Page 4384
1 Wednesday, 30
2 [Open session]
3 --- Upon commencing at 9.52 a.m.
4 [The accused entered court]
5 JUDGE RODRIGUES: [Interpretation] You may be seated. Please sit
6 down.
7 Good morning, ladies and gentlemen; good morning, technicians,
8 interpreters; good morning to our legal assistants, representatives of the
9 registry; good morning, Mr. Keegan, Mr. Waidyaratne; good morning to the
10 Defence team. I can see that everybody is here. Good morning to the
11 accused.
12 I should like to apologise for this delay, but we had to do some
13 work before the beginning of the hearing this morning. I think that
14 Mr. Keegan has something to tell us.
15 Mr. Keegan, you have the floor, but I hope that the debate is not
16 going to be reopened once again. I just think that you have a piece of
17 information to communicate to us.
18 MR. KEEGAN: Yes, Your Honour. Given the debate yesterday, I
19 thought it prudent to advise the Chamber that we did discuss with the
20 Defence the issue of whether there could be any agreements with respect to
21 the motion to revise the witness list.
22 There is an agreement to disagree on the basic request; however,
23 it would appear that, as indicated yesterday, if the Chamber rules for the
24 Prosecution, then we might be able to reach agreements on modalities of
25 how the witnesses might be brought and in what order. But the basic issue
Page 4385
1 is one that will need to be decided. Of course, we would request a
2 decision as soon as possible, because obviously it impacts all the issues
3 of the witness schedule, et cetera.
4 Secondly, I've been advised by the Defence that before they would
5 be in a position to comment on the request for consolidation of the
6 indictment, they would need a translation into B/C/S, which we agree with,
7 so to the extent that that could be accelerated so that we could then
8 address that at the earliest possible opportunity. Thank you, Your
9 Honour.
10 I'm sorry, Your Honour. There was one point of agreement, I'm
11 sorry. The Defence has withdrawn their objection to Witness F, so there
12 are now two witnesses. We now have seven witnesses which are disputed and
13 two which are agreed on.
14 JUDGE RODRIGUES: [Interpretation] Very well, then. We take note
15 of this information and, as I have already told you, at the end of the
16 hearing today we will render our ruling.
17 Mr. Keegan, I think it's your turn now. We are going to have our
18 next witness, I believe. Oh, Mr. Waidyaratne. I'm sorry.
19 MR. WAIDYARATNE: Thank you, Your Honour. The Prosecution would
20 call Witness AN.
21 JUDGE RODRIGUES: [Interpretation] Yes, Mr. Stojanovic. Do you
22 have an objection to raise?
23 MR. STOJANOVIC: [Interpretation] Yes, Your Honour. Good morning.
24 As regards point 3, item 3 in the document that we received from the
25 Prosecution, the information concerns Zigic Zoran, and this is going
Page 4386
1 beyond the scope of the indictment. We do not have any information about
2 this event, neither in the indictment nor in annex D. I think this is
3 inadmissible at this stage of the indictment because we are not in the
4 investigation stage. I believe that the Prosecution has charged only for
5 the events for which they have a certain amount of evidence, and the
6 Defence has prepared itself only for the information contained in the
7 indictment.
8 We should like to invoke Rule 65 ter here, according to which the
9 list of witnesses that the Prosecutor intends to invite has to contain, in
10 some detail, specific references to counts in relevant paragraphs in the
11 indictment. We should like to hear the Prosecutor exactly what part of
12 the indictment is going to be relevant pursuant to point 3 of the document
13 entitled "Points of Examination." Thank you.
14 JUDGE RODRIGUES: [Interpretation] The Chamber does not have the
15 document that you have mentioned, Mr. Stojanovic, but I will give an
16 opportunity to the Prosecutor to respond to your objection.
17 MR. WAIDYARATNE: Your Honour, I think the Defence counsel is
18 referring to the points for examination which was given to them prior to
19 that. I would give a copy to the Court, if it's necessary.
20 JUDGE RODRIGUES: [Interpretation] Yes, because we do not have it.
21 Mr. Waidyaratne, would you like to respond to the objection?
22 MR. WAIDYARATNE: Yes, Your Honour. The Prosecution has disclosed
23 the statement of the Witness AN. In his statement made on the 10th of
24 January, 1999, he has referred to these incidents and the persons whom he
25 speaks about. And also may I be permitted to say: In the indictment
Page 4387
1 against Zoran Zigic, we have alleged that he instigated and committed, or
2 otherwise aided and abetted, the persecution of Bosnian Muslims, Bosnian
3 Croats, including the persons mentioned in the schedule D. And may I also
4 state, under counts 11 and 13, that he -- we have alleged that other than
5 the persons mentioned in schedule D, that he had participated in the
6 persecution of the other detainees in the Keraterm camp. So therefore I
7 think, Your Honour, the objection cannot be sustained.
8 JUDGE RODRIGUES: [Interpretation] Mr. Stojanovic, how do you
9 respond to that?
10 MR. STOJANOVIC: [Interpretation] Thank you, Your Honour, for
11 giving me the floor. The indictment, including the schedules, is very
12 specific, especially the part where persecution is discussed. However,
13 these individuals are not mentioned in this specific part, so I don't
14 think it should be admissible for us to offer -- to have to offer any
15 defence in respect of these individuals, because they are not mentioned in
16 schedule D or in any other paragraph, including the counts referring to
17 the persecution.
18 JUDGE RODRIGUES: [Interpretation] I'm sorry, Mr. Waidyaratne, I
19 couldn't quite follow you. What are the paragraphs of the indictment that
20 you mentioned? I'm sorry. I apologise, it's my mistake.
21 MR. WAIDYARATNE: Very well, paragraph 29.
22 JUDGE RODRIGUES: 29, yes. Yes, okay, 29.
23 MR. WAIDYARATNE: And counts 11 and 13.
24 JUDGE RODRIGUES: And?
25 MR. WAIDYARATNE: Counts 11 and 13, 1 to 3. 1 to 3, and 11 and
Page 4388
1 13.
2 JUDGE RODRIGUES: Yes.
3 MR. WAIDYARATNE: And may I also state at this stage, Your Honour,
4 Schedule D, under counts 1 to 3, persecutions, inhumane acts, and outrages
5 upon personal dignity, the first column which says "Victims: All
6 prisoners confined in Ormarska, Keraterm, and Trnopolje camps during the
7 period between 24th May 1992 and the 30th of August, 1992.
8 JUDGE RODRIGUES: [Interpretation] What is therefore the period
9 that you're going to discuss? What are the relevant dates?
10 MR. WAIDYARATNE: From the 24th May 1992, and the 30th of August,
11 1992.
12 JUDGE RODRIGUES: [Interpretation] Just a moment, please.
13 JUDGE WALD: May I ask you one question?
14 MR. WAIDYARATNE: Yes, Your Honour.
15 JUDGE WALD: On the witness statements for Witness AN that were
16 disclosed to the Defence, is there any mention of these individuals as
17 being the objects of the persecution charge?
18 MR. WAIDYARATNE: Yes, Your Honour.
19 JUDGE WALD: There is.
20 MR. WAIDYARATNE: Very much.
21 JUDGE WALD: So it's already in a witness statement.
22 MR. WAIDYARATNE: Very much.
23 JUDGE WALD: So it's only not -- I don't mean only, but the crux
24 of the Defence objection as I understand it is that it's not in the
25 indictment and Schedule D, not that they had no information that these
Page 4389
1 particular people might be --
2 MR. WAIDYARATNE: Specifically that the names have not been
3 mentioned.
4 JUDGE WALD: Yes.
5 MR. WAIDYARATNE: Yes.
6 JUDGE WALD: Okay, thank you.
7 [Trial Chamber confers]
8 JUDGE RODRIGUES: [Interpretation] Before we make a ruling,
9 Mr. Stojanovic, can you confirm the information that the Prosecutor has
10 just given you? Can you read the relevant information in the indictment?
11 MR. STOJANOVIC: [Interpretation] In the indictment itself, no,
12 Your Honours. I really cannot see any mention of the said individuals in
13 the indictment or in the schedules. We were unable to find any of these
14 individuals. But it is true that the information is contained in the
15 statement, and that the statement has been disclosed to us, however --
16 JUDGE RODRIGUES: [Interpretation] Very well, then. Thank you very
17 much. We will take note of that information.
18 We will reject the objection raised by the Defence, and let us
19 have our witness brought in to the courtroom.
20 MR. WAIDYARATNE: Thank you, Your Honour.
21 JUDGE RODRIGUES: [Interpretation] Mr. Usher, could you bring
22 Witness AN into the courtroom.
23 [The witness entered court]
24 JUDGE RODRIGUES: [Interpretation] Good morning, Witness AN. Can
25 you hear me?
Page 4390
1 THE WITNESS: Yes.
2 JUDGE RODRIGUES: [Interpretation] You will first read the solemn
3 declaration that the usher is giving you.
4 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Thank you.
5 I solemnly declare that I will speak the truth, the whole truth,
6 and nothing but the truth.
7 WITNESS: WITNESS AN
8 [Witness answered through interpreter]
9 JUDGE RODRIGUES: [Interpretation] You may be seated now. The
10 usher is going to show you a piece of paper which should contain your name
11 and surname. Could you please have a look at that piece of paper and tell
12 us by saying simply "yes" or "no" if that is indeed your name.
13 A. Yes, yes.
14 JUDGE RODRIGUES: [Interpretation] Thank you very much. You're now
15 going to answer questions that will be put to you by Mr. Waidyaratne who
16 is standing on your righthand side.
17 Mr. Waidyaratne, the witness is yours.
18 MR. WAIDYARATNE: Thank you, Your Honour.
19 Examined by Mr. Waidyaratne:
20 Q. Good morning, Witness.
21 MR. WAIDYARATNE: Your Honour, may I request to go into private
22 session as the witness would be speaking about certain personal
23 information.
24 JUDGE RODRIGUES: [Interpretation] Yes, we will go into private
25 session.
Page 4391
1 [Private session]
2 (redacted)
3 (redacted)
4 (redacted)
5 (redacted)
6 (redacted)
7 (redacted)
8 (redacted)
9 (redacted)
10 (redacted)
11 (redacted)
12 (redacted)
13 (redacted)
14 (redacted)
15 (redacted)
16 (redacted)
17 (redacted)
18 (redacted)
19 (redacted)
20 (redacted)
21 (redacted)
22 (redacted)
23 (redacted)
24 (redacted)
25 (redacted)
Page 4392
1 (redacted)
2 (redacted)
3 (redacted)
4 (redacted)
5 (redacted)
6 [Open session]
7 MR. WAIDYARATNE: Witness, I will draw your attention --
8 JUDGE RODRIGUES: We are in public session.
9 MR. WAIDYARATNE: Thank you.
10 JUDGE RODRIGUES: [Interpretation] You may continue.
11 MR. WAIDYARATNE:
12 Q. Witness, I will draw your attention to the day you were arrested.
13 Do you remember that day?
14 A. It was on the 30th of May, 1992, in Prijedor.
15 Q. Where were you? Were you in your own house?
16 A. I was arrested in front of my house at 5.00 in the afternoon on
17 May 30th.
18 Q. Could you please state to the Court what happened then?
19 A. A man in a police uniform arrived. His name was Svjetlica. He
20 was rather fair, and he told us to put on our jackets. And he told me and
21 my brothers that there was a bus waiting for us at the main road not far
22 from where I lived and that we should go, and that we would be taken for
23 an informative interview, and that we would be released two or three days
24 after that.
25 There were a lot of people there from my local commune, a lot of
Page 4393
1 my relatives, my neighbours, and friends, and we were all taken to the
2 barracks. When we reached the barracks, we did not get off the bus. The
3 driver was -- went to the administration building, and then he came back,
4 and we went to Omarska. Upon our arrival in Omarska, we remained on the
5 buses; we didn't get off the bus.
6 Q. Now, you mentioned about barracks. Where was this barracks?
7 A. The barracks was located on the road towards Bosanska Dubica, at
8 the outskirts of Prijedor.
9 Q. And you mentioned that -- said that in your testimony that you
10 were taken in buses. Who were the people, other people in the bus?
11 A. Other people were my relatives, my brothers, my neighbours, and
12 they were all of Croat and Muslim ethnicity. We were all loaded onto the
13 buses and taken away.
14 Q. You said that the bus went to Omarska. Do you know what this
15 place -- could you describe as to what this place was?
