term if
13 you would like me to.
14 A. Yes, please.
15 Q. Have you ever for example gone to Lithuania to consult
16 with the army there on how to build a professional
17 effective army?
18 A. I do not think I quite understand your question.
19 Q. My question was whether you personally had ever been
20 involved in any work in the area of institution
21 building, by which I mean the process of building a
22 professional institution or entity such as a well
23 trained, disciplined effective army where none had
24 existed before?
25 A. Yes.
1 Q. Tell me, when have you been involved in
2 institution-building within the military sphere?
3 A. In Denmark, together with other NATO countries, we are
4 going to build up Home Guard units in the Baltic area.
5 We are sending instructors to Estonia and Latvia and
6 trying to building up a new military unit in that area.
7 Q. Have you personally been involved in those efforts?
8 A. Yes, just only to do some planning, paperwork, on what
9 those instructors who were going over there -- how they
10 should behave and what sort of training they should give
11 over there. Then we are bringing officers from the
12 countries in the Baltic to Denmark and we train them in
13 Denmark so they are able to go back to their own units
14 and train them.
15 Q. When did the programme start?
16 A. I think just after the Soviet Union was divided.
17 Q. So several years ago?
18 A. Yes.
19 Q. Is the programme still going on?
20 A. Yes, it is. Actually next month I will receive some
21 officers from over there and I have to train them and
22 tell them how to command a Home Guard district.
23 Q. Is it a long-term project?
24 A. I would not say.
25 Q. It has been going on for three to five years; is that
1 right?
2 A. Yes.
3 Q. Is it scheduled to end soon?
4 A. I hope.
5 Q. But I take it you do not know.
6 A. I do not know.
7 Q. After the intense period of conflict from roughly
8 16th April to 20th April 1993, did the army hold any
9 civilian prisoners, and if you wish to refer to your
10 diary at page 7, you are free to do so.
11 JUDGE JORDA: Mr. Hayman, I would like to know whether you
12 intend to offer this exhibit on the Busovaca group as
13 evidence. I think it has been identified. There may be
14 some doubt as to the date. What is your opinion,
15 Mr. Hayman? Do you want to tender it?
16 MR. HAYMAN: I will offer it, your Honour, and the date is
17 the date that I read which was provided to us by the
18 Prosecution. Because it is redacted, we do not have a
19 date on the document itself.
20 JUDGE JORDA: I assume that the Prosecution agrees? Does
21 the Prosecution agree on the date, 19th March 1993?
22 Mr. Cayley?
23 MR. CAYLEY: I would imagine that the witness, your Honour,
24 is probably the best person to answer that question.
25 MR. HAYMAN: I do not agree with that, your Honour. If
1 counsel does not have a copy of the index they provided
2 to us, I am happy to share it with him. Perhaps if we
3 could hold these exhibits for a moment, I could provide
4 the index to the Prosecutor during the next break and
5 that will eliminate the issue. I am hesitant to burden
6 the witness with these dates.
7 JUDGE JORDA: Very well. Continue then, please, Mr. Hayman.
8 MR. HAYMAN: Major, the question involved civilian prisoners
9 on the army side after the intense conflict in
10 mid-April. Did they have such prisoners?
11 A. Yes, there were prisoners in Zenica and at the
12 20th April, we visited the prison in Zenica and we saw
13 there was prisoners of war there and we saw a lot of
14 civilians there as well. I cannot recall how many, but
15 as I have mentioned in my diary, they were leaving 25
16 prisoners in each room.
17 Q. In 60 square feet?
18 A. Yes.
19 Q. Would you agree with the comment that "it was worse than
20 a hen house"?
21 A. In the Danish edition I did not use the word "hen
22 house", but some of the hens are living in very small
23 rooms, and I compare that with this. This was because
24 this was the first prison I visited, and after I visit a
25 lot of the prisons in the area, this was one of the
1 better ones.
2 Q. Turning your attention to the villages in the area of
3 Zenica, and perhaps while I am raising this subject we
4 could put exhibit 29A on the easel and see if it could
5 be of use.
6 MR. CAYLEY: Mr. President, if I could just make a
7 clarification, my learned friend just made a quote from
8 the diary in which he said 60 square feet. If he looks
9 again he will find the measurement is slightly different
10 from that. Perhaps he could correct the position, or
11 the witness.
12 MR. HAYMAN: I am sorry, were you asking me? Let us do it
13 through the witness, counsel. Major, were the groups of
14 25 prisoners imprisoned in 60 square metres of space
15 each?
16 A. Yes -- no, not each.
17 Q. Each group of 25?
18 A. Yes, were living in rooms like that.
19 MR. CAYLEY: Thank you.
20 JUDGE JORDA: Excuse me, a very French question. Is it 60
21 square feet or 60 square metres? The translation gives
22 me sometimes feet and I must check. This is a third of
23 the metres, so is it 60 square feet or 60 square metres
24 please, Major?
25 A. Square metres, Mr. President.
1 JUDGE JORDA: Thank you.
2 MR. HAYMAN: I would like to ask you about your visit on
3 April 21st 1993 to the village of Zalje in the region of
4 Zenica. Do you recall that visit?
5 A. Yes, I do.
6 Q. Do you think you would be able to indicate where
7 approximately that village was located?
8 A. I cannot recall the exact position, but it was in one of
9 the villages in the surrounding area of Zenica.
10 Q. Did you visit this visit with Father Stjepan who you
11 have previously described?
12 A. Yes, we did and he told us about those incidents, so
13 I have not been an eyewitness to those killed persons,
14 but Father Stjepan, he told us about those persons who
15 had been killed in that area.
16 Q. What did he tell you?
17 A. He told us that ten civilians had been killed, including
18 a young girl who was lying in her bed shot in the head.
19 It also included the murder of an old man of 90 years
20 old.
21 Q. Do you recall: was there a village of mixed ethnicity?
22 What type of village was it? Do you have any
23 recollection in that regard?
24 A. I think most of the villages down there were with mixed
25 population. We were told by Father Stjepan that the
1 unit who did this awful thing were a MOS unit, you would
2 call them Mujahedins.
3 Q. I am not sure the term Mujahedin has been defined. What
4 did people mean in this theatre when they used the term
5 Mujahedin?
6 A. These Mujahedins is not a national unit from Bosnia, but
7 a group of individuals coming from Arabic countries.
8 Q. So foreign nationals fighting in Bosnia on the side of
9 the army; is that a fair statement?
10 A. I am not saying on the side, because actually I think
11 they were fighting their own war. I discussed the
12 matter with General Hadzihasanovic, because we
13 complained to the Third Corps about things like this.
14 He told us he was not able to control the Mujahedins but
15 he was going to do his best because all those things
16 that these Mujahedins did down there were harming the
17 Muslim reputation, so therefore he would try to stop
18 them if he was able to do that.
19 Q. Did those types of atrocities on both sides greatly
20 inflame the situation?
21 A. I do not think that this incident inflamed the tension
22 in the area because there was a lot of incidents like
23 this from both sides.
24 Q. You spoke earlier about the fears of the Croat civilians
25 in the Zenica area. Were there some real fears based on
1 incidents like this?
2 A. I cannot recall if this incident in Zalje -- I do not
3 think that was the reason that the rumours started later
4 on, but, of course, it happened and people knew about
5 it.
6 Q. It would affect psychology and the mental thoughts of
7 those people living in the area; correct?
8 A. Yes, that is correct.
9 Q. You were asked in your direct examination whether there
10 were troops of the army in the Lasva Valley on April
11 16th 1993. Do you recall that question?
12 A. Yes.
13 Q. Your answer as I recall was no. Have I recalled it
14 properly?
15 A. Yes, that is correct.
16 Q. As of April 16th, you had been in the theatre about two
17 weeks; is that right?
18 A. Yes.
19 Q. You had been briefed on arrival by ECMM; correct?
20 A. Yes.
21 Q. And you had had one or more briefings from UNPROFOR; is
22 that also correct?
23 A. Yes.
24 Q. Had some or all of those briefings included the issue of
25 the army and where they were or were not located?
1 A. Yes, because normally in that area, the British
2 battalion was sending out patrols and they were covering
3 more or less the whole area so they were able to see
4 where there were HVO positions and where there were BiH
5 positions. We have no information about BiH positions
6 in that area near Ahmici for example.
7 Q. Let me ask you: did you have occasion to visit the Third
8 Corps headquarters in Zenica?
9 A. Yes, I was there several times.
10 Q. Did you learn in the course of those visits how many
11 brigades there were in the Third Corps?
12 A. Actually I cannot recall the exact numbers of brigades.
13 I never -- I did not have the opportunity to receive
14 this list when we asked for it, so we had the list from
15 HVO but at that time we did not have the list from BiH.
16 Q. Did you ever get a list from the BiH of the brigades in
17 the Third Corps?
18 A. I did not, but we knew about their brigades. I cannot
19 recall how many and where they were situated. I can
20 remember some of them were situated in Zenica and south
21 of Zenica.
22 Q. Do you recall whether there were any Territorial Defence
23 Forces in the Lasva Valley as of 16th April 1993?
24 A. No.
25 Q. That is you do not recall or you think there were none?
1 A. I think there were none.
2 Q. You also said you visited the village of Ahmici a few
3 days before the massacre on 16th April. How many days
4 before? Can you give us your best recollection in that
5 regard?
6 A. Two or three days before.
7 Q. The purpose of your visit was to visit the mosque?
8 A. Yes, to see the mosque.
9 Q. That is the mosque in lower Ahmici or upper Ahmici?
10 A. Lower Ahmici.
11 Q. Did you go further into the village up the hill than the
12 mosque?
13 A. No, we did not.
14 Q. Did you visit the school that is slightly up the road
15 and to the left, that is across the street from the
16 mosque?
17 A. No, we just went to the mosque and we stopped in front
18 of the mosque just to see the mosque.
19 Q. How far up from the road is the mosque? Just an
20 estimate, if you can.
21 A. 1,000 metres or less.
22 Q. On your visit, did you ask anyone any questions about
23 the presence or absence of Territorial Defence or army
24 troops in Ahmici?
25 A. No, we did not but I was able to use my eyes and I could
1 see there was no sign of military activity in that part
2 of Ahmici.
3 Q. I take it you were not there to look for signs of the
4 military, correct?
5 A. No.
6 Q. You did not ask anyone, for example, "where is the army
7 headquarters?"
8 A. No, we did not.
9 Q. I would like to read you a list of locations and ask you
10 if you have ever visited the Territorial Defence units
11 in any of these locations. Kruscica?
12 A. I cannot remember. I think if you are able to show me
13 on the map, maybe I can recall some of the areas.
14 Q. Very well. Kruscica is immediately to the south,
15 immediately, I do not know what the distance, but it is
16 located in a southerly direction from Vitez, do you see
17 it?
18 A. Yes.
19 Q. Did you ever visit a TO or Territorial Defence unit in
20 Kruscica?
21 A. Actually I cannot recall all the areas, but I can
22 remember that we visited some units of the BH in --
23 I cannot remember, there was one headquarters or
24 something similar in the Vitez area. There was
25 something in the mountains up here, and we visited some
1 in the Busovaca area.
2 Q. Did you visit a BiH headquarters in Poculica?
3 A. No.
4 Q. You do not recall where this headquarters was?
5 A. I remember we visited a headquarters in this area here
6 somewhere.
7 Q. You are indicating to the south of Vitez?
8 A. Yes, south of Vitez.
9 Q. Roughly in the area of Kruscica? I am not trying to tie
10 you to the name of that village, but when you indicated
11 with your finger were you indicating generally in the
12 area of Kruscica and to the south downward on the map of
13 Kruscica?
14 A. I recall that we visited a unit in the mountains or the
15 hilly area.
16 Q. To the south of Vitez?
17 A. Yes, but it was not that south, it was up here.
18 Q. Not that south, indicating the area of mountains where
19 there are no towns considerably to the south?
20 A. It was more, not in this direction but in the area here.
21 Q. Between Kruscica and Rovina?
22 A. Yes.
23 Q. When was that visit?
24 A. I cannot remember, it was together with the Busovaca
25 Joint Commission and we had to go out there to see if
1 one of the local agreements was carried out by the local
2 commander in that area.
3 Q. Was that unit established as of 16th April or do you
4 know?
5 A. I cannot recall the exact period. Maybe it was before
6 16th April or maybe after, I cannot remember.
7 Q. Did you visit a Territorial Defence unit in the town of
8 Gacice, indicating to the west of Vitez?
9 A. No.
10 Q. Did you visit a TO unit in the area of Donja Veceriska,
11 which is to the north-west of Gacice and to the
12 west-north-west of Vitez?
13 A. No.
14 Q. How about a TO unit in the village of Vranjska, and in a
15 moment we will try and identify that for you on the map,
16 if we can. I do not know if we are going to be able to
17 identify that one on the map for you, but I take it the
18 name does not mean anything to you in terms of a TO
19 unit?
20 A. The only thing I can remember is that we visited one
21 small headquarters up here.
22 Q. Indicating to the south of Vitez.
23 A. I do not think -- it was not a brigade headquarters; it
24 was a battalion or company headquarters.
25 Q. Was that a TO unit or an army unit, if you recall?
1 A. I cannot recall. I can recall that we visited a
2 headquarters and it was a battalion headquarters or a
3 company headquarters.
4 Q. The unit you visited to the north of Vitez, do you
5 remember anything else about that unit? Was it
6 Territorial Defence, was it army, the type of command or
7 headquarters it was, any details?
8 A. The only thing I can remember, in the beginning BiH had
9 a small military headquarters in Vitez. I think it was
10 situated in this part of Vitez here.
11 Q. In Stari Vitez? Old Vitez?
12 A. Yes, in old Vitez.
13 Q. So there was an army unit in Stari Vitez as far as you
14 knew?
15 A. We saw a headquarters and had a meeting at a
16 headquarters.
17 Q. That is within the Lasva Valley, correct?
18 A. Yes.
19 Q. Let me just read a list of other towns and ask you if
20 they refresh your recollection as to any visits to
21 Territorial Defence units that you may have made:
22 Pezici, Poculica, Bukva, Muratovici, Preocica, Tolovici,
23 Lupac, Vrhovine, Sivrino Selo. Do those refresh your
24 recollection at all?
25 A. No.
1 Q. Please be seated. Did you visit, on your tour, any of
2 the three battalions of the 325th Brigade of the Third
3 Corps?
4 A. I cannot remember the names of the different brigades.
5 Maybe, maybe not.
6 Q. Other than the two army or TO locations you have
7 described, one south of Vitez, one north, do you have
8 any recollection of visiting any other army units within
9 the area of the Lasva Valley?
10 A. No, not together with the Busovaca Joint Commission or
11 later on together with my own team.
12 Q. So at no time, you do not recall any such visits?
13 A. No.
14 Q. Is that correct that at no time do you recall any such
15 visits?
16 A. I cannot recall that any of the other monitor teams have
17 visited headquarters in other areas than those which
18 were mentioned.
19 Q. Let me just quickly list other units and their locations
20 and ask you if it refreshes your recollection in any
21 way.
22 306th brigade in Han Bila; 17th Krainja Brigade in
23 Kruscica; 333rd Brigade in the Busovaca municipality,
24 headquartered in Kacuni. Do any of those refresh your
25 recollection at all?
1 A. Yes, the last one. I cannot recall if that was the name
2 of the brigade, but I remember visiting a unit in the
3 Busovaca area.
4 Q. An army unit?
5 A. Yes.
6 Q. After the conflict began on 16th April, was a
7 confrontation line or a frontline formed between HVO and
8 army forces?
9 A. I can remember that we were discussing who was having
10 the control over certain areas in that area. I cannot
11 recall that we were able to draw a strict line on the
12 map, but we learned that HVO were commanding most of the
13 valley including Vitez.
14 Q. Most of the what?
15 A. Most of the Lasva valley, because we were able to see by
16 the checkpoints manned at the road, so those checkpoints
17 that are marked on the road show that HVO were
18 controlling this area.
19 Q. Did those checkpoints exist before the 16th?
20 A. Yes, they did and after the 16th.
21 Q. They did not change as a result of the conflict on the
22 16th?
23 A. That showed that HVO was still having a control in that
24 area.
25 Q. I take it that other than that you did not gather any
1 information or receive any information where the
2 confrontation lines or front lines were between the HVO
3 and the army?
4 A. No.
5 Q. If the usher could assist, your Honour, Major, you
6 described receiving a letter from the Mujahedin
7 concerning the abduction of Commander Totic and the four
8 HVO officers from the Travnik, Novi Travnik area.
9 A. Yes.
10 Q. I would like to show you a letter and ask you if you
11 recognise it.
12 I would ask the usher to put it on the ELMO,
13 I think we will need to have a brief sight translation
14 of it.
15 While that is being done, perhaps the Registrar
16 could provide numbers for the last exhibit and for this
17 one, if it is convenient.
18 THE REGISTRAR: This one is D37 and the previous one is D36.
19 MR. HAYMAN: Thank you.
20 JUDGE JORDA: Any objections?
21 MR. CAYLEY: No objections, your Honour.
22 JUDGE JORDA: Continue, please.
23 MR. HAYMAN: The letter has illegible writing at the very
24 top, at least illegible to me. Then there appears to be
25 some Arabic writing and then, cut off the ELMO at the
1 very top, is the word "Zenica", and then there are
2 certain numbers which speak for themselves:
3 "To whom it may concern. We inform you that all
4 hostages of HVO officers are alive and we want immediate
5 release of all foreign prisoners from HVO prisons in
6 Bosnia. It is to be noted that we have tried many times
7 through your agencies and other responsible
8 organisations to release them, but without any
9 response. So there was no other way left after that,
10 only to take those leaders as hostages and to exchange.
11 We waited long to give chance to such organisations to
12 release our brothers without any bloodshed. So we warn
13 you that if our brothers are not released, we are going
14 to kill all the hostages and for these brothers from
15 foreign countries we inform you that they know their way
16 and good [or God] very clearly, for they came to die as
17 martyrs in the way of Allah alone and nothing else, and
18 that such operations will never be the last. On the
19 contrary it will be the beginning of a series of Jehadic
20 operations and martorious actions which we shall be able
21 to perform with the help of Allah to whom we return and
22 to whom all the order is. Last but not least, you and
23 all other organisations will be responsible for the
24 killing of the hostages and the prisoners."
25 Then there is some further Arabic writing. Do you
1 recognise this letter?
2 A. Yes, I do. I can recall that we received this letter in
3 this version and then a German version as well with the
4 same text and it was handed over to us by a
5 representative from the Mujahedin.
6 Q. The kidnapping of Commander Todic took place on
7 15th April, do you recall that, 1993?
8 A. Yes I think he was captured after the four staff
9 officers at the Travnik front.
10 Q. And ECMM did conduct an investigation at the scene of
11 the abduction?
12 A. Yes.
13 Q. I take it you were not one of the members of that
14 investigative team?
15 A. Another Danish monitor went to the scene and he saw the
16 scene.
17 Q. Did he describe it to you in some detail?
18 A. Yes, he did.
19 Q. Did you ever view a videotape of the scene?
20 A. No.
21 Q. Do you know whether the scene of the abduction that is
22 videotaped footage from the scene of the abduction was
23 played on the local news in the Lasva Valley on the
24 evening of 15th April 1993?
25 A. I do not know, but a lot of the incidents down there
1 were filmed to the local television stations.
2 MR. HAYMAN: Your Honour, we have a short tape we would like
3 to play. Perhaps this would be a convenient break, or
4 if you wish to proceed, we will.
5 JUDGE JORDA: I think we can have the break now and we will
6 continue at 11.35.
7 (11.15 am)
8 (A short break)
9 (11.35 am)
10 JUDGE JORDA: The hearing is resumed. Madam Registrar,
11 please have the accused brought in.
12 (Accused brought in)
13 JUDGE JORDA: Mr. Hayman, I think we interrupted you just
14 when you wished to show the witness a videotape.
15 I assume the technical department is ready so please
16 continue.
17 MR. HAYMAN: Yes, your Honour, almost. Let me ask the
18 witness another question or two to set the stage. Were
19 you informed through the ECMM investigation that the
20 abduction involved the killing of four bodyguards and
21 one innocent bystander?
22 A. Yes, that is correct.
23 Q. Were you informed that those individuals, at least the
24 bodyguards, appeared to have first been wounded and then
25 were executed by shots to the head?
1 A. Yes.
2 MR. HAYMAN: Your Honour, this tape has three segments.
3 I will seek to pause between the segments to ask
4 additional questions of the witness. Regretfully, the
5 first segment is most unpleasant and I wish to apologise
6 to the court for feeling the need to show it, but also
7 to advise the gallery that if there is anyone not
8 wishing to view these scenes, that they should avert
9 their eyes or temporarily leave the gallery.
10 JUDGE JORDA: Very well. You said what is necessary so
11 there is no need for me to repeat it. Please continue.
12 MR. HAYMAN: Thank you. Then I would ask the technical
13 assistants to play the tape and I will ask for a pause
14 when we conclude the first segment. We are not asking
15 the translators to try and translate the TV reporter
16 comments at this time, your Honour.
17 (Videotape played)
18 MR. HAYMAN: Do those appear to be shells, Major, on the
19 ground?
20 A. No, I think it was holsters from the small arms.
21 Q. Spent shells, shell casings?
22 (Videotape stopped)
23 MR. HAYMAN: Thank you. Did you count four bodyguards and
24 one apparent bystander from that tape, Major?
