Page 10072
1 Wednesday, 19 June 2002
2 [Open session]
3 [The accused entered court]
4 --- Upon commencing at 9.07 a.m.
5 JUDGE ORIE: Good morning to everyone in the courtroom, in and
6 around the courtroom.
7 Madam Registrar, would you please call the case.
8 THE REGISTRAR: Good morning, Your Honours. This is Case Number
9 IT-98-29-T, the Prosecutor versus Stanislav Galic.
10 JUDGE ORIE: Thank you, Madam Registrar.
11 I am informed that the Defence wanted to address the Chamber.
12 Mr. Piletta-Zanin, please proceed.
13 MR. PILETTA-ZANIN: [Interpretation] Thank you, Mr. President and
14 Your Honours. Just a moment, please.
15 [Defence counsel confer]
16 MR. PILETTA-ZANIN: [Interpretation] First of all, Mr. President, I
17 am just being reminded, Ms. Pilipovic has asked me that if we can
18 cross-examine the witness in tandem for practical and technical reasons,
19 and I am thinking in advance for your decision.
20 Now, the reason why we wanted to address your Chamber is the
21 following: Very soon, we are to hear a witness -- excuse me. We are
22 going to hear a witness here whose name -- who is Vahid Karavelic. And in
23 relation to this witness, the Defence has just received - that is,
24 received it yesterday - received a supplementary information sheet
25 yesterday concerning this witness.
Page 10073
1 First of all, as far as the form is concerned, I understand that
2 the courtesy has gone right out of this courtroom, which I regret very
3 much. I believe that this document was drafted by the Prosecution, and I
4 can read some rather unpleasant things. I don't think that it is not
5 forbidden that if we are to -- if we are talking about an accused who is
6 presumed innocent, that we speak of an accused as a "Mr. Galic" or a
7 "General Galic," but just to speak of him as "Galic," Mr. President and
8 Your Honours, this rather shows a rather lack of courtesy. I think that
9 this is a question of form and I think that we should re-invent courtesy
10 here. That is --
11 JUDGE ORIE: [Previous translation continues]...ask you, if there
12 is something that you would not like to happen in this courtroom, until
13 now, as far as I can see, we are not informed about anything in respect
14 of the Witness Karavelic. If you could solve the matter with the
15 Prosecutor, then whatever is unpleasant will not come to the eyes or to
16 the ears of the Court. What you are doing now is to introduce something
17 which comes from the Prosecution and which is not yet known to the Court.
18 If you could prevent it from coming to the Court.
19 MR. PILETTA-ZANIN: [Interpretation] Yes, I will do my best,
20 Mr. President. Thank you. But the reason why we should intervene is the
21 following: In this supplementary information that we received yesterday,
22 we can see that there is a number of things that seem extraordinary, to
23 say the least. This is a high officer, Lieutenant General, or a General,
24 who was normally interviewed by the Prosecution a few months ago, and we
25 can see that a few days before the end of the case, this witness who is
Page 10074
1 certainly being worked by or supported by three parties present at the
2 interview, is saying in a very determined way like there were never any
3 mortars in Sarajevo, claiming that only some vehicles were used, saying
4 that in relation to some manufacturing plants of weapons ammunition, that
5 this is not true, and so on and so on.
6 [Trial Chamber confers]
7 JUDGE ORIE: Mr. Piletta-Zanin, as you noticed, the Chamber just
8 conferred. We are now confronted with some arguments on a witness we
9 have not heard yet, and although I see that he is scheduled on the list,
10 I do not know whether whatever is in your papers will be his testimony in
11 this Court. The Chamber thinks that it is not proper to discuss evidence,
12 or potential evidence, which has not been presented yet and which even
13 might not be presented at all.
14 So, therefore, if you could inform us about the purpose of your
15 intervention and it could not --
16 MR. PILETTA-ZANIN: [Interpretation] Yes --
17 JUDGE ORIE: -- to discuss what is in any additional written
18 statement of the potential witness. Yes.
19 MR. PILETTA-ZANIN: [Interpretation] Yes, I will, Mr. President.
20 The objective of my intervention is to say the following: There is a
21 decision which took place in January of this year in case Naletilic, Tuta,
22 IT-98-48-T, which rejected certain information that was tardily given by
23 the Prosecution. We believe that we are in a very similar situation to
24 that one, even comparable situation. And what we want to say is that
25 bearing in mind this new information, this new piece of information which
Page 10075
1 arrived very belatedly, and are trying to cover what the Defence has
2 managed to show so far, that is, trying to show the opposite of what the
3 Prosecution was saying. Now, if the witness is heard by your Chamber, and
4 bearing in mind the rather extraordinary evidence that he is going to give
5 after three representatives from the Prosecution interviewed him, we
6 believe that it will be the duty of your Chamber to remind him -- express
7 provisions about what will happen if he gives false testimony.
8 I believe that it is 98 or 99 -- Rule 98 or 99 which is dealing
9 with false testimony, and we will ask before this witness testifies that
10 he is very clearly informed of the consequences of what we call false
11 testimony.
12 JUDGE ORIE: Thank you, Mr. Piletta-Zanin. The Chamber will
13 consider whether it is appropriate to do this prior to testimony given or
14 during testimony in Court. And at least it takes another month, as far as
15 I can see, before this witness is scheduled to testify in this Court. So
16 we have some time to consider the matter.
17 Mr. Ierace.
18 MR. IERACE: I have nothing to add, Mr. President. We are ready
19 to proceed.
20 JUDGE ORIE: Yes. You are ready to proceed.
21 Madam Usher, could you please escort the witness into the
22 courtroom.
23 [The witness entered court]
24 WITNESS: FRANCIS BRIQUEMONT [Resumed]
25 [Witness answered through interpreter]
Page 10076
1 JUDGE ORIE: [Interpretation] Good morning, Mr. Briquemont.
2 Perhaps it is not necessary, but I would like to draw your attention to
3 the fact that you are still bound by the solemn declaration that you gave
4 yesterday at the beginning of your testimony.
5 [In English] Mr. Ierace, please proceed.
6 MR. IERACE: Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. President, I have a
7 number of documents to show to the witness. I wonder if that could most
8 efficiently be done by giving them to the witness sequentially and
9 individually, or perhaps in one large bundle and the witness going through
10 them.
11 JUDGE ORIE: If no confusion is created, Mr. Ierace, I leave it
12 to you.
13 MR. IERACE: Mr. President, I will start off doing it one by one
14 and see how we go with time. I ask the witness be shown Prosecution
15 Exhibit 1740.
16 While that's being done, perhaps I can ask the witness a question
17 Examined by Mr. Ierace: [Continued]
18 Q. Good morning, General. Could you tell us who Viktor Andreev was?
19 A. Good morning, Mr. Ierace. Viktor Andreev was a Civil Affairs who
20 was the representative of the representative of the Secretary General of
21 the United Nations, and as soon as he arrived, he told me that he had many
22 difficulties to work in his hierarchy or chain of command, if I can call
23 it the chain of command, and that he was placing himself completely at my
24 disposal. He helped me as much as he could. He was Russian, so he could
25 speak easily or more easily than others. He was able to speak with the
Page 10077
1 Serbs. And I was taking into consideration all of these aspects of the
2 way my collaborators work. But certainly, he always helped me working as
3 a deputy.
4 JUDGE NIETO-NAVIA: [Interpreted] For the transcript, you said that
5 Mr. Andreev, that he was the representative of the representative of the
6 representative. That's just for the transcript
7 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Your Honour, perhaps I should not
8 try to express myself this way but I was just trying to say --
9 JUDGE NIETO-NAVIA: [Interpreted] That is very well, but the
10 transcript says representative of the Secretary General.
11 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] No, he was not the representative of
12 the Secretary General, of course.
13 JUDGE ORIE: Mr. Briquemont, you were asked who Mr. Andreev was,
14 and you answered that question and you gave quite some additional
15 information on the person. This Chamber is aware that the Prosecution is
16 under some time restraint and might be interested in specific information
17 you would not think of, and on the other hand, the Chamber might perhaps
18 already have been aware of other information you are giving. Could I ask
19 to listen carefully to the questions of the Prosecution, answer them, and
20 if there is any additional information, whether he spoke the language or
21 not, it might be that the Prosecution is highly interested to know, they
22 will ask you. But perhaps they have totally different purpose of putting
23 that question to you, for example, to know his age or to know when he
24 arrived. So would you please listen carefully to the question and then
25 answer to that specific question, and whatever other information is
Page 10078
1 needed, the Prosecution certainly will ask you. This is not to be
2 impolite to you, but we are under heavy time restraint and that is the
3 reason why I am asking you.
4 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Yes. I apologise, Mr. President.
5 JUDGE ORIE: No need to excuse. But please proceed, Mr. Ierace.
6 MR. IERACE: Thank you, Mr. President.
7 Q. General, could you tell us who a gentleman by the name of De Mello
8 was?
9 A. Sergio De Mello was officially the representative of the
10 representative of the Secretary General of the United Nations and he was
11 a deputy of Mr. Stoltenberg.
12 Q. Thank you for that.
13 MR. IERACE: Mr. President, at this stage, it would be appropriate
14 to go into closed session, given the nature of the document. There are
15 one or two others of the same category and I will deal with all of those
16 together. I imagine we will be in closed session for approximately 10
17 minutes.
18 JUDGE ORIE: Yes. Could we then turn into closed session.
19 I see it is confirmed on my screen that we are in closed session
20 now.
21 [Closed session]
22 [redacted]
23 [redacted]
24 [redacted]
25 [redacted]
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11 [Open session]
12 JUDGE ORIE: We are now in open session.
13 MR. IERACE: Thank you, Mr. President. I ask the witness be shown
14 Exhibit P1522.
15 Q. General, in relation to this document, does it appear to be the
16 first Igman agreement which was signed on the 11th of August, 1993?
17 A. No. I think that the agreement, Mr. Ierace, is the military part
18 of the peace agreement of Mr. Stoltenberg and Lord Owen. If I see the
19 date -- if you look at the first page, it says: Designed to work out
20 arrangements for bringing about compliance," and so forth, the cessation
21 of hostilities and so on. So I believe that this was the agreement --
22 well, the military aspect of the peace agreement that Mr. Stoltenberg
23 hoped to present to the three parties.
24 Q. My apology for that. You are quite correct. If you could please
25 turn to page 7 of that document. We see the signatures of General Mladic
Page 10095
1 and yourself amongst others on the agreement.
2 A. Yes, indeed.
3 MR. IERACE: Might that be returned. And might the witness be
4 shown Exhibit 2082.
5 Q. Sir, is this a letter from you addressed to Dr. Karadzic dated the
6 8th of January, 1994, in which you inform him that a crater analysis of a
7 shell impact on Sarajevo airport which occurred on the 5th of January, you
8 believed to demonstrate conclusively that the source of the fire was from
9 the side occupied by the Serb military, in particular, it emanated from
10 the area of Lukavica?
11 A. Yes, that is correct. I don't have to make any comment in
12 relation to this letter.
13 Q. All right.
14 MR. IERACE: Might that be returned. Might the witness be shown
15 Exhibit P1928.
16 JUDGE ORIE: Mr. Ierace, may I just ask you, the document just
17 shown to the witness, P2082, contains two letters and annexes. Are they
18 -- do they have any relevance because you didn't ask --
19 MR. IERACE: No. And I am mindful of the time, Mr. President. I
20 think --
21 JUDGE ORIE: So this first letter, the front page --
22 MR. IERACE: I will be seeking to tender the bundle. I think that
23 those documents speak for themselves in relation to the same incident.
24 JUDGE ORIE: Yes, but then of course just to -- I mean, the second
25 page, I take it that you want to then verify that this is a letter that
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Page 10097
1 came from --
2 MR. IERACE: I am happy to do that, Mr. President, if you think it
3 appropriate. Might that document be returned to the witness.
4 Q. Would you please turn to the following page? And do we see a
5 letter, also addressed from you, on this occasion to President Izetbegovic
6 on the same date, complaining of attacks or the use of artillery in and
7 around the airport and a warning which you delivered to him that the
8 humanitarian airlift will be suspended unless you receive his assurances
9 that such an attack would not be repeated?
10 A. This letter is correct. My worry, Mr. Ierace, was that every
11 time a shell exploded not very far from the airport, the people from NATO
12 said that they wouldn't come again to bring humanitarian aid. So I was
13 doing my best with both sides in order to avoid all shelling in the
14 vicinity of the airport because the humanitarian aid was meant for the
15 whole city of Sarajevo, in fact, for the whole of Bosnia.
16 Q. Thank you for that.
17 MR. IERACE: Mr. President, may the witness be shown P1955.
18 MR. PILETTA-ZANIN: [Interpretation] Mr. President, I apologise.
19 But if we look at these two letters, we see that they do not have an
20 annex, and now that you mention it, the entire bundle of the documents
21 that is presented by the Prosecution, there are three other documents
22 that were not officially annexed to either of the letters. So I don't
23 know what Mr. Ierace proposes to do with this bundle and these documents,
24 whether he is going to tender them or not tender them.
25 JUDGE ORIE: Mr. Ierace, to the other documents as well, and I see
Page 10098
1 a map where it identified that there is at least part of Sarajevo on it
2 but --
3 MR. IERACE: Mr. President, in order to save time, I don't -- I
4 won't tender this document in due course. I think the relevant parts --
5 JUDGE ORIE: The relevant parts. Okay. Then you will indicate
6 what these are.