16 A. The place is located in the direction of Banja Luka and it's maybe
17 six or seven kilometres off the main road to the right-hand side, and this
18 is where we were brought. We were brought to the garage building, the
19 administration building, which contained a restaurant. And we remained on
20 the buses. We didn't get off at that point. After a while we were told
21 that there was no room for us over there and we were taken back to
22 Prijedor, and we were actually taken to the Keraterm complex.
23 Q. Witness, this Keraterm complex you mentioned, could you very
24 briefly explain as to what -- the location of this place.
25 A. Keraterm is located at the outskirts of Prijedor, towards Banja
Page 4394
1 Luka, on the left-hand side of the brick factory. Keraterm used to be a
2 ceramic tile factory or fireproof equipment factory.
3 Q. After you reach the camp Keraterm, what were you ordered to do?
4 A. Upon our arrival in Keraterm, it was already getting dark and we
5 were ordered off the buses. The soldiers were probably of Serbian
6 origin. They searched us all and they put us up in a very large room
7 which had no lights inside. We entered that room and we were supposed to
8 spend the night there, and they told us they would see in the morning what
9 they would do with us.
10 Q. During your stay in Keraterm, did you get to know as to how this
11 room was referred to by the detainees?
12 A. When we got there, we realised it was a very large room, and later
13 on we were told that it was referred to as room number 2.
14 Q. Thank you. How long did you spend in Keraterm?
15 A. I spent four days in Keraterm.
16 Q. During your stay in Keraterm, did you see a person by the name of
17 Zoran Zigic?
18 A. When I arrived in Keraterm, that is, when it dawned on the
19 following day, a man in a military uniform with a red beret appeared. He
20 was carrying a Kalashnikov or some other type of automatic of rifle. He
21 came to the door, he raised his rifle, and he said, "My name is Zoran
22 Zigic, balija motherfuckers."
23 Q. Did you know this person before this instance?
24 A. The kind of job I was involved in was such that I knew him because
25 he was a taxi driver, and I would see him at the petrol station. And I
Page 4395
1 learnt from Sefik Jakupovic, who was also a taxi driver, that he liked to
2 drink. And when we arrived in Keraterm, he introduced himself personally
3 to us.
4 Q. You said he introduced himself. You mean Zoran Zigic?
5 A. Yes. Zoran Zigic introduced himself in person when we arrived in
6 Keraterm.
7 Q. When you saw him that time, how was he dressed? You said that he
8 was dressed in military uniform.
9 A. Yes. He was wearing a camouflage military uniform. He had a red
10 beret on his head and he was armed with a Kalashnikov, an automatic rifle.
11 Q. Did you see him clearly? Did you recognise him?
12 A. Yes, I recognised him. We could see him clearly. It was
13 daylight. And he entered room number 2.
14 Q. Witness AN, did you know a person by the name of Zeric?
15 A. I knew a man by the name of Zeric. Mr. Zeric was a detainee like
16 ourselves, and at one occasion Zigic was walking around the Keraterm
17 compound and he recognised him and immediately started kicking him. And
18 he was cursing his balija mother, accusing him of selling some hand
19 grenades at the market. And he continued to beat him until the person
20 almost fainted.
21 Q. Did Zeric, when he was beaten by Zoran Zigic, say anything to
22 Zoran Zigic?
23 A. He was begging him. He was saying, "Ziga, I have nothing to do
24 with it." However, Ziga simply continued saying, "I don't believe you. I
25 know what you did," and he continued kicking him in his ribs and in his
Page 4396
1 legs. And meanwhile we were all sitting down on the asphalt part of the
2 area.
3 Q. Did you know to which ethnicity Zeric belonged to?
4 A. Zeric was a Muslim.
5 Q. Now I would ask you about another person by the name of Samir
6 Sistek. Did you know him before the war?
7 A. I knew him. He was a buggy driver from the Cerac area.
8 Q. How old was he? Was he young or --
9 A. He was youngish, perhaps 20 years of age. He was rather strongly
10 built.
11 Q. Did you see Samir Sistek in the camp?
12 A. Yes. He was with us in the camp, in the same room.
13 Q. Did you see Samir Sistek being called out at any instance?
14 A. Yes. Zigic called him out and he said, "Kokijas, come on, get
15 out," and Samir did get up. And as he was getting out, while he was still
16 at the door, we could hear the blows and we could hear Zigic say, "Look at
17 this motherfucker. I cannot -- one blow is not enough for him." And then
18 he made him sing Chetnik songs like "Od Topole Do Ravne Gore" and "Srbija
19 Nije Mala," and songs like that, and Samir could sing them.
20 Q. Did you see Samir return to the room?
21 A. Yes. Samir came back to the room. He had been badly beaten up.
22 His face was injured. And he said, "Look what he did to me, and I
23 never -- and I had never done him any harm."
24 Q. Did you know as to what ethnicity Samir belonged to?
25 A. Samir was a Muslim.
Page 4397
1 Q. Witness AN, during your detention in room 2, did you see a person
2 by the name of Ivo Sikura?
3 A. Yes, I did see a person called Ivo Sikura, a man who was about 75
4 years of age, and he was a Croat.
5 Q. Did you see him being called out by any person while he was in
6 room 2?
7 A. Sure. Zoran Zigic called him out, told him, "Ivo, come out." Ivo
8 is an elderly man. He went out and Zigic began to beat him. And he
9 implored him, "Don't do it to me, Zoran. I'm an old man. I never had
10 anything to do with politics." And Zigic was telling him, "Fuck you.
11 Don't you know what your son was doing?"
12 Q. Did Zigic accuse him of anything else or say anything to him?
13 A. He accused him because of his son, Zeljko. Zeljko was a physician
14 in Prijedor.
15 Q. Did you see Ivo return to the room?
16 A. Yes. Ivo came in, an elderly man, and he was all black and blue.
17 Q. During your detention in Keraterm, were you interrogated?
18 A. Yes. We were taken for interrogation, that is, Modic was
19 interrogated first. There was a list and it was read out and I went
20 upstairs to a man whom I knew very well, but he behaved quite decently.
21 He interrogated us. But he had an officer with him, a captain first class
22 of the former Yugoslav army who was interrogating us. And a soldier who
23 brought me in there also took me back. Nobody laid a finger on us, nobody
24 beat us. And after that we were issued some papers that we had been
25 interrogated, that we are free, and to wait because they would take us
Page 4398
1 back to our homes.
2 Q. After you were released, where did you -- you were at home?
3 A. Yes.
4 Q. Were you rearrested?
5 A. So we went home with those papers and I stopped mulling around
6 because houses were being set on fire and people were being arrested. And
7 some eight or ten days later, around the 14th, two policemen came. The
8 name of one was Bato Kovacevic. And they came to my place. And I used to
9 know him from before. And he told us to get ready, the three brothers,
10 because they need us at the police. They had to ask us something. And we
11 did so. We went to the police station in Prijedor. He reported to the
12 policeman on duty. And he said, "No, no, no. Nobody is looking for you
13 here." And then Bato says, "Well, they're looking for you in Keraterm,"
14 and so they took us to Keraterm. And again we were told, "Well, they've
15 got their papers. We have nothing to do with them." So Bato took us
16 back to the police station in Prijedor. And then he said, "Well, perhaps
17 somebody in Omarska wants to see you," and he put us behind in his car to
18 take us to Omarska.
19 Q. Were you taken to Omarska?
20 A. The afternoon, around 5.00, a bus came for the three of us, and
21 two men from Ljubija, and for -- a judge from Prijedor, and we were all
22 made to board that bus. And we started and then some more prisoners,
23 detainees, were put on the bus and we were eventually taken to Omarska.
24 Q. Did you recognise this person whom you referred to as "the
25 judge"?
Page 4399
1 A. Yes, I knew him. He was from Prijedor, a middle-aged man. He was
2 on the bus with us, and he went with us to Omarska.
3 Q. Do you recall the name?
4 A. Yes, Esad Mehmedagic.
5 Q. Now, when you reached Omarska, were you ordered out of the bus?
6 A. When we reached Omarska, we were ordered to get off the bus, and
7 when we did so, a man in a military uniform came. His name was Delic, and
8 he asked us where we came from. And we said that we came from the
9 outskirts of Prijedor. And he said "I know them. That's where I played
10 football." And he told the guards, "Do not, do not harm them." So we
11 just had to put our hands behind our -- at the back of our heads and run
12 to the building.
13 Q. Now, were you taken to a room?
14 A. Yes, we were taken. The guards took us to that room. The guard
15 showed us where to go, and we entered Room 15, and there we found many
16 other people from Prijedor who had been brought there earlier.
17 Q. After you went to this place where you referred to as Room 15, did
18 you see a guard at the door?
19 A. Yes. There was a guard at the entrance into the room who did
20 nothing -- who did not harm us, and we entered. And since we had those
21 papers that we had been released from Keraterm, we turned to the guard to
22 give him those papers. And he read through our papers and said that he
23 could not help us because he had to wait for his commander, and we went
24 back into the room.
25 Q. Thereafter, did anybody come to see you while you were in that
Page 4400
1 room?
2 A. After a while that same guard said those last who had arrived
3 should come to the door, and we came to the door. And we had those
4 papers, the three of us, and there was a man in a police uniform, a tall
5 man smiling. We gave him our papers. He read them, and said "I cannot
6 help you until Monday because the interrogators are off."
7 And then we later on we learned that that man's name was Ckalja,
8 and the man who worked with him was Hazim Okic. They worked together in
9 Ljubija. But the man whose nickname was Ckalja, his real name was Momo
10 Gruban.
11 Q. You referred to a person by the name of Okic. Okic was a detainee
12 in that room?
13 A. Yes, he was. Yes, yes, he was a detainee in the same room with
14 us.
15 Q. After this person whom you referred to as Ckalja left, were you
16 called for interrogation?
17 A. Yeah. Well, we arrived on Friday evening. On Monday morning a
18 soldier came with a list and called us out to take us for interrogation,
19 and we were taken to the administrative building in the Omarska camp on
20 the upper floor where the interrogators were.
21 Q. Before we go into the interrogation, another question with regard
22 to the person whom you referred to as Ckalja. Did you get to know as to
23 what position he held in the camp?
24 A. When we arrived, the soldier who received us, he told us that he
25 was waiting for his commander. We did not know him when we came. And
Page 4401
1 then I learned that his nickname was Ckalja, and then I learned that his
2 name was Momo Gruban and he was a shift commander.
3 Q. Thank you. Now, about the interrogation, you said that you were
4 called out by a soldier, and that you were taken for interrogation. Where
5 were you taken to?
6 A. From Room 15 he took me to the administrative building to the
7 upper floor where the interrogations were taking place.
8 Q. Were there any other persons in the room?
9 A. As I entered when this soldier brought me in, there were two men
10 sitting. One was sort of shortish. They were both wearing camouflage
11 uniforms. I learned later on that they came from Banja Luka. The name of
12 one was Mirko. And one was taller, the other one was shortish but sort of
13 a stalwart man.
14 He asked to see my personal papers, and I had my ID, and then he
15 began to ask me about some peoples, about, for instance, either from
16 Prijedor, Kiki, what he was doing. Did I know anything about him? And I
17 said I minded my own business, and I didn't really know what other people
18 were doing because I had my own trucks to look after.
19 But the man who was in the police uniform who was standing next to
20 him, his name was Zeljko Prcac. He was wearing a police uniform.
21 THE INTERPRETER: And would the witness please slow down.
22 A. And the man from Banja Luka stood up and said, "Oh, fuck you, you
23 know nothing," he said.
24 MR. WAIDYARATNE:
25 Q. I'm sorry to interrupt you, could you speak slowly.
Page 4402
1 Could you say as to what happened thereafter?
2 A. Then Mirko stood up, and he was the one who said "fuck you" and
3 said that I didn't know anything, this guy, the guy in the police uniform,
4 active duty or not I don't know, and his name was Zeljko Prcac. Mirko
5 told me to do a square. I didn't know what it was, but I was hit, so I
6 fell down on my knees, and yes, indeed, there was something like a square
7 on the floor. And they both beat me. And the other one, the fat one who
8 was sitting next to him, he said, "Don't beat him because the man really
9 doesn't know what you're asking." And then they stopped beating me, but
10 Mirko said, "Mind that I don't, that I don't see you again because you'll
11 see what, what will be in store for you then."