25 A. Yes, I think the first person we were looking at was the
1 eyewitness.
2 Q. The individual not in uniform?
3 A. Yes, and the four persons close to the vehicle were the
4 bodyguards.
5 Q. Was it your understanding from the ECMM report that the
6 abduction occurred from a vehicle, that is while the
7 vehicle was actually moving?
8 A. Actually I think that this vehicle was stopped and then
9 fired on, and I can remember, we discussed the matter we
10 were told about -- I was told about this. I had not
11 seen it at the spot, but we were surprised that the
12 brigade commander was not hurt after seeing the car.
13 Q. Is the screen that was depicted in the tape consistent
14 with the reports that ECMM gathered concerning the
15 incident?
16 A. Yes.
17 Q. How long was Commander Totic an HVO commander in
18 Zenica? How long was he held hostage, if you know? If
19 you wish to refer to your diary on 17th May, you
20 certainly may?
21 A. He was released together with four other HVO officers,
22 so he has been in Mujahedin custody a day or two less
23 than the other ones.
24 Q. Was he released on approximately 17th May?
25 A. He was released the same day together with other four
1 HVO officers.
2 Q. Was that on 17th May, as far as you recall?
3 A. Yes, that is correct.
4 Q. During his captivity, were his whereabouts known to the
5 ECMM, or was he held in a secret location, to your
6 knowledge?
7 A. All five of them were held in a secret place to us. We
8 did not know where they were.
9 Q. Was it known whether he was alive or dead?
10 A. We were told -- as far as I can remember, a videotape
11 was handed over to us or to his relatives showing that
12 he was still alive.
13 Q. I would like to play the second segment of this tape and
14 ask you if you have seen it and if you can identify it.
15 The audio track, your Honour, I do not think it
16 intelligible at this time, so I would ask that the first
17 five or ten seconds be played and then we can
18 fast-forward to the conclusion of that segment.
19 (Videotape played)
20 MR. HAYMAN: There is a point in the tape where the
21 individual takes off his hat; perhaps the technical
22 assistants could take us to that point.
23 (Videotape stopped)
24 MR. HAYMAN: While they are doing that, may I ask you, Major,
25 did you receive any information whether Commander Totic
1 sustained any wounds or injuries in connection with the
2 abduction, or do you not recall?
3 A. I do not recall, but I do not think that he had any.
4 Q. Let me ask the technical personnel whether they have
5 located that portion of the segment.
6 If it could be played, your Honour?
7 (Videotape played)
8 Q. Do you see the wound on the top of his head?
9 A. Yes.
10 Q. Is that consistent with a bullet grazing the top of his
11 skull or are you not able to comment?
12 A. I would have to take a closer look. It could be or it
13 could be something else. If it was a bullet maybe it
14 would be a bigger wound, but it could be.
15 Q. Thank you. We can fast-forward to the end of that
16 segment.
17 (Videotape stopped)
18 Q. You said you had an occasion to discuss the Mujahedin
19 with General Hadzihasanovic; is that right?
20 A. Yes, that is correct.
21 Q. Did he say to you on some occasion that the army had
22 done their best to get rid of the Mujahedin but they had
23 not been effective enough in doing so?
24 A. Yes.
25 Q. Does that sound consistent with what you recall?
1 A. Yes. He told us that he wanted to stop this because the
2 activities carried out by the Mujahedin would harm the
3 Muslim reputation.
4 Q. Did you attend the event at which certain Mujahedin
5 prisoners were freed and exchanged for Commander Totic?
6 A. Yes.
7 Q. Where did that occur?
8 A. I can remember that I was releasing the four HVO
9 officers; they were handed over to me in a secure place
10 in Travnik, and -- after that I had the four HVO
11 officers and we went to Vitez, hotel Vitez,
12 Colonel Blaskic's headquarters, where I handed over the
13 four officers to Colonel Blaskic.
14 Q. Was he grateful for their release?
15 A. I hope.
16 Q. Did you see any signs?
17 A. Yes.
18 Q. Did he thank you?
19 A. Yes, he did and I think that the local TV station was
20 there as well.
21 Q. Did you then proceed to Zenica for the other exchange?
22 A. Yes, because it was agreed that the Mujahedins should be
23 released in front of our headquarters in Zenica.
24 I cannot recall where Mr. Totic -- if he was released in
25 Zenica or in Vitez.
1 Q. Did any of the Mujahedin fighters attend the prisoner
2 exchange event in Zenica?
3 A. Yes.
4 Q. Approximately how many?
5 A. 100, I think, members of the Mujahedins and maybe
6 members of the 7th Muslim Brigade, who had a
7 headquarters in Zenica, at the music school.
8 Q. Was there any connection insofar as you knew between the
9 7th Muslim Brigade and the Mujahedin fighters?
10 A. We did our best to find out if there were any
11 connections, but as I have told the court before, the
12 7th Muslim Brigade were acting very Islamic, so
13 therefore they have some connection in their beliefs.
14 Q. With the Mujahedin fighters?
15 A. Yes.
16 Q. But that was the extent of the connection you were able
17 to determine?
18 A. Yes.
19 Q. I would ask the technical personnel to play the third
20 segment of the tape, your Honour.
21 (Videotape played)
22 Q. Do you recall, Major, how many Mujahedin fighters were
23 exchanged for the five HVO officers?
24 A. 15, I think. No, 13.
25 Q. Do you recognise the vehicle with the blue patch?
1 A. Yes, that was one of our vehicles.
2 Q. By "our" you mean ECMM?
3 A. Yes.
4 Q. Do you recognise this scene?
5 A. Yes, I think that was in the front of the International
6 Hotel where we had our headquarters.
7 Q. Does that appear to be the same individual who was on
8 the second segment?
9 A. Yes.
10 MR. HAYMAN: That concludes the tape.
11 (Videotape stopped)
12 Q. Did the Mujahedin have a permanent headquarters anywhere
13 or were their whereabouts generally secret?
14 A. We did not know anything about the headquarters. We
15 think that they maybe had something --
16 MR. CAYLEY: It is just a small point, Mr. President. The
17 first video clip was identified by my learned friend as
18 coming from TV Vitez. I wondered if he could just
19 identify to the court the source of the other two
20 clips.
21 MR. HAYMAN: I cannot, your Honour. I do not know as I stand
22 here the source -- that is who filmed the second and
23 third segments.
24 Commenting on whether the Mujahedin had a
25 headquarters that was known to ECMM?
1 A. Yes, we think that in Zenica, they had maybe a
2 headquarters or something at the music school in Zenica.
3 Q. Did you visit that location on any occasions?
4 A. Yes, later on when I was chairing this Joint
5 Humanitarian Commission when we were looking for
6 detained persons.
7 Q. Did it appear to be a headquarters of at least some
8 Mujahedin fighters?
9 A. It could be, because we saw some banners with Arabic
10 words on it.
11 Q. Were there any personnel there who you believed to be
12 Mujahedin fighters, at the music school when you visited
13 it?
14 A. Yes. Actually, I was the only one who was allowed to go
15 in and visit the rooms in the music school. The BiH
16 members of the commission were not allowed to go in
17 there, the HVO members were not allowed to go in there,
18 so I was the only one who was allowed to go inside and
19 see the area.
20 Q. This music school was located in the city of Zenica?
21 A. Yes.
22 Q. Do you know whether the specific perpetrators of the
23 Totic abduction were ever identified or any actions
24 taken to try and identify those individuals?
25 A. I do not know.
1 Q. Now I would like to turn to the subject matter of
2 communications. You said in your testimony that the
3 telephone line at one point in time in Kiseljak was cut
4 so that Zenica could not communicate with Sarajevo. Do
5 you recall that?
6 A. Yes.
7 Q. Is it a normal tactic in warfare to cut your enemy's
8 communication lines?
9 A. Yes, it is.
10 Q. A basic tactic, would you agree?
11 A. Yes.
12 Q. You travelled to Kiseljak on a number of occasions
13 during your tour; you have described them. Did you ever
14 see Colonel Blaskic in Kiseljak on one of your visits to
15 Kiseljak?
16 A. I cannot recall to have seen Colonel Blaskic in
17 Kiseljak.
18 Q. Were you ever told that he had a headquarters staff in
19 Kiseljak?
20 A. We knew that there was a headquarters in Kiseljak, but
21 we did not know if it was a headquarters connected to
22 Colonel Blaskic himself. We knew there was a local HVO
23 brigade headquarters in Kiseljak.
24 Q. Did that brigade headquarters occupy the Kiseljak
25 barracks?
1 A. Yes.
2 Q. Were you ever told specifically that Colonel Blaskic
3 maintained a headquarters staff at Kiseljak barracks?
4 A. No.
5 Q. Did you ever see any evidence that he did, whatever
6 those indicia might be?
7 A. No, but we knew from some of the persons, the Croats in
8 Kiseljak, that it was possible to go from Vitez to
9 Kiseljak, passing the mountain and using the small roads
10 and paths.
11 Q. Tell me, when you went to Kiseljak during your tour, how
12 would you get there?
13 A. Normally we used two different roads. We could use the
14 Busovaca road from Vitez through Busovaca and down to
15 Kiseljak and we could use another road where we were
16 actually following the river through Visoko and that way
17 down to Kiseljak.
18 Q. Was there a route that you normally used?
19 A. Normally we used both of them, but sometimes it was
20 difficult for us to pass the Busovaca road because of
21 the checkpoints in that area.
22 Q. What army or armies had checkpoints on the road from
23 Busovaca to Kiseljak along the direct route, if you
24 recall?
25 A. Both parties had, but I cannot recall as I told you last
1 Friday -- I cannot recall the exact positions, but HVO
2 had checkpoints there and BiH had -- I think BiH had the
3 centre part.
4 Q. I am going to approach and perhaps looking at the map
5 could help refresh your memory.
6 MR. CAYLEY: Mr. President, may I approach the witness? Thank
7 you.
8 MR. HAYMAN: Would you agree that on this map, exhibit 29E,
9 it reflects the town of Busovaca, indicating where I am
10 currently pointing, the town of Kiseljak where I am
11 currently pointing and a road that traverses in a fairly
12 direct manner between the two?
13 A. Yes.
14 Q. Do you also see on this road the location marked Kacuni?
15 A. Yes.
16 Q. Which is about?
17 A. Five kilometres from Busovaca.
18 Q. Perhaps a fourth of the way from Busovaca towards
19 Kiseljak?
20 A. Yes.
21 Q. Then if you were to traverse another fourth of the way,
22 you come to a location denominated Bilalovac?
23 A. Yes.
24 Q. Do you have any recollection whether the stretch of this
25 road from Kacuni to Bilalovac was held by the army?
1 A. This area was held by -- controlled by the army.
2 Q. Indicating this area from Bilalovac to Kacuni?
3 A. Yes.
4 Q. Was that true during your tour?
5 A. As I can recall, we had to use -- because we had a lot
6 of problems in the roads, sometimes there were landmines
7 on the roads, so therefore we felt more secure taking
8 this long way here down to Kiseljak.
9 Q. By "the long way", you are indicating following the
10 Lasva river near Kakanj and then down in a
11 south-easterly direction to Visoko?
12 A. Then from Visoko to Kiseljak.
13 Q. Then from Visoko in a south-westerly direction to
14 Kiseljak?
15 A. The only problems we had here was this was very close to
16 the Bosnian Serb Army positions and normally they would
17 fire at us when we passed this area.
18 Q. The portion south of Visoko?
19 A. Normally we had to pass this at high speed because the
20 Bosnian Serbs were firing at us.
21 Q. Thank you. In the Visoko area, do you recall who
22 controlled that road, as you would travel south from
23 Visoko?
24 A. As I can recall, BiH controlled that road, and we
25 normally had no problems using that road.
1 Q. Except for the Serb artillery?
2 A. Just for the Serb artillery or their snipers.
3 Q. Did you come to learn that, in addition to the road from
4 Kacuni to Bilalovac being held by the army, that the
5 telephone lines from Busovaca to Kiseljak were cut?
6 A. I cannot recall.
7 Q. Did you ever use a landline, and by "land line" I am
8 referring to a telephone that uses physical wire on the
9 ground; did you ever use a landline while you were in
10 Kiseljak to call Busovaca or Vitez?
11 A. I cannot recall.
12 Q. Do you recall ever speaking with Colonel Blaskic on a
13 landline phone while you were in Kiseljak?
14 A. No.
15 Q. You said something about a mountain path. Can you
16 elaborate? What were you saying?
17 A. We were told by the Croats in Kiseljak that it was
18 possible to go from Kiseljak to Vitez using the small
19 roads in the mountain, but we did not do that because we
20 did not want to risk ourselves or vehicles going on the
21 small roads.
22 Q. You felt it was too dangerous a possible route; is that
23 right?
24 A. Yes, and that was normally for all, including UNPROFOR
25 down there, because a lot of the small routes could be
1 mined, by both sides.
2 Q. On a small remote road, you might be very vulnerable to
3 an ambush; is that true?
4 A. Yes, true. If you are not having the control of that
5 area, but as we were told, the HVO were controlling that
6 area, so you were able to go from Kiseljak to Vitez in
7 an area controlled by HVO.
8 Q. Who told you this?
9 A. We were told that in Kiseljak by HVO.
10 Q. Do you remember whom?
11 A. I cannot remember the individual.
12 Q. Were you talking to a soldier in casual talk or were you
13 in a meeting with a commander or someone in a position
14 of responsibility?
15 A. It was more in casual talk with -- I cannot recall if it
16 was a commander, but it was an officer who told me that.
17 Q. Were you told this once or on more than one occasion?
18 A. Only once.
19 Q. Was any specific route identified for you, or just a
20 general reference to a mountain path?
21 A. Yes, he told us that it was possible to pass the
22 mountains to go to Vitez. I can remember that because
23 we were discussing that it would have been a lot easier
24 for them using the Busovaca road. Then he told us yes,
25 because it was difficult for them to use the mountain
1 road to Vitez and then I asked, "The mountain road to
2 Vitez, what is that road?" Then he said, "When we go to
3 Vitez, we have to use the small roads in the mountains."
4 Q. Now I would like to ask you some questions about
5 radios. Do different radios have different
6 capabilities?
7 A. Yes.
8 Q. For example a walkie-talkie. What is the normal range
9 of a walkie-talkie?
10 A. It all depends, from a few hundred metres to maybe 1 or
11 2 kilometres.
12 Q. What kind of variables would affect the range of a
13 walkie-talkie?
14 A. Terrain. If you are in a flat country, the range will
15 be longer than in hilly terrain.
16 Q. Does a walkie-talkie require a line of sight to enable
17 two persons to communicate via walkie-talkie ?
18 A. Not necessarily, but normally.
19 Q. Under normal conditions a line of sight connection is
20 required?
21 A. Yes.
22 Q. As one moves towards more sophisticated types of radio,
23 what are other categories, if there are such categories,
24 of radios above the walkie-talkie level?
25 A. You have different kind of radios; it all depends what
1 unit, of course. A company unit will normally have
2 radio equipment so they are able to communicate with
3 their platoons, and normally the distance between the
4 company headquarters and the platoons are only a few
5 kilometres, so therefore they do not need big radios for
6 that, but when the company commander has to get in
7 contact with the battalion or the brigade headquarters,
8 he needs a bigger radio that is able to send and receive
9 messages on a longer distance.
10 Q. Are there categories though, such as tactical radios or
11 other types of radios, which are used to describe radios
12 to meet these different needs?
13 A. No, normally it is how many watts, and normally a small
14 radio is sending with two or three watts and a bigger
15 radio is normally with 30 or 50 watts. Normally at
16 company level you will have a radio that is able to send
17 on 2 watts and on the higher level you have to use
18 radios with 30 or 50 watts.
19 Q. On what level would you need a 30 or 50 watt radio?
20 A. Brigade level. Because of the units down there --
21 before the break we discussed the organisation with the
22 corps and the brigade and all that, and I told you that
23 the normal strength of a corps was maybe 10,000 men. It
24 could be more, but in Bosnia, this was not that, because
25 normally a brigade down there were maybe only 100 men.
1 Q. As opposed to 2,000 or 4,000?
2 A. Yes, what would normally be in a brigade, so they do not
3 have to use that many radios as if it was in a normal
4 corps or brigade unit.
5 Q. What kind of radio would have been necessary, in your
6 judgment, to communicate between Vitez and Zepce?
7 A. I think that communications between Vitez and Zepce, you
8 need another type of radio, because the radio we have
9 discussed until now are on VHF and I think you need a
10 bigger radio to have contact between Vitez and Zepce,
11 maybe you have to use an HF radio, or you can do it with
12 a VHF radio if it is strong enough.
13 Q. Do both VHF and HF radios use antennas?
14 A. Yes.
15 Q. Do they use the same kind of antennas?
16 A. No.
17 Q. What is the difference in antennas between HF and VHF?
18 A. Normally when you are using an HF radio you can use a
19 ground plane antenna. You can use that as well for VHF,
20 so sometimes you can use the same type of antenna.
21 Q. What is a ground plane antenna?
22 A. A ground plane antenna is an antenna where you have one
23 antenna up and then you have three antennas going down.
24 Q. Like the outline of a three-sided pyramid?
25 A. Yes.
1 Q. Is there another kind of antenna you can use for a VHF
2 radio?
3 A. Normally you are using just one antenna.
4 Q. Just a wire strung up on a building or in a tree or what
5 have you?
6 A. Yes.
7 Q. But I take it that type of antenna does not support HF?
8 A. Could be.
9 Q. So a single-wire antenna could support HF or VHF?
10 A. Yes.
11 Q. And a ground plane antenna could support either one?
12 A. Yes, and you are able, if you are making -- when you are
13 using both of the radios, you can make another antenna
14 to improve the sending, so you are able to send longer.
15 That is another type of ground plane antenna that you
16 connect it to a radio and then you can pull up a wire of
17 25 or 30 metres just laying at the road, on the road or
18 into a tree and then you are able to improve the radio.
19 Q. How tall are these ground plane antennas generally?
20 A. They can be for a few metres. If it is one of the big
21 radio stations, if you are just using one of the small
22 radio stations -- normally on 2 watts or 30 watts
23 normally you can fix the antenna on the radio but you
24 are able to connect a larger antenna to the radio and by
25 that you can improve the radio.
1 Q. To get a greater range you need to increase the size of
2 the antenna?
3 A. Yes.
4 Q. Could exhibit 98 be placed before the witness?
5 (Handed).
6 JUDGE JORDA: Continue, Mr. Hayman.
7 MR. HAYMAN: Thank you, your Honour.
8 Major, exhibit 98 is a list of HVO brigades?
9 A. Yes.
10 Q. I would like you to go through this list quickly with
11 you and ask you to identify first at which of these
12 brigade headquarters did you observe radio equipment.
13 You can skip the zone for the moment, the hotel Vitez,
14 and focus on the brigades.
15 A. I can remember that I saw, of course, antennas in Vitez,
16 then I saw antennas at some of the headquarters in
17 Travnik. Specifically I can remember at one place, that
18 was in a forward headquarters close to the Bosnian Serb
19 front. This forward headquarters is not mentioned
20 here. But I cannot specifically point out which of
21 those brigades I was able to see antennas at, but I can
22 remember seeing them in Travnik in a normal brigade
23 headquarters, in Travnik close to the Bosnian Serb front
24 and in Vitez.
25 This is normal, because all armies including
1 myself, we are doing our best to hide all the radio
2 equipment, because if the enemy is going to see our
3 radio equipment, they would do anything to destroy it.
4 Q. I understand the army did not give you a list of their
5 brigades even when you asked them; correct?
6 A. No, because the man at the joint headquarters at that
7 time, he was not able to provide us with a more detailed
8 list like this, so therefore I think we had it later on.
9 Q. I am not asking you right now whether secrecy would or
10 would not be normal in terms of military
11 communications. I am asking you, other than the front
12 near Travnik, the Travnik brigade and the hotel Vitez,
13 can you recall seeing any radio equipment or antenna at
14 any other HVO commands?
15 A. No, I cannot recall that, but, as I told you, it is
16 normal to hide your radio equipment.
17 Q. And antenna?
18 A. Of course, you do the best to hide the antennas as well.
19 Q. Can you put antenna inside a building or do you get much
20 better range if you put them outside a building?
21 A. Normally outside, but you can have a remote control so
22 you do not have to have the antenna at the
23 headquarters. You can have it 1 kilometre from the
24 headquarters, then you can have remote control from the
25 antenna to the headquarters using a field line between
1 the two. It is not necessary to have the antenna at the
2 headquarters.
3 Q. Did you ever see that type of technology utilised by the
4 HVO?
5 A. No.
6 Q. At the Travnik brigade, do you remember what type of
7 equipment or antenna you saw?
8 A. No.
9 Q. Do you recall whether you saw radio equipment or merely
10 an antenna?
11 A. At one of the headquarters we saw an antenna and close
12 to the -- or in this forward headquarters close to the
13 Serb front, I saw radio equipment which was operated.
14 Q. At the Travnik brigade, you do not recall whether you
15 saw a radio or an antenna; is that correct?
16 A. I saw an antenna but not the radio.
17 Q. Do you recall the type or size of the antenna?
18 A. No.
19 Q. At the front near Travnik, what type of radio did you
20 see?
21 A. I saw a radio station, I was not able to tell what kind
22 because it was not a radio similar to those radios
23 I have been trained on, but I think it was a VHF radio.
24 Q. A VHF not a HF radio?
25 A. Yes.
1 Q. Were you able to determine what the wattage of the radio
2 was?
