Page 4188
1 Friday, 3 May 2002
2 [Open session]
3 [The accused entered court]
4 --- Upon commencing at 9.32 a.m.
5 JUDGE MAY: Yes, Mr. Nice.
6 MR. NICE: Call Dr. Rugova, please.
7 JUDGE MAY: His summary?
8 MR. NICE: Yes, indeed, for distribution now. The witness will
9 certainly have a copy somewhere with him. Perhaps the Court will at some
10 stage explain to him what the limitations are as to whether he may refer
11 to it.
12 JUDGE MAY: Yes. How long is he here for?
13 MR. NICE: It will obviously be preferable to conclude his
14 evidence today, but it is possible for him to stay over the weekend.
15 JUDGE MAY: Yes. We have to rise at 4.00 or 4.15 this afternoon
16 because there's an Initial Appearance after this.
17 [The witness entered court]
18 JUDGE MAY: Yes. Would you take the declaration, please.
19 WITNESS: IBRAHIM RUGOVA
20 [Witness answered through interpreter]
21 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] I solemnly declare that I will speak
22 the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
23 JUDGE MAY: If you'd like to take a seat.
24 Examined by Mr. Nice:
25 Q. Is your full name Ibrahim Uke Rugova?
Page 4189
1 A. Yes.
2 Q. It's Dr. Rugova, is it not?
3 A. Yes. Yes.
4 Q. Dr. Rugova, you are, of course, a Kosovar Albanian; you were born
5 in the village of Cerrce, in the municipality of Istok, in 1944; you had
6 elementary education in Istok and in Peje; you went to Pristina
7 University, where you qualified in literature, and specialising and
8 earning a doctorate in due course in the history of literary criticism and
9 Albanian literature?
10 A. Yes.
11 Q. In 1988, you became president of the Kosovo Writers' Association,
12 and in December of 1999, you were founder of a group, the Council for the
13 Defence of Human Rights and Freedoms. Was that group one of Kosovo's
14 first human rights groups?
15 A. Yes, it was.
16 Q. In 1989, was a party, political party, the Democratic League of
17 Kosovo, known as the LDK, formed? What part did you play in its formation
18 and what office did you take?
19 A. I was one of the founders of this party, which we founded on
20 December 23, 1989. At its first meeting, I was elected chairman of the
21 Democratic League of Kosova; that is, I had the role of the chairman of
22 this party, which was the first democratic party set up in Kosova on the
23 eastern part of that then world, I would say.
24 Q. You were elected president then. Have you remained president of
25 the party since?
Page 4190
1 A. Yes. I continue to be the chairman of this party. The last year
2 I was elected -- 1998, re-elected chairman, in February, and recently we
3 are going to hold a fourth congress of this party.
4 Q. I leave a gap from time to time, Dr. Rugova, between questions and
5 answers to accommodate the interpreters, as you will understand.
6 We are going to hear in due course about elections that occurred
7 in the 1990s, as a result of which you were elected to certain offices,
8 but the most recent position is that you have been elected as President of
9 Kosovo, and that is an office you've held since March of this year; is
10 that correct?
11 A. Yes. I was elected President by the parliament of Kosova in March
12 this year, parliament which was formed after the last elections held on
13 September -- on November 17 last year.
14 Q. Thank you. Let's now go back to the relevant history starting, at
15 any event, in 1989. In that year, did the Yugoslav government impose
16 special measures in Kosovo as a result of what was described as political
17 unrest?
18 A. Yes. These violent measures were imposed as early as 1981, when
19 the first student demonstrations took place.
20 Q. Picking the story up in 1989, if we can, tell us --
21 A. In 1989, violent measures, special measures or extraordinary
22 measures they were called at that time. There were protests because
23 Kosova was deprived of its status, that is in March 1989. This was done
24 by the Serbian Assembly on the 28th of March, and this situation
25 continued.
Page 4191
1 Q. Yes. Had there been an election held on the 23rd of March of 1989
2 the in the Kosovo parliament? Can you just tell us a little bit about
3 that but only a sentence or so?