12 Q. Did you sustain injuries due to the beating?
13 A. When I left that room, the door closed, and there were five
14 soldiers in army uniforms who ordered me to face the wall. I put my hands
15 against the wall, and they proceeded to beat me with rifle butts on the
16 back, and I was half dead. They pulled me out, and they went to pista,
17 and there I passed out.
18 Q. How long did you stay in the pista?
19 A. I stayed on pista for a month.
20 Q. While you were in the Omarska camp, did you get to know a person
21 by the name of Drago Prcac?
22 A. With me on the pista was a policeman, Meho Mahmutovic, a traffic
23 warden from Prijedor. I mean, I was in the trucking business, he was a
24 traffic warden, so we knew each other well. And a man, clean shaven, in a
25 police uniform, came up, and then this man told me, "Look, Drago Prcac is
Page 4403
1 here, too." So that I, yes, I did meet him in Omarska in the camp.
2 Q. Could you describe this person whom you referred to as Drago Prcac
3 when you saw him in the Omarska camp?
4 A. Sure. He was a clean-shaven man in a police uniform. He was
5 carrying some lists and walking towards that administrative building. He
6 was a -- sort of had a serious expression on his face. He was not fat.
7 Q. Did you see him close by?
8 A. Yes, because he would be there. He walked up and down. He spoke
9 to different policemen because there were a number of them, Zijad and
10 others and inspectors. And they communicated because they were with me on
11 the pista, and he would be passing by and talk to them.
12 Q. Did you get to know as to what position or what authority he had
13 in the camp?
14 A. We learnt that he was a Deputy Commander of the Omarska camp, that
15 he was second in command after Commander Kvocka.
16 Q. You said after Kvocka. What did you exactly mean by that?
17 A. When we arrived, that is what we heard from people who were
18 already there, that the camp commander was Kvocka, and we used to see him
19 there. He would be around.
20 Q. And was there a time that you didn't see Kvocka?
21 A. Yes. After a while, Kvocka stopped turning up where we were.
22 Q. Witness AN, speaking about the person Drago Prcac, did you see him
23 call out any persons while you were detained in the camp?
24 A. Yes. It was in late July in the evening, sometime around 8.00 I
25 went to the WC, and the door of the administrative building opened, and a
Page 4404
1 man entered. He had a coat over his arm and a list in his hands. And as
2 I stood there, he called out the name Esad Sadikovic. And after a while
3 Sadikovic came out of his room, came to Drago, and he just told him to go
4 to a friend because they were sleeping on the other side, and it was to my
5 brother. And he gave me some cigarettes, and so I went to -- Drago
6 came -- and he came and faced Drago, and Drago saw him there, and ever
7 since Esad has been missing.
8 Q. Now, you said a person with a coat in his hand and a list came up
9 and referred to another person -- and referred to him as Drago.
10 A. It's a light coat.
11 Q. Who was he? Who was he?
12 A. That was Drago Prcac, the man whom I met, because Meho Mahmutovic
13 had told me his name on the pista.
14 Q. Now, you spoke about this person Esad Sadikovic. How well did you
15 know him? Who was he?
16 A. He was a physician. He worked for the United Nations. He came
17 from Prijedor, and we were friends. We would walk by or would have a
18 drink together. We were quite close.
19 Q. Before this, did you see Esad Sadikovic in the camp?
20 A. Yes. As he was in the camp with us, he slept for a while in some
21 rooms and later on he joined us, and he was with us in Omarska all the
22 time.
23 Q. Which ethnicity did he belong to?
24 A. Esad was a Muslim.
25 Q. During your detention, Witness AN, in the Omarska camp, did you
Page 4405
1 come to know a person by the name of Krkan?
2 A. Yes, indeed.
3 Q. Who was he in the camp?
4 A. Krkan was the commander of a shift in the camp.
5 Q. Why do you say that he was a commander of a shift in the camp?
6 A. Well, every morning around 7.00 a bus would bring new guards, and
7 there where they had some taps where they wash hands and so on so forth,
8 that is where shifts took turns. And he was addressed by soldiers, by
9 guards who took us to the toilet to wash and so on so forth, but he was
10 not there. He would immediately go into the administrative building
11 because he was the commander of those men of his.
12 Q. Did you know him before you came to the camp? Had you seen him
13 before you came to the camp?
14 A. Yes. Perhaps two days before the war, I was with Fikret Sarajlic,
15 a policeman from Prijedor. We were at the police station in Prijedor, and
16 a man, quite heavy, whom I didn't know, quite heavily built, whom I didn't
17 know, turned up. And the man I was with addressed him as, "Hello, Radic,"
18 and they talked about something. And then after a while, or rather, when
19 I arrived in Omarska, I saw that that was Radic whom I had met earlier,
20 and that his nickname was Krkan.
21 Q. When you saw him in the camp, could you describe him, describe him
22 as to how he looked and as to what he was dressed in?
23 A. Sure. He was in a police uniform, rather short, but with a big
24 paunch. He did not communicate much with detainees. He frequently went
25 into the administrative building and just was moved around.
Page 4406
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Page 4407
1 Q. Where did you see him often while you were in the camp?
2 A. Yeah, sure. He was in -- you could see him often in Omarska, and
3 I spent 55 days there.
4 Q. Where did you see him? Any specific place often?
5 A. Well, he would be walking up and down. He would be passing by
6 because he went to the administrative building. We could see him walk up
7 the stairs because the staircase was in glass, with glass walls, and we
8 could see him climb the stairs to the rooms where interrogators were.
9 Q. Did you know a person by the name of Muharem Murselovic?
10 A. Yes, I did know the person called that. He had a restaurant in
11 Prijedor.
12 Q. To which ethnicity did he belong to?
13 A. Muharem was Albanian.
14 Q. Was he detained with you?
15 A. Yes, he was detained with us in Omarska.
16 Q. Did you see him being beaten?
17 A. Yes, one day a commander, I know his name was Zlaja, he came to
18 visit the camp. And that day when we went for lunch and we had to run,
19 and as we came out of that room where we had our meal, they had spilt some
20 beans, and it was very slippery. And of course, if you fell, you knew
21 what was in store for you. And Muharem, he was of some advanced age, and
22 he was running, and he slipped and fell, and as he fell, the guards beat
23 him. And at the entrance to the staircase where Krkan, Mijo Milic,
24 Zeljaja, and some other inspectors, they were all standing there and
25 laughing at what was happening to us.
Page 4408
1 Q. Did any of these persons, especially Krkan, intervene to stop
2 these guards, how they were conducting themselves?
3 A. No, they were upstairs. They merely laughed at us and what the
4 guards were doing to us. Nobody even tried to do anything. But nearby
5 was a man who worked at the radio station, and he went up to Murselovic
6 and said, "Oh, look, how does anyone dare beat you," and pretended to be
7 surprised.
8 Q. Did you get to know that any of these guards, whether they were
9 punished for these abuses?
10 A. Guards were not punished there. They took gold from us, money,
11 watches, beat us. Nobody ever tried to stop them, perhaps merely
12 encouraged them.
13 Q. Witness AN, during your detention in the pista, did you see a
14 person by the name of Sifet Ramadanovic?
15 A. Yes, a man in his 70s was with us. He had a restaurant in
16 Prijedor. He was of Albanian ethnicity. He used to have his coffee shop,
17 his restaurant, which was called Rudar.
18 Q. Did you see him being beaten or physically mistreated while he was
19 in the camp.
20 A. Yes. After he was interrogated and brought back, there were
21 guards waiting for him at the entrance, and they continued to beat him.
22 And he was begging them, "Children, I've got no money. I had nothing to
23 do with politics," and they beat him nevertheless. And that man, in his
24 70s, just stayed there and remained lying there. And the guards said that
25 two men should come and take him out onto the pista, and two men did that.
Page 4409
1 Q. Did you -- were you able to recognise any of these guards?
2 A. No, I did not. I did not recognise them. We were not allowed to
3 really look.
4 Q. Did you get to know later as to what happened to Safet
5 Ramadanovic?
6 A. Safet Ramadanovic, nicknamed Cifut, three days later Esad Sehic
7 took him out because he died as a result of the beating.
8 Q. How did you get to know? Did you see him die?
9 A. I did not see him dead. It was Esad Sehic, who was taking care of
10 him, told us Safet died, and Esad took him out near the "white house" on
11 the lawn there.
12 Q. You got to know about this after three days?
13 A. Yes.
14 Q. When were you released from the Omarska camp?
15 A. I was released on the 6th of August, between 3.00 and 5.00 in the
16 afternoon. We were put on buses and were taken in a direction that we did
17 not know, but sometime later we learnt that we were going to Manjaca.
18 Q. How long did you stay in Manjaca?
19 A. One hundred days exactly.
20 Q. Is it correct if I say that you were released from Manjaca on the
21 14th of November, 1992?
22 A. Yes, that is correct, on the 14th of November.
23 Q. Did you leave Bosnia thereafter, and when was it?
24 A. I left Bosnia on the 14th of November from Manjaca, and then we
25 went to the collecting centre in Karlovac.
Page 4410
1 Q. What did you do with your house and property?
2 A. After I went to Omarska, when I was detained in Keraterm,
3 policemen came, at least men in a police uniform. They drove my truck
4 away. And when I left -- and when I was in the camp, they drove out my
5 wife and children from their house, but my wife obtained a paper and it
6 said that it had all been requisitioned for the Serb Republic.
7 Q. Witness AN, coming to the conclusion of your testimony, I would
8 ask you whether you would be able to identify certain people whom you
9 referred to in your testimony. It's almost nine years after these
10 incidents. Are you in a position to identify the person whom you referred
11 to as Zoran Zigic, if he is present in the courthouse today?
12 A. I'll do my best, even though a lot of time has passed by.
13 Q. Please look around the courtroom and see whether you could see
14 him. If you are unable to see from here, you may even, with the
15 permission of the Court, move forward. You may even get up.
16 MR. WAIDYARATNE: Thank you, Your Honour.
17 A. I think it is this gentleman sitting here. That's what I think.
18 Q. Are you able to describe what he is wearing, the colour of the
19 suit?
20 A. A blue suit and a tie in several colours, and there is a pin on
21 the tie.
22 Q. Could you exactly say where he is seated? You see two rows.
23 A. The first row, here, in the first row.
24 Q. Which place?
25 A. In the middle.
Page 4411
1 Q. From the policeman, could you say exactly which place?
2 A. Next to the policeman. The policeman, the door, and the
3 policeman, which is the first nearest to the door, and then the man
4 sitting next to him.
5 MR. WAIDYARATNE: May it be recorded that the witness has
6 positively identified the accused Zoran Zigic. Thank you, Your Honour.
7 Q. Now, Witness, you referred to a person by the name of Krkan.
8 A. I did.
9 Q. Are you in a position to identify him today if you see him again?
10 A. Yes. That's the man sitting there behind the policeman, also a
11 blue suit and a dotted tie, in the back row.
12 Q. From the direction that you are looking, you see a door, and could
13 you say which seat he is sitting now?
14 A. The door, the policeman, and then Krkan, in that order.
15 MR. WAIDYARATNE: May it be recorded, Your Honour, that the
16 witness has correctly identified the accused Krkan. May I also request
17 the permission of the Court for the accused to keep their heads up,
18 especially when these witnesses make an attempt to identify them. Thank
19 you, Your Honour.
20 JUDGE RODRIGUES: [Interpretation] I must ask: When
21 the -- during the identification, can you please remove also the
22 headsets. That is, if the Prosecutor requests identification, will the
23 defendants please remove the headsets.
24 MR. WAIDYARATNE: Thank you, Your Honour.
25 Q. Witness, you, in your testimony, referred to a person by the name
Page 4412
1 of Drago Prcac.
2 A. I did.
3 Q. Over nine years have passed. Are you in a position to identify
4 him today if you see him again?
5 A. I don't see him today. He was a man of a middle age at that
6 time. Now he must be quite an elderly man, and I don't see one that would
7 look that old here.
8 MR. WAIDYARATNE: Thank you, Your Honour.
9 Q. Witness, concluding the examination, could you state whether you
10 suffered any physical or psychological setbacks due to the confinement in
11 the camps Keraterm, Omarska, and Manjaca?
12 A. Yes. They killed my three cousins and a close relative. All my
13 property has been seized. They did everything to me in Keraterm and
14 Omarska. Going to Omarska was a different matter [as interpreted]. The
15 conduct there was -- one could call humane.