3 A. I was not able to see that, but on the size of the
4 radio, I think it was between 30 and 50 watts.
5 Q. How large was it?
6 A. (indicates).
7 Q. Indicating perhaps 18 inches by 12 inches?
8 A. Normally I do not use inches.
9 Q. I am sorry. How about half a metre by a third of a
10 metre?
11 A. I think 30 centimetres like this and maybe 15
12 centimetres in the height.
13 Q. Did it look like a new radio or an old radio?
14 A. It did not look like a brand new radio.
15 Q. At the hotel Vitez, did you see a radio or an antenna or
16 both?
17 A. I did not see a radio, I saw one antenna; I cannot
18 remember if there were more than one. Normally there
19 are on a headquarters like that, but as I told you, you
20 can have antennas in other places at the headquarters,
21 but I saw when I was passing a room, the door was open
22 and I saw a man in there who was speaking in a
23 microphone. That indicated that there were radio
24 equipment.
25 Q. I take it from the microphone you are not able to
1 determine what type of equipment it was?
2 A. No.
3 Q. Or the wattage or power or range, nothing like that?
4 A. No.
5 Q. Is it necessary to put up an antenna to test a radio to
6 see if it works, to see if it works over a particular
7 range?
8 A. Yes, if you have to get in contact with other radio
9 stations ...
10 Q. You have to test it?
11 A. Yes.
12 Q. The hotel Vitez was in a valley; is that correct?
13 A. Yes.
14 Q. Of course valleys are surrounded by mountains. Was the
15 valley in which the hotel Vitez was located ringed by
16 mountains on all sides?
17 A. Yes, but you can still use your radio equipment.
18 Q. What effect do mountains have on the use of a radio
19 located in the valley?
20 A. Normally it is difficult to pass the mountains using a
21 VHF radio, but you are able to put up radio stations in
22 the mountains and use them as remote controls.
23 Q. You are speaking of relay stations?
24 A. Yes, relay stations.
25 Q. Without a relay station, is it impossible to use a VHF
1 radio to transmit over a mountain to somebody on the
2 other side?
3 A. Yes, you normally need a HF radio.
4 Q. You have to have a HF radio to do that; is that correct?
5 A. Under normal conditions, yes.
6 Q. Do you know whether there was a relay station on a
7 mountain known as the Vlassic feature to the west of
8 Travnik?
9 A. I do not know.
10 Q. Do you know whether there was a relay station on a
11 mountain known as Lisac?
12 A. No, we never saw any relay stations. Of course, they
13 would do their best to hide them as well.
14 Q. Do you have any information that would suggest that the
15 HVO had radio relay stations around the Lasva valley?
16 A. We have not seen them, but it was necessary to have
17 them.
18 Q. It would have been necessary to have effective
19 communications; correct?
20 A. Yes.
21 Q. Is that what you are saying?
22 A. Yes, by radio.
23 Q. Correct. Who held the mountaintops around the
24 Lasva Valley? Which army controlled those mountaintops,
25 if you know?
1 A. I think that both parties had positions on the
2 mountains.
3 Q. If those mountaintops were held by the ABiH, they would
4 first of all be in a position to deny the HVO use of any
5 of those mountaintops for relay stations; correct?
6 A. Yes, they would.
7 Q. Would they also be in a position to intercept HVO radio
8 transmissions from down in the valley?
9 A. Yes, and that is normal in every army, that you are
10 doing your best to find which frequencies the enemy are
11 using and then you will do a lot of things to scramble
12 those communications.
13 Q. Yes, you mentioned scrambling. If the army, the ABiH,
14 also held the mountaintops around the Lasva Valley,
15 would they also have been in a position to jam or
16 scramble HVO communications?
17 A. Just as HVO were able to do the same against BiH.
18 Q. What is jamming or scrambling of radio transmissions?
19 A. You are trying to destroy the communications between the
20 radio stations by sending a signal on the same frequency
21 and you have different types of jamming you can use, so
22 normally if you are using a big radio transmitter, it is
23 able to transmit some kind of noise.
24 Q. Such as white noise, static noise?
25 A. Yes.
1 Q. If you have two parties, one on the mountaintop and one
2 in the valley, is the one on the mountaintop in a very
3 good position to jam the radio transmissions of the
4 party in the valley trying to transmit out?
5 A. They can do it from another position as well. It is not
6 necessary to be at a high position to do that.
7 Q. Is it advantageous to be at a high position?
8 A. Yes, but you can do it as well if you are in the valley;
9 you can do the same, you can jam the radio signals who
10 are transmitted from a radio station in the mountains.
11 Q. Someone trying to transmit into the valley, you can jam
12 their receipt of those transmissions in the valley?
13 A. Outside as well.
14 Q. Can a jamming device transmit over the mountains without
15 a relay station?
16 A. You have different kinds of jamming devices and
17 especially you can use airplanes to do this jamming, but
18 I do not think HVO or BiH were using aircraft to do the
19 jamming.
20 Q. Other than the radio you described that you saw on the
21 front near Travnik -- by the way, that was the front
22 against the Serbs; correct?
23 A. Yes, that is correct.
24 Q. Other than that radio, did you see any other evidence of
25 mobile radio communications? I am not talking about
1 walkie-talkies here but radio units that could be moved
2 to the battle location, and that is on the part of the
3 HVO?
4 A. Yes. I cannot recall seeing small radios like that, but
5 they were using walkie-talkies.
6 Q. Which have a range of up to 1 or perhaps 2 kilometres?
7 A. It all depends on the area.
8 Q. Do you know whether the BiH army had a mobile
9 communications truck which they utilised? Did you ever
10 see that truck?
11 A. No, I did not.
12 Q. Did you ever hear about it?
13 A. Later on I heard that they had a communications system
14 like that, but that was not in that area.
15 Q. It was in Zenica?
16 A. Yes.
17 Q. It was moving around because it was a truck?
18 A. Yes, but I do not think it was able to go into that area
19 because of the checkpoints, but we have heard that there
20 have been a mobile communications setup from the BiH in
21 the Zepce area, up there.
22 Q. It would have been able to go as far as any checkpoints
23 blocking it; correct?
24 A. Yes, but we knew that BiH were having communication as
25 well.
1 Q. Of course.
2 A. All armies had radio equipment.
3 Q. During the period of your tour, did you know where the
4 commander above Colonel Blaskic physically was located?
5 Where was his commander?
6 A. I think that was General Petkovic.
7 Q. Was he in Mostar?
8 A. I think he was in Mostar.
9 Q. Did you ever see any evidence that Colonel Blaskic
10 during your tour had an effective way electronically to
11 communicate with his commander in Mostar or was he as
12 far as you know cut off from his commander?
13 A. I cannot recall that.
14 Q. You have no evidence one way or the other for the
15 Tribunal on that issue?
16 A. No.
17 Q. If it is possible to have radio communications between
18 Vitez and Mostar, what kind of radio would it take?
19 A. HF radio.
20 Q. A sophisticated HF radio?
21 A. Yes, but I knew that General Petkovic, he went to Vitez
22 several times.
23 Q. He travelled there on one or more occasions?
24 A. We had meetings with the General as well in the Busovaca
25 Joint Commission, and meetings between Petkovic, ECMM
1 and General Dedic from the BiH.
2 Q. I was speaking of electronic communications such as
3 telephone or radio, regular communications
4 capabilities.
5 A. Another means of communication is to send an ordnance,
6 so you can send a written order by an ordnance.
7 Q. Send a courier, a driver or someone to hike or something
8 like that?
9 A. Yes.
10 Q. Are landlines, telephone landlines vulnerable to
11 interception?
12 A. Yes, they are.
13 Q. Are unsecure radio transmissions even easier to
14 intercept?
15 A. Yes.
16 Q. Did you ever see any evidence that the HVO had secure
17 radio communications; that is the capability to encrypt
18 or encode radio communications?
19 A. I have not seen radio equipment like that.
20 Q. You yourself in the ECMM, you used satellite phones?
21 A. Yes.
22 Q. You carried a briefcase-like device with you?
23 A. Yes.
24 Q. You would set those up and anywhere you were, you could
25 bounce an electronic signal up to a satellite which
1 would then bounce it down to the headquarters in Zagreb?
2 A. Yes, or if we were going to call from Vitez to Zenica we
3 would use that as well.
4 Q. You would use your satellite phone?
5 A. Yes.
6 Q. You had a fax machine built into your satellite phone
7 device?
8 A. Not at that, but we have some other communication
9 equipment where we were able to use a fax.
10 Q. At RC Zenica?
11 A. Yes.
12 Q. That is equipment the ECMM themselves installed?
13 A. Yes.
14 Q. They were self-reliant; is that right?
15 A. Yes.
16 Q. Did any of the combatants in Central Bosnia have this
17 kind of technology to your knowledge?
18 A. Not to my knowledge but that would be normal.
19 Q. Did you ever see anyone else have any such satellite
20 phone or satellite fax technology?
21 A. Not the BiH or HVO.
22 Q. And the ECMM brought its own because the local phone
23 lines et cetera were not a reliable means of
24 communication; correct?
25 A. Yes.
1 Q. They were unreliable, correct?
2 A. Yes, normally if you can use the PTT lines we prefer to
3 do that because it was very expensive for us to use the
4 satellite phone.
5 Q. But the regular telephone was unreliable?
6 A. Yes.
7 Q. And it was, of course, unsecure; correct?
8 A. All telephone lines are.
9 Q. Correct. Let me ask you to turn your attention to the
10 Kiseljak municipality. You have described for us some
11 terrible incidents and atrocities. I want to understand
12 clearly: did you witness the actual commission of any of
13 these acts or did you arrive after the scene and take
14 down -- learn what you could from the scene itself after
15 the fact?
16 A. Arrived after the thing took place.
17 Q. Would you agree that to the north-west of Kiseljak, a
18 number of the villages you described are located on the
19 hillsides adjacent to the Kiseljak/Busovaca road?
20 A. Yes.
21 Q. Putting the issue of civilians and civilian structures
22 aside, totally aside, please, would you agree that
23 control of that road by military force requires control
24 of the adjacent hillsides?
25 A. Yes.
1 Q. Was the Kiseljak municipality in province 10 under the
2 Vance-Owen Peace Plan? If you would like to refer to
3 the newspaper article, it is exhibit 88. Would you like
4 to --
5 A. Yes, I would like to see that.
6 MR. HAYMAN: If exhibit 88 could be placed before the
7 witness, your Honour? (Handed).
8 My question was whether the Kiseljak municipality
9 falls within province 10.
10 A. No.
11 Q. Could you put it on the ELMO so we can all follow
12 along?
13 If the technical personnel could assist? Yes.
14 Can you perhaps with the chopstick indicate
15 Kiseljak municipality? Is it there to the left of the S
16 in Sarajevo?
17 A. Yes, it is just at that point, so it is a part of the
18 7th province.
19 Q. The Sarajevo province?
20 A. Yes.
21 Q. Not province 10.
22 A. No.
23 Q. You stated on one occasion that you were stopped and not
24 allowed free access to one of these villages by a local
25 commander who said that his commander, Ivica Rajic had
1 given orders to stop all UNHCR and ECMM vehicles; do you
2 recall that?
3 A. Yes.
4 Q. Did you understand Ivica Rajic to be the local HVO
5 commander in Kiseljak?
6 A. Not compared to this list where we have the name of the
7 commanders, but some time maybe a commander was replaced
8 and another one took over, but there was actually a lot
9 of local commanders down there and everyone who was an
10 officer, who was named as commander, so I think that is
11 why he used the title commander.
12 Q. Do you know whether this Ivica Rajic referred to on this
13 occasion is the same Ivica Rajic indicted by the
14 Tribunal for the Stupni Do massacre, or do you not know?
15 A. I do not know that case.
16 Q. Other than what testimony you have already given us, did
17 you gather any additional evidence concerning the
18 specific identity of the perpetrators of the atrocities
19 and other wrongful acts committed in the Kiseljak
20 municipality that you observed evidence of?
21 A. Can I have that question once more?
22 Q. Yes. Other than the testimony you have given here in
23 your days of testimony, did you obtain any other
24 evidence concerning the specific perpetrators of the
25 atrocities and other wrongful acts you have described,
1 that you saw evidence of in the Kiseljak municipality?
2 A. No.
3 Q. Other than the testimony you have already given, to the
4 extent it does or does not, did you gather any
5 additional evidence concerning on whose orders or at
6 whose encouragement the perpetrators of those acts may
7 have acted?
8 A. This was as we were told that units in the Kiseljak area
9 were under Colonel Blaskic's command, the person who was
10 in control of those units.
11 Q. What evidence do you have that Colonel Blaskic either
12 directed or encouraged the unspeakable acts you have
13 described in the Kiseljak municipality?
14 A. We were told in Kiseljak that Colonel Blaskic was
15 commanding units down there, and part of the evidence is
16 when we were going to release prisoners down there from
17 the HVO headquarters in Kiseljak where they were in
18 prison, the only one who was able to allow us in there
19 was a letter from Colonel Blaskic.
20 Q. From that, you inferred that he directed or encouraged
21 the atrocities that you have described in the Kiseljak
22 municipality?
23 A. Not directly but his men did. I have no evidence of
24 that, because I have not seen a written order from
25 Colonel Blaskic saying, "You have to do this massacre."
1 Q. You say you were told in Kiseljak that Colonel Blaskic
2 was the HVO zone commander; is that right?
3 A. Yes.
4 Q. Were you told any details about whether he directed or
5 did not direct the activities of the HVO in Kiseljak?
6 A. No.
7 MR. HAYMAN: One moment, your Honour. (Pause).
8 If the usher could assist?
9 This visit to Kiseljak, to the prison in Kiseljak
10 where you were compelled to get a written order from
11 Colonel Blaskic directing the release of prisoners, that
12 was in May or June, was it?
13 A. Yes, it was during the big release where we were going
14 to release all prisoners in Bosnia. We were as ECMM and
15 the Joint Humanitarian Commission. We were allowed to
16 go in there, but representatives from International Red
17 Cross were not allowed to go in there because the local
18 commander down there, as we were told, was fighting at
19 the Kresevo front so there was no one there who was able
20 to open the gates for ICRC.
21 Q. I would like to show you a document and then ask you
22 whether you were aware of it at the time you visited the
23 prison in Kiseljak.
24 Your Honour, this exhibit on the back is the BSC
25 original; on the front is an English translation. Again
1 I regret there is no French translation at this time,
2 but there will be soon and I would ask you, Major, to
3 place the English translation on the ELMO so we can
4 sight translate a couple of provisions and then I would
5 like to ask you a question. This is an order dated
6 24th April 1993, to all commanders of units in Central
7 Bosnia Operative Zone. It is an order of the HVO. It
8 states, based on certain requests by the chief -- it
9 says:
10 "Based on the request by the Chief of the HVO main
11 headquarters of 22nd April 1993 and regarding the
12 application of basic principles of the international
13 humanitarian law, I hereby demand from all units and
14 members of the HVO to:
15 "(1) respect and protect the civilian population
16 in wartime. Civilians, by definition, do not take part
17 in conflicts and therefore cannot be a target of attack;
18 "(2) treat captured soldiers and civilians
19 humanely and ensure they are appropriately protected;
20 "(3) report the identity of all the captured and
21 detained to the ICRC and enable ICRC representatives to
22 visit them according to ICRC standard conditions."
23 Let us pause for a moment, Major. That is exactly
24 what was not allowed, was not being allowed by the local
25 HVO soldiers in Kiseljak during your visit in May or
1 June; correct?
2 A. Yes.
3 Q. Would you agree that it appears there was a standing
4 order from Colonel Blaskic; you will notice his name and
5 signature in the lower right-hand copy of this order.
6 When you went to the Kiseljak prison, there was a
7 standing order that the Red Cross be granted access and
8 when you were not granted access, you went back to
9 Vitez, you got a specific additional order from
10 Colonel Blaskic, went back to Kiseljak and with that
11 order in your hand, you were able to get the prisoners
12 released; is that right?
13 A. Yes, but normally, it is not enough just to make an
14 order. It is very easy just to make an order. As a
15 commander, when you have made an order like this, you
16 have to control that this order is obeyed. Everyone
17 could just sit making an order and give orders to the
18 left and to the right. As a commander, you have to
19 control that your orders are carried out in the way you
20 want them to be.
21 Q. Do you have any evidence that Colonel Blaskic was able
22 to travel, other than in an UNPROFOR vehicle, between
23 Vitez and Busovaca from late January 1993 until the end
24 of the war? Is the answer to that no?
25 A. Then he could use other means to control that. When we
1 were telling through the Busovaca Joint Commission or
2 making other complaints, then he has to go in and
3 interfere to tell his commanders that they have to obey
4 his orders.
5 Q. Did he do that on the occasion that you went to the
6 Kiseljak prison and his prior order had not been
7 obeyed. You went back to Vitez, you got another order
8 from him and you took it down to Kiseljak and with that
9 you got the prisoners released; correct?
10 A. Yes. This should have happened -- normally if you are
11 responsible for that, this order had to be carried out.
12 Q. It should have been carried out the first time; correct?
13 A. Yes.
14 Q. That is how a proper army would function; correct?
15 A. Normally a commander gives an order and he will control
16 that his order is fulfilled or he will let another body
17 do that, one of his -- as we were discussing earlier
18 this morning, he could use one of his staff officers to
19 do that. Earlier you told the court that
20 Colonel Blaskic has his own headquarters in Kiseljak and
21 then -- you asked me if I was aware that Colonel Blaskic
22 had a headquarters in Kiseljak.
23 Q. I asked you whether you had any evidence that he did,
24 but I was not suggesting the truth of the fact about
25 which I asked. I am sorry if I inadvertently misled you
1 in that regard.
2 If the usher could assist again? We will be
3 turning our attention now --
4 JUDGE JORDA: Before we go on to the next exhibit, I should
5 like to go back a little bit. There was a video clip,
6 remember? We identified the first clip at the request
7 of the Prosecutor. We could not identify the next
8 clips, but I am turning to the Registrar. What number
9 will the video be?
10 THE REGISTRAR: It will be D38 the video.
11 JUDGE JORDA: Defence exhibit D38. Very well. Have you
12 completed with the order of commander Blaskic which the
13 witness is commenting on now? Will that be D39?
14 THE REGISTRAR: Yes, D39.
15 JUDGE JORDA: No objection? Mr. Prosecutor?
16 MR. CAYLEY: Only on D39 that my learned friend identifies
17 the source of this document before admission.
18 MR. HAYMAN: The Prosecutor's Office, your Honour.
19 JUDGE JORDA: Mr. Hayman, you know the source?
20 MR. HAYMAN: The Office of the Prosecutor gave this to us,
21 your Honour.
22 JUDGE JORDA: So you are familiar with it, Mr. Cayley, very
23 well. D39 then.
24 Continue.
25 MR. HAYMAN: Yes, your Honour. I would like the Major to
1 turn --
2 JUDGE JORDA: If it is too long in that case we will break
3 now.
4 MR. HAYMAN: If I could just have three minutes, your Honour,
5 I need to ask a question before the break. May I?
6 JUDGE JORDA: Yes.
7 MR. HAYMAN: I would like to turn, Major, to the issue of the
8 artillery attack on the city of Zenica, 19th April
9 1993. I would like to provide you with a map of the
10 city. The map is in two parts. It is not connected by
11 any tape or paper clips; we are going to have to work
12 together to do that. There is a legend in BSC only for
13 the map.
14 There are three pages, your Honour. Together they
15 constitute potentially an exhibit and I defer to the
16 Registrar as to how they wish to mark and identify
17 these. Two pages is a map, one map, but it is broken
18 into two pages because of its size, and a legend.
19 A. I think I got the same two sheets.
20 MR. HAYMAN: I am going to approach the Major.
21 MR. CAYLEY: I think we have the same two as well, so we may
22 actually have the other copy.
23 JUDGE JORDA: Perhaps we can remedy the situation by taking
24 a break until 2.30. Maybe we are all a bit tired now,
25 so we can resume work at 2.30. Would that be a
1 solution, or do you insist on having your two or three
2 questions before the break? It is up to you.
3 MR. HAYMAN: Just one question before the break, if the court
4 would indulge me. I am trying to save time so we do not
5 need additional time later.
6 JUDGE JORDA: Fine.
7 MR. HAYMAN: Major, if you could look at this map for a
8 moment and I invite my colleagues -- now we have put the
9 two pieces of the map together, do you recognise this
10 map as representing portions of the city of Zenica?
11 A. Yes, I do.
12 Q. Can you indicate where the marketplace is located that
13 was hit by artillery fire on 19th April 1993, if it is
14 on this map?
15 A. As I can recall, it was in this area here.
16 Q. Could you circle that with a blue pen, please? Perhaps
17 inside the circle put the letter M for market. Thank
18 you very much.
19 Your Honour, thank you for indulging the Defence.
20 It is convenient to take a break if the court is so
21 inclined.
22 JUDGE JORDA: Perhaps I could put a question regarding the
23 use of time. How much more time do you think you will
24 need for your cross-examination so that the witness may
25 know also for how long he is needed.
1 MR. HAYMAN: I expect to finish this afternoon, your Honour.
2 JUDGE JORDA: Very well. Thank you. We will resume work at
3 2.30.
4 (1.00 pm)
5 (Adjourned until 2.30 pm)
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1 (2.30 pm)
2 JUDGE JORDA: Please be seated. Madam Registrar, let us
3 have the accused brought in.