4 A. Yes. The Assembly of Kosova had to discuss the suspension of the
5 federal status of Kosova, that is, autonomous status of Kosova. And a
6 great pressure was brought to bear on the deputies of the parliament to
7 vote in favour of these measures, but the public was against, that is, the
8 citizens, the people at large. Pressure, violence was used. I remember
9 that there were tanks surrounding the parliament building. In the
10 parliament building, there were police, secret police dressed in civilian
11 clothes. And therefore, the members had to vote under pressure. Some
12 members voted --
13 Q. Thank you. How many voted against and what happened to them?
14 A. I remember ten members voting against it. Then these members were
15 sentenced, punished somewhere, sent to prison somewhere, dismissed from
16 jobs. So they feared implications because of that.
17 Q. And in the demonstrations that you've already referred to in this
18 time, 1989, were there any casualties amongst the demonstrators?
19 A. Yes. Some were injured, and about 20 were killed. These
20 demonstrations were staged in several cities of Kosova.
21 Q. Yes. What rule was there in Kosovo in 1988 and 1989 so far as you
22 were concerned?
23 A. After the revocation of the autonomy of Kosova, the Serb rule was
24 established and several institutions were suspended and control, police
25 control, was established over Kosova. The Ministry of Interior of Kosova
Page 4192
1 and Kosova police didn't have any rights thereafter. Therefore, they were
2 placed under the direct orders of Belgrade, and Serb police were stationed
3 in Kosova.
4 Q. Was there any increase in the number of Serb police operating in
5 Kosovo? If so, where did those policemen come from?
6 A. As of 1989, as I said, Serb police came to Kosova, and at that
7 time there were still policemen from other former republics like Croatia,
8 Slovenia, Bosnia, Vojvodina, Macedonia.
9 Q. And what happened to the other police and particularly the
10 Albanian police?
11 A. The Albanian police of Kosova began to be dismissed from their
12 jobs. This came to an end in 1990. In 1991, all of them were dismissed.
13 Q. Let us now turn to a little of the history and the philosophy of
14 your party, the LDK. The initial aims of that party were what,
15 Dr. Rugova?
16 A. The first objective of this party was to establish democracy in
17 Kosova, to start a democratic life for all its citizens. Second, it aimed
18 to have Kosova a republic equal to the other republics in the former
19 Federation, because as I said, Kosova was stripped of its autonomy, and
20 this was our main goal. Then we were striving to build an independent
21 Kosova for rights -- with rights for all its citizens. This was the main
22 and initial goal, but the main thing was to defend the Kosova people who
23 were jeopardised then.
24 The philosophy of our party is very comprehensive. It includes
25 economic, cultural, and general development of Kosova.
Page 4193
1 MR. NICE: Paragraph 8 of the summary for the Court.
2 Q. In July of 1990, was there a declaration made in the Kosovo
3 parliament, and if so, can you explain that to us and explain how to
4 fitted into the laws and structures of Kosovo at that time?
5 A. On July 2nd, a statement was prepared and endorsed by the members
6 of the Kosova Assembly. The members were not allowed to enter the
7 chamber. They were banned from entering it. But they held the meeting
8 outside, in the vicinity of the assembly building, and they endorsed a
9 statement, which we refer to as the Constitutional Statement, or the
10 Statement for Independence, which is asking for Kosova to become an
11 independent republic equal to the other former republics of the former
12 Federation. Likewise, it said that we did not recognise the amendments
13 approved by the Serb Assembly on 28th of March and that we will refer to
14 Kosova as "Kosova." This was a crucial document which was approved that
15 day. After that, all the measures followed.
16 Q. Then other measures. First of all, were steps taken by the
17 Serbian authorities in relation to your parliament?
18 A. We were at that time at the initial phase of building our party.
19 Of course, reprisals were undertaken against its activists. Three days
20 after, that is, on the 5th of July, the television and the radio of
21 Prishtina, in Kosova, were closed, violently closed. We have film footage
22 to show that. The only Albanian-language newspaper, Rilindja, was also
23 suspended. So there were no more programmes in the Albanian language.
24 Then more fierce measures ensued against other institutions of Kosova.
25 Q. Later in that year, was there a meeting in Kacanik?
Page 4194
1 A. Yes. A meeting was held in Kacanik, a meeting of deputies of the
2 Kosova Assembly, who approved the Declaration of Independence, and they
3 approved the Constitution of the Republic of Kosova at that assembly in
4 Kacanik. It was a very important document for Kosova's future
5 development, and also a very democratic document.
6 Q. Moving on one year, to 1991, again to September, in that month of
7 1991, was there a referendum? Can you tell us how that was organised and
8 what was its result?