16 MR. WAIDYARATNE: Thank you, Your Honour. That concludes the
17 examination-in-chief.
18 JUDGE RODRIGUES: [Interpretation] Thank you, Mr. Waidyaratne, and
19 I think this is a convenient time to make a break, so that we shall now
20 adjourn for half an hour and then return. However, before that I should
21 like to ask the usher to lower the blinds, to bring down the blinds, and
22 help the witness out before us.
23 [The witness stands down]
24 JUDGE RODRIGUES: [Interpretation] Yes, Mr. Keegan.
25 MR. KEEGAN: Yes, Your Honour. The issue arose yesterday during
Page 4413
1 some of the in-court identifications, and we submit that some of the
2 problems have arisen today. It's clear that many of these witnesses only
3 saw the accused in the camp for the first time. Nine years have passed.
4 Conditions are difficult enough. Despite the instructions from the Judge,
5 some of the accused continue to keep their headphones on. And in
6 addition, Mr. Prcac has been engaging in a pattern of keeping his head
7 down throughout all examinations, wearing his glasses, and did not look up
8 even during the person's attempt to identify him.
9 We would like a standing order -- we didn't raise it, of course,
10 in front of the witness, because it would have been irrelevant at that
11 point, but we would like a standing order given that when it comes to
12 in-court identifications, all of the accused will look up so that the
13 witnesses have an adequate opportunity to actually see their faces and to
14 remove eyeglasses if they're wearing them at the time.
15 JUDGE RODRIGUES: [Interpretation] Yes, Mr. Simic.
16 MR. J. SIMIC: [Interpretation] Your Honours, I really don't want
17 to start an argument now, but I refuse to accept that the accused was
18 trying to conceal his face, and nobody ever raised this matter before,
19 that they had to remove their earphones and look up. I mean, the
20 defendants are doing whatever they are doing, taking notes, writing, or
21 something. So perhaps we can discuss this matter whether they should look
22 up and remove the headsets, so on and so forth. But so far nobody has
23 ever mentioned it. There hasn't been such a rule. The reason for failure
24 to make an identification, I don't know whether that is it, but it was
25 never mentioned before.
Page 4414
1 JUDGE RODRIGUES: [Interpretation] I think we are all professionals
2 here and we are aware of the risks that this type of procedure involves.
3 It is always a little difficult to proceed in this manner. We have to
4 bear in mind the circumstances. Such a problem does not arise when we
5 have only one accused. We have five accused in this case and there is
6 always a margin of error involved in the procedure. However, certain
7 conditions should be created and respected throughout the procedure.
8 I agree with what Mr. Jovan Simic has said. There should be a
9 standard, a criterion, that needs to be respected. If, for example, the
10 witness has seen the accused with glasses, then maybe the fact that the
11 accused is wearing glasses now, it is important, but that doesn't need to
12 be the significant detail.
13 So I should like to appeal to the accused and to ask them to
14 comply with these instructions and to take off their earphones and
15 glasses. Maybe there are -- there should be another procedure as well.
16 Maybe we should ask the accused to stand up, because it is sometimes easy
17 to hide behind a desk.
18 I will appreciate your cooperation in this case. I know it is
19 quite difficult for you, but I should like to ask you to take off your
20 headphones in cases of identification and also to lift your heads, to look
21 up during that procedure. I don't know if it would be asking too much if
22 we also request of you that you stand up during the identification
23 procedure, but we will agree on that later on.
24 It seems that Mr. Fila wants to say something. Mr. Fila.
25 MR. FILA: [Interpretation] Mr. President, the Prosecutor always
Page 4415
1 asks the witness whether he can recognise the accused, for example, Krkan,
2 here in the courtroom, and then the witness starts looking at all of us.
3 If you should make five people stand up, then the number of potential
4 people recognised is smaller. So the same thing happens if they take off
5 their headphones. Well, that is perhaps understandable, but I don't think
6 that it is necessary for them to stand up. But I also think that it would
7 be asking too much of the accused to look up all the time and to face the
8 witness all the time. Thank you.
9 JUDGE RODRIGUES: [Interpretation] Mr. Stojanovic.
10 MR. STOJANOVIC: [Interpretation] With your permission, Your
11 Honour. My proposal for an accused to stand up was once rejected.
12 Nevertheless, my position has remained the same. I think that the height
13 is one of the crucial elements of identification. So I think that the
14 Chamber should be consistent with its previous decisions, and I should
15 like you to take note of my initial proposal, which was rejected. Thank
16 you.
17 JUDGE RODRIGUES: [Interpretation] I don't know if we have an order
18 of speakers. Mr. O'Sullivan was the first one to rise. Mr. O'Sullivan.
19 MR. O'SULLIVAN: Thank you, Your Honour. Very briefly, we would
20 object to any procedure according to which the five accused are made to
21 single themselves out from other people in the courtroom by standing or
22 removing their headsets. We say that that is prejudicial and unfair.
23 JUDGE RODRIGUES: [Interpretation] Yes. I also thought about that,
24 but of course it depends on the way the issue is brought. If you ask, for
25 example, if you -- "Do you see this person in this courtroom," if we ask
Page 4416
1 of the relevant person to stand up, then the witness will see immediately
2 who the person in question is. If, however, the witness first identifies
3 where the person is sitting and if he identifies the person, then later on
4 maybe it will be helpful. It really depends on the way the question is
5 asked of the witness.
6 I agree with you that if someone asks, "Do you see that person in
7 the courtroom," and if that person stands up, of course this is more than
8 leading. But if the person -- if the witness has said, "Yes, I can see
9 the accused," and if he points out to the accused, at that point the
10 accused can perhaps stand up for additional information.
11 I think we should all think about the procedure. I know that you
12 are all aware of the complex character of the issue of identification.
13 There can always be certain prejudice that can be at play in the process
14 of the identification. We are aware of the difficulty of this procedure,
15 and that is why we have to adopt these -- we have to adopt a procedure in
16 a very careful manner.
17 Mr. Simic.
18 MR. K. SIMIC: [Interpretation] Your Honours, I will be very
19 brief. I fully agree with my colleague, Mr. O'Sullivan. I would only
20 like to add one sentence. All these people, all these witnesses, saw
21 these individuals at one particular point in time, when they were passing
22 by, carrying some papers, and I think it is natural for them to identify
23 them in a normal situation. If they all start looking up towards the
24 witness, it will be very difficult. We have to bear in mind the realistic
25 circumstances in which the accused were seen by the witnesses. So if now
Page 4417
1 we have witnesses looking at them in a normal, life-like situation, then I
2 think it is the best way for them to identify the accused.
3 JUDGE RODRIGUES: [Interpretation] Mr. Fila.
4 MR. FILA: [Interpretation] I fully agree with the following: Once
5 the identification is made, then the person in question can stand up so he
6 can be looked at once again. So I do agree with your proposal. The
7 witness has recognised Krkan with the headphones or without them, so that
8 was apparently not a problem for the witness. And I don't think that
9 Krkan was looking at him all the time. So if we have a recognition, then
10 the person is recognised. But you have to look at things in a different
11 manner. He said that he had seen Prcac on two occasions, one when he
12 arrived there and then later on, but he did not see him before.
13 JUDGE RODRIGUES: [Interpretation] Yes, Mr. Keegan, only to wind
14 up. Mr. Keegan, you have something to add.
15 MR. KEEGAN: Yes, Your Honour. I would agree with, in fact, a
16 number of those comments, and of course it all is relative to the
17 frequency of exposure. For example, yesterday I wasn't even going to ask
18 for an identification from a witness who said he knew the person for a
19 period of years. In many systems it wouldn't be necessary to do an
20 in-court identification at that point. In this particular -- this last
21 instance, the part that was troubling to me, because I noticed it
22 yesterday as well --
23 THE INTERPRETER: Would you please slow down.
24 MR. KEEGAN: I'm sorry. If the witness only knew the person --
25 only saw them on a couple of occasions, then they do need at least the
Page 4418
1 opportunity to be able to look at the person's face. If the accused is
2 keeping his face down pointed at a desk behind which he is seated the
3 whole time, it is impossible for the person to get a good look.
4 I dared not, of course, in the middle of the identification stand
5 up and address that point, because obviously then it raises questions of
6 the validity, but I think it is a relevant point. I think also we have to
7 look at the nature of these cases. This is not a bank robbery where we're
8 pulling somebody from the street who only saw the bank robber run out.
9 This is not a whodunnit.
10 As the Defence have indicated, these men all admit to being in the
11 camp. They are the only ones surrounded by armed guards in this
12 courtroom. So it's not really the case, when we say to the witnesses,
13 "Look around the courtroom," they're actually looking at the lawyers or
14 at the Judges or at this side of the courtroom and in an attempt to see if
15 they see the accused. It's fairly obvious where the people who are
16 charged are sitting.
17 I think some practicality has to be entered into here. This is
18 nine years after the fact. I think it's only reasonable that the
19 witnesses have a fair opportunity to make an identification. It's obvious
20 that these are people who, when they have concerns about their
21 identification, make it known. So I think it is reasonable to give some
22 assistance to the witnesses, in a way that wouldn't overly prejudice the
23 accused. But I don't think having the accused, when it's clear we're
24 saying, "Can you identify someone," all look at the witness and take off
25 glasses, because there's been no evidence that they wore glasses at that
Page 4419
1 time. At least give the witnesses a fair chance.
2 JUDGE RODRIGUES: [Interpretation] I hope that we will be able to
3 think about it in a proper way. I think we should finish this discussion
4 now. There are lots of problems involving the space and the communication
5 in this space. This type of communication is more powerful than the
6 verbal communication. There are things that should be left spontaneous,
7 and we should observe that spontaneity. And we should not artificially
8 create conditions so that we can have a result, because we then risk
9 leading the witness to that conclusion. However, a proper procedure
10 should be established and we will have to take care of that. And we are
11 here to observe things, and that includes also all kinds of non-verbal
12 communication, which is, as I said, more powerful sometimes than the
13 verbal communication. I think we have to have a break now, a half-hour
14 break. But let me also tell you that situations differ one from the
15 other; however, a unique procedure, as regards principles is concerned,
16 should be established.
17 Half-an-hour break.
18 --- Recess taken at 11.22 a.m.
19 --- On resuming at 12.00 p.m.
20 JUDGE RODRIGUES: [Interpretation] You may be seated.
21 Mr. Keegan.
22 MR. KEEGAN: Yes, Your Honours, I apologise for taking the floor
23 once again. I was advised as we went into recess that the next witness in
24 order -- I'm sorry, can we go into private session, please?
25 JUDGE RODRIGUES: [Interpretation] Yes, we are in private session
Page 4420
1 [Private session]
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Page 4432
1 (redacted)
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7 (redacted)
8 (redacted)
9 (redacted)
10 (redacted)
11 [Open session]
12 MR. K. SIMIC: [Interpretation] Thank you.
13 Q. And the persons who took you over from Bato Kovacevic, where did
14 they take you?
15 A. Bato left us at the police station in Prijedor. And the policeman
16 who was escorting the bus, he was in the police station. He escorted us,
17 took us to the bus, and drove with us to Keraterm and then to Omarska.
18 Q. And who took you over in Omarska?
19 A. In Omarska there were some guards. We talked to Delic, the man
20 who worked there. We saw him in the kitchen working and he told the
21 guards to take us to room 15 and to leave us alone, because he used to
22 come to play football in my neighbourhood community, so he knew us. And
23 he told them to take us to room 15.
24 Q. So you were immediately sent to room 15, escorted by guards, in
25 the presence of guards, and without anybody else around?
Page 4433
1 A. Yes, yes, quite. We were taken to room 15.
2 Q. Thank you. You told us also about how you were interrogated in
3 Omarska, and you said that one of the investigators ordered, in a rather
4 special way, those guards in the security to begin to beat you. Is that
5 correct?
6 A. Yes, it is. He ordered, a rather youngish man in a police
7 uniform, that I should go down into a square. I didn't really know what
8 he meant.
9 Q. Yes, yes. Very well. But it was his order?
10 A. Yes. His name was Mirko and he was quite tall.
11 Q. And at the end of your interrogation you testified that you were
12 then beaten again by the guards in the passageway.
13 A. Yes.
14 Q. Was it done at anybody's order or sign?
15 A. I wouldn't be able to tell you, because the door was closed. A
16 man who was in a police uniform, he was supposed to escort me, but he was
17 present there. And those guys who beat me, they were in military
18 uniforms, that is, ordinary military uniforms of the olive-grey colour.