4 (Accused brought in)
5 JUDGE JORDA: Mr. Hayman, have you assembled your exhibit?
6 MR. HAYMAN: Yes, your Honour, thank you.
7 Major, during the lunch break, it proved somewhat
8 difficult to connect the two parts of the map tendered
9 before the break, and as you can see, only the
10 right-hand portion of the map has a compass direction on
11 it, so the connection is important; so what I am going
12 to ask is that the usher place another version of the
13 same map on the easel, which came to the Defence in one
14 piece, and it is the same map, with the exception of a
15 few signatures on it. If they need to be redacted or
16 taken off this copy, we can do that.
17 If it is okay, I will put it up here and then
18 I would like to start the process again. (Handed).
19 JUDGE JORDA: Mr. Prosecutor?
20 MR. CAYLEY: May I approach the witness, Mr. President?
21 JUDGE JORDA: Yes, of course.
22 MR. HAYMAN: So I invite you to join me at the easel and,
23 take your time, you can see the prior marking that you
24 made and I would ask that you make another marking on
25 this map, this integrated map of where approximately the
1 marketplace was that is the issue at the heart of the
2 April 19th 1993 shelling incident.
3 A. Shall I mark it with a M?
4 Q. That would be helpful, thank you. I believe you
5 testified that your analysis caused you to conclude that
6 the artillery shell or shells which hit the marketplace
7 on 19th April came from a direct westerly direction?
8 A. Yes, that is right.
9 Q. Would it be possible on this map to indicate a westerly
10 direction from, perhaps, the centre of the circle you
11 have indicated, using the compass guide in the upper
12 right-hand portion of the map.
13 A. North is that direction; west is this direction like
14 this (indicates).
15 Q. So would another piece of paper or another ruler be
16 helpful? I have a large envelope; perhaps if I actually
17 put it on the compass bearing for east/west, is that
18 helpful?
19 A. Yes.
20 Q. Perhaps you can place the ruler --
21 JUDGE JORDA: Mr. Registrar, could you please give Mr. Hayman
22 a ruler, if you have one. Perhaps you do not have one.
23 MR. HAYMAN: We have a ruler, your Honour, only it is not
24 quite long enough to take us the whole distance. My
25 thought was, if we mark the east/west trajectory in this
1 manner, the witness can use it as an aid in marking the
2 same trajectory on from the marketplace, and then
3 I would ask that we make a mark with the green pen of
4 that trajectory on this map.
5 A. Normally when we were doing things like that, we were
6 not using this map because a map like this is not
7 precise enough when you have to do that. Normally we
8 are using maps like that (indicates). From the centre
9 of the impact, we used maps like this.
10 Q. We have a more precise map that I would like to use to
11 illustrate the possible direction from which the shell
12 came, but for right now, what I am interested in
13 illustrating is what is the possible incoming -- local
14 incoming direction of the shell within this urban area,
15 but certainly your comment is noted that this is not a
16 military map; it is more in the nature of a tourist
17 map.
18 A. If you are satisfied, I can do it like this.
19 Q. Given the limitations of this map, are you satisfied
20 with that?
21 A. This is westerly.
22 Q. You have marked a green line heading down towards the
23 lower left-hand corner of this map; is that right?
24 A. Yes, if this one is correct.
25 Q. Relying upon the compass indicator on the map. Do you
1 know, there are some locations marked nearby this line,
2 this west/east line on this map. There is a legend in
3 BSC which we can read a few of them into the record. Do
4 you recall whether there were any military locations
5 such as brigade headquarters in the vicinity of this
6 trajectory?
7 A. There was a lot of minor military headquarters in this
8 area. Those were not big military headquarters, but
9 normally civilian buildings where there was an office or
10 two, so it was not a big military barracks or something
11 like that. Normally one building where maybe one room
12 or two rooms were used for that purpose. The only
13 military targets in this area were up here at the steel
14 factory where Hadzihasanovic had his headquarters.
15 Q. The Third Corps headquarters?
16 A. Yes, that is correct.
17 Q. Is it off that map or do you think it is on this map?
18 A. You can see part of it here marked with 1. The circle
19 with a 1 in is the headquarters there of the Third
20 Corps.
21 Q. Let me ask my colleague, your Honour, to read for the
22 purposes of the record a few of the other locations so
23 that we can have a translation of those terms. So
24 number 1 on the legend is as follows.
25 MR. NOBILO: The Third Corps command.
1 MR. HAYMAN: Can you find number 1 on the map, Major?
2 A. Yes, here.
3 Q. Do you have the same green pen? If you could mark the 1
4 in green perhaps, that would be helpful. Thank you.
5 Mr. Nobilo?
6 MR. NOBILO: Municipal staff of Territorial Defence is number
7 4. Zenica municipal TO staff, number 4.
8 MR. HAYMAN: Were you familiar with that office, the staff
9 headquarters of the Territorial Defence in Zenica?
10 A. Yes, but I cannot recall where it was.
11 Q. Do you see the number 4 on this map?
12 A. Yes.
13 Q. Could you just fill in in green the circle that contains
14 4?
15 Mr. Nobilo, if you could continue with number 2.
16 MR. NOBILO: Number 2 indicates the headquarters of the
17 314th Motorised Brigade of the military police, and a
18 part of the units known as Green Legions.
19 MR. HAYMAN: Do you find the number 2 encircled on the map?
20 A. Yes.
21 Q. If you could mark that with green, that is helpful.
22 Mr. Nobilo?
23 MR. NOBILO: Next is number 5, that is 301st Mechanised
24 Brigade.
25 MR. HAYMAN: Do you find number 5 on the map, Major?
1 MR. CAYLEY: Mr. President, could I just make a comment?
2 Could Mr. Hayman actually ask the witness whether he
3 knows that that is the unit --
4 JUDGE JORDA: I think that the Prosecutor has made an
5 objection which I did not hear. Please repeat it.
6 MR. CAYLEY: The point I am making at the moment, your
7 Honour, is this is rather like a game where Mr. Hayman
8 identifies the number and then the witness colours in
9 the number on the map. He should actually be asked
10 whether or not he was aware that the unit was in the
11 location which is indicated by the number and then he
12 can mark it. I have no objection to him actually
13 marking on units where he is aware that that unit was
14 located there, but not just to colour in the numbers on
15 the map.
16 JUDGE JORDA: Yes, sustained.
17 Please be more precise, Mr. Hayman, when asking
18 questions to the witness.
19 MR. HAYMAN: Item number 5, the headquarters of the
20 301st Mechanised Brigade; is that a location you were
21 familiar with? Did you know it existed in Zenica during
22 your tour?
23 A. Actually I can remember that there were some -- I am not
24 saying big headquarters, but some offices around in that
25 area who was manned by military persons. I could not
1 recall them as headquarters like that. The only two
2 I can recall is the Third Corps headquarters up here and
3 I recall the music school I visited.
4 Q. Do you recall generally there being other army of BiH
5 offices in this part of town?
6 A. Yes, offices, not headquarters like that, so it was not
7 barracks with a lot of soldiers.
8 Q. They were not army bases.
9 A. They were not bases, only officers.
10 Q. They were officers serving one function or another?
11 A. Yes, but I would not say that those small offices should
12 be a military target.
13 Q. I understand that, that you hold the position that none
14 of these army offices or other locations identified on
15 this legend would constitute a suitable military target
16 for artillery purposes.
17 A. No.
18 Q. I am not asking you that question; I am simply trying to
19 establish what there was in this part of town. Do you
20 find the music centre on this map, or would you like us
21 to read that for you?
22 A. The music school?
23 Q. The music school, yes. On the legend, I would ask
24 Mr. Nobilo to read number 9.
25 MR. NOBILO: Music school, number 9. It had the company of
1 the 7th Muslim Brigade.
2 A. That music school was the same headquarters I visited
3 during the prisoner release when we had to visit
4 different places.
5 MR. HAYMAN: Now I would ask, your Honour, the usher's
6 assistance in placing a much larger topographical map on
7 the easel so we can attempt to repeat the exercise and
8 gain a better understanding of the possible trajectory
9 of these artillery shells.
10 A. May I say again? All of those places here as you
11 mentioned, the only place where I saw soldiers, BiH
12 soldiers, except for the headquarters, was at the music
13 school.
14 Q. Did you visit those other locations or do you not recall
15 visiting them?
16 A. Normally we were passing around in this area and there
17 was no signs of big barracks, but we knew that they had
18 offices around in the area.
19 Q. Is it fair to say you did not undertake any study or
20 enquiry into exactly what functions were performed at
21 those facilities or exactly what staff or personnel were
22 based at those facilities?
23 A. We were told that some of the officers were recruiting
24 officers, where young men can go to when they want to
25 join the army, and we were told that there were some
1 officers from the Civil Defence of Zenica in that area
2 as well, but we did not, because we were often
3 patrolling in that area, we did not see any military
4 bases in that area.
5 Q. There were no military bases in that particular region?
6 A. No, so the only place where I was able to see soldiers
7 regularly was close to the music school.
8 Q. Thank you. If the usher could assist? Again, what
9 I would hope we can do with this map is first, keeping
10 in mind in what part of town you have identified the
11 marketplace as being located, can you identify roughly
12 that spot and then will we be able to identify western
13 direction emanating from that point?
14 A. Yes, you can see here there is a stream from the Bosna
15 River into the town and we have the same stream going in
16 there, so this area was situated in this area
17 (indicates).
18 Q. Can you enlarge a black dot there perhaps for reference
19 purposes? Thank you. Does this map have a direction, a
20 north/south indicator?
21 A. Yes, these lines are going north/south and these lines
22 are going east/west (indicates).
23 Q. So to indicate a direct westerly trajectory from the
24 point of impact, would one place a ruler as best as one
25 can parallel to the lines running across the map? If
1 you will place it where you would like to have it, I can
2 hold it in place and then if you would draw a line that
3 would be helpful. Perhaps if you can draw over it one
4 more time to make it dark.
5 A. This is the area we normally called the Bila area.
6 Q. Thank you.
7 A. We knew this area was under HVO control.
8 MR. HAYMAN: I believe this map will be D41.
9 THE REGISTRAR: D41, yes.
10 MR. HAYMAN: And the smaller tourist map of Zenica in legend
11 will be some series within D40, I believe.
12 THE REGISTRAR: Yes, D40B.
13 JUDGE JORDA: 40D is the tourist map, right, in two pieces?
14 THE REGISTRAR: D40 is the map submitted in two pieces; the
15 left part is D40A, the right D40B. It is the left part
16 of the map.
17 JUDGE JORDA: And D40B the right half?
18 THE REGISTRAR: If you are looking at it, it is the left.
19 D40C is the legend and D40D is the one-piece map.
20 JUDGE RIAD: Excuse me, Major, you mentioned that the Bila
21 area was under whose control?
22 A. HVO.
23 JUDGE JORDA: Continue, Mr. Hayman.
24 MR. HAYMAN: Thank you. Major, how would you describe the
25 principles that guided your analysis? Were they
1 mathematical or were they experiential, based on your
2 experience? How would you describe them?
3 A. Actually, when we did an investigation of the impact,
4 I took a photograph of one of those impacts and this was
5 showed on the ELMO last Friday.
6 JUDGE JORDA: It seems to me that this question has already
7 been put to the witness. Are you talking about the
8 basic principle or the method? I think the witness has
9 already explained the method.
10 MR. HAYMAN: He has explained it to a point, your Honour, but
11 I would like to try and take it to one further point in
12 terms of precision.
13 JUDGE JORDA: Yes, then you will have to ask the witness a
14 direct question, but do not ask him to re-explain the
15 trajectory and everything else on the basis of the
16 principles that he has given. You can ask him
17 specifically the question that you wish, if you do not
18 like something that he said last week.
19 MR. HAYMAN: My question was: would you describe the
20 process -- I am not asking you to redescribe it; I am
21 asking you: would you characterise it as mathematical,
22 experiential or a combination of the two?
23 A. It is more mathematical, because, when you are using
24 your compass, you are able to get the direction and you
25 are able to put it on the map.
1 Q. So it is basically a mathematical principle that you
2 used?
3 A. Yes.
4 Q. You said that this was one of a number of impact points
5 on the asphalt in this area; is that correct?
6 A. Yes.
7 Q. Did you analyse more than one or just one?
8 A. More than one. I can remember there were six impacts
9 during that attack, and I can remember that we were
10 looking at three of them. The one that I showed, this
11 was, as I can remember it, from the marketplace; then we
12 looked at another one that I cannot recall for the
13 moment and then we looked at an impact close to a bus
14 stop in that area as well.
15 Q. So you looked at some of the six but not all of the six;
16 is that right?
17 A. We only analysed three of those areas because at the
18 marketplace, there were two impacts, near the bus
19 station there were two impacts, one actually at the bus
20 station and one on the opposite side of the road; then
21 there were two impacts which were in other places.
22 Q. How far away from the market were the other two that you
23 mentioned?
24 A. Can I go to the map?
25 Q. Of course.
1 A. I can recall that we saw impacts here, impacts here
2 (indicating), then there were some in between and one in
3 this area here.
4 Q. Indicating to the bottom central portion of the green
5 circle, to the top centre portion of the green circle,
6 the centre of the circle and to the western edge of the
7 circle; is that right Major?
8 A. There were impacts here, impacts here, impacts here and
9 here.
10 Q. Indicating the central bottom half portion of the
11 circle; correct?
12 A. Yes.
13 Q. The central top half portion; correct?
14 A. Yes, and this part.
15 Q. The middle of the western half, correct, and then right
16 in the middle of the circle; correct?
17 A. Yes.
18 Q. Did you select the three points of impact that you
19 examined at random or were they selected in not a random
20 way?
21 A. I can remember that we visited the marketplace at first
22 and investigated those two and after that we went to the
23 bus stop and investigated those, and I cannot remember
24 which of those two we took and in what order. We
25 visited the marketplace first, then the bus stop and
1 then the other two places.
2 Q. But you said you performed your analysis on
3 approximately three of the six impact sites.
4 A. Yes.
5 Q. Was the process by which you picked three out of the six
6 based on a random technique or was it not based on a
7 random technique?
8 A. It was not based on techniques. We just took them as we
9 came to that area.
10 Q. Did you analyse the first three that you came to?
11 A. Yes, the first three areas because at the first -- at
12 the marketplace there were two impacts, and we took the
13 best of them and used that for our investigations. We
14 went to the bus stop and there were two impacts in that
15 area and we took the best of those to analyse.
16 Q. When you say you used the best, what do you mean?
17 A. If the court can remember last Friday when we were shown
18 this picture at the ELMO, where I was able to show the
19 splashmark on it -- we took this one because this was an
20 easy one actually to analyse.
21 Q. So the marks were clearer on that splashmark/point of
22 impact than on some of the other examples?
23 A. Yes.
24 MR. HAYMAN: Perhaps exhibit 91 should be placed before you.
25 Perhaps it will be helpful. You stated it is a
1 mathematical process. Is there a margin of error in
2 this process, or is it not a mathematical process with
3 that level of specificity?
4 A. I would not call it a mathematical process because it is
5 so easy to analyse the direction.
6 Q. Do you understand the concept of a normal curve and
7 margin for error and so forth? With this type of
8 process, would one normally expect this type of process
9 to have a margin for error of a certain percentage or
10 number of degrees?
11 A. I will not say on this one, because this was so easy to
12 analyse, so there is no doubt about the direction.
13 Maybe a few degrees, that is it.
14 Q. If you take a few degrees' difference and you run it out
15 15 kilometres, how great a distance is that; do you
16 know? Do you know what one degree difference in a
17 trajectory at 15 kilometres is?
18 A. 150 metres or something?
19 Q. I do not know.
20 A. It is only minor.
21 Q. So your view is if there is a margin for error as to
22 your process, it is, at most, 1 or 2 degrees?
23 A. Yes.
24 Q. Do you know: is there any academic or scientific work
25 that would support that, or is that simply your own
1 evaluation, with respect to the size of the potential
2 margin for error?
3 A. Actually I do not know any other way to analyse.
4 Q. You do not know of any scholarly work or mathematical
5 work that discusses this issue?
6 A. No, because this is the normal way I am trained to
7 analyse the impact.
8 Q. Did you also find pieces of artillery shells at the
9 scene?
10 A. Yes, we did.
11 Q. Could you look at those shells, and did that help you
12 confirm the size of the shell?
13 A. Sometimes, and other times not. It all depended on what
14 type of ammunition was used.
15 Q. You concluded that the shell was from a 122 millimetre
16 cannon. What is the maximum range of such a cannon?
17 A. It all depends on the charge, because when you are
18 firing a cannon, you can give it different kind of
19 charges, because you have all the power in different
20 small bags. Normally when you are firing a cannon you
21 are first putting in the projectile and after that, all
22 depending on how long you are going to shoot, you would
23 throw in some of those bags with powder.
24 Q. When we are talking about the charge, I want to be
25 clear, you are talking about putting an explosive such
1 as powder before the actual shell is loaded in the
2 cannon?
3 A. No.
4 Q. It is loaded behind the shell; correct?
5 A. Yes.
6 Q. It is the charge that causes the shell to come shooting
7 out of the cannon's mouth?
8 A. Yes.
9 Q. You are saying the range can vary depending on the size
10 of the charge?
11 A. Yes.
12 Q. Do you know the customary maximum range, that is within
13 the specifications of this type of equipment, for a 122
14 millimetre cannon?
15 A. Normally we are saying that the effective range is 14 to
16 15 kilometres. It can maybe shoot a little longer with
17 some more sophisticated equipment on it, but normally 14
18 to 15 kilometres.
19 Q. Do you know if the range of this type would be affected
20 if the shell casings were being repacked?
21 A. You have to give me that question once more.
22 Q. Is there a piece of the shell that you retrieve from the
23 cannon after the shell has been fired, or is the whole
24 shell casing spent, gone?
25 A. No, you still have the holster.
1 Q. Like the empty shell -- after firing a hand gun, you
2 have a shell. If those holsters, as you put them, were
3 being repacked and reused because of a shortage, would
4 that affect the range?
5 A. No, it would not, because the range of the gun is
6 depending on the amount of powder you are putting in it.
7 Q. Solely on the charge?
8 A. Yes. Normally you use them again, those holsters.
9 Q. I would call it a shell, but you are calling it a
10 holster?
11 A. The shell is the one that is going out.
12 Q. The shell has gone?
13 A. And the holster, as I call it, is the thing that is
14 taken out of the cannon afterwards.
15 Q. To the west of the areas of impact, do you recall, were
16 there any tall buildings, tall structures?
17 A. Yes.
18 Q. Were there any tall structures directly to the west of
19 any points of impact?
20 A. No, and I can remember because during this attack we
21 were at our headquarters that was situated here and
22 I took a photograph. From this window I was able to see
23 tall buildings and I could see the smoke from the impact
24 behind the tall buildings.
25 Q. You have described a range of shell impacts covering a
1 certain area. Do you recall whether there were any tall
2 buildings directly to the west of any of the points of
3 impact?
4 A. There was a lot of tall buildings in the area here.
5 Q. Indicating to the west/north-west of the circle you have
6 marked in green?
7 A. Yes.
8 Q. You have before you exhibit 91. Did you mark the photo
9 in some way, when you took it, that is? Did you put
10 something on the photo to denote a northerly direction?
11 A. No, I did not.
12 Q. I take it it is critical that you know which way is
13 north vis-a-vis this footprint on this photo, exhibit
14 91, for you to be able to perform your analysis; is that
15 correct?
16 A. Yes, of course we know but when we are using the
17 analysis we were there at the spot having our compass,
18 so we knew the direction. We knew that north was in
19 that direction, south in that direction, east in that
20 direction, west in that direction.
21 Q. Are you able to recreate the exercise by identifying a
22 northerly direction on exhibit 91, or do you have to
23 work backwards; that is remember the direction of the
24 shell and then deduce the direction north, working
25 backwards?
1 A. I would not be able to see in this picture where
2 north -- okay I can remember the direction, I would be
3 able to put my compass, you have to turn the picture
4 like this and that is north.
5 Q. When you put your compass on the picture, you were
6 illustrating the technique you used at the time, not
7 suggesting that in fact you recall that north is in a
8 particular location on this photo; is that right, Major?
9 A. Yes. Our analysis was down there at the spot of this
10 impact.
11 Q. Did you make a written report or analysis of the
12 shelling?
13 A. When we came back after this fact-finding mission, we
14 discussed it at our headquarters and we made a normal
15 report about that. I cannot remember if we made any
16 complaints to Colonel Blaskic about this, but reports
17 were made.
18 Q. This investigation though, were you charged with someone
19 to go out and investigate or did you respond of your own
20 initiative and investigate based on your own initiative?
21 A. I cannot recall because we were just ordered to go out
22 and investigate.
23 Q. By Ambassador Thebault?
24 A. Yes, or maybe the duty officer.
25 Q. Did they say, "Go out and do an analysis", or "Go take a
1 look." What was the nature of your charge; do you
2 recall?
3 A. No.
4 Q. At the time of your investigation, did you know where
5 any HVO artillery pieces were specifically located?
6 A. We had heard from the British battalion that there were
7 HVO positions in that area and that fits with the
8 direction.
9 Q. So that was your belief at the time you were conducting
10 your investigation?
11 A. Yes.
12 Q. What about any army of BiH artillery locations.
13 A. We were not informed.
14 Q. How about Serb artillery positions to the west or north
15 of Travnik?