9 A. In September 1991, Kosova held its own referendum on independence,
10 and this referendum was very well organised and supervised. And the
11 question was: Are you in favour of the independence of Kosova or not?
12 And 98 or 99 per cent of the voters were in favour. So the results of the
13 referendum were positive. And as you know, a lot of referendums were held
14 for independence in other former Yugoslav republics, so Kosova held its
15 own referendum and it was well organised. Of course, there was a lot of
16 repression against many activists, but the referendum was nevertheless
17 held.
18 Q. Before we move on to the attitude of the LDK following this
19 referendum, just back to a detail of what was happening in 1989. Were
20 Albanians losing their jobs as a result of the difficulties between Kosovo
21 and Serbia?
22 A. Yes. That started in 1989 and later intensified in 1990 and
23 continued until the majority were expelled from their jobs in 1993. It
24 kept on continuing. In this period, about 150.000 Albanian workers were
25 expelled from their jobs, and at that time there were about 240.000 people
Page 4195
1 employed in Kosova as a whole. So 150.000 were expelled and about 70.000
2 or 80.000 remained in their jobs, and these were mainly Serbs of Kosova
3 and other nationalities. They were expelled from the economy, public
4 services, the administration, and so forth. Some Albanians in the
5 electricity industry and electrical installations near Prishtina and
6 Obiliq, they were kept, but otherwise not many.
7 Q. From the moment of the referendum, but probably before, was the
8 LDK's party then clearly in favour of and seeking independence?
9 A. After the referendum, yes. And it was the LDK's main option and
10 the choice of the other political parties in Kosova, because various other
11 smaller parties were founded at this time because of the result of the
12 referendum. And as you know, the other republics had declared their
13 independence, and the former Yugoslavia, the former Federation, had de
14 facto begun to collapse. And we were thinking of our own fate, our own
15 destiny in Kosova.
16 Q. How did the LDK approach the possibility, manifest elsewhere, of
17 independence only coming with violence and by war? How did it approach
18 that problem?
19 A. Our position was that independence should be achieved by peaceful,
20 diplomatic, and democratic methods and violence should not be used,
21 because it was a right of the people of Kosova, and we worked in this
22 direction.
23 Q. With that in mind, can you tell us about a document that was
24 prepared on October 11th of 1991?
25 A. Yes. This is a document called the "Statement with Three
Page 4196
1 Options," and it was prepared by the LDK and the other Kosova political
2 parties, by the Albanian parties in Macedonia and southern Serbia and
3 Montenegro, and it's a document that puts forth three options: If the
4 internal borders of the former Yugoslavia are changed, there should be a
5 republic of Albanians, i.e., a Republic of Kosova. The second option was
6 the independence of the Republic of Kosova. And the third option, if the
7 external borders of the former Yugoslavia were changed and if other
8 countries sought to change the borders of the former Federation, then the
9 Albanians of Kosova and other areas in the former Federation had the right
10 to unite, to have their own state in the Balkans. So it was more a matter
11 of a vision and a preparation for what might happen at that time, when the
12 former Federation began to collapse.
13 Q. And of these three options, your party was most interested in
14 which one?
15 A. We were more interested in the independence of Kosova, i.e.,
16 Kosova as an independent country, a country with good neighbourly
17 relations with its adjacent countries.
18 Q. Before we pass from this document, or this agreement, what was its
19 approach -- whatever option might be achieved, what was its approach to
20 minority groups that would find themselves living in states of other
21 majority ethnic composition?
22 A. In any event, it had a positive attitude to secure and protect and
23 integrate these rights. This was also in the Kacanik constitution. So
24 they would be equal citizens in the Republic of Kosova or in the
25 territories where the Albanians are a majority.
Page 4197
1 MR. NICE: Paragraph 12 of the summary for the Court.
2 Q. In the 1990s, starting in 1990, apart from people losing their
3 jobs, tell us about Albanian radio and television stations. What happened
4 so far as they were concerned?
5 A. Yes. On 5th of July, 1990, the Kosova television and radio and
6 the Rilindja newspaper were closed by police violence. No doubt there
7 were also military forces. But journalists were thrown out of their
8 offices by force, and there is film of this. I haven't brought it with
9 me, but these offices were closed down and Albanian language radio and
10 television was shut completely.
11 Q. What was the ability of those in Kosovo to receive radio
12 broadcasts from Albania itself?