19 Q. Those were soldiers, then?
20 A. Well, they were wearing army uniforms. Whether they were indeed
21 military or not, I wouldn't know, but they were wearing those uniforms.
22 Q. Was there anyone from the police present?
23 A. Well, there was this lad too, whose name was Zeljko Prcac, in a
24 police uniform.
25 Q. And he was the only one?
Page 4434
1 A. Yes.
2 Q. You said also that you were taken to the pista and that you spent
3 there some time.
4 A. Yes.
5 Q. Who issued the order to take you to the pista rather than to room
6 15?
7 A. Well, that interrogator who said, "Take him out to the pista," and
8 I was on the pista throughout.
9 Q. So you spent some 30 days on the pista?
10 A. Yes.
11 Q. And you could see the guards?
12 A. Sure.
13 Q. And the guards were either the active- or reserve-duty police?
14 A. Yes.
15 Q. And among those guards of the active or reserve police force,
16 could you see them -- mobile phones or walkie-talkies or Motorolas or
17 something like that?
18 A. No, I did not see that.
19 Q. Did you see if Ckalja, whom you also mentioned, had a mobile or
20 something like that?
21 A. No, I did not see anything like it.
22 Q. Could we then agree that none of the security guards had any means
23 of communication?
24 A. No. I did not see it, nor could I testify that any of those
25 guards or their commanders had any kind of telephones during my stay in
Page 4435
1 Omarska.
2 Q. Thank you. In your testimony you said that some individuals had
3 told you that Mr. Kvocka was a commander, chief, or something like that.
4 A. Yes. When I came to the pista, because there I found some
5 neighbours and others, that is what I was told.
6 Q. Thank you. You also said that Kvocka was still in Manjaca for a
7 while after you had arrived there, and during that short period of time,
8 did you see him bring some parcels in?
9 A. After I arrived in Omarska -- after I arrived in Omarska,
10 Kvocka -- I wouldn't know his first name -- yes, quite true, he brought
11 in some parcels. He wore a camouflage uniform and it became him. He had
12 an automatic rifle. He arrived in a green Mercedes. It was his. And he
13 would open the boot and then call out Muslims and Croats. Yes, indeed, he
14 was bringing some parcels into Omarska.
15 Q. You spoke to the Prosecution's investigators earlier?
16 A. Yes.
17 Q. I'm not going to show you this document because we know that you
18 made these statements, and that is not challenged. On that occasion, you
19 stated that he brought food to Braco Burazerovic, Ahmet Sadikovic, Azia
20 Maksuti, Ismet Ajkic, Bajram Zgoc, and many others.
21 A. Yes, true, but unfortunately these people are gone.
22 Q. In your statement you mentioned somebody called Zeljko Meakic. Do
23 you know that person?
24 A. Yes, I said that sitting on the pista with Meho Mahmutovic, the
25 police man from Prijedor who had also been detained as I was, that man
Page 4436
1 came up. I didn't know him, and then Meho said, "Oh, come, look, Drago is
2 here, too."
3 Q. I was asking you about Zeljko Meakic.
4 A. Oh, yes, Zeljko Meakic. He was also a member of the command or
5 something, something of sorts.
6 Q. But did you meet him when you were there?
7 A. No, I did not meet him personally. I had no contact with him. No
8 opportunity to.
9 Q. But did you learn who -- what he was. Did you see him there?
10 A. Yes, of course you saw him. He was around. I was told he was a
11 camp commander.
12 Q. Did you see him as soon as you arrived?
13 A. Well, perhaps not as soon, but after a short while. I could see
14 the man whom I knew from earlier because he was allegedly a policeman
15 before, and that his name was Zeljko Meakic. I was told that.
16 Q. And you were told he was the commander?
17 A. Yes, sir. That is what I was told.
18 MR. K. SIMIC: [Interpretation] Thank you. I have no further
19 questions.
20 JUDGE RODRIGUES: [Interpretation] Thank you, counsel. Now it is
21 Mr. Fila's turn, I believe, or Mr. Jovanovic.
22 Cross-examined by Mr. Jovanovic:
23 Q. [Interpretation] Good afternoon, Witness AN. My name is Zoran
24 Jovanovic. I'm a lawyer from Belgrade. Mr. Toma Fila and I represent the
25 accused Mladjo Radic, Krkan. I'm going to ask you several questions.
Page 4437
1 A. At your service.
2 Q. You described to us how at around 7.00 in the morning or around
3 7.00 in the morning in this part next to the administrative building where
4 those taps are how you could see the change of guards, and that that was
5 the time when you could see Krkan?
6 A. Yes, and in that time when his shift was on duty.
7 Q. Could you then tell us something more specific as to where you saw
8 him and when?
9 A. Well, in the morning, for instance, when the bus would bring them
10 in, those were usually guards from adjacent villages, so some would come
11 by bus or some by their own tractors, depending on who was taking over the
12 shift. But it was Krkan, there was also Krle, and Ckalja, too. And who
13 was turning the shift over to whom, and they would line up and do it, and
14 depending on which shift was there, they would then deploy those guards
15 who were guarding us next to the door.
16 Q. Yes, right. But you also said that you saw Krkan go to the
17 administrative building?
18 A. Yes.
19 Q. Is it up those stairs?
20 A. Yes, that staircase, and I slept next to the staircase next to the
21 pista. And they would -- yes, he would go up those stairs. We could see
22 him.
23 Q. Would he pause? Would he spend some time in this glassed-off
24 part, or did you see him there?
25 A. The day Muharem Murselovic was beaten, that day he was standing
Page 4438
1 there publicly, and I could see him with my own eyes. He stood on those
2 stairs watching what was going on.
3 Q. You mean that part which is in glass?
4 A. Yes, yes.
5 Q. And will you then explain to me where is the passageway where it
6 happened when Murselovic was beaten?
7 A. Murselovic was beaten at the exit because he was running and he
8 fell here at the beginning of the pista as you come out from the hall when
9 you come down from interrogation, Murselovic fell here. And Zeljko and
10 them were here at the exit, and that is where they were beating them, and
11 there were more interrogators there, and they watched through the glass
12 what was going on.
13 Q. And who was there next to Krkan? Who else was there?
14 A. Ranko Mijic, inspector; Bijelic, I don't know his first name, and
15 he's a teacher; Lakic, inspector; and there were others, I think Bobas.
16 But those I knew.
17 Q. And where were you?
18 A. I was on the pista.
19 Q. And did you have any part in that incident where Mr. Murselovic
20 was beaten?
21 A. We could already come out. We were all beaten that date, all of
22 us, because the policemen were lined up on two sides, and they beat us all
23 as we were coming back from lunch.
24 Q. You said that something had been poured out or something was
25 spilt?
Page 4439
1 A. Well, here there was a small curve, there was a small corner as we
2 come out. Here you go up the stairs to the upper floor, or as you are
3 about to reach the pista there was a small curve, and it was spilled
4 there, right there in the passage way next to the exit.
5 Q. So you saw those men standing also?
6 A. Yes, upstairs.
7 Q. I see, upstairs. And you were already outside?
8 A. Yes, as we were returning from lunch because we were on the
9 pista. Those men were standing upstairs, and I was downstairs, and I
10 could see Murselovic and the commander, and I didn't know him or those
11 others who knew him. They said he was a commander, an active, active-duty
12 military, but that was the man whom I didn't know.
13 Q. Do you know the names of the inspectors?
14 A. Sure, I know them all.
15 Q. But do you know what was the relationship between the inspectors
16 and the guards, that is, the chain of command, who was superior to whom?
17 A. Oh, no, I don't know that. I don't know it. I know the
18 inspectors because they -- because I was born in Prijedor, and some of
19 them taught my children at school, and even privately I knew some of them
20 because I was born there and I'd lived there for 40 years.
21 MR. JOVANOVIC: [Interpretation] Thank you.
22 JUDGE RODRIGUES: [Interpretation] Thank you, Mr. Jovanovic.
23 Mr. Stojanovic.
24 MR. STOJANOVIC: [Interpretation] Thank you, Your Honours.
25 Cross-examined by Mr. Stojanovic:
Page 4440
1 Q. [Interpretation] Witness AN, my name is Stojanovic, and I'm a
2 lawyer from Belgrade, and my colleague Tosic and I represent here
3 Mr. Zigic, and I will ask you some questions.
4 A. At your service.
5 Q. I have a few questions. I don't think there will be too many.
6 We heard that you had learned his name in the camp, but did you
7 know him before?
8 A. Yes, because I was in the trucking business, and I've been there
9 for many years, so Mr. Zigic -- and my colleagues were there, and they
10 told me about him. Mr. Zigic was a man who was proud to disrupting public
11 law and order. A couple of years before the war broke out, he had killed
12 a man. That is what our local paper said, and our Radio Prijedor also
13 said it, so that that wasn't an unfamiliar face.
14 JUDGE RODRIGUES: [Interpretation] Witness, excuse me. Will you
15 please answer directly a question that you are asked, and perhaps you
16 could adjust your headset better. Could you please look at me? You can
17 put your headset like this. I think you will feel more comfortable like
18 that.
19 A. Yes, like this.
20 JUDGE RODRIGUES: [Interpretation] Very good.
21 I'm sorry. Yes, Mr. Stojanovic, go on.
22 MR. STOJANOVIC: [Interpretation]
23 Q. I didn't want to ask this, but I was now provoked. If you are
24 mentioning some incidents, were there any incidents against Serbs or the
25 Muslims?
Page 4441
1 A. No, no, I have nothing against Serbs.
2 Q. No, I'm talking about Mr. Zigic and the act that he committed. It
3 was against whom?
4 A. I don't know. You have to ask him. How can I know that?
5 Q. Right. You told me -- you told us that he was a taxi driver in
6 Prijedor. Would you know, what did his taxi car look like, what brand was
7 it?
8 A. I think it was PZ. I believe it was a PZ, and its colour, was I
9 think a raw coffee or something like that. I'm not quite sure, but it was
10 a PZ.
11 Q. Could you be more specific. Could you tell us when did he work as
12 a taxi driver?
13 A. Well, not to a month, but years -- well, it was before the war,
14 really. I wasn't really -- want to know that. I mean, he was a taxi
15 driver. For how long, I really don't know.
16 Q. But was he a driver right up to the war, I mean that year?
17 A. I really wouldn't be able to tell you. I know it was before the
18 war, but for how many years and until when, I really wouldn't be able to
19 tell you.
20 Q. But would you then -- when was it that you saw him last before the
21 war?
22 A. No, I wouldn't be able to tell you when it was that I saw him
23 last. The last time I really saw him was at Keraterm. That is when I saw
24 him last.
25 Q. You've already described in part Mr. Zigic's uniform, but could
Page 4442
1 you tell us something more about his appearance. What did he look like?
2 A. Well, he was rather thin, wore a uniform, an olive-gray cap. He
3 was drunk quite often.
4 Q. Could you tell us what colour was his hair?
5 A. Well, he always wore a red cap. I don't really know. When he
6 came to Keraterm, he also had a red beret on.
7 Q. But did you perhaps notice if he wore any earrings?
8 A. Oh, I didn't see that. Come on.
9 Q. And on his face, perhaps, did you notice any scars or something?
10 A. Yes. He did have a scar here, here on the chin.
11 JUDGE RODRIGUES: [Interpretation] Mr. Stojanovic, perhaps these
12 gestures should be described. It is important, I guess, for you where was
13 that scar that the witness saw. The witness made a gesture, made -- to
14 show it, but I think you will need it described.
15 MR. STOJANOVIC: [Interpretation] Thank you, Your Honour. Yes, you
16 have helped me. Thank you very much.
17 Q. So, my question was, where was that scar?
18 A. Somewhere here.
19 Q. Yes, will you describe it verbally because we need it for the
20 transcript. Where was it on the chin?
21 A. Yes, on the chin below -- right beneath the lip on the chin.
22 Q. Thank you. Did you see him bandaged, any bandages?
23 A. No, when he came to Keraterm, he did not have any bandages, no
24 part of his body was bandaged, at least I did not see any bandages on him.
25 Q. And this scar on his chin, were you aware of that scar before the
Page 4443
1 war?
2 A. No, I wasn't really interested in the man, and I never took his
3 taxi, so I just didn't notice that.