16 A. Later on Zenica as well as Vitez was shelled by the
17 Bosnian Serb Army from positions north of Travnik, and
18 at that time, because I can remember later on
19 investigating that, because HVO were claiming that BiH
20 were shelling Vitez and BiH were claiming that HVO were
21 shelling Zenica, then we went out to do this
22 investigation and I can remember that our findings were
23 that these attacks were the Bosnian Serb Army shelling
24 Zenica and Vitez from the same position north of
25 Travnik.
1 Q. Do you know, after the 19th April attack, where the army
2 of BiH alleged or claims the shells had come from?
3 A. At that time, both side claimed that it was the opposite
4 part who were shelling them. Therefore we wanted to
5 investigate in this and our findings were that, if I can
6 remember, one of the attacks against Zenica and Vitez
7 was from the Bosnian Serb Army.
8 Q. Can you estimate how many ethnic Croats were living in
9 the town of Zenica at the time of the shelling?
10 A. I cannot remember the exact numbers. As far as I can
11 remember, maybe 20,000 Croats were living in Zenica
12 area.
13 Q. In the municipality or in town?
14 A. In the municipality.
15 Q. How about in town. Would that be a much smaller
16 number?
17 A. I do not know, because --
18 Q. Okay, that is fine.
19 A. They were living together because in Zenica, the Croats
20 and the Muslims were living together in the same areas.
21 Q. Was Zenica shelled roughly half a dozen times after the
22 19th during the course of your tour?
23 A. Yes, and this attack on the 19th was the only attack
24 where we concluded that this was done by the HVO. The
25 other attacks, our conclusions were that this was made
1 by Bosnian Serb Army.
2 Q. So you concluded that during this period of time at
3 least from April 20th into May and June, the Bosnian
4 Serbs were regularly shelling Zenica; is that right?
5 A. Yes, that is correct.
6 Q. You said that the attack in the Vitez and Ahmici areas
7 on 16th April were well planned and were planned at a
8 high level. Do you recall that?
9 A. Yes.
10 Q. You also said that the operation on that day, you
11 estimated, involved 500 to 600 men. Do you recall that?
12 A. Yes.
13 Q. How many men are there in a battalion?
14 A. In a normal battalion or in a battalion down there?
15 Q. First in a normal battalion how many?
16 A. That is normally 500 to 600 men.
17 Q. In a HVO battalion, if you know?
18 A. More or less because it was difficult -- some of the
19 brigades down there had only 100 men, and some of them
20 have 300.
21 JUDGE JORDA: I think you have already asked this question,
22 Mr. Hayman. There have been very many questions about
23 the military organisation of the HVO et cetera.
24 MR. HAYMAN: When you say you believe the operation on
25 16th April was planned at a high level, what level do
1 you mean?
2 A. Higher than brigade level, because, as I told you just
3 before, some of the brigades were only having maybe 100
4 or 300 people, so therefore it should be more than a
5 brigade commander to do that.
6 Q. So it is your judgment that it involved however many
7 brigades were necessary to add up to at least 500 men;
8 is that your opinion?
9 A. Yes.
10 Q. So your opinion is, put another way, that any
11 combination of men that would reach 500 could have been
12 the level at which it was planned, as long as it was
13 co-ordination between those units; is that right?
14 A. Yes.
15 Q. To plan the type of operation that you observed on
16 16th April, I would like to try and form a mental list
17 with you; I want you to articulate it for us, of what
18 would have to be done. Let me ask you some questions in
19 that regard. In your opinion, would stockpiles of
20 ammunitions have to be predeployed?
21 A. Predeployed or taken with you.
22 Q. So you do not believe munitions would have to be
23 prestaged or prelocated somewhere?
24 A. No.
25 Q. If they were not, would they have to be gathered at a
1 munitions depot or warehouse and issued to the soldiers?
2 A. Yes, because if they were going to deploy all the
3 ammunition before the attack, then the other part would
4 know that something was going on.
5 Q. So either munitions had to be predeployed or the
6 soldiers had to be rounded up somewhere approximate to a
7 munitions facility or warehouse and issued extra
8 munitions; is that right?
9 A. Yes.
10 Q. Would any battlefield communications equipment have to
11 be predeployed?
12 A. Normally you are bringing your radios with you.
13 Q. Just take them with you?
14 A. Yes.
15 Q. How many trucks would it take to transport 500 to 600
16 men?
17 A. It all depends on the need, the transport, because
18 normally the infantry are using their feet, and the
19 distance from Vitez to Ahmici is not longer than
20 soldiers are able to walk by foot.
21 Q. You are saying either the 600 soldiers marched to the
22 operation; if not, how many trucks would be required to
23 move a specific number of men? Can you fit 20 men in a
24 truck, 40 men, 50 men?
25 A. It would all depend on the kind of truck. I think you
1 would have to use 30 or 40 trucks.
2 Q. Would you need any extra fuel? Would that have to be
3 predeployed or not?
4 A. You would bring it with you.
5 Q. Put it in the back of the truck?
6 A. Or if you go back to get some more soldiers you would
7 have the opportunity to refuel your vehicles.
8 Q. Would there be an operation or an exercise with respect
9 to fighting in built-up areas before this type of
10 well-planned operation in a built-up area?
11 A. That should be the normal way to do it, because before
12 an operation like this, you have to prepare soldiers for
13 it. You have to tell them -- that is the normal way to
14 do it.
15 Q. The normal way to do it is tell every soldier exactly
16 what their task is; is that right?
17 A. Yes, and train them for it.
18 Q. And then train them to carry out that task; correct?
19 A. Yes.
20 Q. To do that, would you have to gather these 500 or 600
21 men together for briefings?
22 A. Not necessarily. It is efficient if you just bring in
23 the commanders and give the orders to the commanders and
24 then the lower commanders can exercise their own units.
25 Q. If the 500 or 600 men were not gathered together in one
1 place, is it your opinion that the specific instructions
2 to the men in the field were issued at the brigade
3 commander or lower levels?
4 A. I think the brigade commanders gave the orders as they
5 have got their orders from the HVO headquarters, so the
6 brigade commanders were the men who were responsible to
7 train the soldiers for the operation.
8 Q. Major, how do you know whether the brigade commanders
9 repeated orders or changed orders? Were you there?
10 A. No.
11 Q. How do you know whether the brigade commanders repeated
12 orders or changed orders?
13 A. It is normal in a brigade commanders are doing what they
14 are told.
15 Q. In a normal army they would repeat the orders they
16 received and the soldiers below them would obey those
17 orders; correct?
18 A. Mm.
19 Q. We have already seen from the order we looked at about
20 Red Cross access that there were orders given to this
21 army that were not obeyed; correct?
22 A. Yes. But the operation was carried out, was it not?
23 Q. A tragedy occurred, Major. Would special battle orders
24 have to be prepared, in your view?
25 A. Yes.
1 Q. What would those look like?
2 A. Normally in the western armies, when you are giving a
3 battle order, you have to tell them about the task; you
4 have to tell about your own situation, about the enemy's
5 situation; you have to tell them how you will
6 co-ordinate the operation; you will tell them about
7 communications; you will tell them about logistics.
8 That is the normal contents of a combat order.
9 Q. If such special combat orders are not issued, what is
10 likely to result, if you send men out on a mission
11 without having given those types of orders?
12 A. They will not be able to fulfil their operation.
13 Q. Or an uncontrolled operation will go forward; is that
14 correct? If they are not given specific combat orders
15 in the different areas you have identified?
16 A. I do not think the soldiers, if they did not receive an
17 order, that they would do a thing like this. Even
18 soldiers are human beings. We saw examples down there
19 that some individuals did things like that, but not
20 units like this.
21 Q. This was on a larger scale, was it not?
22 A. Yes. This was happening in Ahmici was not made by
23 individuals or one group of men who did not receive an
24 order and wanted to have something.
25 Q. There was some number of men acting in concert in Ahmici
1 with absolutely no regard for human life; correct?
2 A. Yes.
3 Q. How many men was that? How many men would have been
4 required to destroy that village?
5 A. I do not know.
6 Q. You have no opinion? You have given us an opinion --
7 MR. CAYLEY: Mr. President, can I make an objection, please?
8 Mr. Hayman has asked --
9 JUDGE JORDA: Mr. Prosecutor, make your objection, please.
10 MR. CAYLEY: Mr. Hayman has asked over and over and over again
11 the number of men involved in this operation. I think
12 the witness has answered the question more than once and
13 I think that this line of questioning should move on.
14 JUDGE JORDA: The objection is sustained, Mr. Hayman, you
15 have put this question on a number of occasions. At
16 times, you are asking the witness his opinion as a
17 military expert whether this or that is necessary for an
18 attack, for reserve forces et cetera, and then you tell
19 him you do not have proof of what you are saying, so
20 please choose your angle of approach to the matter.
21 Continue, please.
22 MR. HAYMAN: You have said that 500 to 600 men participated
23 in the operation. How many of them were required in
24 Ahmici? How many of them were required to be present in
25 Ahmici for this operation, in your expert opinion?
1 A. I am not an expert, I have never commanded a unit who --
2 JUDGE JORDA: Mr. Hayman, go on to another question. Whether
3 the expert can tell you that Ahmici was totally
4 destroyed by so many men, that is not a pertinent
5 question. Please do not repeat the question. Continue,
6 I should like to remind you that you said you would
7 finish your cross-examination this afternoon. I wish to
8 remind you that the judges may also have certain
9 questions to put, so please continue.
10 MR. HAYMAN: I understand your Honour and I am moving forward
11 with the greatest speed that I can, but I would like to
12 note for the record that when an expert gives a number
13 of men in an opinion that they believe were involved,
14 the Defence should be entitled to break that number down
15 in terms of its component parts. That was what I was
16 trying to do. If the court insists, I will abandon that
17 area and move on.
18 On 14th or 15th April, what preparations for this
19 operation did you observe?
20 A. We did not observe the preparations because at those two
21 days, I was travelling in Travnik, in the Novi Travnik
22 area.
23 Q. On the 14th you visited the 7th Muslim Brigade; correct?
24 A. Yes.
25 Q. Which is some distance from Vitez; is that right?
1 A. Yes.
2 Q. And you got into Zenica at 3.00 am on the 15th, roughly?
3 A. Yes.
4 Q. And on the 15th, you were back in Novi Travnik
5 investigating the four officers who had been abducted;
6 correct?
7 A. Yes.
8 Q. So you were not in a position to observe any
9 preparations for this operation, correct?
10 A. No.
11 Q. I would like to ask you, of the 500 to 600 men you have
12 described, what component parts would be required for
13 that number; that is how many would participate in an
14 infantry attack and where; how many would participate in
15 artillery attacks, how many would man checkpoints? Can
16 you break that number down for us?
17 A. It all depends on how many artillery units you are going
18 to man, because you have to use people to man the
19 artillery pieces; you have to, as I said, have people to
20 seal the whole area using the checkpoints, then you have
21 a unit to carry out the attack.
22 Q. Major --
23 A. I think that you have to use half of them to carry out
24 the attack and to help those with the logistics and the
25 other half to man the artillery positions and the
1 checkpoints.
2 Q. So in your opinion, 250 to 300 men would be required to
3 man the artillery and the checkpoints?
4 A. Yes.
5 Q. And 250 to 300 to actually carry out infantry attacks in
6 the Vitez and Ahmici areas?
7 A. Yes, and secure the movements.
8 Q. Secure whose movements?
9 A. Those units' own movements, because normally when you
10 are in war and you are moving a unit, one unit would
11 secure the move of the other unit, and when this first
12 unit are in a prime target or area positions, then they
13 will be guarding the area and then take the other unit
14 in front, so I do not say that 300 men were used for the
15 attack.
16 Q. Thank you, I think I understand the concept you are
17 illustrating. Generally, does an artillery attack
18 precede an infantry attack?
19 A. Yes. Normally during this artillery attack the infantry
20 will move on and when the artillery attack stops, the
21 infantry will attack the rest of the target.
22 Q. Will move into the target?
23 A. Yes.
24 Q. Will you estimate from the tracer fire that you saw on
25 the evening of the 16th how many men would be required
1 to generate the amount of tracer fire you saw?
2 A. I am not able to say that.
3 Q. For how long did you observe the tracer fire? A minute,
4 ten minutes, an hour?
5 A. I think we were at the road for half an hour and we saw
6 tracer fire in that time.
7 Q. You also said in your testimony that the HVO was well
8 organised, and you drew our attention to the list of
9 brigades which you obtained from the HVO. Do you recall
10 that testimony?
11 A. Yes.
12 Q. When you say "well organised", do you mean they were
13 well organised on paper or do you mean that they
14 functioned as an organised effective disciplined army?
15 What did you mean when you used the term "well
16 organised"?
17 A. They were well organised on paper and we saw that many
18 of the units were organised as well, but normally, as
19 I told you, in a brigade, in a normal brigade in a
20 western country, there is more men than in those
21 brigades, because some of the brigades were only manned
22 by 100 men, some of them 300 men, so it was more like
23 companies in a western army, but the chain of command
24 was there, from Colonel Blaskic's headquarters to the
25 brigade headquarters, and from the brigade headquarters
1 to the lower levels. That was, as I say -- it was well
2 organised.
3 Q. I understand; when you say "well organised on paper" you
4 mean they had titles for their brigades, they had
5 soldiers broken down into brigades, they even had a
6 telephone list which they shared with each other as well
7 as with international organisations like ECMM; correct?
8 A. Yes. We were able to see that they had a headquarters
9 at the top and this headquarters commanded a lot of
10 subunits and those subunits commanded other subunits.
11 This is the normal chain of command and organisation you
12 see in all armies.
13 Q. That is being well organised on paper, would you agree;
14 that is what that means? People are put in the right
15 cubbyholes, if you will?
16 A. Yes.
17 Q. In terms of whether the HVO functioned like a well
18 organised effective army, that is whether there was
19 respect for the chain of command et cetera, what is your
20 opinion?
21 A. I think there was respect for the chain of command.
22 Q. What do you base that on?
23 A. Because the HVO headquarters gave the brigade commanders
24 orders as you showed us before, and normally those
25 orders were carried out and the brigade commanders gave
1 orders from this order to their units.
2 Q. Normally they were carried out?
3 A. Normally.
4 Q. Your experience with respect to orders being carried
5 out, is that limited to authorisation to clear
6 checkpoints or does it extend to other matters?
7 A. Other matters as well.
8 Q. Such as?
9 A. Local cease-fires in areas. I can remember we had
10 problems in the Kakanj area where there were fightings
11 between HVO and BiH and they were giving orders as
12 well. They fulfilled the orders.
13 Q. Major, were there extraordinary problems in Central
14 Bosnia getting cease-fire orders to stick?
15 A. Yes.
16 Q. There were, were there not?
17 A. Yes.
18 Q. On the part of HVO soldiers violating cease-fires and
19 army soldiers violating cease-fires?
20 A. Yes.
21 Q. If a large number of orders from the zone level to the
22 brigade level were not followed, then the commander at
23 the zone level would not have effective commanding
24 control of the soldiers in that theatre, correct, under
25 his command?
1 A. That is correct, therefore a commander -- if one of his
2 lower commanders is not doing what he is told, he should
3 be replaced with another one.
4 Q. If the commander has the power to do that. Normally the
5 commander would have that power; correct?
6 A. He would and I think he had.
7 Q. Do you know any examples of changing commanders that
8 were fired or recalled and so forth in the --
9 A. I can remember that one HVO commander in the southern
10 part of Colonel Blaskic's area of responsibility was
11 replaced because he refused to attack a civilian target.
12 Q. When was that?
13 A. It was during the period where there were fightings at
14 Kresevo.
15 Q. Did you see this order to attack a civilian target?
16 A. No, probably we were told that.
17 Q. Who told you that?
18 A. The locals down there; the HVO told us that this
19 commander was replaced by another because the
20 aforementioned commander did not want to fulfil this
21 order.
22 Q. Replaced by Colonel Blaskic because he refused to attack
23 a civilian target?
24 A. Yes.
25 Q. Have you told that to anyone before in connection with
1 this case?
2 A. I cannot recall.
3 Q. Is it in your statement to the Tribunal investigators?
4 A. No.
5 Q. Is it in your diary?
6 A. No, it is not in my diary.
7 Q. Do you have any documents or notes to support it?
8 A. I think and I can remember it was a matter discussed at
9 the UNPROFOR headquarters in Kiseljak as well, that one
10 of the commanders in that area was replaced, and we
11 wondered where he was.
12 Q. Do you have any notes, any documentation, any minutes,
13 any ECMM reports to support that?
14 A. No. I can only tell the court what I heard. Maybe
15 there will be some witness from UNPROFOR, from the
16 headquarters in Kiseljak, who is able to tell the court
17 about it.
18 Q. If the usher could assist?
19 A. When I say he was replaced because he refused to attack
20 a civilian target, I meant he refused, as we were told,
21 to attack a village.
22 Q. If you could place this, perhaps with the assistance of
23 the usher, on the ELMO?
24 By way of background, your Honour, this is an
25 order from General Blaskic. The first page, front and
1 back, is an English translation; the second page is a
2 poor copy of a BSC original. These were provided by the
3 Office of the Tribunal Prosecutor to us.
4 MR. CAYLEY: We do not have a back on ours.
5 JUDGE JORDA: We do not have all the documents.
6 MR. HAYMAN: Would you agree, Major, before we look at the
7 document, that if discipline becomes a critical problem
8 in a fighting force, then those soldiers who are
9 undisciplined must be removed from their units?
10 A. Yes.
11 Q. Their uniforms must be taken away and their weapons must
12 be taken away; do you agree? That is the proper course
13 of action if discipline reaches a critical problem?
14 A. Yes.
15 Q. Let us look at this order together. Perhaps we could
16 enlarge the image and we could do it half a page at
17 a time, please. The top, 17th March 1993, 1200 hours:
18 "Treatment of persons inclined towards criminal
19 and disruptive conduct. Order for the attention of...",
20 and there is a list. For brevity I will skip over the
21 list for now of various entities, units and so forth.
22 If you could move the paper up slightly?
23 "In order to prevent the recurring, openly
24 disruptive conduct of individuals in HVO uniforms and
25 the HVO armed formations insignia and raise combat
1 readiness, I hereby issue the following order:
2 "(1) immediately order platoon, company and
3 battalion commanders at all levels to assess the conduct
4 of conscripts and name the persons inclined toward
5 disruptive and criminal conduct, in particular ...
6 Responsibility: brigade commander", and there is a date
7 given for completion and fulfilment of the order:
8 "(2) to identify the cause, consequences of the
9 conduct disruptive to order and discipline in an unit or
10 command for each conscript prone to discipline conduct
11 in the unit or command.
12 "(3) persons prone to disruptive conduct shall
13 return their weapons, uniform and other [rest illegible]
14 and appropriate wartime assignment according to the
15 decree.
16 "(4) Should a member of an armed HVO formation
17 decline to surrender to competent military bodies [part
18 illegible] he shall be arrested and disarmed and
19 disciplinary and other measures shall be obtained
20 against him. The assistant for EMKP (abbreviation
21 unknown) shall remove their names from the register
22 (rest illegible). Commanders at all levels shall be
23 responsible for covering conscripts prone to disruptive
24 and criminal conduct, in particular who have been
25 recorded as such in the records of platoon, company
1 et cetera."
2 Two more short paragraphs in terms of carrying out
3 the order and then it indicates:
4 "Commander: Tihomir Blaskic", signed and stamped.
5 Would you agree that this appears to be an order
6 designed to remove undisciplined elements from the HVO?
7 A. Yes.
8 Q. Is it unusual for an order like this to have to be
9 issued, in terms of a professional western army?
10 A. I have not seen that it has been necessary in other
11 armies.
12 Q. You have not seen --
13 A. No.
14 Q. You have not seen situations so extreme that this type
15 of an order was necessary, is that what you are saying?
16 A. What I want, because --
17 Q. Major, is that what you are saying? Do you agree with
18 that? I did not get an answer to the question, I am
19 afraid. Are you saying you have not seen a situation so
20 extreme in other armies that an order of this type was
21 necessary; is that right?
22 A. No, because normally other armies -- I do not know if
23 HVO had it, we have standard operational planning,
24 called SOP, where things like this are in, people know
25 how to react if things like this should happen.
1 Therefore it is not necessary to give orders like this,
2 because this is a standing order in all other armies,
3 that if someone are doing things like what happened
4 there, they have to be removed.
5 Q. And in wartime, this is a difficult issue to deal with,
6 would you agree, if discipline is breaking down at such
7 a level that this kind of order is required? That is a
8 difficult issue for a commander to deal with?
9 A. Yes.
10 Q. Perhaps if the usher could assist? I would like to ask
11 you: you have described many burned civilian and other
12 structures which you saw in Muslim villages or parts of
13 villages. Would you agree that the bulk of this type of
14 conduct, the evidence of most of this type of conduct
15 which you observed, was on or after 16th April 1993?
16 A. Before and after. It was not an impact.
17 Q. I was wondering if your presence here was exposing us
18 all to external forces of a different type.
19 Before the 16th, would you agree that the burning
20 of structures was only --
21 JUDGE JORDA: It is just a question of the break. Do you
22 wish to finish with this document before the break? It
23 is up to you.
24 MR. HAYMAN: Please, your Honour. If the court wishes to
25 break, that is fine.
1 JUDGE JORDA: Very well. The hearing is adjourned until
2 4.15 pm.