7 Please proceed.
8 MR. IERACE: Mr. President, just to correct that, what I propose
9 to do is not take those documents any further with this witness.
10 JUDGE ORIE: Yes.
11 MR. IERACE: The relevant parts or, rather, the parts upon which I
12 rely have now gone into evidence through the oral evidence.
13 JUDGE ORIE: Yes.
14 MR. IERACE: Thank you. Does the witness have 1955?
15 Thank you.
16 Q. General, in front of you do you have --
17 A. If you allow me, Mr. Ierace, I have before me two documents, P1928
18 and the P1955. So I have two documents before me.
19 A. Thank you. I will deal with 1928 first. Is 1928 a letter from
20 General Delic, addressed to you, complaining -- dated the 6th of December
21 1993, complaining that the city, that is the city of Sarajevo, had
22 received heavy shelling? And I refer you to the first paragraph.
23 A. Mr. Ierace, this letter is dated the 6th of December, so the day
24 that General Delic sent me this letter, his troops launched three attacks
25 in Sarajevo against held positions. I have to say that the development of
Page 10099
1 the head of the Muslim army was very clear in this month of December. He
2 was convinced that the Muslim forces were sufficiently well-organised
3 in order to be able to resume their offensive anywhere, either in Central
4 Bosnia or in Sarajevo. I have to say receiving this letter on the 6th of
5 December in the evening was very strange for me. In fact, General Delic
6 authorised himself to launch attacks from Sarajevo and he was asking me to
7 intervene with the Serbs in order not to respond. This was the kind
8 of letter to which I didn't really attach much importance. I saw
9 General Delic again immediately in order to discuss this problem. It has
10 to be made very clear, I believe, for the Tribunal, that in December both
11 sides were determined to continue the war because there was no peace
12 agreement.
13 Q. General, if I could perhaps clarify the interest of the Tribunal
14 to you. In terms of blame or fault - with your leave, Mr. President - the
15 primary interest is, one might say, is in whether or not there were
16 attacks either deliberately or indiscriminately on civilian targets or
17 civilian areas. In your answer, you referred to the steps taken by
18 General Delic to continue to prosecute the armed conflict.
19 But my question is directed to simply, in the first instance,
20 whether that is what General Delic said in his letter, that is, he
21 complained that the city had been exposed to heavy shelling. I think
22 your -- perhaps if you could just focus on that question and agree or
23 disagree that that is what the letter expresses.
24 A. Mr. Ierace, I am trying to answer your question as clearly as
25 possible.
Page 10100
1 MR. IERACE: Mr. President, would it be appropriate at this stage
2 to direct the witness to answer the question? I am very conscious of the
3 time limits that the Prosecution is working under.
4 JUDGE ORIE: The witness indicated that he was trying to answer
5 the question as clearly as possible.
6 MR. PILETTA-ZANIN: [Interpretation] Yes, the General was about to
7 say that he wanted to answer the question. And let us let him.
8 JUDGE ORIE: [Previous translation continues]...decide on the
9 suggestion of Mr. Ierace.
10 Could you please answer the question, that is, whether this letter
11 indicates that General Delic was sending you a letter in which he says
12 that Sarajevo has been exposed to heavy shelling.
13 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] It is certain that the city of
14 Sarajevo on the 6th of December was shelled, but the troops, Muslim
15 troops, launched at 4, 6, and 8 in the morning, attacks from the city.
16 The Serbs responded. How do you want to avoid shelling of the city of
17 Sarajevo?
18 MR. IERACE:
19 Q. General, could I direct your attention to some specific words in
20 the letter, and again I emphasise I am simply asking at this stage whether
21 the letter states certain things. In the first paragraph, does General
22 Delic refer to "all available weapons having been used during the
23 past days," that is days plural, "including combat aircraft," and then in
24 brackets does he say: "Yesterday we talked about it." End brackets.
25 "The city of Sarajevo has been exposed to heavy shelling."
Page 10101
1 In other words, I am not asking you at this stage whether
2 General Delic was at fault, but simply whether they were the terms of his
3 complaint to you in this letter dated the 6th of December?
4 A. When I say in the first paragraph and when you read the words
5 "including combat aircraft," combat aircraft was never used in Bosnia
6 among the parties, at least during my period of command, by either
7 parties. So in this first paragraph, we can see that it is a paragraph
8 which is over-dramatising the situation. But I do repeat, Sarajevo was
9 shelled in a much more intense way in the month of December.
10 So this part of the letter does correspond to the reality, but
11 what General Delic doesn't say is that he himself launched the offences
12 from the city of Sarajevo against the Serbs
13 JUDGE ORIE: [Previous translation continues]...Mr. Ierace. When
14 you read the words "where all available weapons have been used," what
15 would that refer to? I mean, in your question, it is not quite clear.
16 MR. IERACE: I agree, Mr. President. There are other cities
17 referred to as well.
18 JUDGE ORIE: Would "where" not refer to the other cities?
19 MR. IERACE: Yes. It is not clear where the combat aircraft was
20 used.
21 JUDGE ORIE: Would you then please --
22 MR. IERACE: Yes.
23 JUDGE ORIE: I think it is there, when I read it, it is: Beside
24 the offensive activities of the Serb aggressor in the area of
25 responsibility of the cities of Tuzla, Zivinice, Kalesija and Teocak,
Page 10102
1 where all available weapons have been used." So beside the offensives
2 there, where all weapons have been used, "The city of Sarajevo has been
3 exposed to heavy shelling." Or am I wrong in reading?
4 MR. IERACE: Not at all, Mr. President.
5 JUDGE ORIE: Please proceed.
6 MR. IERACE:
7 Q. General, in general terms, in relation to that first week in
8 December, you have told us so far that there was shelling of the city of
9 Sarajevo, that at some stage, either before, during or after that
10 shelling, there was an offensive by the government forces, and that
11 offensive was conducted with the objective of cutting the Pale road. Is
12 that the case?
13 I withdraw that.
14 Is it your evidence, as I understand it, that there was shelling
15 of the city of Sarajevo that week and at some stage there was an offensive
16 by the government military forces that week as well. Is that correct?
17 A. That is correct.
18 Q. Now, during --
19 A. Talking about -- I am sorry, Mr. Ierace. When you are talking
20 about the government, you mean the Bosnian government of Sarajevo. Very
21 well.
22 Q. Now during that shelling of Sarajevo by the Serb military forces,
23 firstly, regardless of which part of those forces did it, were civilian
24 targets hit in the city?
25 MR. PILETTA-ZANIN: [Interpretation] I have to intervene, but the
Page 10103
1 French booth is correcting itself. Thank you.
2 JUDGE ORIE: Could you please answer the question,
3 Mr. Briquemont? It is where --
4 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] There is no doubt that during the
5 shelling the civilians were hit.
6 MR. IERACE:
7 Q. All right.
8 Now my next question is: Did it appear to you that those civilian
9 targets hit by the shelling coming from the Serb side were deliberately
10 hit?
11 A. I think that when two sides were responding, one to the actions of
12 the other, they were in fact targeting military targets. I am trying to
13 think of some areas, particularly in order to retake some areas,
14 particularly those that were dominating the city. Here I have to give you
15 an explanation which would be of a military aspect.
16 I was really struck by the age of the ammunition that was used for
17 Sarajevo. Some of the shells never exploded --
18 Q. If I can interrupt you there.
19 JUDGE ORIE: I would like the General to continue.
20 MR. IERACE: As you please, Mr. President.
21 JUDGE ORIE: Please continue, Mr. Briquemont.
22 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] I think perhaps this is a technical
23 matter. But when one fires very old ammunition, there is a lot that can
24 happen. It can misfire, it wouldn't work. So I can give you some
25 explanation that we believed at the Main Staff, we thought that 10 to 20
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Page 10105
1 per cent of the shells never exploded. On the other hand, when you have
2 a bad functioning of the weapons, then some of these shells wouldn't fall
3 exactly where they were meant to fall. So when we want to make a very
4 honest assessment of what happened in Sarajevo, one has to bear in mind
5 about some technical aspects. Thank you, Mr. President.
6 JUDGE ORIE: [Previous translation continues]...Mr. Ierace?
7 Q. General, I appreciate you explaining in general terms of what
8 happened in terms of the quality of the artillery shells, but my question
9 is in relation to that week, to the civilian targets being hit, and simply
10 whether or not you had a view, you had an opinion, as to whether the
11 civilian targets had been deliberately hit? In other words, had they been
12 targeted deliberately?
13 A. I think that I already answered this question.
14 MR. IERACE: Mr. President, that completes examination-in-chief.
15 Thank you.
16 JUDGE ORIE: Thank you, Mr. Ierace.
17 Ms. Pilipovic, is it you who is going to cross-examine the
18 witness?
19 MS. PILIPOVIC: [Interpretation] Yes, Your Honour. Thank you, Your
20 Honour, I will start examination-in-chief.
21 JUDGE ORIE: Please proceed.
22 MR. PILETTA-ZANIN: [Interpretation] Mr. President, let me remind
23 you that we had asked for authorisation to work in tandem.
24 JUDGE ORIE: Yes, I do agree. As you know, that has no
25 consequences as far as the time is concerned.
Page 10106
1 Please proceed, Ms. Pilipovic.
2 MS. PILIPOVIC: [Interpretation] Thank you, Your Honour.
3 Cross-examined by Ms. Pilipovic:
4 Q. [Interpretation] Good morning, General.
5 A. Good morning.
6 Q. General, yesterday we started your testimony practical by you
7 looking at the Resolution of the Security Council, 836, dated 4th of
8 June, 1993. And yesterday, on page 59 of the transcript, line 69, you
9 said that as a General, you never could understand the actual resolution.
10 I am interpreting your words. Could you please confirm if this is what
11 you said?
12 A. Yes, that is correct.
13 Q. Thank you, General.
14 In the course of the examination-in-chief by my learned colleague,
15 at one point you said that you would give a better interpretation of the
16 resolution if you had a look at it, or rather if you had a copy with you.
17 A. Yes. I wanted to show -- point out the ambiguities in the
18 resolution where they spoke both of legitimate defence, but legitimate
19 defence is something we always have. But I especially wanted to point out
20 what was realistic when the Security Council said that in a light version,
21 and I think that I said to the Tribunal that as a General, "light version"
22 didn't mean anything in operation -- didn't mean anything in operational
23 terms. That I had been promised 6.000 men, that that was the only way to
24 be able to receive reinforcements and the -- in personnel, and the only
25 way to ensure the defence of the safe zones. And I can tell you that
Page 10107
1 Defence means very much something different for us military people as the
2 diplomats in New York.
3 I repeat that it was an extremely ambiguous resolution which was
4 very difficult for the Security Council to sign, and for the military
5 personnel that it was and for General Cot, didn't really mean anything at
6 all any more when we looked at how things were really happening on the
7 ground.
8 THE INTERPRETER: He said, "unrealistic," not "realistic."
9 MS. PILIPOVIC: [Interpretation]
10 Q. General, the Defence would ask you to have a look at the
11 resolution dated 4th of June 1993, Resolution 836. The Defence has copied
12 part of the resolution, page 3. I would like you -- if you can clarify
13 the items 5 and 6 of the resolution.
14 MS. PILIPOVIC: [Interpretation] I would ask the usher, the page 3
15 of the resolution, that is the number of the exhibit of the Prosecution is
16 P3715. For practical reasons, we copied items 5 and 6.
17 Your Honour, considering that the Prosecution has made a proposal
18 that as an exhibit the P3715 would be tendered as an exhibit, we just
19 copied that page, the relevant page.
20 Q. General, you have before you page 3 of 836 Resolution. First of
21 all, I would like to ask you to read item 5 of the resolution.
22 A. Are you asking me to read out loud, is that what you are asking?
23 Q. If you find item 5 clear, then you can just interpret for us item
24 5 of the said Resolution.
25 A. If you will allow me, I would like to read it very quickly, read
Page 10108
1 the paragraph very quickly.
2 Q. Thank you. Thank you, General.
3 A. I have read the paragraph. These are words which from the point
4 that I was not receiving any reinforcements in military terms no longer
5 had any significance, at least when I was being asked to deter attacks
6 against the safe areas, to promote the withdrawal and so on or the
7 ceasefire monitors. For that, I would have needed thousands of additional
8 men, men I didn't have. Have I answered your question?
9 Q. Yes, General. Thank you.
10 General, could you tell us within item 5, considering that what is
11 mentioned is defence resistance to attack of protected areas, you as a
12 General and a military expert, can you clarify or at least explain what
13 is meant by the term "protected area"?
14 A. The safe areas that were determined, as I said yesterday, for five
15 cities, Sarajevo, Tuzla, Gorazde, Zepa and Srebrenica, these were the
16 areas where we were supposed to protect the population, preventing any
17 attacks on those zones or areas. I think there was two areas where we
18 succeeded in determining the exact limits of the safe areas, that is
19 Srebrenica and -- but there were even challenges about that in the south
20 of that and around Zepa.