4 Q. You described an incident to us involving somebody called Zeric.
5 Now, in relation to that incident, did you make a statement to the
6 Prosecution and in writing sometime in early 1999?
7 A. Yes, yes, I did.
8 Q. And you signed this statement?
9 A. Yes.
10 Q. And that statement says, and you will tell us whether this is true
11 or not, that Zigic beat Mr. Zeric with his hands and feet?
12 A. Yes, he did. This man, and he was quite young, he was sitting on
13 the concrete.
14 Q. Will you describe what you mean when you say he beat him with his
15 hands?
16 A. Well, the man was sitting down, that is, we were all sitting down,
17 and Zigic was pacing up and down, and he was furious. And he came across
18 him and he said, "Fuck you, you were selling bombs on the market," and he
19 kicked him here and with his hands here.
20 Q. No, but his hands is what I want to know. Both hands, was it with
21 his fists, or was it slaps in the face?
22 A. Well, fists.
23 Q. Or did he have, you know --
24 A. No, no, no. It was with his open hands. It was more like slaps
25 in the face.
Page 4444
1 Q. Then Sistek, you also mentioned him. That was on page 9 of your
2 statement of the same date, but in English version page 10. No, excuse
3 me. It says that Zigic began to beat Sistek with his hands. Could you
4 also describe it?
5 A. When Zigic called him out, or perhaps they knew each other from
6 before because he called him out and said, "Hey, cart driver," because the
7 man had horses and he drove a cart, and he called him out. I don't know
8 why.
9 Q. No, no, no. I'm referring to a beating.
10 A. Yes. Samir was quite a big man. He was quite bigger than Zigic.
11 Q. Yes, we heard it all, I'm sorry to interrupt you. But did you see
12 him beat him?
13 A. Yes, yes. And Zigic was really surprised that he could not bring
14 him down, but he was beating him with his hands.
15 Q. Was it again slaps, or with his fists?
16 A. Well, he was beating him with his hands. Come.
17 Q. You also mentioned an incident with somebody called Ivo Sikura?
18 A. Yes.
19 Q. And in your statement it says that you did not see that, that you
20 only heard it?
21 A. Yes, because it was happening behind the door.
22 Q. But did you see it?
23 A. No, I could not see it. But we could hear Ivo beg Zigic not to
24 beat him because he was an old man, and he had nothing to do with
25 politics. And Zigic says, "Don't you know what your son had been doing?"
Page 4445
1 Q. Yes, yes, we've already heard it all, but I just have one detail
2 perhaps for the transcript. How old was this Ivo Sikura?
3 A. Sikura was about 70. I think his credit said around 70, Around
4 70. Yes, he was around 70. I'm not a relative of his, so I wouldn't
5 really know.
6 Q. Did Zigic ever beat you?
7 A. No.
8 Q. Did Zigic ever beat your brothers?
9 A. No.
10 Q. How many of yours brothers were in Keraterm at the time?
11 A. Three of us, myself and my two brothers, and also my cousin, my
12 brother of the second blood.
13 Q. But did you see Zigic kill anyone ever?
14 A. No, not during my stay in Keraterm. I did not see him do that.
15 Q. In your written statement you said that during your stay, about 70
16 individuals were released after interrogation. Is that true?
17 A. Yes. They were people from my neighbourhood, community, and we
18 were all released. We were issued papers so that we could move around
19 freely.
20 Q. Two events are mentioned in the statement, yet were not addressed
21 today.
22 JUDGE RODRIGUES: [Interpretation] Mr. Stojanovic, if the witness
23 did not testify about them, I do not think that you can raise them because
24 the statement is not the evidence, as you well know. So you can
25 cross-examine the witness on the basis of his evidence and you can raise
Page 4446
1 matters from the statement only if they were touched upon in their
2 evidence here; otherwise, you may not ask any questions about this.
3 MR. STOJANOVIC: [Interpretation] Your Honours, may I ask questions
4 which are directly related to the things that my client is charged with
5 independently --
6 JUDGE RODRIGUES: [Interpretation] But you -- I think there is
7 certainly a misunderstanding. The statement that you have is not the
8 evidence in Court. It is a technical matter. The only evidence is what
9 the witness says here, and the cross-examination is conducted on the basis
10 of what was said, perhaps with some additional information, but only if
11 the witness testified about this.
12 We discussed this matter a great deal, you will remember it, and
13 it was Mr. O'Sullivan who spoke on behalf of the Defence. What is
14 important is what the witness says here. All the rest is only a means to
15 arrive at something.
16 MR. STOJANOVIC: [Interpretation] Your Honours, may I ask questions
17 relating to events in Keraterm?
18 JUDGE RODRIGUES: [Interpretation] You may ask questions relative
19 to the indictment in cross-examination only insofar as they were covered
20 by the testimony of the witness. Ask the question and then we shall see.
21 MR. STOJANOVIC: [Interpretation] Your Honours, I will ask the
22 question. I should like to ask the Chamber to rule then upon this.
23 Q. During your stay in Keraterm, was a certain gentleman called Fajzo
24 Mujkanovic there?
25 A. Yes, yes. He was captured, and he was brought to join us.
Page 4447
1 Q. And certain a Duca Knezevic, did he look for that gentleman?
2 A. Yes, he did, and he found him at Keraterm.
3 Q. Could you also explain what happened between these two
4 individuals?
5 A. Fajzo was with us, and the man -- and Duca came. We didn't know
6 him, but he was already in the place, and he said, "I found you. Oh, fuck
7 you, you found --" he had killed, I don't know, his aunt or uncles or
8 something. And he hit him and put him down to the ground. And then he
9 said if he could prove that he had killed them, that he would then
10 slaughter his wife and his child, and that is that.
11 Q. You also said that you met (redacted)?
12 A. Yes, yes. Yes, yes, he was brought in front of the "white house,"
13 (redacted), yes.
14 Q. And on that occasion, did you also meet with that same gentleman
15 that we mentioned a while ago, Duca?
16 A. Yes. Yes, I think that that man was liquidated by Duca in all
17 likelihood.
18 Q. You mean he killed him?
19 A. I think he did.
20 Q. And how do you know?
21 A. Oh, come. We were on the pista, and the man was standing next to
22 the "white house," and was it a bullet, was it some wooden bat or
23 anything -- at any rate, his skull simply cracked, and that man is no
24 longer.
25 Q. Did you see that personally?
Page 4448
1 THE INTERPRETER: We could not hear the witnesses answer, we are
2 sorry.
3 MR. STOJANOVIC: [Interpretation]
4 Q. And do you know somebody called Senad Ferhatovic?
5 A. Senad Ferhatovic from Prijedor. Yes, that is a man who died in
6 Sweden.
7 Q. And stayed in Oklopcic?
8 A. Yes, teacher in Omarska.
9 Q. And Brkic?
10 A. Yes, he was a taxi driver in Prijedor, my neighbour.
11 Q. Were they together with you in one of the camps?
12 A. Abdulah was with me in Manjaca and in Omarska. And Zedin was in
13 Omarska. Ferhatovic was in Omarska with me.
14 MR. STOJANOVIC: [Interpretation] Thank you. I do not have any
15 further questions. Thank you.
16 JUDGE RODRIGUES: [Interpretation] Thank you very much,
17 Mr. Stojanovic.
18 Yes, Mr. Waidyaratne, do you have any additional questions on
19 redirect?
20 MR. WAIDYARATNE: Yes, I have some questions that arose with the
21 cross-examination of Mr. Jovanovic.
22 Re-examined by Mr. Waidyaratne:
23 Q. Witness AN, you said that you saw Krkan in the morning, and also
24 mentioned two names, Ckalja and a person by the name of Krle. Did you
25 know who this person was? What was he in the camp?
Page 4449
1 A. You're asking me?
2 Q. Yes.
3 A. Yes, yes, I did. Krle, Ckalja, and Krkan were shift leaders.
4 Q. Did you see Krle often in the camp?
5 MR. O'SULLIVAN: Objection, Your Honour.
6 JUDGE RODRIGUES: [Interpretation] Yes, Mr. O'Sullivan.
7 MR. O'SULLIVAN: Could I ask that the witness remove his
8 headphones during my submissions.
9 JUDGE RODRIGUES: [Interpretation] Yes, of course.
10 Witness, could you please remove your headphones. But first tell
11 me: Do you understand English?
12 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] No.
13 JUDGE RODRIGUES: [Interpretation] Very well, then. Because
14 removing headphones in itself does not suffice. So could you please take
15 off your earphones.
16 Mr. O'Sullivan, let us hear you.
17 MR. O'SULLIVAN: Your Honours, we object to this line of
18 questioning during re-examination. There were no questions put to this
19 witness during direct examination regarding Krle. On cross-examination,
20 in response to a question, the witness mentioned his name in connection to
21 being the shift commander.
22 In my respectful submission, re-examination is limited, and I cite
23 as authority a decision of this Tribunal. It's the case of the Prosecutor
24 versus Kupreskic, a decision on order of presentation of evidence of 21
25 January 1999, the Chamber of Cassese, May, and Mumba. That Chamber cited
Page 4450
1 and approved the following passage from Peter Murphy's book "A Practical
2 Approach to Evidence." Professor Murphy writes as follows regarding the
3 examination, and I quote:
4 "Very little need be said about re-examination. It is the process
5 whereby a party calling a witness may seek to explain or clarify any
6 points that arose in cross-examination and appear to be unfavourable to
7 his case. Re-examination is therefore possible only where there has been
8 cross-examination and is limited to matters raised in cross-examination.
9 It is not an opportunity to adduce further evidence in chief."
10 That, I submit, is good law and the law of this Tribunal in
11 regards to the scope of re-examination. As I've said, no questions in
12 regards to Krle during examination-in-chief. During cross-examination his
13 name was mentioned as being a shift commander. That is a clear answer to
14 a clear question. There is no ambiguity in that answer.
15 The Prosecution may not adduce further evidence in chief. In
16 fact, it had no evidence in chief in relation to this individual.
17 Certainly it cannot be said that what was elicited during
18 cross-examination was unfavourable to this witness or the Prosecution
19 case. Therefore, I submit that there's no basis to continue this line of
20 re-examination with this witness.
21 JUDGE RODRIGUES: [Interpretation] Thank you very much for this
22 lecture, Mr. O'Sullivan.
23 Mr. Waidyaratne.
24 MR. WAIDYARATNE: Your Honour, the Prosecution would submit that
25 these questions would be limited to what transpired in cross-examination.
Page 4451
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Page 4452
1 It was put to the witness by that counsel a question with regard to the
2 shift commanders, and the name of this person transpired in that. I would
3 only restrict my questioning with regard to that.
4 JUDGE RODRIGUES: [Interpretation] Have you finished?
5 MR. WAIDYARATNE: And he was also cross-examined -- the witness
6 was also cross-examined to the ability to observe things by the Defence,
7 so that would be the area that I would be questioning.
8 JUDGE RODRIGUES: [Interpretation] Yes, Mr. Jovanovic. Do you have
9 a contribution to this discussion?
10 MR. JOVANOVIC: [Interpretation] I would just like to follow up on
11 what my learned colleague has said. There were no questions during the
12 cross-examination about shift commanders. The question of Radic's defence
13 was what happened at a specific location near the administration building
14 at the water taps during the change of the shift. This can be seen
15 clearly in the transcript. That was not the objective of the question,
16 namely, who the shift commanders were, or anything similar. Thank you
17 very much.
18 JUDGE RODRIGUES: [Interpretation] Mr. O'Sullivan, you wish to add
19 something?
20 MR. O'SULLIVAN: Briefly in response to my friend, the Prosecutor.
21 JUDGE RODRIGUES: [Interpretation] Yes, briefly.
22 MR. O'SULLIVAN: I submit that he has failed to bring his
23 purported scope of re-examination within what the law of the Tribunal
24 states is the scope of re-examination, and therefore it should not be
25 allowed.
Page 4453
1 [Trial Chamber deliberates]
2 JUDGE RODRIGUES: [Interpretation] There is something I should like
3 to say at the beginning. We have really appreciated the lecture that
4 Mr. O'Sullivan gave us; however, one should bear in mind that perhaps the
5 quoted authority, if they knew -- if they were familiar with the system of
6 the Tribunal, they would think differently. As you all know, we have a
7 very special, particular system here, especially regarding the examination
8 of witnesses. Most of other systems are not applied here in the way they
9 are applied in other legal systems, in the Anglo-Saxon system in
10 particular.