3 (3.55 pm)
4 (A short break)
5 (4.15 pm)
6 JUDGE JORDA: The hearing is resumed. Please have the
7 accused brought in.
8 (Accused brought in)
9 JUDGE JORDA: Mr. Hayman?
10 MR. HAYMAN: Thank you, your Honour.
11 Major, if you could place this most recent order
12 of 22nd April on the ELMO, I would like to have just the
13 most basic portions of the order translated by sight.
14 If we could have the ELMO on, please? If we could zoom
15 slightly? Thank you. It is dated 22nd April 1993 to
16 Vares commanders. The preamble reads:
17 "In order to prevent incidents in which houses and
18 other commercial facilities are set on fire and looted,
19 I hereby issue the following order:
20 "(1) I strictly prohibit the torching of houses
21 and other commercial facilities and looting in the zone
22 of responsibility of the command of the Central Bosnia
23 operations zone controlled by HVO units.
24 "(2) Brigade and independent unit commanders must
25 issue an order to their subordinates to make them
1 responsible for preventing such crimes.
2 "(3) The most stringent measures shall be taken
3 against violators of this order pursuant to the
4 regulation book on military discipline in HVO units."
5 I will omit the last two paragraphs for speed:
6 "Commander Tihomir Blaskic, signed and stamped."
7 JUDGE JORDA: Let us have the numbers for the
8 exhibits, please?
9 THE REGISTRAR: This is D43.
10 JUDGE JORDA: And the previous one?
11 THE REGISTRAR: D42. The previous one is D42. The English
12 version is D42A and the Croatian version D42B.
13 JUDGE JORDA: I should like to remind you that we do not
14 have a French version for the moment. Yes, it is the
15 Croatian version.
16 THE REGISTRAR: A is the English version.
17 JUDGE JORDA: Fine.
18 MR. HAYMAN: Major, do you find this order extraordinary?
19 A. Yes, but it was obviously necessary.
20 Q. If the usher could assist? I have one more order
21 I would like to show you.
22 A. Normally -- if I am allowed to speak -- when we had --
23 ECMM had some copies of Colonel Blaskic's orders, but we
24 only received orders showing agreements concerning
25 cease-fires. We never had copies of those.
1 Q. You did not get a full set of either of the parties'
2 orders; correct?
3 A. No.
4 Q. So it is difficult for you to comment, is it not, on the
5 internal workings and perhaps problems of the HVO? Do
6 you think that is fair?
7 A. Yes, because we had not seen those orders before.
8 Q. I understand. Believe me, I am not faulting you for
9 material you have not seen, far from it. If you could
10 help us, though, by placing this next exhibit on the
11 ELMO? If the ELMO could be enlarged, the image? Thank
12 you. The top date-line of this order is 24th April
13 1993, 0920 hours, titled "Prevention of Uncontrolled
14 Conduct of Commanders and Individuals". It is addressed
15 to commanders of all units in Central Bosnia Operative
16 Zone and I would like to read the preamble first:
17 "Order. After an inspection of the field, it has
18 been observed that lower ranking commanders and their
19 units are acting in an uncontrolled way, failing to
20 carry out orders of their superiors, making arbitrary
21 decisions contrary to issued orders, planning and
22 carrying out personal combat actions, exerting pressure
23 on civilians and interfering with the activities of
24 UNPROFOR, ICRC and the European Monitoring Mission which
25 has negative consequences for the HVO and the soldiers
1 who carry out their assignments in a consistent manner.
2 "In order to prevent such negative consequences
3 and to fully carry out the order issued by the chief of
4 the HVO main headquarters", then a number is given, of
5 that order, "of 22nd April 1993, I hereby order ...",
6 and then I will call your attention to paragraph 3:
7 "Arrest immediately individuals or groups that get
8 out of line and submit a warrant of arrest to the
9 military police unit commander.
10 "(4) you are responsible ..." -- Who would "you"
11 be, Major? Would that be a reference to commanders of
12 units within the zone?
13 A. Yes.
14 Q. "You are responsible for stopping the most extreme
15 individuals and groups who have got out of line, do not
16 protect civilians, burn and destroy civilian
17 facilities", that is a reference to the groups who are
18 doing those things, of course:
19 "This conduct is sheer terrorism. Use all means
20 available, including force, to prevent it."
21 By reference to force, would that include force of
22 arms, Major?
23 A. Yes.
24 Q. Then, I am skipping the last two paragraphs for speed:
25 "Commander Tihomir Blaskic, signed and stamped."
1 If the recitation and the preamble are correct,
2 Major, would you agree that that is indicative of an
3 army that is not functioning properly, in which command
4 and control has broken down?
5 A. I will not say broken down, but in an order like this,
6 you are telling what to do if it should do, but some
7 part of it, it seems, had to be necessary to give an
8 order like this.
9 Q. There has to be some remaining element of control or at
10 least there is an attempt to preserve it, would you
11 agree?
12 A. Yes.
13 Q. I believe that will be Defence exhibit 44?
14 THE REGISTRAR: Yes, it is exhibit D44.
15 MR. HAYMAN: Thank you.
16 JUDGE JORDA: No objection, Mr. Prosecutor?
17 MR. HAYMAN: I would like to make absolutely sure, Major --
18 and I have a few more questions, but I do intend to
19 finish today, I assure you -- I would like to make it
20 absolutely clear what portions of the conflict on April
21 16th you personally observed. You said early in the
22 morning you heard artillery?
23 A. Yes.
24 Q. And then you were stopped at a checkpoint near Vitez and
25 in the course of driving to that checkpoint, you could
1 see smoke rising from portions of Vitez; correct?
2 A. Yes.
3 Q. Did you go into Vitez on the morning of the 16th?
4 A. No, we did not.
5 Q. Did you see anything else of the conflict on the morning
6 of the 16th, any other aspects of it than what I have
7 described?
8 A. I can recall that was the morning where we saw those
9 bodies at the road.
10 Q. You saw five or more individuals laying on the road.
11 A. Yes.
12 Q. And some soldiers off to the side of the road in,
13 I believe, black uniforms; is that right?
14 A. Fired at us when we tried to go to those bodies to
15 investigate them.
16 Q. Other than that, on the morning of the 16th did you see
17 any other portions of the conflict?
18 A. No, we did not.
19 Q. The day of the 16th you spent in Travnik; correct?
20 A. Travnik and Vitez.
21 Q. When you say you spent it in Vitez, I am talking about
22 the daylight hours now?
23 A. The daylight hours we went to Travnik.
24 Q. During the entire daylight hours of the 16th you were
25 neither in the Vitez area or the Ahmici area; correct?
1 A. Yes.
2 Q. You returned to Vitez in the evening perhaps around 9.30
3 pm; correct?
4 A. I cannot recall the exact time.
5 Q. Was it considerably after the dinner hour? I suppose
6 that depends on when your dinner hour is.
7 A. I cannot recall the exact time.
8 Q. Was it dark?
9 A. I think we came back before dark.
10 Q. Where did you go when you first came back to Vitez?
11 A. To our house in Vitez and after that we went to the
12 British battalion and asked them what had happened in
13 that area, because we were a little afraid if our house
14 in Vitez was still there when we came back because of
15 all the shellings in that area before we left it.
16 Q. Before you left to drive to try and return to the Zenica
17 on the evening of the 16th, did you make any other
18 observations about the conflict, the fighting that was
19 going on, or were you not in a position to do that?
20 A. As you know, we had problems with our vehicle, and we
21 wanted to go back to Zenica as quick as possible, so we
22 did not allow ourselves to do anything else but just
23 trying to go home.
24 Q. You were tending to other business, so it is accurate,
25 is it not, that until you started to drive home to
1 Zenica from the point you arrived back in Vitez, you did
2 not make any additional observations concerning the
3 conflict that was going on; correct?
4 A. Correct, but we heard at UNPROFOR, at the British
5 battalion -- because normally when we had been out on a
6 mission in Vitez, normally we went back and we had a
7 visit with the British battalion, telling them about our
8 findings as well, and then the British battalion told us
9 about their findings. This was necessary because
10 sometimes we were travelling in areas where the British
11 battalion had not been and maybe we saw some HVO or BiH
12 positions in those areas, so we just handed over our
13 information to the British battalion and opposite. This
14 was necessary for both of us because we were shot at
15 several times from HVO positions and BiH positions, so
16 therefore we have to help each other, so we were --
17 Q. You briefed them and they briefed you?
18 A. Yes.
19 Q. Right now I am focusing on your personal observations,
20 first hand observations.
21 A. Okay.
22 Q. On the evening then of the 16th, you left the BritBat
23 base in your vehicle?
24 A. Yes.
25 Q. When driving east on the main Vitez/Busovaca road, you
1 observed some tracer fire?
2 A. Yes.
3 Q. For about half an hour, you said?
4 A. Yes, I think it was for half an hour.
5 Q. Then you came to a checkpoint at the Ahmici main road
6 junction?
7 A. Yes.
8 Q. You were not allowed to pass?
9 A. Yes.
10 Q. But from that vantage point you could see many houses
11 burning in Ahmici; is that right?
12 A. Yes, we were able to see that.
13 Q. But you were not able to go up into Ahmici on that day?
14 A. No.
15 Q. Then you went on to Zenica, correct?
16 A. Even if we could go in there, I do not think we had been
17 able to do that because of what was happening there; we
18 were not secure enough ourselves.
19 Q. From where you were though you could not observe any
20 fighting; correct?
21 A. Only all the burning houses and then we saw a few
22 persons in the road and in the window.
23 Q. Other than what I have just described, did you see any
24 other portions of the conflict itself on the 16th?
25 A. No.
1 Q. Are you able to tell us then from your own observations
2 how many of the 250 to 300 men that you believe would be
3 necessary for the infantry portion of the operation on
4 16th April, how many would have been required in Ahmici,
5 or are you not able to say?
6 A. I am not able to say that. As I told you before, I have
7 no experience in how to burn down villages.
8 Q. With your own eyes, you do not know very much, if
9 anything, about the actual conflict in Ahmici, other
10 than it ended with many, many homes being burned and
11 obviously people being killed; is that fair?
12 A. And we know that all those burned houses were not the
13 result of an artillery attack or a mortar attack,
14 because if there have been used artillery or mortars
15 against those buildings, it will normally not put on a
16 fire of this size, so we discussed and we concluded that
17 this fire was put on by -- some men have put on the
18 fire.
19 Q. How many people would it take to burn down a village of
20 that size? That would be the only empirical basis you
21 would have to estimate manpower need; correct?
22 A. I do not know how many men were used in that and I have
23 told you that before.
24 Q. I appreciate your patience. I am trying to make sure
25 the record is clear.
1 You said that in your experience, there would be
2 an HVO forward command post for an operation of the type
3 undertaken on 16th April 1993; is that right?
4 A. That is a normal procedure when an army is going to an
5 operation, then the commander will command his unit from
6 a forward headquarters.
7 Q. If the commander was not at the forward base, would that
8 degrade in any way the ability of the commander to
9 monitor and direct the operation?
10 A. If the commander is not present at the forward
11 headquarters, a representative of the commander should
12 be there.
13 Q. Or else it degrades the commander's ability to monitor
14 and direct the operation; would you agree?
15 A. It all depends which order the commander gave to the
16 units.
17 Q. Some time on April 16th, a phone call was placed to HVO
18 headquarters at the hotel Vitez to try and reach
19 Colonel Blaskic; do you recall that testimony?
20 A. Yes.
21 Q. Who placed that call?
22 A. I can recall that in the morning, we had a call from our
23 headquarters in Zenica, they have been contacted by
24 Hadzihasanovic asking ECMM to get in contact with
25 Colonel Blaskic and ask for a cease-fire.
1 Q. Who placed the call to HVO headquarters? Do you
2 remember?
3 A. This was done by a Canadian lieutenant-colonel, Remi
4 Landry, through our interpreter.
5 Q. You told us that you learned that Blaskic was away from
6 the headquarters; is that right?
7 A. Yes, that is correct.
8 Q. Do you infer from that that perhaps he was at a forward
9 command post?
10 A. Yes, because when all these were happening and we were
11 not able to get in contact with Colonel Blaskic at his
12 headquarters, then he was supposed to be at the forward
13 headquarters. That is the normal way for a commander to
14 react.
15 Q. I am going to ask you to search your memory. Did Remi
16 Landry tell you that he was told that Blaskic was not at
17 the headquarters or simply that he was not available?
18 Do you remember, Major?
19 A. I cannot recall that, but we were not able to contact
20 him at his headquarters.
21 Q. If I could have a page of Mr. Remi Landry's statement
22 placed in front of the witness, your Honour. I would
23 like to see if it refreshes the witness's recollection.
24 JUDGE JORDA: Continue, Mr. Hayman.
25 MR. HAYMAN: Thank you. If we could place this one
1 page before the witness? I would ask his assistance in
2 placing it on the ELMO and that of the usher. Let me
3 call your attention to the top line of the first full
4 paragraph. It reads:
5 "On the early morning of 16th April 1993", so that
6 should help date the reference. Then the paragraph I am
7 going to call your attention to is the third full
8 paragraph beginning "This day ..." Why do we not put it
9 on the ELMO, if you do not mind, and we can read it so
10 everyone can understand the contents? If you could move
11 the document up slightly, Major? Perfect, thank you.
12 The paragraph I would like to call your attention to
13 reads as follows:
14 "This day, I also tried to get in touch with
15 Colonel Blaskic, but I was informed by the HVO
16 headquarters in Vitez that Colonel Blaskic was not
17 available. I cannot recollect to whom I spoke. I was
18 not told where Colonel Blaskic was, nor where I could
19 get in touch with him. I cannot recollect what time
20 I tried to get in touch with Colonel Blaskic this day."
21 Does that refresh your memory, Major, with respect
22 to what you were told on that day by Remi Landry?
23 A. As I told you, we tried to contact him but we were not
24 able to get in contact with him, but if it was because
25 he was not available or he was not at his headquarters,
1 I cannot ...
2 Q. You do not remember?
3 A. No.
4 Q. That is fine, thank you. You said in your direct
5 testimony that you believed in the time-period of your
6 tour that the army of BiH was a beaten army; do you
7 recall that?
8 A. In that area, yes.
9 Q. In the Lasva valley.
10 A. Yes.
11 Q. Again if I could ask the usher's assistance?
12 While that is occurring, your Honour, I believe
13 the last page, just for the record, it will be Defence
14 exhibit D45. The prior order of 24th April 1993 at 0920
15 hours would be D44. This excerpt of a document will be
16 D46. Also for the record --
17 JUDGE JORDA: Mr. Prosecutor, you have comments regarding
18 D44, 45 and 46?
19 MR. CAYLEY: Only, Mr. President, in respect of Defence
20 exhibit 45. Last week, I think you made it clear to
21 both parties that if statements were going to be
22 exhibited in evidence that the entire statement, in its
23 totality, should be exhibited and not just extracts that
24 are particularly relevant or material to one party, so
25 we would ask that the entire statement be exhibited in
1 evidence and not just one page.
2 MR. HAYMAN: We do not need any of that exhibit admitted if
3 the Prosecution objects. Our position is that anything
4 can be used to attempt to refresh a witness whose memory
5 needs refreshing. If one paragraph out of such a
6 document is used, the Prosecution is free to use any
7 other part of that document to seek to refresh
8 recollection, but it does not make a 100-page book
9 necessarily something that must be admitted into
10 evidence.
11 JUDGE JORDA: There are two questions. There is the
12 question of principle and the number of pages. We have
13 dealt with the question of principle upon your request,
14 Mr. Hayman and Mr. Nobilo. Can you tell me how long is
15 this report, this document? How long is it? Yes, you
16 gave me the answer. In that case, the whole document
17 will be admitted, regardless of the number of pages.
18 D45 and then exhibit D46, please do not forget to give
19 us the source of that document to identify it.
20 MR. HAYMAN: I was doing that, your Honour. This document
21 was provided by the Prosecution and it has simply been
22 identified -- let me consult with my counsel across the
23 bar for a moment, your Honour, to check whether I may
24 use a certain phrase. If I may?
25 JUDGE JORDA: Yes, you may. (Pause).
1 MR. HAYMAN: It has been identified to us, your Honour, as a
2 Mil Info Summ, which I believe stands for military
3 information summary generated by the Prince of Wales's
4 own unit or company, dated 8th June 1993. Are you
5 familiar, Major, with the Mil Info Summs generated by
6 the UNPROFOR BritBat forces?
7 A. Yes.
8 Q. If you could place this redacted portion of this Mil
9 Info Summ on the ELMO? If you could move it over just a
10 little? I apologise for having to ask you to assist us
11 in this way.
12 This portion, the pertinent portion of this Mil
13 Info Summ I would like to call to your attention is as
14 follows:
15 "Bila valley. 2 Gen. The expected BiH offensive
16 in the area has begun. A major Muslim push has been
17 made down the Bila valley towards Vitez and Travnik.
18 The villages of Guca Gora", and I will omit the grid or
19 map indicators, "Brahovici, Grahovcici, Bukovica,
20 Radonice and Maline have been captured by the BiH.
21 C/S" -- do you know what that is a reference to?
22 A. That is call signs. That is the normal phrase they use
23 for their units, patrols. Each patrol has their own
24 call sign to use on the radio equipment. Normally the
25 British Battalion were using C/S.
1 Q. It refers to one of the units out in the field?
2 A. Yes.
3 Q. "C/S have witnessed atrocities being committed by the
4 BiH in Guca Gora and C/SS are remaining there in order
5 to provide local protection for the approximate 200 X
6 Croat civilians who are surrounded by the attacking BiH
7 troops. There is a mass move of Croats down through the
8 Bila valley into the Vitez, Novi Bila and Busovaca
9 areas."
10 Major, this was on 8th June 1993. In fact, was
11 the HVO driven out of Travnik within a short period of
12 after this date?
13 A. I cannot recall if it was out of Travnik, but I can
14 recall that BiH did this, that was normally when even as
15 I concluded it was a beaten army, a beaten army is not
16 the same as an army who is not able to fight. Sometimes
17 it was the only way they were able to survive was to
18 make a counter-attack.
19 Q. If the usher could assist?
20 A. I can recall that during this attack, that HVO were
21 shaken.
22 Q. They were shaken?
23 A. Yes.
24 Q. Were they starting to become the beaten army by this
25 time?
1 A. Not the beaten army but I think that BiH succeeded in
2 some of their attacks.
3 Q. Now I would like to turn your attention forward about a
4 month in your tour to this document, which is also a Mil
5 Info Summ from the Prince of Wales's own unit, dated
6 10th July 1993, that is Mil Info Summ, Prince of Wales'
7 own or PWO, 10th July 1993, and I would like to read you
8 the highlighted sections on your copy, if you would be
9 so kind to put it on the ELMO again so that others can
10 follow.
11 Again this document, your Honour, provided to the
12 Defence, I believe pursuant to our discovery motion.
13 Paragraph 10, under the heading "Vitez":
14 "A meeting with the CO" -- is that commonly a term
15 representing commanding officer, Major?
16 A. Yes.
17 Q. "A meeting with the commanding officer and Mimad Alagic,
18 Commander Bosanska Krajina, revealed that Alagic is in
19 command of approximately 12,000 BiH troops and that his
20 current mission is to capture the remaining Croat
21 enclaves of Vitez and Busovaca."
22 Skipping down to heading A:
23 "The aim of the current fighting is to capture the
24 ammo factory", and there is a parenthetical reference to
25 grid coordinates. After the end of the comment, the
1 bottom of that paragraph, it continues:
2 "The secondary objective in this specific area is
3 to cut the HVO MSR."
4 Do you know what MSR is a reference to?
5 A. Not for a moment, but maybe a little later I will recall
6 it.
7 Q. Would you agree it appears to refer to a territory or
8 geographic area under the control of the HVO, something
9 of that sort?
10 A. Maybe.
11 Q. Very well:
12 "The secondary objective in this specific area is
13 to cut the HVO MSR which connects Novi Bila with Vitez",
14 again grid references.
15 "B. More co-ordinated attacks will be made to
16 cut the HVO MSR in the following areas: (i) Novi Bila;
17 (ii) at the Dubravica T-junction; (iii) Nadioci; (iv)
18 the Busovaca T-junction."
19 Then skipping down to the comment that appears
20 approximately eight lines from the bottom:
21 "Comment. If successful, this operation will
22 effectively isolate the Vitez area into five small
23 pockets."
24 Would you agree that the HVO in Vitez and Busovaca
25 had far fewer than the 12,000 men referenced in this
1 document?
2 A. Actually I do not think that this commander of this
3 Bosanska Krajina had all those men. Sometimes
4 commanders were telling you they had a lot of men, we do
5 not always believe them. Here he states that he has all
6 those men. If that is true, then there were more BiH
7 soldiers in this operation than HVO soldiers, I think.
8 Q. I am not sure, did you answer my earlier question
9 whether Travnik fell? Did the HVO lose Travnik in the
10 June/July time-period of 1993?
11 A. I answered you that I cannot recall if Travnik fell.
12 Q. The HVO brigades had been expelled from Zenica back in
13 April; correct?
14 A. Yes. I think actually MSR means "main supply routes".
15 Q. Which would connote some territorial connection?
16 A. Yes, all the roads where they normally were using to
17 bring in and out troops and ammunition and fuel and all
18 that.