21 When I arrived in Sarajevo, and I said that yesterday,
22 General Morillon was making an effort in order to exactly delineate on the
23 ground what the borders of the safe areas were as regards Sarajevo. It
24 was essential for us military people to determine those lines. When the
25 politicians or the diplomats had used a pencil in order to mark out the
Page 10109
1 thickness of what was written, the pencil already represented several
2 kilometres. And so were never able to delineate exactly on the ground
3 what the limits of the safe areas were and this caused constant and
4 eternal discussions and in fact, I would say that I interpreted somewhat
5 as the commander in chief what the limits were, and those limits in the
6 end did -- corresponded to the areas occupied by the parties, both the
7 parties, facing one another, but did not certainly correspond to any
8 limit, any border, which would allow us to carry out the mission which had
9 been given to us by the Security Council. To do so, we would have had to
10 have withdrawals or advances by one or other of the other parties.
11 JUDGE ORIE: I see you are looking --
12 MS. PILIPOVIC: [Interpretation] I think this is a good moment for
13 the break.
14 JUDGE ORIE: We will adjourn until 11.00.
15 --- Recess taken at 10.30 a.m.
16 --- On resuming at 11.05 a.m.
17 JUDGE ORIE: Please proceed, Ms. Pilipovic.
18 MS. PILIPOVIC: [Interpretation] Thank you, Your Honour. Thank
19 you, Your Honour.
20 Q. General, before the break, we spoke about the safe areas and you
21 told us that Sarajevo, on the basis of Resolution 836, also was a safe
22 area. General, can you tell us if Sarajevo, as a city, could be
23 considered a protected safe area?
24 A. Sarajevo was the city, the safe area, which I was really -- if I
25 had to best protect it because that is where I had the most troops.
Page 10110
1 Asserting that it was protected with the troops that I had, I would say
2 no.
3 Q. General, when you speak of the city of Sarajevo, do you -- did you
4 understand by the term of "protected zone of Sarajevo," understand the
5 area under the control of the BiH army or also the part of the city which
6 was under the control of the Serb army?
7 A. It is clear that in my mind the safe area of Sarajevo was to be or
8 should have included the crests which overlook -- or the ridges that
9 overlook Sarajevo but I have already explained that it was never possible
10 to define exactly what the limits of the safe area, of the regular or
11 normal safe area, of Sarajevo were. And on the ground, in fact, the safe
12 area was, in fact, the one that was occupied by the Muslim -- the Bosnian
13 Muslim troops.
14 Q. General, when you came to the city of Sarajevo, were you aware
15 that the city of Sarajevo was composed of 10 municipalities?
16 A. Yes. I was familiar with the general organisation of Sarajevo,
17 but when you say "municipalities," if I could compare with that a city
18 like Paris, they were more "arrondisements" with local mayors, but I knew
19 that the city of Sarajevo was composed of a whole group of municipalities.
20 Q. When you say that you knew that the city of Sarajevo had a whole
21 series of municipalities, as far as you remember and on the basis of the
22 information you received during your stay in Sarajevo, were you aware of
23 how the city of Sarajevo was divided? To be more precise, did you know
24 which parts of the city of Sarajevo were under the control of the Serb
25 army and which parts under the control of the BH army?
Page 10111
1 A. Of course we had a relatively exact idea of the areas occupied
2 respectively by the Serbs, Muslims and even the Croats. Because the
3 Croats who were fighting with the Muslims and that more or less coincided
4 with the contact line or the confrontation line.
5 Q. General, you told us today that the safe area which you controlled
6 was the area under the control of the Muslim army. Can you confirm to us
7 that the Muslim soldiers used the protection of the UN to organise their
8 soldiers in those safe areas?
9 A. I think that I have already answered that question. It is clear
10 that as of October or November of 1993, and I pointed this out in reports
11 to the highest United Nations authorities, in which I told them that the
12 safe areas were becoming a trap for the UN troops because if the Muslim
13 troops took advantage of those areas in order to organise themselves and
14 to launch operations, military operations, from the safe areas, we were
15 completely out of -- we were completely skewed in respect of Security
16 Resolution 836. The documents are well-known, and I could even refer to
17 what I say in my book, where I almost completely repeated a document that
18 was sent in January to the United Nations authorities in order to point
19 out the dangers of that trap.
20 Q. General, as far as I have understood you, the Muslims abused the
21 protection of the UN in the safe areas to organise their own army and to
22 launch attacks from those safe areas. Can you explain to us what were the
23 UN and UNPROFOR motives to allow such illegal activities of the Muslim
24 army in the safe areas?
25 A. I leave you the responsibility for the word "abuse." And that is
Page 10112
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Page 10113
1 the whole problem of this Resolution 836. I never had the military assets
2 which were sufficient in order to prevent either of the parties from
3 militarily organising itself. And if I can illustrate the problem to the
4 Tribunal, I would say that my mandate, at the very best of things or the
5 very worst of things, was limited to humanitarian assistance. And
6 that by going to Mount Igman, I was already beyond the mandate that had
7 been given to me. It was never modified. And so I would say that I never
8 had the assets which would allow me to prevent either of the warring
9 parties from organising itself, from provoking things or from launching
10 military operations.
11 Q. General, are you telling us that according to you, UNPROFOR did
12 not fulfill its mandate in respect of Sarajevo as a protected area in
13 accordance with Resolution 836?
14 A. Madam, I said one day in Sarajevo during a radio broadcast that I
15 didn't even continue to read the Security Council resolutions because
16 they were of absolutely no use to me. Now, you can conclude from that
17 that the UNPROFOR troops were not in a position to carry out their
18 mission. I would simply add that in order to carry out a mission, one
19 must have the means in order to do so.
20 Q. General, thank you.
21 General, can you confirm to us that on July 12th, when you came to
22 Sarajevo in 1993, whether you were informed that operations Lukavac 93 was
23 being conducted by the Bosnian Serb army and that operation included
24 Jahorina, Treskavica, Bjelasnica, Trnovo, and started from July to August,
25 1993, and all three warring factions took part in that operation?
Page 10114
1 A. When I arrived on the 12th of July, I was briefed about the
2 situation. I believe that there was a war which was widespread all over
3 Bosnia, but it was in central Bosnia between the Croats and Muslims and
4 all around Sarajevo. I don't remember a specific briefing in respect of
5 the cities that you have just mentioned. All I know is that at the end of
6 July, the Serb troops launched a very significant operation in order to
7 surround Sarajevo by taking control over Mount Igman.
8 Q. General, were you informed, when coming to Sarajevo, about what
9 kind of army and what was the number of soldiers under the control of the
10 BH army in the Igman area?
11 A. Madam, I would first say that the United Nations did not allow us
12 to have an intelligence service. Of course, that was an order we did not
13 respect. We tried as much as possible to have one. When I arrived in
14 Sarajevo, General Morillon transmitted to me a description as accurately
15 as possible of what the situation was. I was -- I knew him very well. We
16 had gone to the war college together in Paris. And so he gave me as much
17 information as he had. And when we spoke about the troops fighting on the
18 ground, it was an estimate, more or less correct, because once again, in
19 order to know the number of units fighting on the ground, one has to have
20 an effective intelligence service, which is something which we of course
21 did not have in the beginning of July 1993.
22 Q. General, you are telling us that you were informed and given an
23 assessment by Mr. Morillon about the persons who took part in the
24 operations. Can you tell us whether you received information about how
25 many soldiers the 1st Corps of the BiH army had which covered a part of
Page 10115
1 the city of Sarajevo?
2 A. I certainly did have information at the time but rather than
3 giving an imaginary figure, I would prefer saying to you that I don't
4 remember any more exactly what that number was. I will give you an
5 explanation now which might be more complete.
6 When one speak about a battalion and armies, that means about 800
7 men. And after some time, we realise that a battalion, whether it for
8 the Serb or Croat or Muslim battalion, that represented only sometimes 150
9 men. They also spoke about army corps. But for us that meant 20.000 or
10 25.000 men. But on the ground, maybe there was 3.000 or 4.000 or 5.000.
11 I am also saying that the Muslim army was being reorganised further to
12 General Delic's orders, so I would say that specific figures are not
13 something that I have.
14 Q. General, if I tell you that the 1st Corps of the BiH army in the
15 documents that the Defence has as a UN report in Sarajevo, that there were
16 there brigades of the 1st Corps of the BiH army, that there was a special
17 -- that there were special forces and that there was also an artillery
18 unit, the number of persons ranged from 25.000 and 45.000. Did you have
19 such information and can you confirm whether such an information was
20 correct?
21 A. Yes, there were several brigades. You could also mention the
22 Croat brigade. If in the United Nations' reports they speak -- they
23 mention those numbers, well, you know, going through 20 to 25 -- figures,
24 I would say 20.000 to 45.000 don't mean very much. I don't know how now
25 these figures are particularly significant for me as a United Nations
Page 10116
1 chief.
2 Q. General, were you informed about the zone of responsibility of
3 the 1st Corps? I apologise, when I say, "1st Corps," I mean the 1st
4 Corps of the BiH army.
5 A. I had understood your question. But I suppose that the zone of
6 responsibility of the 1st Corps had been set by General Delic, who was not
7 really obliged to inform me of which limits he had set for his 1st Corps.
8 But I suppose that his zone of responsibility was to defend the Sarajevo
9 zone which he controlled. I don't really know what other zone of
10 responsibility he might have had.
11 Q. General, when I asked you the question about the area of
12 responsibility of the 1st Corps, I thought that you had been informed of
13 the different strategic locations who were under the control of the 1st
14 Corps of the BiH army and which affected the course of fighting which took
15 part in the part of the city of Sarajevo.
16 If I tell you that the main strategic points in the part of
17 Sarajevo which was under the control of the 1st Corps of the BH army was
18 Hum, Zuc, Kordun [phoen], Mojmilo, Golo Brdo, Prijedor [phoen] Brdo,
19 Igman, Colina Kapa, mala and big, and Dolac Brdo, would you say that this
20 information given to you by the Defence about the strategic points under
21 the control of the BH army was a correct piece of information?
22 A. Yes, absolutely. These are names that remind me of something.
23 One might even add Stup, which was south-west of Zuc. So I think that
24 what you are saying is more or less correct.
25 Q. In your view, what was the strategic and operational importance
Page 10117
1 of the party, of the side, that held these under its control?
2 A. I have to admit I don't really quite understand that question,
3 Mr. President.
4 JUDGE ORIE: Could you rephrase it, Ms. Pilipovic, so that the
5 witness understands.
6 MS. PILIPOVIC: [Interpretation] Yes, Your Honour.
7 Q. General, we agreed that the important areas were Dolac, Preda
8 [phoen], Hum, Mojmilo, Golo Brdo, Colina Kapa and Velika Mala, were areas
9 which were under the control of the 1st Corps of the BH army. If I tell
10 you that these areas were areas from which a part of the city of -- that
11 was an area of the city very much under the control of the BH army, could
12 you tell us that an army that controls such important strategic areas is
13 -- had control of that area?
14 A. Well, I will answer from a military point of view. For me, the
15 most important part among those parts was Mount Igman because Mount Igman
16 had the most important ridges, from which one controlled or could
17 completely control the city. And I would say that for the Bosnian army,
18 that is the Muslims, the Mount Igman had an essential significance because
19 Mount Igman controlled the only road allowing the Sarajevo Muslims to have
20 contact with the outside world through the tunnel that went under the
21 airport and then the roads, or one or two roads, which crossed the wooded
22 area of Mount Igman toward Tarcin, et cetera. And that is why
23 the agreement on Mount Igman was so important for the Bosnian army, and
24 General Delic realised this very clearly.
25 Q. General, when we speak about the brigades of the 1st Corps of the
Page 10118
1 BiH army, can you tell us on the basis of your recollection how much were
2 you informed about the command points of the 1st Corps of the BiH army and
3 the headquarters of -- how well were you informed about the deployment of
4 the command post of that army?
5 A. I said yesterday that the only person I spoke with was General
6 Delic. In Sarajevo was the Sector Sarajevo commander who dealt with both
7 the parties, that is either the Serbs or Muslims, from the point of view
8 of the details of the headquarters. The only one of those headquarters
9 which was very important for me was the 1st Bosnian Corps headquarters,
10 which was on Mount Igman at the time that we signed the agreement.
11 The others, or the location of the other headquarters, was not so
12 important for me because headquarters in operations move around, depending
13 on the fighting. And the exact location of those headquarters did not
14 concern me very much as a commander in chief of the United Nations troops
15 in Bosnia.
16 Q. General, could you tell us, for the United Nations observers who
17 were in Sarajevo positioned on the side, on the Papa side, on the side of
18 the Bosnian Serb army, that is for the United Nations monitors who were on
19 that side, how important for the proper reporting, how important was it to
20 know the command posts, not only of the brigades but also of the
21 battalions and companies of the BH army?
22 THE INTERPRETER: Interpreter correction: Not the Bosnian Serb
23 side, but the BH side.
24 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] The most important for the United
25 Nations observers was to know the contact line between the Serbs and the
Page 10119
1 Muslims, and we knew -- but perhaps we should look at the Sarajevo Sector
2 maps again. We knew the United Nations units that were in Sarajevo. They
3 knew more or less what the limits between the brigades were, that is the
4 Bosnian brigades, because we had quite a few problems with the presence of
5 the Croat brigade in Sarajevo.
6 MS. PILIPOVIC: [Interpretation]
7 Q. General, when you say that the observers had to know the
8 demarcation lines of the warring sides, could you tell us, according to
9 you, from a military aspect, on one side, how deep goes the brigade area?
10 A. I cannot answer that question. I don't have a map any more that I
11 can use. By memory, I could not tell you what the limits of the units
12 were in Sarajevo.
13 Q. General, in principal, could you tell us the depth of the front
14 of one brigade?