13 A. There was no longer any Albanian radio in Kosova, and radio Tirana
14 or other Albanian-language channels were jammed with the help of certain
15 military electronic equipment. I saw this myself. There were some
16 vehicles with apparatus that jammed the waves, and this went on all the
17 time.
18 Q. Your party, was it organised just in the major towns of Kosovo or
19 was it organised on a wider basis?
20 A. It had a very widespread organisation throughout Kosova, in all
21 the villages of Kosova and all the neighbourhoods and quarters of the
22 cities. It was not only a party, it was also a movement. It was more
23 than a political party, with a very good organisation and a strong civic
24 will in which the citizens worked and organised themselves and kept life
25 going. It was a very fine, compact organisation.
Page 4198
1 Q. Can you give us some examples of the practical things it did but
2 also tell us what was its political focus, if you can?
3 A. I talked a little bit about its political focus and the
4 democratisation of Kosova, democracy, the independence of Kosova. And in
5 practice this party started solidarity actions to help people who were
6 left without jobs, people who were dismissed from their jobs, and also
7 organising society at large, keeping education and health and other fields
8 of life going, culture, even sport. And at that time, we also started
9 collecting a tax, not a compulsory tax but what we called a solidarity
10 tax, mainly concentrating on helping people with food, clothing and things
11 that they needed, because you can imagine that people who had worked for
12 years were now on the streets and could not make ends meet.
13 So these were the first concrete steps we took.
14 Q. No, education, how important? Was it just a question of practical
15 steps or were there also political actions that you took in relation to
16 education?
17 A. It was also more practical, because at that time, that is after
18 1990, especially 1991, all the schools started to be closed, the
19 elementary schools, the high schools, and the university. So we tried to
20 enable people to continue their education on public premises, but it was
21 very difficult.
22 I remember in 1991, several times school pupils and students went
23 to the public premises of the schools, but they were not allowed to enter
24 because these premises were guarded by police. And in order to avert
25 conflict and for the sake of the children, we stopped going to these
Page 4199
1 public buildings, and we created a system whereby school pupils could
2 study in private houses and various other private buildings from
3 elementary school to high school and to college level, and this continued
4 until 1999.
5 So we were forced to create a system which the world at large
6 later called the parallel system in order not to leave our children
7 without education. Because you can imagine --
8 Q. I think --
9 A. -- entire generations being left without education.
10 Q. Let's now go back to paragraph 11 of the summary to how this
11 parallel institution took some formal shape. In October of 1991, was a
12 government formed that operated both inside and outside Kosovo?
13 A. Yes. In that month there was a government, what we might call a
14 coalition government, including the LDK Prime Minister, and there were
15 various other Ministers from other parties and also civil associations.
16 The government mainly operated abroad because it was very difficult to
17 operate in Kosova, but there were various kinds of councils that operated
18 in Kosova, the finance council, the educational council, the cultural
19 council, the council for sport and others, and they organised the life of
20 society and of the citizens.
21 Q. Insofar as it operated abroad, in which countries was it based
22 principally?
23 A. The government mainly worked in Germany and sometimes in
24 Switzerland, and we had an extensive LDK organisation abroad in many
25 European countries, in America, Canada, and Australia, because the
Page 4200
1 Kosovars had the will to keep their ties with Kosova alive through this
2 party, and they assisted with the solidarity tax of 3 per cent of their
3 earnings.
4 So it was a very widespread party. And this was the first time
5 that the Kosovars abroad, too, had their own party and their own
6 organisation.
7 Q. In 1992, was there an election - I think it was 1992 - to the post
8 of President of what was described as the Republic of Kosovo, the Kosovo
9 Republic? Tell us about that, please.
10 A. These elections were held on 24th of May, 1992, and we -- the
11 political groups in Kosova decided to hold elections and held a democratic
12 procedure and elected a parliament and a president of Kosova. And the LDK
13 won a majority, and I was elected President of the Republic of Kosova by
14 an absolute majority of votes.
15 Of course there was also repression following these elections, but
16 the entire people was behind them. They were held. After the elections,
17 two activists near the city of Peje were killed. But the important thing
18 was that these elections were held to establish a democratic order in
19 Kosova, and they yielded their results.
20 Q. Your election in 1992, was that followed six years later, in March
21 of 1998, by a further election to the same position?