19 Q. By the time you departed the theatre, had the HVO also
20 lost about half of its territory that it had held in the
21 Novi Travnik municipality, or do you know?
22 A. I do not know.
23 MR. HAYMAN: Your Honour, I would like to request that these
24 latest exhibits be admitted. I believe this most recent
25 one will be D47.
1 THE REGISTRAR: Yes, it is D47.
2 MR. HAYMAN: I think that will mean that the only exhibit
3 that I have tendered during this examination not
4 admitted or not fully admitted will be the tape, D38.
5 If I can confirm that? If there is no objection to the
6 others?
7 MR. CAYLEY: The two videotapes for which the source has not
8 been identified by my learned friend and secondly, the
9 statement D45, which the court has requested be admitted
10 in totality and not just one page as it is now, so those
11 are the only two exhibits that we would object to being
12 admitted at this stage.
13 JUDGE JORDA: Regarding 45, that is not an objection, as we
14 have ruled that the report be admitted in totality. As
15 for the three tapes, for the first, we were told the
16 source, local TV, as far as I recall. As for the two
17 other clips, they have not been identified. Mr. Hayman
18 could not give us the source. So should they be
19 rejected or not? I am going to consult my colleagues
20 (Pause).
21 The Trial Chamber is of the opinion that these two
22 clips should be admitted as evidence for two reasons:
23 first that the witness recognised through the pictures
24 the people. He did not, of course, identify the source,
25 but he recognised the clips; and secondly, the judges
1 are quite free, it is up to their discretion, to
2 appreciate these two clips, knowing that the source was
3 not formally identified. Therefore, Mme Fauveau, will
4 you give us the numbers for these two tapes?
5 THE REGISTRAR: Actually it is one tape with three clips.
6 The first segment is D38A, the second D38B and D38C.
7 JUDGE JORDA: Thank you.
8 Mr. Hayman?
9 MR. HAYMAN: Your Honour, that concludes my testimony.
10 Thank you Major for sharing your testimony with
11 us.
12 JUDGE JORDA: Very well. I turn to the Prosecution. Do you
13 have any additional questions as this is your witness,
14 Mr. Prosecutor, before my colleagues or I myself have
15 some questions? It is 5.00 pm. Do you have any
16 additional questions?
17 MR. CAYLEY: Mr. President, a number of material issues have
18 been raised by the Defence. I do have quite an
19 extensive re-examination of this witness. I will make
20 it as brief as I can. The witness is prepared to stay
21 another day so that you and your brother judges may ask
22 him further questions, but there are a number of matters
23 which I feel I need to cover for the sake of
24 completeness of this testimony.
25 JUDGE JORDA: Very well. In that case you are going to
1 begin straight away, of course on condition you are not
2 going to do the examination-in-chief all over, only as
3 regards what was new in the cross-examination. Remember
4 that the judges are very attentive and I am sure you
5 will bear that in mind. Mr. Cayley, you have the floor.
6 Re-examined by MR. CAYLEY
7 Q. I will, Mr. President, thank you.
8 Major Baggesen, in order to be as brief as I can
9 I will try and address your cross-examination in blocks
10 rather than go through each and every individual part of
11 your testimony again.
12 You remember that you testified both in your
13 examination-in-chief and your cross-examination that
14 certain civilian prisoners were released in Kiseljak on
15 21st June 1993; that is correct, is it not?
16 A. Yes, that is correct.
17 Q. Were those individuals that were released civilians or
18 soldiers?
19 A. They were all dressed in civilian clothes and when we
20 asked them whether they were civilians or soldiers they
21 told us that they were civilians.
22 Q. Who was the HVO representative that was with you at the
23 time?
24 A. That was Mr. Pero Skopljak from Vitez.
25 Q. You also stated that these particular prisoners had
1 actually come from digging trenches and clearing
2 minefields. Did you complain to Mr. Skopljak about this
3 matter?
4 A. Yes, of course.
5 Q. Who did Mr. Skopljak report to?
6 A. He was supposed to respond to Colonel Blaskic.
7 Q. In your entire service in Central Bosnia, did you ever
8 come across any soldiers who were prisoners of war in
9 HVO prisons?
10 A. Not in HVO prisons.
11 Q. In what capacity were those individuals in HVO prisons?
12 A. They were all civilians, and we knew that because
13 normally when we visit those, we have the opportunity to
14 speak with them and they are all able to tell the same
15 story, that they were civilians.
16 Q. Referring to your cross-examination about the HVO, my
17 learned friend asked you certain questions about the
18 level of health of HVO soldiers. Did you ever
19 personally witness any ill-fed HVO soldiers in the
20 Central Bosnian region that you saw?
21 A. No, I did not, as I did not see any BiH soldiers who
22 were starving.
23 Q. Indeed I think at the Easter celebration that you
24 attended in Vitez, how would you describe the quantity
25 of food that was available there for the HVO?
1 A. I think that was good enough; it was a nice party with a
2 lot of local dishes.
3 Q. But you never witnessed any starving or hungry HVO
4 soldiers in your three months in the region?
5 A. No.
6 Q. Can we now very briefly return to 16th April? You were
7 in Vitez and later in Ahmici. On that day, did you see
8 any Bosnian government soldiers in the area of Vitez or
9 Ahmici, any at all? Did you see any individual soldiers
10 or organised units?
11 A. No, I did not.
12 Q. What were the only soldiers that you saw on that day in
13 the area?
14 A. Only HVO soldiers.
15 Q. If you can address your mind to the kidnapping of the
16 five HVO officers, one of whom was kidnapped on
17 15th April, the other four considerably earlier, and we
18 will not repeat that testimony, but the video clips that
19 were shown by the Defence and which you identified are a
20 ghastly sight. Was that a regular image that was seen
21 on the television in Zenica and Vitez? Was it unusual
22 that such an image should be seen on television?
23 A. No, because there was a local TV station in Zenica and
24 there was TV Vitez, and those were the two medias who
25 were doing their best to inform the public of what had
1 happened and incidents, so it was just to see the news
2 that every day or every second day we were able to see
3 things -- not like the kidnapping, but we were able to
4 see pictures of killed people.
5 Q. So it was a regular occurrence to see such gory images
6 on television?
7 A. Yes, because it was a part -- normally the media was
8 used for propaganda means. Of course, something like
9 this fits in that, but normally we saw a lot of things
10 like that.
11 Q. Indeed the incident of the kidnapping of Commander Totic
12 actually happened in a Bosnian government-controlled
13 area; is that right?
14 A. Yes.
15 Q. And the Bosnian government authorities in Zenica did not
16 prevent the filming of these dead bodyguards and the
17 bystander?
18 A. And even the brigade commander attended a party hosted
19 by the Bosnian Corps the night before.
20 Q. By the brigade commander, you are referring to Commander
21 Totic?
22 A. Yes.
23 Q. Major Baggesen, do you think that the kidnapping of the
24 four staff officers in the Novi Travnik and Travnik area
25 and the kidnapping of Zivko Totic had anything at all to
1 do with what happened on 16th April in Vitez and Ahmici?
2 A. I think that this incident with the kidnapped persons
3 was an isolated incident, and the only reason for this
4 incident was that the Mujahedins wanted to have
5 something they were able to bargain with the HVO about,
6 because at that time, HVO had already taken a lot of the
7 Mujahedins in their custody and now the Mujahedins
8 wanted to take some HVO in their custody so they were
9 able to bargain. That is the normal way the Mujahedins
10 are operating. You can see kidnappings like this in the
11 Middle East and Lebanon and in Afghanistan. I think
12 this incident had nothing to do with the rest of the
13 conflict down there.
14 Q. Specifically the conflict that erupted on 16th April?
15 A. Yes.
16 Q. You do not believe the kidnapping was related to the
17 eruption of the conflict?
18 A. No.
19 Q. In your cross-examination, you were asked many questions
20 on military structures and asked to compare Western
21 European army headquarters structures to the HVO
22 headquarters structure. You equated Colonel Blaskic's
23 command in Vitez to a corps headquarters.
24 A. Yes.
25 Q. In the Danish Army, how large is an army corps?
1 A. 40 or 50,000 people.
2 Q. Was the HVO headquarters or the number of troops that
3 Colonel Blaskic commanded considerably less than this?
4 A. Yes, more or less. I only called Colonel Blaskic's
5 headquarters a corps level because the unit he commanded
6 had the same size as Hadzihasanovic and he was a corps
7 level.
8 Q. But there were many less troops than in a Western
9 European corps?
10 A. Yes.
11 Q. If there were many less troops, you would expect there
12 would be less staff officers in headquarters to command
13 that much smaller corps; is that correct?
14 A. Yes, of course.
15 Q. The Zenica shelling: from your memory, what was the
16 distance of the nearest military target to where those
17 six shells fell? Which shell fell closest to a military
18 target and how far was it away from that target?
19 A. I can remember one of the impact was not -- the impact
20 that was not at the marketplace or the bus stop --
21 I think there was two in the centre where one of the
22 impacts were more in a western direction and I think
23 from that impact to the nearest military -- not a
24 headquarters but an office was 500 metres.
25 Q. You were not sure whether any of those offices were
1 actually military targets?
2 A. From my point of view, they were not military targets,
3 because it was only a minor unit there. The only
4 military target in that area was the corps headquarters
5 at the steel factory.
6 Q. In respect of these offices that were 500 metres away
7 when you are firing a weapon like this, what is the
8 margin of error when you are firing from approximately
9 15 kilometres with a 122 millimetre howitzer in, let us
10 say, a sideways direction to make it simple. What is
11 the margin of error on a well-trained gun crew?
12 A. On a well trained gun crew I would think 50 metres, but
13 with a bad trained crew I think maybe 100 metres.
14 Q. So this was 5 times as bad as a badly trained gun crew?
15 A. Not five times, from 50 to --
16 Q. You said 100 metres would be a badly trained gun crew
17 and this was 500 metres away.
18 A. Yes.
19 Q. So in your professional opinion, what was the target?
20 A. In that area where the impact was, and if you are
21 looking those 100 metres to each side, I was not able to
22 tell you that there were any military targets, so
23 I think that this attack was carried out against a
24 civilian target, and I think the aim of this attack was
25 just to show that HVO were able to attack Zenica with
1 artillery. I cannot see any approach but that.
2 Q. Are you aware of the casualties that were caused by that
3 shelling?
4 A. I cannot remember how many but I think it was about 60.
5 Q. Do you know how many people were killed?
6 A. No, but we heard that a lot of people have been killed
7 at the marketplace, because there was normally a lot of
8 people, civilians, sitting at the marketplace with a
9 small desk selling cigarettes, changing money, because
10 the local money down there because not -- you could not
11 use the local money and you could -- I can remember one
12 time I went to one of them with my zippo lighter and
13 needed gas for my zippo lighter, small desks like that,
14 so there were lots of people like that were killed.
15 Q. It was well known there would have been lots of
16 civilians in that particular area?
17 A. Yes.
18 Q. If we could now move ahead, Major Baggesen, to your time
19 on the Busovaca Joint Commission? Again I am going to
20 move as quickly as I can. How long did you sit on this
21 body approximately?
22 A. Four or five weeks.
23 Q. During that time, did you make regular complaint to the
24 HVO representative about the conduct of HVO soldiers?
25 A. Yes, we did.
1 Q. What was the subject matter of those complaints?
2 A. Normally we did the complaints after we came back to the
3 ECMM house in the afternoon, where we discussed the
4 fact-finding missions we had been on on these mixed
5 teams, and then we made the complaints to HVO and to BiH
6 about our findings and those complaints were normally on
7 killing of civilian persons, burnt down houses, robbed
8 houses and things like that.
9 Q. When was the Busovaca Joint Commission established?
10 A. January 1993.
11 Q. How long did it function for?
12 A. I think five months.
13 Q. From your knowledge and from speaking to your
14 colleagues, were complaints of the nature that you have
15 just described made throughout that period to the HVO
16 representative?
17 A. Yes.
18 Q. Who was that HVO representative reporting to?
19 A. Franjo Nakic was normally reporting to Colonel Blaskic.
20 Q. In fact I think the Defence said Mr. Nakic had been
21 hand-picked for the job by Colonel Blaskic?
22 A. Yes, he was a man we trusted.
23 Q. Communications and orders, very briefly. In military
24 operations, is it normal for a geographical area of
25 command to be cut off from a commander? He may command
1 in a particular area, but he may command another area
2 that is cut off. Is that normal in wartime?
3 A. Yes, it is.
4 Q. In the Danish Army, is that any excuse for not properly
5 organising your command, issuing orders, ensuring
6 control?
7 A. No.
8 Q. You would not be able to ring up your General and say,
9 "I am terribly sorry, General, I cannot make it to this
10 particular area; we are cut off", no?
11 I would just like to show you these orders again.
12 If the witness could be shown Defence exhibit 39. In
13 fact, while you are up, 39, 42A, 43A, 44A.
14 A. I have some of those up here.
15 Q. If you could place D39 on the ELMO? Major Baggesen,
16 what is the date of this order?
17 A. 24th April 1993.
18 Q. Who is the order addressed to? If you could read it out
19 to the court?
20 A. It is addressed to all commanders of units in Central
21 Bosnia Operative Zone, and to brigades and independent
22 units.
23 Q. If you could read the next line?
24 A. "Based on the request by the Chief of the HVO main
25 headquarters", then a number --
1 Q. You can stop there. If you then go to the bottom of the
2 document, and if you could read out to the court to whom
3 copies of this order --
4 A. "A copy to files and a copy to ONO (operations and
5 training body)."
6 Q. What does the phrase "operations and training body" mean
7 to you?
8 A. That is normally the staff officer and his men who are
9 responsible for doing the operation and the training of
10 the soldiers.
11 Q. So the fact that Colonel Blaskic was actually addressing
12 a copy of this order to that body, what would that
13 indicate to you?
14 A. That he had this body.
15 Q. That he had an operations and training body?
16 A. Yes.
17 Q. That he had an establishment for the operations and for
18 the training of soldiers?
19 A. Yes.
20 Q. If you could now move to the next document, D42A, which
21 is the order of 17th March 1993.
22 A. The one dated 17th March?
23 Q. Correct. I would just like to refer you to where it
24 says "for the attention of" and if you could read to
25 whom this order was addressed by Colonel Blaskic.
1 MR. HAYMAN: Your Honour, I do not object to questions about
2 the document, but the document speaks for itself, so to
3 have him read portions I think unnecessarily takes up
4 time and is beneath the expertise of this witness.
5 MR. CAYLEY: Mr. President, if I could comment? It is
6 actually material to the Prosecutor's case to whom
7 Colonel Blaskic was addressing his orders. Mr. Hayman
8 omitted to read part of the document; it is only fair to
9 both parties that a complete picture is presented to the
10 court, and not only part of it which is actually
11 beneficial to one particular party.
12 MR. HAYMAN: They should be admitted in their entirety,
13 translated in their entirety, as part of the record, but
14 what I am saying is to have a witness simply read a
15 portion -- I am going to want to read other portions.
16 It does not end anywhere. These documents will speak
17 for themselves. If he has a question about meaning or
18 something like that, I have no objection.
19 JUDGE JORDA: Mr. Hayman, I should like to remind you that
20 this document was submitted to the Trial Chamber by you
21 as evidence. We are now in the re-examination stage and
22 it seems to me quite normal that the Prosecutor wishes
23 to study the document in accordance with the strategy of
24 the Prosecution, therefore I think there is no problem.
25 Do you intend to have the whole document read,
1 Mr. Prosecutor?
2 MR. CAYLEY: No, your Honour. In respect of all the
3 documents it will be portions omitted by my learned
4 friend. I think, for the sake of completeness and
5 fairness, other parts of the document should be admitted
6 which are material to the Prosecutor's case.
7 MR. HAYMAN: I would like them read in their entirety, your
8 Honour, because otherwise there is no end to it.
9 JUDGE JORDA: Mr. Hayman, the question has been decided.
10 I am going to repeat, but not again: this document was
11 tendered by you and it is quite normal that the
12 Prosecution should use that document when his turn
13 comes.
14 You have the floor.
15 MR. CAYLEY: Thank you Mr. President. If you could just read
16 from where it states "for the attention of" to where it
17 says "to be notified" in brackets. I do not want you to
18 read the entire document.
19 A. "For attention of commanders to HVO Brigades; Independent
20 Units", and those included:
21 "Motorised Division, 4th Light Artillery Rocket
22 Division, Vitezovi Special Taskforce, Vitez Military
23 Police 4th Battalion, Chief of Travnik Police
24 Department, Chief of Travnik Defence Department, and HVO
25 Presidents to be notified."
1 Q. Are these the persons to whom Colonel Blaskic was
2 addressing this order?
3 A. Yes.
4 Q. If I could now ask you to refer to the order dated
5 22nd April 1993?
6 A. Will you please tell me the date again?
7 Q. 22nd April 1993. That is D43A.
8 JUDGE JORDA: D43, is that right?
9 MR. CAYLEY: That is correct, Mr. President.
10 JUDGE JORDA: Go ahead, please.
11 MR. CAYLEY: If you could again read, this is the order
12 dealing with citizens' property, to whom this order was
13 addressed?
14 A. It is addressed to the brigade commanders of Brigade
15 Number 1 to Brigade Number 12, and commanders of
16 individual units, and this includes the 4th Light
17 Artillery Rocket Division, Motorised Division, 4th
18 Battalion Military Police, Vitezovi Special Taskforce
19 and the Communication Company.
20 Q. If you could go to the end of that document and again
21 where the copies are notified, could you just read that
22 to the court?
23 A. "One copy to the addressee, one copy to ONO (operation
24 and training body) and one copy to the files."
25 Q. Again that order is signed and stamped Tihomir Blaskic;
1 is that correct?
2 A. That is correct.
3 Q. If you could go now to the final document, which is
4 Defence exhibit 44A, to whom is this order addressed?
5 A. To commanders of all units in Central Bosnia Operative
6 Zone.
7 Q. If you go to the end of this document, again there are
8 copies to whom?
9 A. "One copy to the addressee, one copy to ONO (operations
10 and training body) and one copy to records."
11 Q. Major Baggesen, all these orders together, does this
12 strike you as a commander who is not able to communicate
13 with his subordinate units?
14 A. No. Actually all these orders show that Colonel Blaskic
15 was commanding all the units because all those units are
16 mentioned as the address at the top of the orders and it
17 shows that he had an operation and training body, and
18 all those orders to all those units show that he was
19 able to communicate, because if he was not able to
20 communicate, he was not able to give out orders like
21 this.
22 Q. You have the orders in front of you. The order dealing
23 with citizens' property is of 22nd April; the order
24 dealing with the treatment of civilians and prisoners is
25 of 24th April and the order dealing with prevention of
1 uncontrolled conduct of commanders and individuals is of
2 24th April. Are they all subsequent to the events that
3 happened in Ahmici and Vitez that you witnessed?
4 A. Yes, all these orders are after that time.
5 Q. So they are orders after the event?
6 A. Yes.
7 MR. CAYLEY: If I may just have a moment, Mr. President?
8 (Pause).
9 JUDGE JORDA: Mr. Cayley, are you ready?
10 MR. CAYLEY: I am, Mr. President and I only have a few more
11 questions so I think we will be able to complete with
12 this witness today.
13 Major Baggesen, while you were serving in Central
14 Bosnia, did you ever compare your command at home with
15 the command of Colonel Blaskic?
16 A. Yes, I did at several times; I compared my unit with
17 both Colonel Blaskic's unit and General Hadzihasanovic's
18 unit.
19 Q. Why did you do that?
20 A. Looking at my own units, a lot of my soldiers they are
21 all, except my staff, part-time soldiers. A lot of them
22 have been doing national service in the Danish Army and
23 some of them are coming to the Home Guard without any
24 military background, and then we trained them. What we
25 saw down there was that HVO and BiH had a lot of
1 soldiers who had been in national service because in
2 Bosnia -- in the whole Yugoslavia, all men had to do 12
3 months' national service in the JNA until 1991, so
4 therefore I think the biggest part of the soldiers in
5 BiH and HVO had the military training from JNA, and then
6 they have the young ones who enlisted after 1991, after
7 the JNA did not exist, then to train those and give them
8 basic military training.
9 Q. So a large number of the soldiers in HVO and BiH had
10 done basic military training in the JNA; is that what
11 you are saying?
12 A. That is correct.
13 Q. I believe the soldiers you command in Denmark are also
14 part-time soldiers, are they not?
15 A. Yes, they are.
16 Q. How much basic training do you give them?
17 A. The ones who have no military background, we train them
18 in the beginning for one week and during this week, we
19 give them the necessary training how to use their
20 personal weapon, we train them in first aid, we train
21 them in their own protection against nuclear,
22 biochemical and chemical weapons and we give them
23 lessons in the law on armed conflicts.
24 Q. You do this all in a week?
25 A. Yes.
1 Q. After this time you issue a weapon to them?
2 A. Yes.
3 Q. They keep that weapon at home, do they not, in the
4 Danish Home Guard?
5 A. Yes, together with the ammunition and the rest of the
6 equipment.
7 Q. Do you have any problems with the soldiers by keeping
8 their weapons at home? Do any soldiers misuse those
9 weapons?
10 A. No, I can only recall one incident in one part of the
11 country years ago, but no incidents.
12 Q. Why do you think that is?
13 A. Because we teach them that they have to take care of
14 those weapons and those ammunitions, so.
15 Q. You have answered my question. In your view, is it
16 simply enough for a commander to issue a written order
17 and do nothing else, or is an officer normally expected
18 to actually follow up on the orders that he issues to
19 ensure they are being obeyed?