15 A. Madam, I am going to tell you what I have already said. Without a
16 situation map, I am not able to answer precisely for this Tribunal.
17 Mr. President, it goes back nine years and I cannot answer this type of
18 question.
19 JUDGE ORIE: It needs no explanation. If you don't know, just
20 tell us and -- or if you do not remember. Yes.
21 Please proceed.
22 MS. PILIPOVIC: [Interpretation]
23 Q. General, thank you.
24 MS. PILIPOVIC: [Interpretation] Thank you, Your Honour.
25 Q. Now, General, if I tell you that in the course of the proceedings
Page 10120
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Page 10121
1 before this Chamber in this case we heard many United Nations observers
2 and we were not able to get from them data and information on the
3 positions of the brigades of the 1st Corps, of the command posts of the
4 battalions of the companies of the 1st Corps of the BH army, nor of the
5 brigades, could you confirm that their reporting, in respect of the
6 shelling that they were saying was coming from the Serb side, could not
7 be precise when we are talking about the shelling of facilities in the
8 city, of the part of the city which was under the control of the BH army?
9 MR. IERACE: Mr. President, I object to that question.
10 JUDGE ORIE: Mr. Ierace.
11 MR. IERACE: Yes, I object to that question, Mr. President. It is
12 a non sequitur. The question works from the premise that because, as my
13 learned colleague remembers it, UNMOs were not able to give information in
14 these court proceedings as to the positions of the brigades of the 1st
15 Corps or the command posts, then the proposition continues, the shelling
16 information which they conveyed to the Tribunal or recorded at the time
17 was imprecise. It is a question which simply doesn't make sense.
18 In any event, I challenge the presumption -- the premise, rather.
19 It is my recollection that there was evidence as to the position of the
20 command posts and some of the brigades from some of the UN witnesses.
21 Thank you.
22 JUDGE ORIE: Ms. Pilipovic.
23 MS. PILIPOVIC: [Interpretation] Yes, Your Honour.
24 JUDGE ORIE: I have had some difficulties, and perhaps some of
25 the other members of the Chamber as well, of the logic of your
Page 10122
1 introduction of the question and then the question itself, since the
2 introduction was about position and knowledge of the brigades, while the
3 question then later was about the source of fire.
4 MS. PILIPOVIC: [Interpretation] Yes, Your Honour. I will rephrase
5 my question. I will rephrase my question in a sense that I would like the
6 General to tell us if it was acceptable for the observers of the United
7 Nations, for their area of responsibility, they did not have precise data
8 on the positions of the command post and the positions of the brigades and
9 the battalions of the 1st Corps.
10 Q. Is that generally acceptable that they do not possess this kind of
11 information?
12 A. Madam, I can answer your question very clearly from a military
13 point of view. As regards the shelling of Sarajevo, it really wasn't
14 necessary to know where the chief of the unit was. The most important
15 thing for us was to know where the positions occupied by the men on the
16 contact line was. From that point, we could determine exactly whether
17 the shells fired on Sarajevo were falling on military positions, plus or
18 minus a few metres, and we want to be very clear here for the Tribunal
19 that the location of the headquarters was not at all necessary in order to
20 know exactly where the military or civilian points were.
21 The point was that there was fighting and there was firing.
22 Q. So what you are saying is that, according to you, the point was
23 that there was firing and that there was combat. Could you confirm, and
24 this is the information that the Defence has --
25 A. Madam, I do not think -- I think that --
Page 10123
1 Q. General, I did not finish my question. I would like you to
2 confirm the information that the Defence has is that the Muslims,
3 throughout the war that lasted three and a half years, carried out 88
4 operations; they launched operations and attacks from Sarajevo. Could you
5 confirm that this figure that the Defence has is acceptable to you, how
6 many of these operations were launched, these combats and attacks from
7 the -- by the Muslims, by the BH army?
8 A. If you allow me, Madam, first of all, I will finish my answer to
9 your question about the lines and the headquarters. I repeat that we knew
10 the contact lines and the positions of the troops. The exact delineations
11 between the units had very little importance for us. As regards the
12 fighting, and I am speaking here only about the period of my command, I
13 could tell you that every day, almost every day, there was an
14 exchange of fire on the contact line between the various parties. There
15 were contacts which take place -- I repeat this -- took place almost
16 every day. You are now mentioning the number of 88 or -- alleged
17 operations by the Muslims that were launched from the Sarajevo zone.
18 The figure which you are giving, well, I don't know whether it
19 covers the whole war, only the period of my command. This figure, for me,
20 as the commander of the United Nations troops, whether it is 88 or 40 or
21 68, it all comes down to the same thing: After a certain amount of time,
22 the Muslim troops were in the position to organise themselves and to
23 launch
24 attacks from Sarajevo, attacks about which we have already spoken a great
25 deal with Mr. Ierace.
Page 10124
1 MR. PILETTA-ZANIN: [Interpretation] Mr. President, we would like
2 to consult.
3 JUDGE ORIE: Please do so.
4 [Defence counsel and accused confer]
5 MS. PILIPOVIC: [Interpretation] Thank you, Your Honour.
6 Q. General, you spoke of the agreement for Mount Igman signed in
7 1993. You said that the Serbs handed over to the UN, to the UNPROFOR, a
8 part of Igman that they held and Mount Bjelasnica. Now, according to you,
9 was this an obligation of UNPROFOR for that part of Mount Igman to prevent
10 active operation by Muslim troops from the safe zone of Sarajevo, that
11 part of Mount Igman that was handed over to them by the Serbs?
12 A. I think that one cannot connect - cannot - the Mount Igman
13 operations from those from Sarajevo. The agreement on Mount Igman was
14 wished by Mr. Stoltenberg, and I repeat, it was carried out properly by
15 the two parties. General Mladic accepted it for the first time, agreed to
16 withdraw to Mount Igman, that is, to set up positions beyond the lines
17 that were set up by the United Nations, and the Muslim troops deployed
18 behind the line which had been set in the same way by the United Nations
19 staff. And I repeat, it was more difficult for them than the Serbs. It
20 was probably more difficult for them also.
21 The operation on Mount Igman had, as its essential purpose, and I
22 repeat this, to calm down the situation on the ground so that the major
23 military operations could be finished in Bosnia-Herzegovina during the
24 Stoltenberg-Owen negotiations with the different parties. In light of the
25 area of Mount Igman, I don't think that it was possible to launch
Page 10125
1 operations, military operations, on a large scale at the point that we
2 were on Mount Igman. Because neither party had the available infantry
3 troops in order to control such a wooded surface.
4 Q. General, if I tell you, if I put it to you that the Muslim army
5 from Mount Igman that was under the control of UNPROFOR launched offensive
6 operations in the direction of parts of Mount Igman that were under the
7 control of Republika Srpska, do you have such information that these
8 operations were carried out by the Muslim army?
9 A. I said that in the first days of executing the Mount Igman
10 agreement, General Delic had much more difficulty carrying out the orders
11 than the Serb part of General Galic. And I think that in the first days
12 of August, the Muslim troops were trying to take back control of two
13 hills, but which were lower than 500 or 600 metres, and it is true that
14 there was a constant effort on the part of the UN troops to have the
15 Muslim troops withdraw. And I would even say that there was an exchange
16 of fire between the United Nations troops and the Muslim troops. A French
17 captain was very seriously wounded at that time and that caused a very,
18 very strong reaction from General Cot to Mr. Izetbegovic. So in the
19 beginning, the Muslim troops tried to infiltrate into certain areas, to
20 take them back. But I think that, in general, the agreement was respected
21 because in 1995, that was where the rapid reaction forces under the
22 command of General Soubirou deployed.
23 Q. General, if I put it to you that in this -- General, in this
24 area, if I put it to you that UNPROFOR took control of the part of Mount
25 Igman which was under the control of the BH army, the BH army carried out
Page 10126
1 an attack and massacred a Serb battalion, four nurses were massacred at
2 the time. In the course of your mandate, did you receive this
3 information or any such information?
4 A. I didn't have any information. And I would tell you that I am
5 very surprised that General Mladic never spoke to me about that, if, in
6 fact, that happened. And so I said to you a little while ago, I know that
7 there were operations conducted mainly in the early August by the
8 Muslim troops, but I repeat that General Mladic never spoke to me about
9 that type of incident.
10 MS. PILIPOVIC: [Interpretation] Your Honour, I will now let my
11 colleague take over the cross-examination.
12 MR. IERACE: Mr. President, before that happens, I note that in
13 her last question, Ms. Pilipovic has put a proposition to the witness.
14 It would be appropriate, in my respectful submission, for her to indicate
15 the date that that event was claimed to have occurred. Thank you.
16 JUDGE ORIE: Is it of any importance after the witness said he
17 has no knowledge of it?
18 MR. IERACE: It is important in a sense that it seems to be part
19 of the Defence case, putting propositions, and given the fact that the
20 General was in his position for some six months, if she knows the date,
21 then that should be put or indicated, for the benefit of the Chamber
22 rather than the witness.
23 MS. PILIPOVIC: [Interpretation] Your Honour, I think I did say
24 during the mandate of the General when he was in Sarajevo, if he had
25 received such an information. I believe that is how I phrased my
Page 10127
1 question.
2 JUDGE ORIE: Yes, but do you have a date? Or, I mean, you are
3 talking about a certain incident. If it is part of the case of the
4 Defence, then it would be appropriate to put to the witness what, in the
5 view of the Defence, happened and when it happened. Let me just see.
6 MS. PILIPOVIC: [Interpretation] Your Honour, that was --
7 JUDGE ORIE: May I just say, if you said: "In the course of your
8 mandate." The transcript reads: "In the course of your mandate, did you
9 receive this information or any such information?"
10 Well, receiving the information during the mandate is not
11 necessarily the same as the incident having taken place during the
12 mandate. So if you could be more specific.
13 MS. PILIPOVIC: [Interpretation] Yes, Your Honour.
14 Q. General, in the course of your mandate, were you informed of the
15 incident when a battalion was massacred, battalion of the army of
16 Republika Srpska in Mount Igman, when four nurses were massacred; or
17 perhaps you may have received this information after the end of your
18 mandate?
19 MR. IERACE: Mr. President, that does nothing to respond to the
20 issue.
21 JUDGE ORIE: May I take it that it is the case of the Defence that
22 this happened during the mandate of the General?
23 MS. PILIPOVIC: [Interpretation] Your Honour, the Defence has the
24 information that this took place in September, 1993.
25 JUDGE ORIE: Perhaps you could put that to the witness.
Page 10128
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Page 10129
1 Are you aware of such an attack that happened --
2 MS. PILIPOVIC: [Interpretation] Such an incident --
3 JUDGE ORIE: [Previous translation continues]...such an
4 incident --
5 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Madam, I repeat the answer that I
6 gave a few minutes ago. I received no information from General Mladic
7 about those events.
8 JUDGE ORIE: Yes. Not from anyone else?
9 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] From no one else. If you will
10 excuse me, Mr. President.
11 JUDGE ORIE: That is a clear answer. You don't know anything
12 about it. You have no information about it.
13 So, therefore, Mr. Piletta-Zanin, please proceed.
14 Cross-examined by Mr. Piletta-Zanin:
15 Q. [Interpretation] General, good morning.
16 A. Good morning.
17 Q. Thank you for being here and thank you for the clarity of your
18 answers. I will cross-examine you in French, and I thank you in advance
19 for being very careful as to the cursor which is moving in front of your
20 eyes on the transcript, because everything we say will be interpreted in
21 both languages and we have to be very careful about this. Thank you in
22 advance.
23 General, you said on several occasions, and I am going to quote in
24 French, how can it happen that Sarajevo is not shelled. And then later on
25 you said it was impossible to avoid certain civilian areas. And then at
Page 10130
1 another point in time, you said that the age of the ammunition caused
2 naturally mistakes in firing. And at another time you said, that is in
3 December 1993, that the BH army was preparing its operations from the
4 civilian area.
5 Do you remember if that is what you said; yes or no?
6 A. Of course.
7 Q. Thank you.
8 Therefore, and starting from these facts, when you say that it is
9 impossible to avoid the shelling of Sarajevo, you want to say at the same
10 time that the age of the ammunition was naturally causing mistakes in
11 firing; yes or no?
12 A. Yes, in some cases, yes.
13 Q. Thank you. You also want to say the smallness of the area and the
14 proximity of the combat areas and the so-called urban area would obviously
15 give cause to such kind of shelling; yes or no?
16 A. I will not answer by saying "yes or no" because I think I've got
17 to given an explanation. I think that when a contact line crosses a city
18 or in which two parties are fighting because both parties believe that
19 they can win the war, it is inevitable that if one uses mortar artillery,
20 there will be shells that fall on areas that could be called civilian
21 areas. That seems to be very clear to me.
22 Q. General, thank you for your answer.
23 Therefore, you are saying that the shelling of Sarajevo was
24 meaning -- that you gave your answer that it was unavoidable. Inasmuch as
25 what you said --
Page 10131
1 A. I would say that it became inevitable from the point that the
2 Bosnian troops decided to conduct military operations from safe areas.
3 Admittedly, it wasn't inevitable when the Bosnian troops were not carrying
4 out any operations in Sarajevo. But from the time - and I believe I have
5 already answered seven or eight times the same question - at the point the
6 both parties decided to wage war against each other, it became inevitable
7 that when there was an exchange of artillery fire, that there would be
8 shells falling on areas where there were civilians.