11 I do not wish to engage in an academic discussion here, but I
12 simply want to say that whatever the contents of the objection, the
13 objection is sustained, and our ruling is that the question cannot be
14 asked.
15 You can proceed, Mr. O'Sullivan. I just wanted to add that
16 particular point, but I didn't wish to engage in an academic discussion.
17 Do you still wish to add something or do you have another objection to
18 make?
19 MR. O'SULLIVAN: No. My apologies if I was unclear to the
20 Chamber, but the quotation I read to you from Murphy's book was adopted
21 and followed by the Kupreskic court. That was the point. If I was
22 misunderstood on that regard, it was --
23 JUDGE RODRIGUES: [Interpretation] Well, be that as it may, we
24 accept your objection. Thank you very much for this clarification. I
25 think it is possible to find in the case law of this Tribunal that this
Page 4454
1 Rule can be made flexible. But in the case in point, I think that the
2 Defence has -- is right, and the objection is sustained.
3 Mr. Waidyaratne, please proceed with your re-examination, but
4 please withdraw your questions concerning the accused Kos.
5 MR. WAIDYARATNE: Thank you, Your Honour. May I ask the witness
6 to have his headphones on.
7 JUDGE RODRIGUES: [Interpretation] Yes, of course.
8 MR. WAIDYARATNE: Thank you.
9 JUDGE RODRIGUES: [Interpretation] Thank you, Witness.
10 MR. WAIDYARATNE:
11 Q. Witness, you were questioned about the incident where you
12 testified before with regard to seeing the beating of Muharem Murselovic.
13 You said that they were upstairs and you all were downstairs.
14 A. Yes.
15 Q. Now, the people whom you referred to as "they," and were
16 upstairs --
17 A. Yes.
18 Q. -- how could you see them?
19 A. We were sitting on the pista and they were in the glassed-in area
20 on the stairway leading to the administration building where the
21 interrogations were taking place.
22 Q. Thank you.
23 MR. WAIDYARATNE: That's all, Your Honour. Thank you.
24 JUDGE RODRIGUES: [Interpretation] Thank you very much,
25 Mr. Waidyaratne. Judge Riad has the floor.
Page 4455
1 Questioned by the Court:
2 JUDGE RIAD: Witness AN, good morning. I have just one
3 clarification to ask you. You spoke of the beating of Safet Ramadanovic
4 and then three days later he died. If you can just clarify more, if you
5 know, how this beating took place and if the death was really a
6 consequence of this beating, if you are in a position to know that.
7 A. Safet Ramadanovic, nicknamed Cifut, upon the return from
8 interrogation, was met by guards at the entrance. He was an elderly man.
9 They were escorting him and they were asking money from him. They were
10 accusing him of having engaged in some politics. They were mistreating
11 him because he was an Albanian. And after the beating he died, so that
12 was the cause of his death.
13 JUDGE RIAD: Thank you very much.
14 JUDGE RODRIGUES: [Interpretation] Thank you very much, Judge
15 Riad. Madam Judge Wald has the floor.
16 JUDGE WALD: Witness, I just have one question and it deals with a
17 clarification about a matter you've already testified about, and that was
18 a situation where Drago Prcac called out for Esad Sadilovic. And I could
19 not understand from the English transcript -- I don't know whether it was
20 the translation or not -- exactly what happened after that, after he
21 called for Esad Sadikovic. So would you just go over that, what happened
22 after that, so I can understand.
23 A. When he was called out by Drago Prcac, he passed by him. Esad
24 passed by Drago and he went to the area where we were sleeping. He took
25 two cans of food containing some meat to my brother, and my brother gave
Page 4456
1 him cigarettes and Esad went back to Drago Prcac. He told us goodbye and
2 he went to the door. And he was walking in front of Drago and Drago
3 closed the door behind him, and Esad is missing.
4 JUDGE WALD: So if I understand your testimony, Drago called out
5 his name, then Esad went and got this food and got cigarettes, and then
6 the two of them left the room, and that's the last you know anything about
7 and you never heard anything later or saw anything -- or saw Esad again.
8 Did you ever hear from anyone else what happened to Esad after that?
9 A. Ever since that day, every trace of Esad is gone. No one ever
10 heard what happened to Esad after that. Mr. Prcac is the one who knows
11 what happened to him.
12 JUDGE WALD: Thank you.
13 JUDGE RODRIGUES: [Interpretation] Thank you very much, Madam Judge
14 Wald.
15 Witness AN, this is the end of your testimony here. You have been
16 asked a number of questions. You have provided us with answers to those
17 questions. Thank you very much for having come here to testify. Please
18 do not move for a while. We have to lower down the blinds first and then
19 the usher will help you out of the courtroom
20 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Thank you.
21 [The witness withdrew]
22 JUDGE RODRIGUES: [Interpretation] I'm sorry. It was my mistake
23 when I gave the floor to Mr. Keegan. I thought we had already completed
24 the cross-examination of the previous witness.
25 Mr. Keegan, what's happening now?
Page 4457
1 MR. KEEGAN: Yes, Your Honour. The -- perhaps we should go into
2 private session.
3 JUDGE RODRIGUES: [Interpretation] Yes. Let us go into private
4 session, please.
5 [Private session]
6 (redacted)
7 (redacted)
8 (redacted)
9 (redacted)
10 (redacted)
11 (redacted)
12 (redacted)
13 (redacted)
14 (redacted)
15 (redacted)
16 (redacted)
17 (redacted)
18 (redacted)
19 (redacted)
20 (redacted)
21 (redacted)
22 (redacted)
23 (redacted)
24 (redacted)
25 (redacted)
Page 4458
1 (redacted)
2 (redacted)
3 (redacted)
4 (redacted)
5 (redacted)
6 (redacted)
7 (redacted)
8 (redacted)
9 (redacted)
10 (redacted)
11 (redacted)
12 (redacted)
13 (redacted)
14 --- Recess taken at 1.25 p.m.
15 --- On resuming at 2.05 p.m.
16 [Open session]
17 JUDGE RODRIGUES: [Interpretation] You may be seated.
18 [The witness entered court]
19 JUDGE RODRIGUES: [Interpretation] Can you hear me, Witness?
20 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Yes.
21 JUDGE RODRIGUES: [Interpretation] Will you now read the solemn
22 declaration which the usher will give you.
23 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] I solemnly declare that I will
24 speak the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
25 WITNESS: ABDULAH BRKIC
Page 4459
1 [Witness answered through interpreter]
2 JUDGE RODRIGUES: [Interpretation] You may be seated.
3 A. Thank you.
4 JUDGE RODRIGUES: [Interpretation] Will you come closer to the
5 microphone, please. Are you all right?
6 A. Yes, thank you.
7 JUDGE RODRIGUES: [Interpretation] Very well. Now you will be
8 answering questions which Mr. Keegan, who is standing to the right, will
9 ask of you. Thank you for coming and for your courage that you have shown
10 by agreeing to come here and testify.
11 Examined by Mr. Keegan:
12 Q. Mr. Brkic, will you please state your full name for the record?
13 A. Abdulah Brkic.
14 Q. And how old are you, sir?
15 A. Forty-nine.
16 Q. Where were you born?
17 A. Bosanski Novi.
18 Q. And where did you grow up?
19 A. Prijedor.
20 Q. And what education qualifications did you obtain?
21 A. I completed the elementary school and a school for drivers.
22 Q. And what professions have you practiced?
23 A. I worked as a driver for AutoTransport Prijedor. I worked in
24 Zagreb for eight years as a driver, and about four years I spent driving a
25 taxi in Prijedor.
Page 4460
1 Q. And after your time as a taxi driver in Prijedor, where did you
2 work?
3 A. Then I worked for a private butcher, Mirsad Kugic. I worked for
4 him both as a driver and as a butcher.
5 Q. Sir, where did you live prior to the conflict?
6 A. I lived at Puharska which is on the outskirts of Prijedor.
7 Q. What was your last day of work in 1992, sir?
8 A. The last day was the 29th of May. It was a Friday, I think.
9 Q. Where did you stay that night, the 29th of May?
10 A. On the 29th of May, I spent the night at home; but in the morning,
11 I went into the town to Prijedor to a friend's, and that is where I spent
12 the next night of the 30th, on the JNA street.
13 Q. And why did you go to stay at your friend's house in the centre of
14 Prijedor town?
15 A. Well, I went there on my own initiative. I thought that in the
16 heart of the town it will be safer than at Puharska because in Puharska
17 there were about 7.000, 7.500 Muslims.
18 Q. And why were you concerned there was going to be a problem in
19 Puharska?
20 A. Well, I was worried because almost every day, either on the radio
21 or television, I watched this propaganda and the hounding of Muslims, and
22 I could hear that Muslims, the Green Berets, are rising against Serbs, and
23 that was the mood in the town, and I was afraid, simply.
24 Q. And what happened in the early morning hours of the 30th of May?
25 A. Early in the morning, it could have been around five, Radio
Page 4461
1 Prijedor -- my friend and I and our wives were listening to Radio
2 Prijedor, and it kept airing so-called Cetnik songs. And all of a sudden
3 the music stopped, and one could hear gunfire.
4 Q. What type of gunfire could you hear?
5 A. Well, fire from firearms. It was terrible. One could hear it all
6 over.
7 Q. About how long did the sounds of that firing go on?
8 A. Well, it went on for quite some time. I know that sometime around
9 ten or half past ten, the radio went back on air again, Radio Prijedor,
10 and the announcement was broadcast that that day they would -- Puharska
11 would be searched, and that everybody had to be at home, and if you were
12 absent, that the house would be broken and they would enter nevertheless
13 and search it.
14 Q. So what did you do after hearing that announcement?
15 A. I did nothing, but my wife went telephone and called the barracks
16 Zarko Zgonjanin, attorney in Prijedor, and the call was answered by a
17 captain whose name is Drnkic [phoen], and she asked him how could we get
18 to Puharska. She told him where we were at that particular moment, that
19 is, on the JNA street. And he told her to -- that we should come out and
20 take the JNA street towards the railway station, then to turn left to the
21 fly-over, and that the road to Puharska was free, that we could get there;
22 but before that, that we also had to put white armbands on.
23 Q. Did you follow those instructions?
24 A. We did.
25 Q. And you and your wife walked back to your house in Puharska?
Page 4462
1 A. Yes, my wife and my two children and myself.
2 Q. Did you pass through checkpoints on the way?
3 A. Yes. There was a checkpoint at the entrance to Puharska on the
4 bridge, and before that on a small fly-over, on a small bridge, there was
5 a tank. And when I reached the checkpoint, the soldier, I guess he
6 recognised me; I didn't recognise him. I have a nickname, Brta, and he
7 asked me, "Brta, where are you going?" And I told him I was going home
8 because I had to open the house, because that was the announcement.
9 Q. And did he let you pass?
10 A. He did.
11 Q. What happened when you returned home?
12 A. I came home. Then again Radio Prijedor issued another
13 notification saying those who were loyal to Serb authorities would have to
14 hang out white flags or something, in some conspicuous place on the window
15 or the gate or something, and my wife did so. And I went down where my
16 parents and my brother were.
17 Q. Did they live in houses that were next to yours?
18 A. No. Well, I lived some 800 metres -- perhaps a kilometre is the
19 distance between my house and theirs.
20 Q. And what happened while you were at your brother's house?
21 A. We were -- as we were sitting in the house, somebody banged on the
22 door, and my mother stood up and opened. And we could hear voices and
23 they said that all males should come out. My brother and I went out and
24 there were two soldiers in front of the door. One was a big man,
25 fair-haired, and he looked as if he had been under the influence; he could
Page 4463
1 barely stand. And he told us to put our arms like that, to bend our heads
2 and not to turn, and to move towards a crossroads, which is some 50 metres
3 from my parents' house, that there was a bus and that we should get onto
4 it.
5 MR. KEEGAN: For the record, Your Honour, the gesture that the
6 witness described and demonstrated was to clasp his hands behind his head.
7 Q. Now, when you came out of the house, you mentioned that there were
8 two soldiers there. Did you see any other soldiers in the area who were
9 assisting these two or covering them with weapons?
10 A. No.
11 Q. And after these two soldiers gave you the instruction to go to the
12 bus, did they escort you to the bus?
13 A. No.
14 Q. As you walked towards the bus, did you see any other soldiers near
15 the other houses?