20 A. That is the normal and correct way to do it. Normally
21 when I as a commander am giving an order, I will control
22 that this order is carried out in the way I wanted it to
23 be carried out, and I will normally do that to inspect
24 my troops or I will let one of my staff officers do
25 that.
1 Q. You have, I think, 16 companies under your command.
2 A. 17.
3 Q. 17 companies, I apologise. Do you sometimes actually
4 attend a company exercise by surprise, just to see that
5 your orders are being carried out?
6 A. Yes, that is the normal way to do it.
7 Q. But you regularly monitor what is going on.
8 A. Yes.
9 Q. In terms of Central Bosnia, training, there was a war
10 going on, was there not, so it may well have been that
11 there was insufficient time to train soldiers. Do you
12 agree with that?
13 A. Not all the time, because there was a lot of calm
14 periods down there where the soldiers were not at the
15 front, so during those calm periods, they were able to
16 train the soldiers, because they did not have to use all
17 the men at the front. You could have maybe some of the
18 soldiers at the front and the rest could be back in
19 their barracks being given the proper training there.
20 Q. Other than Ahmici and Vitez, did you witness any other
21 military operations involving the HVO and the BiH?
22 A. Me myself, I monitored the situation in the Kakanj area
23 where BiH and HVO were engaged.
24 Q. Other than that, have you ever witnessed what you would
25 term a military engagement between two forces in Central
1 Bosnia?
2 A. No.
3 Q. What were HVO troops doing the rest of the time you were
4 in Central Bosnia?
5 A. I do not know.
6 Q. Major Baggesen, from your experience as a professional
7 officer, 20 years, and your knowledge of the Danish Army
8 and of other armies in Europe, have you ever known of a
9 colonel who is promoted to a general who is not able to
10 perform his duties properly?
11 A. No.
12 Q. Have you ever known of a colonel who was unable to have
13 his orders carried out by junior officers under his
14 command who was subsequently promoted to a general?
15 A. No.
16 Q. Have you ever known of a colonel who was unable to
17 discipline the troops under his command who was
18 subsequently promoted to a general?
19 A. No.
20 Q. Have you ever known of a colonel who failed to carry out
21 the instructions of his political masters who was
22 promoted to a general?
23 A. No, I have not.
24 MR. CAYLEY: I have no further questions for the witness,
25 Mr. President, but I would ask that the court address one
1 matter and that is in respect of exhibits D42A, D43, D39
2 and D44, which were orders which were submitted into
3 evidence by my learned friend and, if they are being
4 admitted by the Defence, the Prosecution would request
5 that an admission be made now by the Defence that these
6 are in fact documents that were signed by their client,
7 that the author of these documents is Colonel Blaskic,
8 and the Prosecution would like that admission on the
9 transcript of the proceedings.
10 JUDGE JORDA: I think there should be no difficulty, because
11 the Defence itself underlined that these documents were
12 signed by Colonel Blaskic.
13 Mr. Hayman?
14 MR. HAYMAN: Your Honour, there is no dispute here, but, as
15 a matter of principle, we are not here to answer the
16 Prosecutor's questions in their case. We offer
17 documents: they can object or they can not object, and
18 this no man's land in between is quite bizarre. I have
19 never seen it before.
20 MR. CAYLEY: Mr. President, a final comment. We are not
21 objecting to these documents. We are merely saying that
22 the Defence tendered them; they tendered them to show
23 that their client was issuing certain orders to prevent
24 certain types of conduct. If they admit them for that
25 purpose, they must by inference be saying that their
1 client is the author of these documents. All the
2 Prosecutor would respectfully request from the court is
3 they be asked to make a formal admission on the
4 transcript that these documents were signed by their
5 client.
6 JUDGE JORDA: Mr. Hayman, Mr. Prosecutor, the Trial Chamber
7 has noted that these exhibits were tendered by the
8 Defence, were signed by Colonel Blaskic which is not at
9 all disputed by the Defence, I assume, Mr. Hayman? It is
10 not disputed?
11 MR. HAYMAN: They speak for themselves. My point was: we are
12 not here to answer the questions of the Prosecution nor to
13 testify on behalf of our client in the Prosecution's
14 case. His opportunity to testify will come in the
15 Defence case.
16 JUDGE JORDA: Listen, I think that the evidence was tendered
17 by the Defence, it was signed by General Blaskic, the
18 exhibits speak for themselves, they were signed by
19 General Blaskic. I think the incident is closed.
20 Have you any further questions, Mr. Prosecutor?
21 MR. CAYLEY: No, thank you very much, Mr. President.
22 JUDGE JORDA: Thank you. I turn now to my colleagues.
23 Judge Riad, do you have any questions to put to the
24 witness please?
25 JUDGE RIAD: Major Baggesen, I am sorry to impose on you
1 some questions; you must be tired by now, because I am.
2 Just some questions concerning the exhibit D43 which
3 relates really to a more general idea which you exposed
4 when you said that the commander has to check whether
5 his orders are carried out, this is part of his
6 responsibility. I want to ask you: if he discovers they
7 are not carried out, what should his attitude be?
8 A. Then, your Honour, he had to speak with the commander
9 who is not willing to fulfil this order and if that is
10 not enough, to replace the commander.
11 Q. To continue this question with the exhibit D43, which is
12 the order rendered on 22nd April 1993, paragraph 3 which
13 in particular was read:
14 "The most stringent measures shall be taken
15 against violators of this order, pursuant to the
16 regulation book on military discipline."
17 First, this order was rendered after the incident
18 of Ahmici, was it not?
19 A. Yes, it was.
20 Q. So all what could be considered as violations were
21 already committed. To your knowledge, has any adequate
22 measure been taken towards those who committed it and
23 who violated this order?
24 A. I do not know, your Honour.
25 Q. You do not know. You also mentioned cases, I think last
1 week and perhaps today too, in which you were sometimes
2 confronted with obstacles from HVO personnel, whether at
3 checkpoint or whether that incident happened when you
4 spoke of this military conversation, if you remember.
5 A. Yes.
6 Q. Thanks to the intervention of General Blaskic when you
7 addressed yourself to him, that was solved.
8 A. Yes, it was.
9 Q. Do you know of any other cases where, having addressed
10 yourself to him, the situation was not solved? Was his
11 order always obeyed?
12 A. Your Honour, I can recall if we had had problems, and we
13 told this to Colonel Blaskic, he was able to solve the
14 problems for us. I cannot recall that we have not been
15 able to do anything having this written order from
16 Colonel Blaskic.
17 Q. Thank you. I would like just to ask another more
18 general question that is just a clarification,
19 concerning the ECMM weekly summary which you presented
20 to us, I think. This is just for my own knowledge. In
21 paragraph 15, it reads as follows:
22 "The declared position of the Bosnian Croat
23 authorities to implement the Vance-Owen Plan forcing the
24 Muslim population to leave the so-called Croat provinces
25 provoked a reaction which resulted in strong and brutal
1 fighting with actions against the civilian population,
2 especially in the Zenica and Vitez regions."
3 Could you perhaps clarify this a little bit? Who
4 reacted and what was this provoked action and how do you
5 relate it with the brutal fighting? What was the other
6 alternative?
7 A. Can I see the document, your Honour, just to recall --
8 Q. I do not know what number it is. Perhaps I can send it
9 to you, because I do not have a number on it.
10 JUDGE JORDA: It is maybe exhibit 90. I think it is 90.
11 THE REGISTRAR: Yes, it is exhibit 90.
12 A. What was happening during this period was that we
13 mentioned this, that HVO wanted to, actually to get rid
14 of all the Muslims in province number 10 and therefore
15 they started all the ethnic cleansing to get the
16 Muslims -- to scare them out of the 10th province.
17 JUDGE RIAD: You seem to relate that to the Vance-Owen
18 Plan.
19 A. Yes, because the Vance-Owen Plan told that province
20 number 10 should be governed by the Croats, and
21 therefore the Croats wanted to have an ethnically clean
22 province, therefore they scared the Muslims out of
23 province number 10. That was our conclusion, your
24 Honour.
25 Q. Because in another moment, you said you opposed the
1 Vance-Owen Plan.
2 A. Yes.
3 Q. So I think it was the Vance-Owen Plan which provoked the
4 whole thing?
5 A. Yes. That is my personal conclusion.
6 Q. But did the Vance-Owen Plan proclaim it as an ethnically
7 pure department?
8 A. No, it did not, but that was how the Croats who were
9 going to govern this province -- this was their reaction
10 because they wanted it like that. That is my own
11 personal view on that.
12 JUDGE RIAD: Thank you very much, Major.
13 JUDGE JORDA: Judge Shahabudden?
14 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEN: Thank you.
15 Major Baggesen, I invite your attention to an
16 interesting piece of cross-examination which was
17 directed to establishing a certain distinction; on the
18 one hand it was put to you that you could have a
19 military force whose functions were purely tactical; on
20 the other hand you could have a military force which was
21 also exercising administrative functions within a
22 defined geographical area. Do you recall that piece of
23 the evidence?
24 A. Yes.
25 Q. I imagine there can be some plasticity in modelling
1 these arrangements. Can you have a situation like this
2 in which you have a military force which is exercising
3 tactical functions but within a defined geographical
4 area?
5 A. Yes.
6 Q. Let us turn a little to the relationship of
7 General Blaskic to those who were superior to him. You
8 said, I thought, that on occasion, he would communicate
9 with General Petkovic in Mostar; is that right?
10 A. Yes.
11 Q. Would he communicate with General Petkovic directly, or
12 would he have to go through some intermediary in Vitez?
13 A. I think that Colonel Blaskic has access directly to
14 General Petkovic.
15 Q. He had direct access?
16 A. Yes, and that is the normal on this command level; the
17 commanders can speak with each other.
18 Q. So within his operational area, in Central Bosnia,
19 General Blaskic had no superior; he would relate to
20 General Petkovic away in Mostar?
21 A. Yes.
22 Q. Let us look at the relations of General Blaskic below
23 him. You showed the court a document which I have
24 marked 98; I hope I am not in error. That is why I have
25 shown it up, that document.
1 A. I can recognise the document.
2 Q. It is a list of brigade commanders serving, I believe,
3 under General Blaskic?
4 A. Yes, that is correct.
5 Q. Two of them interest me. You have a column entitled
6 "Vitez Brigade". Do you see that column?
7 A. Yes.
8 Q. In the next box there is the name Mr. Mario Cerkez.
9 A. Yes.
10 Q. I take it that Mr. Cerkez was therefore the brigade
11 commander in the Vitez area serving under
12 General Blaskic; is that right?
13 A. That is correct.
14 Q. I see that in the fourth box his place, I take it that
15 means his place of work, was at the Vitez cinema; is
16 that right?
17 A. Yes, that is correct.
18 Q. So we are getting the structure. Then three columns
19 below, horizontally, we have a reference to the Ban
20 Jelacic brigade. In the last box we have Kiseljak
21 barracks. That again was intended on this scheme to
22 demonstrate that Kiseljak barracks was commanded by
23 someone who related directly to General Blaskic. Was
24 that the scheme?
25 A. Yes, it was.
1 Q. I come to something else. You made the interesting
2 remark earlier today to the effect, I hope I do not
3 misquote you, that in those areas in which the BiH and
4 the HVO were in confrontation with the Serbs, the
5 tendency was for the BiH and HVO to co-operate; is that
6 right?
7 A. That is correct.
8 Q. That applied for example to a case in which the BiH and
9 the HVO were, as you said, surrounded by the Serbs. Did
10 Serbs surround the Vitez/Ahmici area?
11 A. No, they did not. They were in position further north
12 of that area.
13 Q. Let me ask you about your testimony about the
14 replacement of an HVO commander. I wonder if you
15 remember it.
16 A. Yes.
17 Q. You were cross-examined on the point of some interest as
18 to whether you had mentioned that in your diary or in
19 your written reports.
20 A. I have not, because this was an incident some of the
21 other monitors, one of the other teams, told me that
22 they have been -- they were going to that area near
23 Kiseljak and Kresevo and they were going to have a
24 meeting with this HVO commander whose name I cannot
25 recall and they were told that he was replaced because
1 he did not want to carry out this order to attack a
2 village.
3 Q. So matters of that kind you did not note in your diary
4 or in your written reports?
5 A. No, because it was not my area of responsibility.
6 Q. I turn to exhibit 89A. It is entitled "Routine Team
7 Tasks". It says that the tasks allocated to each team
8 within its own area of responsibility will usually be,
9 (iii):
10 "Routinely liaise with military authorities of the
11 HVO, BiH Armija, BSA and UN as appropriate."
12 You recall that?
13 A. Yes.
14 Q. I want you to focus on the HVO and the BiH Armija.
15 There was a conflict, as we know, between the Bosnian
16 Croats and the Bosnian Muslims. Your task, I imagine,
17 was to assist in reducing the level of tension between
18 those two groups if you could; am I right, general?
19 A. That is correct and we tried to make local cease-fires.
20 Q. In the course of discharging those responsibilities, you
21 would occupy yourself, for example, with making
22 cease-fire agreements, is that right, or promoting them?
23 A. Yes, that is correct.
24 Q. If you had to promote the making of a cease-fire
25 agreement between those two groups, would you think it
1 sufficient to have as the two parties someone on the
2 side of the HVO and someone on the side of the BiH, or
3 would you also want to bring in other informal armed
4 groups and have them sign the document?
5 A. Normally when we did things like that it was not on a
6 local level; normally it involved Colonel Blaskic and
7 General Hadzihasanovic.
8 Q. I see, the two principal parties, as it were.
9 A. Yes, both of the two commanders signed this agreement.
10 Q. I turn to exhibit D45, the document signed by your
11 colleague Mr. Landry, I think. It was the penultimate
12 paragraph which I think was read out by counsel to you.
13 A. Yes.
14 Q. The one in which Mr. Landry said that he was informed by
15 the HVO headquarters in Vitez that Colonel Blaskic was
16 not available, and then there was some discussion as to
17 whether that meant he was not in the premises or he
18 might be elsewhere, but not within access. It goes on:
19 "I cannot recollect to whom I spoke. I was not
20 told where Colonel Blaskic was, nor where I could get in
21 touch with him."
22 What would that sentence bring to your mind:
23 "I was not told where Colonel Blaskic was, nor
24 where I could get in touch with him."
25 A. Because if they told us where we were able to contact
1 Colonel Blaskic, they had to tell us where they had
2 their forward headquarters, I think.
3 Q. In other words, would that sentence signify to your mind
4 that Colonel Blaskic was in the hotel Vitez or was out
5 of the hotel Vitez?
6 A. Out of the hotel Vitez.
7 Q. I come to exhibit D42A, dated 17th March. The rubric
8 was read out by you a little earlier. I want you to
9 focus on two things and to explain them to me. The
10 document is issued "for the attention of commanders to
11 HVO brigades, independent units". What might be the
12 meaning of that term, "independent units"?
13 A. As I see it, the independent units are commanded
14 directly by Colonel Blaskic. They are not belonging to
15 one of the brigades but they are having their orders
16 directly from Colonel Blaskic.
17 Q. Directly from him. Now, two lines down we have a
18 reference to the Vitezovi special taskforce. Did you
19 see that Vitezovi special taskforce?
20 A. Mr. Hayman asked me in the beginning of his
21 cross-examination if I have ever seen this unit called
22 Vitezovi or another unit called the Jokers. I have
23 maybe seen them, but I have not been aware if they were
24 belonging to --
25 Q. This suggests too that whatever it was it was within the
1 command of Colonel Blaskic, does it not?
2 A. No doubt about that.
3 Q. All right, good. Would that also apply to the next
4 document, D43A, which was also addressed inter alia to
5 the Vitezovi special taskforce. That document would
6 likewise suggest to you that the Vitezovi special
7 taskforce came within the command of Colonel Blaskic,
8 would it?
9 A. Yes, and it says as well that he commanded the
10 communications.
11 Q. I want you to pause there as I ask you this: these
12 documents were all issued after 16th April. On the
13 16th, you were in communication with General Blaskic's
14 headquarters?
15 A. Yes.
16 Q. About this matter. Was there any publicity given on
17 that day or the next day to the events which took place
18 in Vitez and in Ahmici? Was there any TV coverage or
19 so?
20 A. I cannot recall if there were any television --
21 Q. Pardon? I did not get that.
22 A. I cannot recall if there have been any TV stations
23 covering this. I can remember that the day after, after
24 I think M Thebault, together with the head of the ECMM
25 in Zenica -- Ambassador Thebault, together with the --
1 with the commander of the British Battalion, they went
2 to Ahmici and this was covered by Sky News, one of the
3 international TV stations.
4 Q. So there was some international coverage then?
5 A. Yes, and actually I think that these orders are a result
6 of all this because Colonel Blaskic was aware of all --
7 that the whole world was looking at this incident.
8 Q. I did not ask you that, Major. That is an inference
9 that the court may wish to consider, one way or another,
10 later on.
11 A. Sorry.
12 Q. Thank you. In one of the documents, Colonel Blaskic
13 enjoined his subordinate officers to arrest any
14 malfeasors, any violators of the laws of international
15 humanitarian justice. You answered my colleague,
16 Judge Riad, by saying that you did not know whether any
17 steps had been taken. Is that a correct rendering of
18 what you said?
19 A. Yes.
20 Q. I put it differently then to you. As you were in touch,
21 you or your organisation was in touch with the HVO at
22 high level over these developments, if any steps had
23 been taken by the HVO to discipline any violators, would
24 that have come to your knowledge?
25 A. I think maybe we would be able to see the result of
1 that, but we were not informed about what they did, so
2 I do not know if they carried out this particular piece.
3 Q. But you say you were not informed?
4 A. No.
5 Q. If any steps had been taken; that is the position?
6 A. Yes.
7 Q. I see. The last document before me is, I think, exhibit
8 39A. That opens with the words in the operative
9 paragraph -- I wonder if I am misleading you so I had
10 better hold up my paper to you so you can see visually
11 what I have in mind. It is a document issued by
12 General Blaskic dated 24th April. I have annotated it
13 39A.
14 A. I have it here, your Honour.
15 Q. It opens with the words "Based on the request by the
16 Chief of the HVO Main Headquarters, reference number of
17 22nd April 1993."
18 Who was that Chief of the HVO Main Headquarters as
19 mentioned by General Blaskic here?
20 A. I think Colonel Blaskic is referring to
21 General Petkovic.
22 Q. Pardon?
23 A. I think, your Honour, that Colonel Blaskic is referring
24 to General Petkovic.
25 Q. In Mostar?
1 A. Yes.
2 JUDGE SHAHABUDDEN: I see. Thank you very much, Major.
3 JUDGE JORDA: I have one or two questions because everyone
4 is tired, you first of all and then the interpreters as
5 well. Regarding the questions put to you by the
6 Prosecution making a comparison between the Danish Army,
7 your own Home Guard that you were in charge of, the army
8 of the BH and the HVO, you were saying that it was a
9 professional army that had undergone professional
10 training; therefore you said that it was an organised
11 army regarding the HVO; are we agreed? Is that correct?
12 A. I did not say --
13 Q. I just want to know whether I am not mistaken regarding
14 your interpretation when you made a comparison between
15 Western armies and the army of Bosnia-Herzegovina and
16 the structure of the HVO. I think that you said that
17 they could be compared in terms of military organisation
18 and training; am I right?
19 A. Yes, but I did not say that it was a professional army.
20 I was comparing an HVO unit and BiH unit with my unit
21 who are consisting of part-time soldiers and the biggest
22 part of those soldiers had had national service in the
23 army, so a lot of the soldiers --
24 Q. I have understood, yes, you already said that, so I do
25 not want you to repeat it. I am focusing on a rather
1 important problem. You spoke about training in Denmark,
2 regarding the law on armed conflicts.
3 A. Yes.
4 Q. I want to know whether during your mission in Central
5 Bosnia you had the impression that the soldiers which
6 comprised the HVO and the BH-Army, but I am focusing on
7 the HVO; did they have occasion to have any training on
8 international humanitarian law and specifically the law
9 on armed conflicts?
10 A. I do not think they had that training.
11 Q. Thank you. My second and last question: before
12 17th March, the series of orders that have been conveyed
13 to us, did you have the impression or the knowledge that
14 Colonel Blaskic gave any orders similar to these before
15 the attack took place? Colonel Blaskic, later
16 General Blaskic, did he pass any orders to prevent such
17 incidents or do you have the impression that these were
18 isolated and that they were issued in the period that
19 followed these incidents?
20 A. I think that these orders were only given after
21 16th April. We have not seen or we have not been told
22 about similar orders given before that.
23 Q. Do you have the impression that in an organised army,
24 this type of order would be given at the beginning of a
25 conflict or in the preparations for a conflict? Does it
1 seem to you to be normal that a colonel with important
2 responsibilities should give orders of this kind?
3 A. No, this order, Mr. President, should have been given on
4 a more earlier stage at the conflict.
5 JUDGE JORDA: That is it.
6 Very well, thank you, commander, for your
7 contribution to the International Criminal Tribunal.
8 The court wishes to thank you once again.
9 We are going to adjourn for today and meet again
10 tomorrow at 10.00 am. I should like to remind you,
11 I think, that the Registrar has already told the Defence
12 that we will finish work on Wednesday evening. I hope
13 that has already been communicated to the parties. The
14 meeting is adjourned until tomorrow at 10.00 am.
15 (The witness withdrew)
16 (6.15 pm)
17 (Court adjourned until 10.00 am the following day)
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