9 Q. General, thank you for your answer.
10 However, I don't think that you answered the question I am going
11 to ask you about Sarajevo. You said that the BH army was preparing their
12 military operations from some kind of rear base which was located in
13 civilian areas. Do you remember that?
14 A. From a military point of view, I don't know what you mean by "rear
15 base" in Sarajevo, when you look at the limits of the city.
16 Q. We will come to that. We will come to that, General. But let us
17 just say that was behind the lines.
18 A. Sir, you are saying something which is very obvious in terms of
19 military matters. When an attack is being prepared, of course it is being
20 prepared behind the contact line that one crosses in order to conquer a
21 territory.
22 Q. Very well, General, when you say this is evident for you, it is
23 not evident for everyone else, this obviousness to prepare an operation in
24 the background behind the lines, and that is certainly evident that
25 whatever is happening in this zone at the back, then becomes -- that area
Page 10132
1 then becomes a legitimate area for the firing?
2 A. We are continuing a discussion -- is this a military discussion
3 that we are continuing, Mr. President?
4 JUDGE ORIE: A question has been put to you and it seems that a
5 military aspect.
6 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Yes, I will answer.
7 It is very technical in military terms but I am going to answer
8 as a professional. From the point when two parties have decided to wage
9 war and one party notes that an operation is being prepared, if one has
10 identified the exact spot where the preparations are taking place, from a
11 strictly military point of view, you can attack those making the
12 preparations. So it becomes a normal target. It is always that way that
13 things happen in our military instructions of Western democracies. I
14 cannot give any other answer. And I emphasise this, that when two parties
15 have decided to fight, the military objectives become normal ones for both
16 parties who are fighting.
17 MR. PILETTA-ZANIN: [Interpretation]
18 Q. Thank you for your answer, General, and obviously we are not as
19 expert as you are. That is the reason we are asking these questions.
20 When two sides are waging war, are fighting, is it true that throughout
21 your stay in Sarajevo that two sides were -- considered themselves in the
22 state of war?
23 A. My answer is very clear. When I arrived in July, the Serbs were
24 shelling Sarajevo, whereas the Muslim troops were not preparing any
25 operation.
Page 10133
1 Q. The question was not to find out whether people were shelling each
2 other or not, but whether the two sides, General, were considering
3 themselves during the time of your stay as being in a state of armed
4 conflict or in a state of war?
5 A. Throughout the period of my command, since there was no peace
6 agreement, the three parties to the conflict considered themselves as
7 being in a state of war, one in respect of the other.
8 Q. Thank you for your answer, General.
9 Now, I would like you to answer briefly to the following
10 questions, and I am talking about a principal, these questions have --
11 cover a general aspect rather than the practical aspect in the situation
12 of Sarajevo, but a general aspect. .
13 Now, General, is it true - and if you can answer by "yes" or "no,"
14 I would be very grateful - it is true that a command post is a legitimate
15 military target?
16 A. A command post, when it is identified, is a legitimate target.
17 Q. Thank you.
18 General, is it true that a command post is a legitimate military
19 target, whether it is on the level of a brigade, the level of a battalion
20 or on the level of a company?
21 A. Whatever the command post, I have answered the question.
22 Q. Thank you. I am repeating that we are not answers -- we are not
23 experts, but your answers are extremely important to us.
24 General, the installations of communications and
25 telecommunications, the facilities of such type, were also -- can also be
Page 10134
1 considered as being military targets?
2 A. If they were identified as command posts, because when you say
3 communications and telecommunications that is connected to command posts,
4 I answer, yes. If they are communications facilities where civilian
5 telecommunications, I would say, no.
6 Q. General, if installations or telecommunications, civilian
7 telecommunications, are used for military purposes, do they then become
8 technically, from a military aspect, do they then become legitimate
9 military targets?
10 A. If you are sure that those facilities are being used for military
11 communications, then I would say, yes, as a professional soldier.
12 Q. Thank you for the clarity of your answer, General. I appreciate
13 that. Now, a military vehicle or military vehicles, are they legitimate
14 military targets?
15 A. Of course.
16 Q. Thank you for the obviousness of your answer.
17 Now civilian vehicles, General, that are used exclusively for
18 military purposes, do they become legitimate military targets?
19 A. I would tend to say, yes, but I would say in order to be sure that
20 they are being used for military purposes, that is not always so clear.
21 Q. I completely agree with you. But my answer was about the type of
22 the vehicle. So your answer is "yes" in relation to the vehicles, if I
23 understand correctly, General?
24 A. I answered that if one can determine that the civilian vehicles
25 are being used in military operations or being used by military people,
Page 10135
1 then they become a military target.
2 Q. Thank you.
3 General, were you or your services informed of the fact that - and
4 I have to tell you that we have multiple testimonies in this respect
5 - that certain vehicles which were originally of civilian character, for
6 instance, Volkswagen Golf vehicles, were used to transport mortars from
7 which then attacks were launched. Did you know about that?
8 A. I knew that all the possible and imaginable vehicles were being
9 used.
10 JUDGE ORIE: Yes, Mr. Ierace.
11 MR. IERACE: The last half dozen words of that question do not
12 reflect the evidence. "Were used to transport mortars," and then these
13 following words are the important ones: "from which then attacks were
14 launched." I also make the fundamental objection to, in this type of
15 context, my learned colleague informing the witness of what he thinks
16 other witnesses have said. It bears no relevance with this type of
17 question. More fundamentally, I am not aware of evidence, certainly from
18 multiple witnesses, that mortars were launched from Golf cars. Thank you.
19 JUDGE ORIE: Mr. Piletta-Zanin, could you rephrase your question
20 and perhaps --
21 MR. PILETTA-ZANIN: [Interpretation] Mr. President, again, I would
22 suggest that the French channel should be listened to. That would be a
23 lot clearer for everyone. And I think that the General understood my
24 question. It is technically not possible to fire from a Golf; that can
25 be very dangerous. Attacks were carried out with mortars.
Page 10136
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Page 10137
1 JUDGE ORIE: [Previous translation continues]...blame the other
2 party for not listening to the right channel. I am changing from channel
3 again and again. The question was whether you had any information about
4 civilian vehicles, Volkswagen Golfs, used to transport mortars and then
5 mortars being fired in connection with this transportation.
6 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Very specifically, I would say, no,
7 to the question. In general terms, this was one of my fears, that all
8 the vehicles, and I say all vehicles, all possible and imaginable vehicles
9 were being used by all the parties. And I would add, Mr. President,
10 because I think that is important, that United Nations vehicles were
11 car-jacked and that caused me a great deal of concern. I believe that I
12 have answered the question.
13 JUDGE ORIE: So no specific knowledge of mortars being transported
14 in civilian vehicles, at least vehicles with a civilian appearance?
15 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] No, Mr. President.
16 JUDGE ORIE: Please proceed.
17 MR. PILETTA-ZANIN: [Interpretation]
18 Q. Thank you, General.
19 Did you or your intelligence services, did you know of the
20 existence of small lorries or small trucks, and we have testimony to this
21 effect, from which it was possible --
22 JUDGE ORIE: Mr. Piletta-Zanin, it is of no use in this context
23 to tell the witness what the evidence was already. It may sometimes have
24 some use, but not here. So would you please refrain from that.
25 MR. PILETTA-ZANIN: [Interpretation] Yes, I apologise, Mr.
Page 10138
1 President. Very well.
2 Q. General, do you or your intelligence or information services, did
3 you know about lorries, small lorries from which it was possible or --
4 rather, it was possible to fire mortars that were mounted on them; they
5 became mobile mortars?
6 A. I had no information about that.
7 Q. Do you know, General -- do you know of the fact that
8 General Morillon had to protest the Presidency, that is the Presidency of
9 Sarajevo, in relation to the shots that were fired from the hospital
10 compound of the -- the compound of the Kosevo hospital?
11 A. When I took over General Morillon's command, he didn't speak to me
12 about that problem.
13 Q. Very well. But did you know about this?
14 A. I have just answered that he did not speak to me about that
15 problem. And if General Morillon did not speak to me about it, then I
16 attributed no importance to all kinds of rumours I heard coming from
17 everywhere.
18 Q. Very well, General I understand, but my question was the
19 following, if you can answer precisely. That is why I am rephrasing the
20 question. I am asking the question again. The General didn't speak to
21 you, but when you left, did you know about this?
22 A. No. I had no specific knowledge about that.
23 Q. Thank you, General.
24 Now, I would like us to go to another line of questioning, but in
25 order to respect the time, because I can see that the president is
Page 10139
1 looking at the clock.
2 MR. PILETTA-ZANIN: [Interpretation] Mr. President, how much time
3 have we got left, please?
4 JUDGE ORIE: I think you would have another -- a bit less than an
5 hour. Approximately 50, 55 minutes.
6 MR. PILETTA-ZANIN: [Interpretation] Thank you very much.
7 Q. General, I would like you to answer this question: Did you know
8 whether in Sarajevo some schools were used by the army, either for
9 tactical purposes or in order to use them instead of barracks which were
10 not existent?
11 A. No.
12 Q. You say "no"?
13 A. I didn't know.
14 Q. You don't know it. Very well.
15 Colonel -- I apologise -- General, I would like us to go back to
16 another question now. You said that when some shelling took place on the
17 areas that you considered as being civilian areas, you would intervene
18 personally with the military authorities in question. Do you remember
19 that?
20 A. Yes, of course. I think I have already answered that question
21 several times.
22 Q. Very well. Thank you.
23 But you didn't answer this one: What was the effect, the result,
24 of your intervention? Was there a marked decrease in the shelling?
25 A. I have already answered that question, also. We often noted that
Page 10140
1 there was a drop, which I wouldn't say was lasting, but there was a drop
2 in the amount of firing after our interventions. That happened rather
3 frequently.
4 Q. Is that the rule?
5 A. Yes, it was rather the rule, until November.
6 Q. Thank you very much.
7 General, I would like us to go back to some other questions. Do
8 you know what is a C4? The C4.
9 A. No, that doesn't mean anything to me, C4.
10 Q. Now, I will surprise you, General, that is an explosive which is
11 used to blow buildings up.
12 A. I am not an explosives export.
13 Q. Neither am I, but I will not ask that question.
14 General, do you know if in Sarajevo there was considerable black
15 market specifically in relation to products that were -- or produce that
16 was imported or brought in by humanitarian aids?
17 A. Yesterday I answered a question of Mr. Ierace on that subject. I
18 was well aware that there was a black market in Sarajevo that was the
19 subject of an investigation. And I remember the visit of an Austrian
20 General, General Grandel, who came to investigate the problem of the black
21 market. He really annoyed us quite a bit -- or that "it" annoyed us.
22 Yes, it is true that there was a problem of black market in Sarajevo.
23 Q. General, is it true, was it possible to find produce that was
24 brought in by the humanitarian aid which was then being resold in certain
25 markets, for instance, in Tuzla?
Page 10141
1 A. I would not refer to Tuzla. I would simply say that when
2 humanitarian aid was distributed, certain inhabits of Sarajevo preferred
3 to be hungry so that they could read or smoke a cigarette, et cetera. So
4 we were very aware that humanitarian rations were sold among the
5 population, whether resold on the Tuzla market, that I don't know. But it
6 is so that we were very aware that when we gave out humanitarian
7 assistance to someone, it was assistance that he could do with what he
8 wanted.
9 Q. Thank you for that answer.
10 Now, did you know, General, whether this black market was
11 organised on another level, on a more organised criminal level?
12 A. I have no evidence, no proof about that.
13 Q. Thank you for your answer. You say you have no proof, but do you
14 at least have a feeling about this?
15 A. In a city under siege like Sarajevo, I can well imagine that some
16 people got rich on the black market, and I explained that at great
17 length in my book.
18 Q. I am going to ask you to give me the references. I will
19 certainly have a look at it. I don't know whether the Chamber will read
20 it. So could I consider your answer as being yes?
21 A. That is a completely personal opinion. It seems to me that the
22 black market was organised beyond the level of individual level of
23 inhabitants of Sarajevo.
24 Q. Thank you for your answer, General.
25 I would like to go back to the shelling. You said earlier, asked
Page 10142
1 by the Prosecution, that, "As a general rule, the Serbs, since we are
2 talking about the Serb army, was shelling most the military targets. They
3 were more targeting military targets than civilian targets. In fact, I
4 intervened." Do you remember that?
5 A. Yes.
6 Q. Thank you, General.
7 If you confirm if this is the case, that the material
8 destruction, the most important material destruction that took place that
9 was as a result of the shelling took place in Sarajevo, occurred in
10 Sarajevo in the areas which were areas in the vicinity of the
11 confrontation lines or in the vicinity of the combat areas?
12 I am talking about Otes, for instance, or again in areas that were
13 near strategic incontestable military targets, strategic targets. I am
14 talking about near the Dobrinja market. Could you perhaps confirm this as
15 principle?
16 A. I believe that I have answered that question. I believe that I
17 said it was very difficult to answer by saying, "yes" or "no." Perhaps I
18 could add an additional comment --
19 Q. General, I have to interrupt. I don't think that this question
20 was asked. My question was the following: Is it true, yes or no, that
21 material damages in buildings and urban structures were the most
22 important in the areas, more considerable in the areas near combat areas,
23 near combat areas or near strategic targets?