22 A. That's right. On 22nd of March, 1998, even though the situation
23 was very serious in Kosova and military attacks on Kosova had already
24 begun and a kind of confrontation, we decided to hold elections because it
25 was time. And also many political parties took part in these elections.
Page 4201
1 And the LDK won a majority, and then there was the Christian democratic
2 party, and other parties won votes. And once again, I was elected
3 President of the Republic of Kosova by an absolute majority.
4 Q. Thank you. Dr. Rugova, I'm going to try with some of the
5 following topics to deal with them fairly briefly, possibly by answers
6 that are yes or no, and then we'll come back to matters where I'll ask you
7 for more extended answers. But - paragraph 15 - did the LDK get involved
8 in bringing television by satellite from Albania, and did it also
9 establish an information centre of Kosovo? Just yes or no to those,
10 really.
11 A. Yes. The LDK and the government.
12 Q. Were people's satellite dishes ever made to suffer as a result of
13 what you had done to provide information?
14 A. Yes.
15 Q. What happened to those dishes?
16 A. Unfortunately, there were. We had to provide some information in
17 the Albanian language, and often the police had threatened people to get
18 rid of these dishes, has punished some of them, but people still continued
19 to have those dishes despite the police preventive measures. There are so
20 many dishes even today in Kosova.
21 Q. I think foreign organisations, many of them NGOs, started to work
22 in Kosovo, and amongst the bodies that found themselves working there were
23 the International Red Cross, Medicin sans Frontiere, and other such
24 organisations.
25 A. Yes. In 1992 --
Page 4202
1 Q. Again, we can probably deal with this just briefly. The LDK
2 established relations with governments abroad, primarily perhaps with the
3 Americans, but also having good relations with other European countries,
4 including Germany, France, and the United Kingdom?
5 A. Yes.
6 Q. So far as you're concerned, what was the attitude of the United
7 States towards what you were doing in Kosovo and to the development of
8 democracy and democratic rights there?
9 A. The United States maintained a positive stand. They supported
10 democracy, human rights, and had sympathy for our peaceful movement. That
11 was the same with the European countries. I might say that the US
12 Congress and the EU Parliament were the first to take a stand on violence
13 and repression in Kosova. They maintained a positive stand and
14 sympathised with us.
15 Q. I think that Washington opened an office in Pristina in 1996, and
16 that was shortly followed by a European Union office, also in Pristina.
17 A. Yes.
18 Q. Thank you.
19 A. Yes. And this was for us of great importance because we wanted
20 them to be present in Kosova and to establish links with us.
21 Q. The LDK, as you've told us, remained committed to peaceful
22 action. Did you have any fears as to what might nevertheless happen as a
23 result of the political developments that were taking place?
24 A. Yes. As I said, we were for peaceful solutions, for peaceful
25 policy, but we were still intimidated, because if that went on for too
Page 4203
1 long, the citizens might react to that, in face of the growing daily
2 repression against them. So this is what we were afraid of, and tried to
3 find some political solutions to that situation.
4 Q. You speak of daily repression. In a sentence or so, just tell us,
5 as we pass through the 1990s, what sort of repression, and were there any
6 casualties?
7 A. In 1990 there were some demonstrations staged where about 40
8 people got killed. Daily repression consisted of activists, citizens
9 being maltreated, detained, stopped at checkpoints, which were very
10 frequent in Kosova, or might be punished for some minor things. Let's say
11 they were found carrying some letters, documents in Albanian language.
12 They were sentenced to 30 to 60 days. Thousands of people have been
13 suffering from that. They were sentenced on petty offences, I would say.
14 Q. And you yourself, what did you suffer, if anything, by way of
15 inference and restriction? Paragraph 23.
16 A. Yes. I was very careful, didn't move about much, to escape such
17 repression. I was very cautious. However, in 1990, once we had set up
18 the Democratic League, I was told to give up politics: What are you
19 doing, and what does this serve, and so on and so forth. Then in 1993 I
20 was detained in a police station in Prishtina. I was held there for a
21 couple of hours; then some other times, at other periods. But as I said,
22 I tried to be very careful not to move about much, because I was afraid
23 they might arrest me or even fare something worse.
24 Q. When you say you were told not to -- or to give up politics, who
25 told you that?