16 A. No, I did not see.
17 Q. Were there other soldiers near the bus?
18 A. Yes. In the front part of the bus, at the front door, there was a
19 soldier, to the right, say, and there was another one standing to
20 the -- on the left-hand side.
21 Q. And what were those soldiers doing at the bus?
22 A. To the entrance into the bus, this soldier that led me onto the
23 bus took off my watch, the bracelet I had on my hand, took all the money
24 from my pockets, and slapped me in the face and said, "Be off with you
25 into that corner down there."
Page 4464
1 Q. Before you actually got onto the bus, as you were approaching the
2 bus, I'm interested in what the soldiers were doing, how they were
3 acting.
4 A. He was standing at the front door of the bus.
5 Q. Were others, other individuals in your area, arrested at the same
6 time as you?
7 A. Yes.
8 Q. Approximately how many, if you know?
9 A. Well, it lasted for about five or ten minutes and then the bus was
10 full.
11 Q. Now, the soldiers that you've talked about, how were they
12 dressed? What were they wearing?
13 A. This soldier who was letting us into the bus, he was wearing the
14 summer olive-grey uniform of the former Yugoslav People's Army.
15 Q. And what about the others, the one that actually came to the
16 house?
17 A. Likewise, they were wearing the same kind of uniform.
18 Q. Now, the men who were arrested with you and put on a bus, did you
19 recognise those men, most of them?
20 A. Yes, because they were all my neighbours from Puharska.
21 Q. Did you know their ethnicity?
22 A. Yes.
23 Q. What was that?
24 A. Muslims.
25 Q. Is that also your ethnicity?
Page 4465
1 A. It is.
2 Q. Did you know any of the soldiers who arrested you that day? Did
3 you recognise any of them?
4 A. I did not recognise the one who arrested me, but from the bus I
5 recognised a colleague who used to be a taxi driver at the same time when
6 I was, and I believe his name was Radanovic. His nickname was Ciga. And
7 later on, from the neighbours, I learnt that practically he went around
8 all the buses in Puharska looking for me. I don't know why he was looking
9 for me. We were on quite good terms.
10 Q. Do you know what his ethnicity was?
11 A. Yes.
12 Q. And what was that?
13 A. He was a Serb.
14 Q. Now, the men who were arrested with you and put on the bus, were
15 any of those men wearing any type of uniform?
16 A. No.
17 Q. And once the bus was full, where were you taken?
18 A. They took us to the barracks, Zarko Zgonjanin and Urije, the
19 driver and the escort got off, and we were -- we went on sitting in the
20 bus. And then I saw, next to the building, next to the wall of the
21 barracks, there could have been some 20 people perhaps, civilians, and two
22 soldiers were walking past and they were trying to pull off the wall
23 posters saying "for a sovereign Bosnia-Herzegovina," and they were making
24 those people chew that poster paper, to eat it.
25 Q. Now, the people who the soldiers were forcing to eat the pieces of
Page 4466
1 the poster, did you recognise any of those individuals?
2 A. No.
3 Q. At any time did you get off the bus at the barracks?
4 A. No.
5 Q. And from the barracks, where were you taken then?
6 A. From the barracks they took us to Keraterm.
7 Q. Before taking you to Keraterm, did the bus go anywhere else first?
8 A. No. From the barracks to Keraterm. He didn't go anywhere else.
9 Q. And what road did you follow to get to Keraterm?
10 A. We left Urije, towards the railway station. Then naturally there
11 is the intersection from which the road goes off to Banja Luka, and we
12 went to -- we got then to Keraterm. We stayed there for about 20
13 minutes. Then they came back, switched on the engine, and we took the new
14 road in the -- towards Banja Luka and we arrived in Omarska.
15 MR. KEEGAN: Your Honour, if I could, I was going to try and clear
16 up this one section. It will take about five minutes and then that would
17 be an appropriate moment for a break.
18 JUDGE RODRIGUES: [Interpretation] Yes. I was about to tell you,
19 but remember that we still have our ruling, but you will tell us when it
20 will be convenient to break.
21 MR. KEEGAN: In that event, this is a good place to break.
22 JUDGE RODRIGUES: [Interpretation] Yes. I think it is a good
23 moment to break, because we still have our decision.
24 Witness Brkic, we are sorry to have to interrupt you, but we
25 naturally adjourn at half past 2.00 and we still have some work before us,
Page 4467
1 so that you will have to come back tomorrow to continue giving your
2 evidence. I shall now ask the usher to help you out.
3 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Thank you.
4 [The witness stood down]
5 JUDGE RODRIGUES: [Interpretation] As you know, we had to do some
6 additional work in the meantime, and that was the reason why we came a
7 little late after the break. Our apologies, but I hope that you
8 understand that we had to render our decision rather urgently.
9 So the Chamber will now render its ruling pursuant to the motions
10 of the Prosecutor for modification of the list of witnesses and for the
11 application of protective measures.
12 On the 21st of August, 2000, the Prosecutor submitted in the
13 following order a motion for protective measures in respect of Witnesses
14 AO, AP, AQ, AR, and AS, and a motion to change the list of witnesses in
15 respect of 12 witnesses.
16 On the 25th of August, Defence counsel for the accused Kos
17 expressed its opposition to the motion in respect of nine witnesses. On
18 the 28th of August, 2000, the Prosecutor filed a third motion. This time,
19 a motion for protective measures in respect of Witness AT.
20 On the 29th of August, yesterday, the Chamber spent a long time
21 hearing the arguments of the parties, and especially the arguments of the
22 Defence for the accused Kos. The Prosecutor upheld its motions invoking
23 in particular Rule 66 and 73 bis of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence.
24 Defence counsel, all of them, expressed its opposition to the motions,
25 invoking in particular the rights of the accused to a fair and expeditious
Page 4468
1 trial, and to their right to prepare in an adequate manner their defence
2 pursuant to the provisions of Articles 20 and 21 of the Statute.
3 At the conclusion of the Status Conference, the Chamber proposed
4 to the parties to meet once again and to explore the possibility,
5 following the arguments exchanged during the Status Conference, to find an
6 agreement. Several minutes after the end of the Status Conference, the
7 Chamber was advised that no agreement was possible; however, this morning
8 the parties have notified the Chamber that they managed to find an
9 agreement as regards the appearance of Witness F.
10 It is therefore against that procedural background that the
11 Chamber is making its decision. However, insofar as there is a need to
12 mention names of certain individuals, certain witnesses, I should like to
13 ask that we move into private session for a while.
14 [Private session]
15 (redacted)
16 (redacted)
17 (redacted)
18 (redacted)
19 (redacted)
20 (redacted)
21 (redacted)
22 (redacted)
23 (redacted)
24 (redacted)
25 (redacted)
Page 4469
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13 page 4469 redacted – private session
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Page 4470
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2 (redacted)
3 (redacted)
4 (redacted)
5 (redacted)
6 (redacted)
7 [Open session]
8 JUDGE RODRIGUES: [Interpretation] It is appropriate to emphasise
9 that actually in respect of ten witnesses, the Prosecutor stated in its
10 motion that he still has to fulfil its obligations, disclosure
11 obligations, at least seven days before the appearance of the relevant
12 witness. In other words, the Chamber understands that the Prosecutor has
13 not to this date completed, or rather, fulfilled its obligations according
14 to the provisions of the Rule 66 of Rules of Procedure and Evidence.
15 Having said that, it follows from the explanations given by the
16 Prosecutor that certain witnesses have only recently agreed to testify and
17 to be called to the Tribunal. On the other hand, according to the
18 Prosecutor, the new witnesses are well placed to bring certain
19 clarification to the Chamber as regards the charges against the accused
20 and the exact role of one or several of them, without having to testify
21 about the actual crimes or elements of crimes with which the Chamber has
22 not yet been made familiar.
23 The Chamber is of the opinion that in view of such circumstances,
24 while expressing its concern to have to intervene in such a sensible --
25 such an important matter at this stage of the procedure, and also having
Page 4471
1 to express its regret that the Prosecutor only recently announced the
2 appearance of certain new witnesses, and we have to express our regret at
3 the fact that the Prosecutor has already called witnesses to the Tribunal
4 without waiting for the response of the Chamber, it seems a priori
5 important that a motion of the Prosecutor should be granted.
6 It is in reality and effectively in the interests of justice that
7 we should all make an effort and try to find together evidence which is
8 the best possible evidence, although on this particular issue, the Chamber
9 can only place its trust to the assessment made by the Prosecutor.
10 However, the Chamber has to make sure that this will not cause any
11 prejudice to the full exercise of the rights of the accused. In that
12 respect, the Chamber believes that it is essential that the Prosecutor, at
13 any rate, fulfils in principle immediately all of his disclosure
14 obligations. However, the Chamber makes note that, and as it has already
15 indicated, the Defence must have, before the filing of the motion of the
16 Prosecutor in respect of certain witnesses, elements which would enable it
17 to start and to prepare itself for the relevant witnesses.
18 The Chamber makes a note that the number of additional witnesses
19 for which a disagreement still persists is not that high -- let me state
20 once again we are only talking about seven witnesses -- and that not all
21 of the witnesses will be testifying against all of the accused. In other
22 words, each Defence counsel will have to focus his work only on several --
23 or rather, on certain new witnesses.
24 The Chamber makes a note, finally, that the new witnesses will
25 actually only replace other witnesses, and their names will not be added
Page 4472
1 to already existing witnesses. Therefore, it doesn't mean that the
2 Prosecutor will have an additional time -- that he will be entitled to
3 additional time to complete his case. Starting from the day of tomorrow,
4 the Prosecutor still has 21 days of hearing in total. The motion of the
5 Prosecutor was filed in certain circumstances which can be termed as
6 exceptional circumstances which have enabled us to respond to the motion
7 positively.
8 It doesn't follow from what we have already heard that the Defence
9 will be prejudiced in any manner; however, the Chamber wishes to remind
10 you that it is its duty to ensure the equality of arms between the
11 parties, in particular, by enabling the Defence to have a reasonable
12 amount of time to finish its preparatory work and to envisage measures
13 that are likely to reinstate the equality of arms if it is necessary.
14 The Chamber has decided to grant the motion to revise the witness
15 list and thereby authorises the Prosecutor to call the 12 witnesses listed
16 in his motion. Moreover, as regards the seven witnesses that we have
17 spoken about, and in respect of which there has been no agreement between
18 the parties, those witnesses can be called only during the last session of
19 the Prosecutor's case in-chief, that is, during the week of the 25th until
20 the 29th of September, 2000, or during the week of 2nd to the 6th of
21 October, 2000.
22 Following the testimony of these seven witnesses, that is, after
23 they have been examined in-chief and cross-examined under the usual the
24 circumstances, Defence counsel of each of the accused may submit to the
25 Chamber any motion, specific and with foundation, laid out with a view to
Page 4473
1 describing and obtaining a redress of any prejudice which the accused in
2 question deems to have suffered because of the appearance of any one of
3 the seven witnesses and for not being able to adequately prepare himself.
4 In that case, the Chamber will take all measure that it deems useful,
5 should such a motion be presented.
6 At the end, the Chamber has decided to grant the motion for
7 protective measures for Witnesses AO, AP, AQ, AR, AS, and AT. And let us
8 remind you at the end that the Prosecutor has a maximum of 21 days of
9 hearing to complete the presentation of his case in-chief.
10 This has been the decision of the Chamber.
11 Yes, Mr. O'Sullivan.
12 MR. O'SULLIVAN: Your Honours, will the Chamber be issuing a
13 written decision?
14 JUDGE RODRIGUES: [Interpretation] No. This was an oral decision
15 and it is our final decision.
16 We have therefore fulfilled our objective; namely, we have managed
17 to clarify this very important issue. And we will adjourn for the day and
18 we'll see each other tomorrow morning. And let me just tell you that it
19 is not possible to have a Status Conference to continue our discussion of
20 the agenda which was not completed yesterday because we have some
21 obligations to fulfill this afternoon. But let me first consult my
22 colleagues for a second.
23 [Trial Chamber confers]
24 JUDGE RODRIGUES: [Interpretation] We can continue our Status
25 Conference tomorrow, at half past 3.00, to discuss the items which were
Page 4474
1 left unresolved. Tomorrow, 9.30.
2 --- Whereupon the hearing adjourned at 2.50 p.m.,
3 to be reconvened on Thursday, the 31st day of
4 August, 2000, at 9.30 a.m.
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