24 A. I won't answer by "yes" or "no," and for the following reason:
25 During the periods of my command, perhaps I could answer "yes." But when
Page 10143
1 I arrived in Sarajevo, what surprised me the most was to see the amount of
2 significant destruction throughout the city.
3 Q. Very well.
4 But I was talking about the most significant damage. Can I
5 consider, General, that in relation to the phrasing of my question, the
6 most significant damage, would you agree with me then?
7 A. I don't know what you mean by, "the most significant damage."
8 When I went through Sarajevo along what was called "sniping alley," almost
9 all the buildings or civilian apartments were burned or destroyed or had
10 been shelled. That was what I noted when I arrived in Sarajevo. And I
11 repeat that throughout my stay in Sarajevo, thanks to the action that we
12 conducted, I had the impression - and this is a completely personal
13 impression but for me it is a certainty - that essentially from October to
14 December, essentially, military objectives were shelled more than civilian
15 targets.
16 Q. Thank you for the clarity of your question [sic], General.
17 General, I would like us to go on to some technical questions.
18 Did you personally know, and I know that without a map it is very
19 difficult, but did you know yourself, did you know the depth of the lines
20 of the separation in Sarajevo, demarcation lines of Sarajevo?
21 A. Like in all cities, the contact lines, I recall -- sorry, went
22 from several metres, from several dozen metres, because from that point on
23 you can't see.
24 Q. Thank you for your answer, General.
25 Now, I would like us to have a look at the question of ceasefires.
Page 10144
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Page 10145
1 We know, and you told us, that ceasefires were -- either didn't hold or
2 were never signed. Do you know if on the side of the Presidency, there
3 was in some way a political will not to accept ceasefires -- ceasefire in
4 Sarajevo, and only for political reasons. Did you know about that?
5 A. I will answer here by mentioning what I wrote in my book about
6 that. And this is the general idea that I had of the situation in
7 Sarajevo. Sarajevo could not be a calm city because for the Bosnian
8 Presidency, if nothing happened any more in Sarajevo, that would mean that
9 people would never -- would not continue to speak about
10 Bosnia-Herzegovina in the outside world. And for the Serbs, Sarajevo
11 could not remain calm either because Sarajevo was a way of putting
12 constant pressure in order to make the Muslims sign a peace agreement.
13 Therefore, I was well aware of that fact and, moreover, the situation
14 could not remain calm for a long time in Sarajevo because of that. In
15 fact, both parties were uninterested in having a calm situation in
16 Sarajevo.
17 Q. Thank you for your answer, General.
18 I would like, because of the rules of the cross-examination, I
19 would like to ask you to answer as briefly as possible to my questions. I
20 am going to come back to the Muslim side in the conflict. Should I
21 interpret your answer as saying that you are answering "yes" in a sense
22 that the Muslim side did not wish to have a ceasefire for political
23 reasons?
24 A. I don't agree with that proposal. Because now I am going to say
25 how I felt -- our experience of the negotiations that were going on. The
Page 10146
1 Muslim side always hoped that NATO would become involved in a decisive
2 way in respect of a peace agreement. This was the -- or rather one of the
3 main objects -- objectives of Izetbegovic, that is, to make NATO
4 intervene.
5 Q. General, I am going to have to interrupt you, because that was my
6 line of questioning. So I will continue in this direction so that things
7 become clearer.
8 Are you saying that the attitude of the Presidency in Sarajevo at
9 a given time, at the time that you have known during your stay, consisted
10 of -- consisted in refusing immediate peace through ceasefires or other
11 agreements, hoping to be able to obtain, in one way or another, an
12 intervention, a NATO intervention that you spoke of?
13 A. I will repeat what I think I have already said. Mr. Izetbegovic
14 accepted, or would have anticipated a peace agreement -- would have
15 accepted the Stoltenberg-Owen peace agreement so long that NATO would make
16 him absolutely sure that the peace agreement would be respected.
17 Q. Thank you.
18 General, were you informed of the fact that when some ceasefires
19 were obtained, that this was either de facto or de lege, the parties, the
20 sides in the conflict, but in fact it was the Muslim side which would then
21 provoke, through firing, through shooting, in the hope of destroying
22 the ceasefire, either legal or factual?
23 A. Sir, I would say to you that the three parties to the conflict
24 all ignored the ceasefire. I would not like to give a better role to one
25 than to another of those parties.
Page 10147
1 Q. Very well. But isn't it, however, true that in relation to the
2 question, in respect to the question that I asked you, General, the
3 provocations came in with this particular purpose?
4 A. I answered that the three parties, according to their own
5 interests, would --
6 Q. But you did not answer sufficiently clearly, at least for me. Is
7 it true, yes or no, General, that the Muslim side were provoking in the
8 military sense, in order to undermine the ceasefire?
9 A. It did the same thing as all the other parties.
10 Q. Very well. Thank you for your answer.
11 General, do you know or were you informed at the time of your stay
12 in Sarajevo of a situation, a rather specific situation, where the Muslim
13 side tried, and sometimes in a very dramatic way, to draw the attention on
14 itself for political purposes, for the purpose of sensitising the press
15 presenting the situation as being theirs? Did you know about that or were
16 you informed about that?
17 MR. IERACE: Mr. President, the last word of that question, I did
18 not hear. I think the transcript is catching up now. Thank you. I have
19 no further comment.
20 JUDGE ORIE: Yes, please proceed.
21 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] I would like to ask you, sir, what
22 do you mean "sometimes"? Or what do you mean when you say "a dramatic
23 situation"?
24 MR. PILETTA-ZANIN: [Interpretation]
25 Q. I will answer later but this is my next question but, General, can
Page 10148
1 you answer in principle and I will continue in more details if you want
2 A. I want to answer but once you've explained what you mean by --
3 when you say "very dramatic."
4 Q. Very well, General. What I was trying to say is that we believe
5 that, on some occasions, Muslim forces either exploited the situation of
6 human misery or in the media or were directly provoking the situations
7 causing the situation of human misery in order to draw attention on
8 themselves. The question is: Were you personally informed of this or
9 your intelligence services or other services, did they know about this?
10 A. I could answer by a sentence which is on the back of the
11 McKenzie's book, the Canadian General who was the first commander in
12 Sarajevo, and he said that "If I could convince both parties, and I say
13 both parties, that they should not fight -- should not fire on one zone
14 population in order to please CNN, that would be progress." I have no
15 proof, therefore, that one party fired on its own people in order to
16 provoke a media explosion. I would say that in Sarajevo it was very
17 tempting for the Muslims, of course, to use as much as they could all the
18 media, the international media, present in Sarajevo, in order to defend
19 their own cause.
20 They did so. And since you are the Defence counsel, I would also
21 say what I said, and I think that I said it yesterday in answer to a
22 question of Mr. Ierace, the Serb side did not realise that by shelling
23 Sarajevo the way it was doing, it was losing all its credit with the
24 international community. I believe that I can say to you that it was
25 extremely difficult for the UNPROFOR forces, commanders, to remain
Page 10149
1 objective and measured in the light of this extraordinary media pressure,
2 and that one can be understood in respect of the parties, that this media
3 coverage was being exploited for their own purposes.
4 MR. PILETTA-ZANIN: [Interpretation] General, we are being informed
5 that --
6 JUDGE ORIE: Would this be a suitable time for the break?
7 MR. PILETTA-ZANIN: [Interpretation] Perfect.
8 JUDGE ORIE: We will adjourn until 10 minutes to 1.00.
9 --- Recess taken at 12.30 p.m.
10 --- On resuming at 12.55 p.m.
11 JUDGE ORIE: Please proceed, Mr. Piletta-Zanin.
12 MR. PILETTA-ZANIN: [Interpretation] Thank you, Mr. President.
13 Q. General, I would like us to continue along the line that we
14 followed before the break. You said, quoting a sentence on the last page
15 or on the back page of the book written by a colleague, General McKenzie.
16 Personally speaking, do you personally agree with this sentiment that was
17 expressed?
18 A. I want to answer that question. My personal impression has
19 absolutely nothing to do with what we are talking about. I am simply
20 going to speak about facts that I noted myself. If I didn't do it, I take
21 no position.
22 Q. Very well. General, I am going to come back to the black market
23 question. Is it true, and this is a fact, that the fuel which was
24 lacking, there was a shortage of fuel in Sarajevo, the actual market of
25 fuel was controlled by the BH army?
Page 10150
1 A. I don't know whether the fuel market was in the hands of the
2 Muslim army, but in light of the situation in Sarajevo, from a strictly
3 professional point of view, I would say that it was normal that the
4 Muslims would control the use of gasoline that was there.
5 Q. Thank you, General. I understand that you have written a book.
6 Is that true?
7 A. Of course.
8 Q. Can I assume that you were particularly well-documented as to what
9 went on in Sarajevo in order to be able to write this book. Is that
10 correct?
11 A. I base myself on all the documentation that I had, letters, and
12 so forth.
13 Q. So you made this effort, I believe, after your stay in Sarajevo?
14 A. I did it after my stay in Sarajevo and I would even say after I
15 was retired.
16 Q. Very well. General, thank you. Therefore you have a distance and
17 you were able to base yourself on the perhaps more numerous pieces of
18 information than you had at the time when -- during your stay in Sarajevo.
19 Is that correct?
20 A. No, I based myself only on what I had personally experienced in
21 Sarajevo.
22 Q. Very well. General, you were responsibility for Sarajevo in
23 Sarajevo. Is that correct?
24 A. As the commander of the UN forces in Bosnia-Herzegovina, I was
25 responsible for all of Bosnia-Herzegovina and of course including
Page 10151
1 Sarajevo.
2 Q. Very well. So the answer is "yes." So in this capacity, you must
3 know a large number of things. So in order to gain time, I am going to
4 now give you a list of names and I would like you to tell me, very
5 briefly, by a yes or no if you know to what this corresponds and where
6 this is.
7 I am going now: Sultan Fatih?
8 A. It doesn't say anything to me.
9 Q. Pavle Goranin?
10 A. Doesn't mean anything to me.
11 Q. Petar Dakic?
12 A. No. Could I stop for a moment here? I gave a long explanation
13 yesterday to the Tribunal that I would have discussions with
14 Mr. Izetbegovic, with General Delic. I know both of their deputies, the
15 Serb, the Croat, and I don't know all those names. I have no memory of
16 those.
17 Q. Thank you. This is not people, these are locations. Kobra?
18 A. No.
19 Q. Kulin Ban --
20 MR. IERACE: Mr. President.
21 JUDGE ORIE: Yes.
22 MR. IERACE: Having said, "This is not people, these are
23 locations," the next question or name or word that my friend added was
24 Kobra. I gather that Kobra does not in fact refer to a location and
25 perhaps that illustrates to -- perhaps that illustrates the difficulty in
Page 10152
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Page 10153
1 simply running words with no description past a witness.
2 JUDGE ORIE: Yes. On the other hand, Mr. Ierace, if we ask
3 Mr. Piletta-Zanin to tell us a lot about it, he always pronounces it very
4 quickly. So perhaps if he could pronounce it more quietly and then it is
5 a very quick way to find out whether it does ring a bell at all with the
6 witness. All explanations, to finally come to the answer that the witness
7 doesn't know anything about it, is not very efficient as well.
8 So, Mr. Piletta-Zanin, please proceed but keep in mind that at a
9 high speed mentioning 10 or 15 or 20 names, well, might cause a lot of
10 confusion and misunderstanding.
11 Please proceed.
12 MR. PILETTA-ZANIN: [Interpretation] Very well.
13 THE INTERPRETER: Could the counsel repeat the name.
14 MR. PILETTA-ZANIN: [Interpretation]
15 Q. Kobra?
16 A. It doesn't mean anything to me. And I would like to add a
17 comment --
18 JUDGE ORIE: Mr. Briquemont, the Defence counsel is trying to find
19 out whether certain names, these might be perhaps names of places or
20 institutions or whether they are familiar to you. Because if they are not
21 familiar, it might be of no use at all to ask any further questions.
22 So he goes through the list of his names. If they do not ring a bell,
23 please tell us that. Just by saying "no" would be enough. And if they do
24 ring a bell, perhaps there are some additional questions. Yes. Please.
25 MR. PILETTA-ZANIN: [Interpretation] Thank you in advance. Thank
Page 10154
1 you, Mr. President.
2 Q. Sir, the question -- the answer is "no" to Kobra. Kulin Ban?
3 A. No.
4 Q. Does the factory Zrak mean anything to you?
5 A. [No audible response]
6 Q. Does Zetra mean anything to you? Zetra which is one of the
7 facilities, one of the halls, which was made for the Olympic Games. Was
8 that used as a warehouse by the BH army?
9 A. Zetra?
10 Q. Zetra.
11 A. It was occupied during my command period by a battalion of the
12 FrenchBat company. So Zetra was occupied by the UN troops during my
13 command at the time. At the end of July of 1993, we had a serious
14 incident there. And yesterday, I said that Mr. Karadzic even apologised
15 to the UN forces for that incident which had caused the loss of several UN
16 vehicles.
17 Q. Thank you, General. Does the name Kazani mean anything to you?
18 A. No.
19 Q. Thank you. General, I would now like to come back to the question
20 of snipers. You said in your earlier declaration followed by a question
21 asked by the Prosecution that the sniping activity, BH snipers was not in
22 any way less than the Serb snipers. Do you remember that?
23 A. Yes.
24 Q. When you say that the activity was in no way less intense, do you
25 mean quantitatively or in terms of quality?