Page 4204
1 A. Someone from the State Security in 1990. He was working at the
2 Ministry of Interior in Kosova. Then I found out that he had taken orders
3 from someone from Belgrade working in the security service. I never found
4 out his name.
5 Q. There came a time when the KLA came into being. How did the
6 Serbian authorities approach the LDK once the KLA came into being? Did it
7 deal with them similarly or separately, or in a different way?
8 A. If you allow me, I would like to add something to your previous
9 question. When I travelled abroad, mainly on the border with Macedonia, I
10 was often held up by the police for several hours at the border.
11 In answer to your other question, I might say that their stand
12 didn't change when the KLA appeared. I mean, they maintained the same
13 stand on us despite the emergence of the KLA.
14 Q. And that approach to you was what? How would you summarise it?
15 A. They continued their repression against the LDK, its activities,
16 whereas with regard to the KLA members, when there were confrontations,
17 also they kept the same stand. This happened from March 1998, when the
18 attack on Drenica was perpetrated, and that continued. That was the
19 stand: violence and open conflict, which prevailed. So de facto, Belgrade
20 decided to destroy Kosova through violence and war.
21 Q. Did you have any personal contact in the first half of the 1990s
22 with the accused?
23 A. No, I didn't.
24 Q. Did you ever hear directly of his expression of interest or
25 disinterest, support or otherwise, of what you were doing politically in
Page 4205
1 Kosovo in that time?
2 A. No. There was a tendency to establish contacts, but that was
3 refused. I remember from the London conference. In fact, we didn't have
4 any contacts and we didn't see any interest.
5 JUDGE ROBINSON: Mr. Nice, before you move to the next part, I
6 wanted to have something clarified from Dr. Rugova.
7 In 1990, Kosovo had declared itself an independent entity within
8 Yugoslavia, equal to the other republics. That is a status to be
9 distinguished from independence. What was the constitutional
10 relationship, as you understood it then, between Kosovo as an independent
11 entity and the Yugoslav government? What would the Yugoslav government be
12 constitutionally entitled to do in relation to Kosovo as an independent
13 entity?
14 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] We proclaimed Kosova -- at that time
15 the former Yugoslavia, the Federation, still existed, and that being the
16 case, Kosova too being either a republic or an independent country, would
17 have relations with the other republics. That was being discussed. But
18 this did not happen, of course. As to the Belgrade authorities, they
19 considered what we did, the expression of the will of the people,
20 unlawful, and never recognised it. That was the background. And we
21 continued our efforts to build up the state and the institutions despite
22 the Serb violence. What we did was recognise outside as a parallel
23 state. That was the beginning of the dismemberment of the Federation, in
24 fact.
25 JUDGE ROBINSON: So Belgrade's attitude to you was driven by their
Page 4206
1 non-recognition of the status that you had declared yourself? They did
2 not recognise that status and continued to treat you in the way that they
3 had treated you before?
4 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Yes, that's correct. They didn't
5 recognise the Republic of Kosova. I said in March 1989 they suspended
6 even the federal status that Kosova enjoyed then. So they didn't
7 recognise the people's expressed will and continued their repression,
8 violence, and other actions in this way.
9 JUDGE ROBINSON: Thank you.
10 MR. NICE:
11 Q. Let me turn, then, to the Ministry of Defence, as it has been
12 described. Very briefly, how did this come into being, of whom or of what
13 was it composed, and what was its purpose?
14 A. In 1992, 1993, we believed that those policemen who were
15 dismissed, they were organising their police trade unions. They took care
16 of their families. And they thought to set up a Ministry of Interior,
17 where Kosovar Albanian unemployed officers or policemen -- they thought to
18 have their own Ministry of Defence. But in fact it did not play any
19 operational, military role, because it was very difficult to do so. It
20 had more of a consultative character, to advise the citizens in case of
21 some attacks or what to do, as the case was in Drenica, for example, in
22 1998, with the Jashari family or other families. In 1993, many military
23 experts were imprisoned and sentenced. About 46 of them have suffered in
24 prison until 1999.
25 Many Kosovar police were killed. Some were maltreated. About 150
Page 4207
1 have been sentenced to gaol. About 200 have been arrested, and they have
2 suffered their sentences until 1988, 1989.
3 So that was the main purpose for setting up this ministry, as a
4 consultative body to provide some security for the citizens.
5 Q. Were these former police officers ever recognisable as members of
6 the Ministry of Defence by uniform or badge or anything like that, and if
7 so, were they ever armed?