Page 10155
1 A. I would answer in terms of quantity. And qualitatively, I think I
2 answered at length that question that was asked by Mr. Ierace.
3 Q. So what you saying is that there is no difference, there was no
4 difference, in terms of quality, that is the way that the snipers were
5 used on either side?
6 A. In respect of the use of snipers, I believe --
7 MR. IERACE: I object. As translated into the English language,
8 the question goes to the quality of sniping, which in my respectful
9 submission does not make sense. If my friend means by that that he is
10 enquiring as to whether snipers were used equally against military
11 personnel and civilians, then he should say so.
12 JUDGE ORIE: Mr. Piletta-Zanin, "quality" could mean a lot of
13 thing.
14 MR. PILETTA-ZANIN: [Interpretation] Yes, indeed. But I believe
15 that the answer that the General was going to give was also very clear.
16 Perhaps he can repeat it because I think that he understood the question.
17 JUDGE ORIE: Mr. Piletta-Zanin, a clear answer to an unclear
18 question is not what we are seeking. But if you -- yes, please.
19 MR. PILETTA-ZANIN: [Interpretation] I am going to rephrase the
20 question.
21 Q. Was it used in the same way on both sides?
22 A. It was used for the same purposes.
23 Q. Thank you, General. General --
24 JUDGE ORIE: May I just interfere. The purposes could be
25 different purposes. If you say in the same purposes, I still do not know
Page 10156
1 what the purpose was. Was the purpose to shoot at military or to shoot
2 at civilians? You said it was the same on both sides. Could you explain
3 to us what the purpose was?
4 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] I believe very sincerely,
5 Mr. President, that the objectives were basically civilians in order to
6 put pressure on the population.
7 JUDGE ORIE: Thank you.
8 Please proceed, Mr. Piletta-Zanin.
9 MR. PILETTA-ZANIN: [Interpretation] Thank you.
10 Q. General, in your capacity as a professional, could you tell us
11 what a sniper is, as far as you know, according to your experience?
12 A. A sniper is what one calls an elite firer, that is someone who
13 has -- who shoots a weapon over a great distance, and that weapon is used
14 to hit individual targets from a long distance.
15 Q. Thank you, General.
16 General, you spoke in your testimony yesterday about uncontrolled
17 elements. That was page 79, line 6. When you were speaking of
18 uncontrolled elements, General, do you also mean to say what I would tend
19 to call "quasi-snipers," that is, individuals who were not members of an
20 army but who were -- in some way were playing at judges?
21 A. I think that I answered that question yesterday. The snipers
22 were a constant and serious concern for us. I had the personal opinion
23 or, rather, impression there were armed people - allow me to say it - they
24 were playing at being snipers. It was something very difficult.
25 Q. When you say that they were people who were armed who were playing
Page 10157
1 as snipers, and I apologise, General, for coming back to that, but what is
2 clear to you after many months on the ground is not obviously clear for
3 Defence counsel or anyone else.
4 When you are speaking of people, people who were armed, you are
5 talking about people who were not members of an army, that is, in other
6 words, these were individuals, these were civilians then?
7 A. That is a personal impression. But I had the impression that they
8 were people who were armed, who had weapons, and who were not members of
9 any organised army. That is a personal impression, I repeat that.
10 Q. Thank you, General, for your impression. But since you were on
11 the ground and in the field, we need your impressions in order for the
12 truth to come out. You say that these people were armed. Did they have
13 access or could they also have automatic weapons? We know, for instance,
14 AK-47 or the Kalashnikov was very wide-spread in the countries of the
15 former Yugoslavia.
16 A. Yes. But Kalashnikov has nothing to do with a marksman's weapon.
17 Q. Indeed. But what you are saying is that the people who were
18 individuals also had elite weapons?
19 A. Perhaps not so sophisticated weapons as we might have in the
20 United Nations -- among the United Nations troops. But Kalashnikovs does
21 not allow precise firing beyond 150 or 200 metres.
22 Q. So, General, I conclude from your answer is that these armed
23 persons that you do not believe were part of a military structure had
24 weapons of -- high-precision weapons?
25 A. Not necessarily high-precision, but I can tell you that there are
Page 10158
1 weapons that make it possible to fire from 400 to 500 metres with
2 relatively great accuracy. They can be used as second-category snipers.
3 Q. General, could you please be a little bit specific on the type of
4 the weapon? Could you give us one or two examples of this type of weapon?
5 A. If I take the case that I am the best familiar with, the weapons
6 of my country, we have ordinary rifles that do fire, if used by good
7 people, up to distances of 400 to 500 metres. The Kalashnikov is an
8 automatic weapon which does not allow a very precise fire.
9 Q. General, when you -- I think we have a problem of an echo. I
10 don't know whether this is just in my headphones, but I will continue.
11 General, whether you are talking about sniping weapons --
12 JUDGE ORIE: I am keeping very strict to the time. You have eight
13 minutes left.
14 MR. PILETTA-ZANIN: [Interpretation] Very well.
15 Q. General, when you are speaking about weapons, marksman weapons,
16 sniper weapons, high-precision weapons, are you then speaking of the
17 automatic firing?
18 A. Yes.
19 Q. Thank you. So you are talk about automatic bursts. They are not
20 linked to the sniper weapons?
21 A. Nothing to do with it.
22 Q. Very well, General. Now I would like us to have a look at some
23 other questions that are in relation to civilian areas. What do you mean
24 in general by "civilian area"?
25 A. A civilian area is a zone which people live and where there is no
Page 10159
1 possible military objectives.
2 Q. Thank you for your answer, General. Therefore, a residential area
3 where there would be a command post or a strategic facility that had
4 military importance, then that is no longer a civilian area. Is that
5 correct, as far as you are concerned?
6 A. If you are a speaking about one building, I would say that the
7 building, or I would say that the floor where a command post was
8 identified becomes a military objective, but certainly not the area around
9 that building. So I make a very clear distinction between a building, a
10 location, and I would even say a floor, when I think about Sarajevo,
11 that could become a military target, but certainly not the area around
12 that dwelling or that floor.
13 Q. Very well. So you rule out all mistakes of firing?
14 A. A firing error, well, I would say that is always possible. But if
15 you take a 20-floor building, you might make a mistake as to the floor,
16 but not fire at the building next door.
17 Q. Very well, General. Now, I am going to come back to one of the
18 consequences of the conventions, the convention that you know extremely
19 well. Isn't it true that when we are in such a situation, combat in an
20 urban area, there is an obligation between the warring parties to look to
21 create neutral zones on the level of civilian populations, that is, if
22 need be, to remove the populations away from the front line?
23 A. That is theory.
24 Q. Yes, General, that is theory perhaps but, please, could you answer
25 as a witness, quasi-expert witness? Could you answer my question, please,
Page 10160
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Page 10161
1 even if it is theoretical?
2 A. We didn't try to do that in Sarajevo. It was not possible.
3 Q. Now, General, my question is the following: Isn't it true that,
4 normally speaking, that the text makes this point very clear?
5 A. Well, if the text makes it clear, then I would say, yes.
6 Q. Very well, thank you. Do you know, General, if the Muslim side
7 did exactly this in Sarajevo, if they carried out this movement of their
8 own population in the areas of combat or near the areas of the separation,
9 in the areas of separation, demarcation lines?
10 A. As much as I can remember, I would say that the civilians
11 themselves did so. I don't think that the Sarajevo government took that
12 problem over but in fact -- in light of the fact that the city was very
13 small, moving the population from one point to another in the city didn't
14 mean very much.
15 Q. Here what you mean, you said earlier that it was impossible. So
16 what you are saying is that the city was far too small in order to do --
17 to carry this out?
18 A. It is not that the city was too small, but in light of the contact
19 light around the city, there was no sense in moving a significant number
20 of people from one area to another.
21 Q. For the reason that they would have been near another combat line?
22 A. I think so.
23 MR. PILETTA-ZANIN: [Interpretation] No further questions,
24 Mr. President.
25 JUDGE ORIE: Thank you, Mr. Piletta-Zanin.
Page 10162
1 Mr. Ierace.
2 MR. IERACE: Thank you, Mr. President.
3 JUDGE ORIE: Is there any need to re-examine the witness?
4 MR. IERACE: Just one issue.
5 Re-examined by Mr. Ierace:
6 Q. You were asked questions whether the fuel in Sarajevo was
7 controlled by the army and also whether there was a shortage of fuel in
8 Sarajevo. Were there -- what were the sources of fuel, and I mean by that
9 all of the sources of fuel, during your time in Sarajevo?
10 A. I suppose -- I say "I suppose" because I have no specific
11 information about that. I suppose that the available fuel in Sarajevo was
12 the fuel stocked in Sarajevo at the beginning of the war. But I wondered
13 also about the problem of the black market, black market in fuel, and I
14 would say then, when we would do something in Sarajevo, for instance, when
15 we tried to open some of the roads or sometimes to allow the Oslobodjenje
16 newspaper to operate, the UN troops would provide the necessary fuel.
17 Q. When you say you wondered also about the problem of the black
18 market, did you have any information as to whether any of the UN forces
19 were operating on the black market in terms of supplying fuel on the
20 black market?
21 A. I had one specific case in a UN battalion that was in Sarajevo and
22 which triggered an investigation, or I had an investigation started into
23 that, on that occasion. We had the feeling that some soldiers were
24 selling a few litres of fuel on the black market. I think that a litre of
25 fuel was selling for about 35 marks, and so there was a lot of temptation
Page 10163
1 sometimes for some of the soldiers who came from countries that weren't
2 very rich to do what I would say become small black marketeers without any
3 mafia organisation behind that. But it discredited the UN troops.
4 Q. How did the hotels and other commercial establishments in Sarajevo
5 obtain fuel?
6 A. Mr. Ierace, you are asking a good question there. I have no
7 specific answer to give you because I really believe that there was a
8 black market in petrol for which -- well, when there was an investigation,
9 it was independent, it was not under my control. And therefore one would
10 perhaps have to try to find the conclusions of the investigations that
11 were conducted during my command period. They must exist at the staff, of
12 the UNPROFOR staff in Zagreb.
13 Q. Now, one other issue, Mr. President. You were also asked
14 questions in cross-examination about what was described as quasi-snipers,
15 and you were asked as to whether they were part of any army. What was
16 your view, if you had one, as to whether the command of the Serb forces
17 could have stopped those individuals from sniping against civilians, if
18 they had so wished?
19 A. I am going to give you a very clear answer. If the Serb
20 authorities and the Muslim authorities - and I am first thinking about the
21 political authorities of both sides - had they wanted to impose -- put an
22 end to all of the snipers, whether quasi-snipers or others, they could
23 have. And I think that I said yesterday, when I answered one of your
24 questions, that no political official, whatever he was, ever disavowed
25 publicly the sniper activity.
Page 10164
1 MR. IERACE: Thank you, Mr. President.
2 JUDGE ORIE: Thank you, Mr. Ierace.
3 [Trial Chamber confers]
4 JUDGE ORIE: Judge El Mahdi has one or more questions to you.
5 JUDGE EL MAHDI: Thank you, Mr. President.
6 Questioned by the Court:
7 JUDGE EL MAHDI: [Interpretation] I would ask for a clarification,
8 please. You said earlier, as I understood - I understood that you said -
9 that when you arrived in July, the city of Sarajevo was being shelled
10 intensely and that, in your opinion, this was not a response to a
11 provocation or even a response to preparations. Therefore, you mean that
12 the shelling -- well, how would you characterise it militarily? Could one
13 think that it was aiming at the civilians or that there were military
14 objectives which could have been the target of that shelling?
15 A. Your Honour, when I arrived in Sarajevo, that corresponded -- it
16 corresponded the most to shelling which had nothing to do with military
17 objectives. And I indicated a few minutes ago that I was surprised to see
18 the extent of the destruction in the city, throughout the city, when I
19 arrived in Sarajevo, which meant that before I arrived, the city of
20 Sarajevo had been hit everywhere or almost everywhere.
21 JUDGE EL MAHDI: [Interpretation] Thank you very much.
22 JUDGE ORIE: I have a few questions for you as well.
23 You have told us extensively on what happened in the beginning of
24 December 1993. You have told us to be surprised to receive complaints
25 from the BiH side about shelling, since they prepared or launched an
Page 10165
1 attack themselves.
2 Was the type of shelling the BiH was complaining about, was that
3 shelling with a clear military purpose or was that the type of shelling
4 you just described in response to the question of Judge El Mahdi, that
5 means shelling without a clear military purpose?
6 A. Mr. President, I would say that as opposed to the beginning of
7 July, the shelling in December was shelling between two armies which were
8 trying to destroy one -- trying to destroy military targets, essentially.
9 JUDGE ORIE: That is clear to me.
10 You have told us about people playing snipers, as you expressed
11 it. Could you give us any idea of what percentage of snipers of each side
12 would be quasi-snipers of those playing snipers, and have you any
13 knowledge of snipers within the regular forces?
14 A. Mr. President, let me answer on three points. When I say that
15 they were playing at snipers or quasi-snipers, I would like to give you
16 two examples that I experienced myself. It happened that when my vehicle
17 was going along sniper alley, there was -- a metre in front or behind my
18 vehicle, there was shelling. At another time, it was more important, when
19 I arrived at the airport, there was a sniper that fired at the vehicle,
20 trying to hit the motor. So I don't think they were trying to hit someone
21 in the vehicle. I think they were very specific and clear type sniping.
22 That is what I call quasi-sniping or playing at snipers. I think that
23 terrorised the population. I was given other examples. That is the first
24 point.
25 The second point: Yesterday I said, Mr. President, that the
Page 10166
1 French Battalion had identified several sniper positions. I believe that
2 those positions were held by snipers under Muslim and under Serb control.
3 To say -- to tell you what the percentage of real snipers or
4 quasi-snipers was, that I cannot do.
5 JUDGE ORIE: Now I better understand that quasi-snipers of those
6 playing snipers were not necessarily outside the regular forces. It was
7 more the way they are using their weapons than their place in the military
8 structure?
9 A. I would say, Mr. President, in order to answer more clearly, that
10 among these snipers that I would characterise as military, there were also
11 those playing at snipers. Is my answer clearer now, more precise? I
12 would tell you that in the afternoon, that is when it was the most
13 difficult period because, in the afternoon, most of the people who were
14 playing at snipers already had drunk quite a bit of alcohol.
15 JUDGE ORIE: [Interpretation] General Briquemont, that concludes
16 your testimony -- just a moment, please.
17 MR. PILETTA-ZANIN: [Interpretation] I apologise, but you asked two
18 or three questions that gave answers, lengthy answers, by the General and
19 I think --
20 JUDGE ORIE: [Previous translation continues]...not new subjects
21 touched upon. I mean, the subjects have been dealt with both in
22 examination-in-chief and in cross-examination, and I think that is the
23 criteria we use. If there is a new issue touched upon by the --
24 MR. PILETTA-ZANIN: [Interpretation] Mr. President, just one point.
25 General Briquemont was a lot more specific now in terms of aspects of
Page 10167
1 destruction in the city of Sarajevo, not just on the borders, so to speak,
2 of Sarajevo. It was on this point that we would like to ask questions.
3 JUDGE ORIE: [Previous translation continues]...has been dealt
4 with during the cross-examination and I think --
5 MR. PILETTA-ZANIN: [Interpretation] Very well, we won't ask this
6 question.
7 [Trial Chamber confers]
8 JUDGE ORIE: If it is just one question, Mr. Piletta-Zanin, we
9 allow you to do it but -- and that is also because of the situation of
10 time at this moment.
11 MR. PILETTA-ZANIN: [Interpretation] Thank you very much,
12 Mr. President, indeed.
13 Further cross-examination by Mr. Piletta-Zanin:
14 Q. [Interpretation] Now, General, you spoke of the significant
15 destruction in Sarajevo, that is in July of 1993, when you arrived. So in
16 relation to what you said, how can you rule out categorically, General,
17 the possibility that in relation to such-and-such and some other
18 destruction that you saw at the moment when the firing occurred, the shots
19 occurred, or when mobile targets were there or maybe some other legitimate
20 military targets like vehicles that were transporting troops, or troops in
21 movement? Could you rule out that they were there at the time?
22 A. When I remember everything that I saw in Sarajevo along the new
23 city or all the -- all the buildings - I have quite a number of
24 photographs at home - there were buildings of 10 to 15 storeys where
25 everything was destroyed. I can say that, as a military man, those
Page 10168
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Page 10169
1 buildings were a target of systematic firing before I arrived. Because
2 when you speak to me about mobile vehicles who might have been using
3 mortars, you know, to fire a mortar from the 7th floor of a building is
4 almost impossible. So, categorically, I would say that when we see the
5 scope of the destruction on all of the buildings where people lived, all
6 along Sniper Alley, that meant that those buildings were the systematic
7 target of firing before I came.
8 Q. General, my question was the following: You saw destruction, as
9 you said, not only in the sniper alley, which we discussed at great
10 length, but in the entire city. Could you, yes or no, rule out that at
11 the time the shooting occurred, and you did not witness it, there were no
12 mobile military targets in that location?
13 MR. IERACE: Mr. President, in my respectful submission, the
14 answer quite clearly did answer that question.
15 JUDGE ORIE: Yes. General Briquemont, did I understand your
16 answer well that although one might not exclude for certain that the
17 damage might have been damage caused by the presence -- at the time the
18 damage was done by the presence of any military object, either mobile or
19 only temporarily located in that specific place, that the extent of the
20 damage as a whole could hardly be explained by the presence of such
21 military targets at so many places and -- is that what your answer tells
22 us?
23 A. Yes, Mr. President.
24 JUDGE ORIE: The question has been answered, Mr. Piletta-Zanin.
25 [Interpretation] Since there are no further questions, I hesitate
Page 10170
1 to say this, but that completes your testimony before this Chamber.
2 General, I thank you for having come to The Hague and for having answered
3 all the questions asked by the parties and the Chamber. And I will now
4 ask the usher to escort you outside the courtroom. Thank you very much.
5 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Thank you, Your Honour.
6 [The witness withdrew]
7 JUDGE ORIE: Mr. Ierace.
8 MR. IERACE: Mr. President, to save time, I seek only to tender
9 one document, which is P3717. There are also two matters I would seek to
10 raise at some stage in the next 10 minutes. One of those matters is a
11 response to the request that you made yesterday afternoon. Thank you.
12 JUDGE ORIE: Madam Registrar, could you please guide us through
13 the limited number of documents, only one being tendered at this very
14 moment.
15 THE REGISTRAR: Yes, Your Honour. Prosecutor's Exhibit 3717 is a
16 graph entitled State Hospital Sarajevo.
17 JUDGE ORIE: Yes, and do we have any -- we have, I think, one
18 document but I do not -- was it just to be read? You have given us page 3
19 of a Security Council resolution but it bears no number. It is, of
20 course, a perfectly-known source of law or politics - I don't know - but
21 you do not tender that?
22 MR. PILETTA-ZANIN: [Interpretation] No, no. No.
23 MR. IERACE: Mr. President, I do apologise. I do seek to tender
24 the resolution. Thank you.
25 JUDGE ORIE: You seek to tender the resolution as a whole or --
Page 10171
1 MR. PILETTA-ZANIN: [Interpretation] No objection, Mr. President.
2 We believe that it is authentic.
3 JUDGE ORIE: [Previous translation continues]...one of the things
4 the parties could easily compromise on. Thank you.
5 So, then additionally Exhibit P3715, Security Council Resolution
6 836, is tendered by the Prosecution. And since there are no objections,
7 both the documents are admitted and are exhibits now.
8 Mr. Ierace.
9 MR. IERACE: Mr. President, in response to the inquiry that you
10 made yesterday afternoon, I do not have any objection to the Defence
11 retaining a copy of the material which was sent to them from the
12 authorities in Republika Srpska, but I would not want that to be seen in
13 any way as a precedent. But in this particular case, I have no difficulty
14 with that.
15 Secondly, during the examination-in-chief of this witness, I have
16 become concerned as to the frequency of interruptions which come about as
17 a result of complaints about the quality of translation. Those
18 interjections have come from Mr. Piletta-Zanin and one notes that the pace
19 of the interjections, the interruptions is increasing. In relation to the
20 examination-in-chief of General Briquemont, there were 12, and I have
21 counted them, 12 interruptions, because of concern by Mr. Piletta-Zanin
22 about the quality of the translation, overwhelmingly the French
23 translation. Of those 12, 5 related to the translation of the witness who
24 spoke in French into English. During the testimony -- during the
25 questioning of senior counsel for the Defence, Ms. Mara Pilipovic, there
Page 10172
1 were no interruptions from Mr. Piletta-Zanin expressing concerns about the
2 quality of the translation.
3 And of course, when he was asking questions, there was none. But
4 the appropriate comparison is with the questioning by Ms. Pilipovic.
5 Mr. President, apart from the loss of time, it directly impacts on
6 the flow of the witness's evidence. The interjection is usually made at
7 the end of a question asked by me, so that following the completion of the
8 interjection issue, the question then has to be re-asked, or the witness
9 reread the question.
10 Mr. President, I don't seek to delve into the issue of the
11 appropriateness of the interjections but simply to point out that that is
12 the inevitable consequences of them and they have now reached again, as
13 they did before the occasion that I rose to my feet and raise this issue
14 two weeks ago, they have now reached in frequency [Realtime transcript
15 read in error "frequently"] a point where they are significantly impacting
16 on the flow of evidence. I would be very grateful if the Trial Chamber
17 could consider some other mechanism to deal with these matters. Given
18 that, it apparently does not concern the Defence when they are asking
19 questions. Thank you.
20 MR. PILETTA-ZANIN: [Interpretation] Mr. President, I will be very
21 brief. Very brief. It is not true and I believe it is libelous. I
22 intervene when Ms. Pilipovic was speaking, I was asking for rectification,
23 and you can check it in the transcript if you are careful. I did it.
24 Second thing: 89, line 2, "frequency" instead of "frequently."
25 Third thing, Mr. Ierace himself trapped himself yesterday on a point that
Page 10173
1 I had asked the English booth to check what they said. I did not say they
2 were mounted on a vehicle, but they were transporting a vehicle. Now, if
3 I am intervening, it is because it is necessary and I am keeping this to a
4 minimum. What I did today, Mr. President, there were certain wrong
5 meanings that were flagrant of what the witness was saying, that they were
6 saying more military shelling, rather than civilian, and the English
7 transcript was saying the contrary. Now if the Prosecution doesn't check,
8 as we are doing, the English transcript, although it is a lot easier for
9 them because there are more of them, then I will do it for them. But then
10 I should not be criticised in doing what I have to do and I am in fact
11 lifting the burden of the Prosecution for doing it and I am doing it at
12 the minimum when I have to do it and the way I have to do it. Thank you.
13 [Trial Chamber confers]
14 JUDGE ORIE: The Chamber will not be able, I am afraid, to solve
15 this problem forever. But first of all, I would like to mention that
16 quite -- at quite a number of occasions, Mr. Piletta-Zanin, while
17 questioning the witness, was at the same time asking for correction of the
18 translation into English of his own question. So the Chamber would not
19 agree that he is just asking for corrections if the Prosecution is
20 examining the witness.
21 On the other hand, very often the correction does not immediately
22 affect the witness. If a question is put to the witness in English, and
23 when the witness speaks French, the Defence has a better reason to
24 interfere, because it might be confusing for the witness. If, on the
25 other hand, the witness is speaking the same language as the party that
Page 10174
1 examines the witness, any requests in respect of correcting the
2 translation could wait until after the question has been answered.
3 The Chamber feels on the one hand that it is important not to
4 disturb the flow of information given by the witness. On the other hand,
5 if a translation which needs specific attention might affect the answer of
6 the witness, then it should be done. And if, Mr. Ierace, if you tell us
7 that it is mainly done at the end of your question just before the witness
8 starts replying, then this might be caused also by the fact that the
9 translation always is a bit behind. So if there is a problem halfway
10 through your question, it might be only at the end of your question that
11 the translation gives a clue that it needs specific attention.
12 MR. IERACE: Mr. President, might I suggest another course that
13 could perhaps have become the problem and that is where the issue does not
14 affect the understanding by the witness of the question asked, that those
15 issues be dealt with at the end of the testimony of the witness. In other
16 words, we keep a record and then at least at the end of that day, we
17 reserve 5 or 10 minutes to do the transcript correction so as not to
18 impede the flow of evidence. Thank you.
19 MR. PILETTA-ZANIN: [Interpretation] Mr. President, first of all, I
20 am not a judge of my own comprehension of the witness a priori or
21 a posteriori, I'm only worried about what he's hearing.
22 JUDGE ORIE: If the translation problem is just for the
23 transcript, this does not affect the answer of the witness because he not
24 even has heard the translation. Of course, with General Briquemont --
25 MR. PILETTA-ZANIN: [Interpretation] Depends on which language. It
Page 10175
1 depends on the language.
2 JUDGE ORIE: We will consider the matter whether we should -- if
3 you want to make an observation as to saving all the comments as to the
4 end of the day --
5 MR. PILETTA-ZANIN: [Interpretation] Yes, I must make a point is
6 that technically when I wanted to use as many yellow pads as possible, the
7 answer that was given to me by the court reporters was that the truth is
8 what appears on the screen, not what we would like to bring in the
9 modifications after the session is adjourned. This is what I try to do.
10 JUDGE ORIE: [Previous translation continues]...question of Mr.
11 Ierace. Mr. Ierace's suggestion is that we do it at the end of the
12 hearing, not after the hearing has been closed. So it can be part of the
13 transcript. We stop 5 minutes early to say line so and so.
14 MR. PILETTA-ZANIN: [Interpretation] Thank you.
15 JUDGE ORIE: Apart from that, I do understand that there is also a
16 general procedure which allows any of the parties to submit comments on
17 the transcript within 10 days to the Registry.
18 I was not too well aware of that. But looking at the clock, we
19 have to finish for today.
20 MR. IERACE: Thank you, Mr. President.
21 JUDGE ORIE: Yes, and I see that that is also on the letter,
22 first, the draft transcript will be distributed to the parties and then it
23 continues, comments to be submitted by -- and then it gives another date.
24 We will consider the matter, keeping in mind both the aspects, good
25 translation and at the same time, an uninterrupted flow of information.
Page 10176
1 [Trial Chamber confers]
2 JUDGE ORIE: We will then adjourn until tomorrow morning, 9.00, in
3 the same courtroom.
4 --- Whereupon the hearing adjourned at
5 1.50 p.m., to be reconvened on Thursday,
6 the 20th day of June, 2002, at 9.00 a.m.
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