8 A. No. No. They didn't have a uniform. It was impossible to have
9 uniforms or some insignia. But as I said, it was more of a consultative
10 body for the citizens of Kosova.
11 Q. Thank you. Can we turn now to the education agreement. But,
12 Dr. Rugova, we've heard quite a lot about this from other witnesses
13 already, so we can deal with it, I hope, pretty swiftly.
14 There were negotiations for an education agreement, and they began
15 in 1996; is that correct?
16 A. Yes, that's correct, in 1996. In the summer of that year they
17 started.
18 Q. The Sant' Egidio organisation helped by engaging in a form of
19 shuttle diplomacy to facilitate this agreement, and at that time there
20 was --
21 A. Yes.
22 Q. -- interest or pressure from other Western governments to wanted
23 to see an improvement in the educational position in Kosovo? I think the
24 agreement was signed in Pristina on September the 1st of 1996.
25 MR. NICE: And, Your Honours, we have a version of the agreement.
Page 4208
1 It comes from a book. It's not the agreement itself, but if we can just
2 produce that as an exhibit through this witness. It ought to be before
3 the Court.
4 While it's being produced, I can just explain that the book from
5 which it's drawn is "The Kosovo Conflict, a Diplomatic History Through
6 Documents," edited by Philip Averswald and David Averswald, published in
7 2000.
8 THE REGISTRAR: Your Honours, that will be Prosecutor's Exhibit
9 number 127.
10 MR. NICE: If you could lay an English version of this on the
11 overhead projector, please. And the witness reads and speaks English
12 sufficiently for me to just deal with this in English.
13 I think the usher has the wrong document. It's the one-page
14 document. I'm sorry. I hadn't checked.
15 JUDGE MAY: You're going to produce this one, are you?
16 MR. NICE: I'm going to produce that one in due course.
17 JUDGE MAY: So we can keep it.
18 MR. NICE: Yes, certainly.
19 JUDGE MAY: But we will renumber it in due course. Let's now have
20 the document, the new one.
21 MR. NICE: Sorry. I hadn't been keeping an eye on what was being
22 distributed.
23 THE REGISTRAR: So this document will be Prosecutor's Exhibit
24 number 127.
25 MR. NICE:
Page 4209
1 Q. It's sufficiently short to be read in full. It's dated the 1st of
2 September of 1996. The original is said to have been signed by both
3 yourself and the accused. Did you sign it in the presence of each other
4 or did you sign it separately, Dr. Rugova?
5 A. This document was signed separately. I signed it in Prishtina in
6 the presence of Sant' Egidio, whereas the accused has signed it in
7 Belgrade. I don't know whether he too signed it in the presence of Sant'
8 Egidio.
9 Q. In any event --
10 A. It was, as I said, a shuttle agreement.
11 JUDGE ROBINSON: In what capacity did you sign it, Dr. Rugova?
12 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] That was a very controversial issue,
13 in fact. I had to sign it, of course, as the President of the Republic of
14 Kosova, but the other side didn't accept that. And in order for us to
15 make some positive step ahead, I agreed to sign it only by my name, as
16 Ibrahim Rugova without any other posts or any other capacity, just to show
17 my goodwill to do something.
18 JUDGE ROBINSON: Yes, I see that, and I think I'll come back to
19 this issue of the constitutional relationship, which I'm not entirely
20 clear about, because although the Yugoslav -- the Belgrade authorities did
21 not recognise the status that you had given yourself in 1990, it is clear
22 that they were dealing with you. They were treating with you in many --
23 in many things, including education by way of this agreement. But as you
24 said, there was this issue as to the capacity in which you -- you would
25 sign. So we simply see "Dr. Ibrahim Rugova."
Page 4210
1 Thank you. Proceed on, Mr. Nice.
2 MR. NICE:
3 Q. The agreement reads:
4 "For some years now, the educational system in Kosovo - from
5 elementary schooling to university - has not been functioning normally.
6 "By mutual consent, the undersigned, Mr. Slobodan Milosevic,
7 President of the Republic of Serbia, and Dr. Ibrahim Rugova, have decided
8 to proceed to the normalisation of the education system for Albanian youth
9 in Kosovo.
10 "The agreement foresees the return of Albanian students and
11 teachers back to schools.
12 "The present agreement, because of its social and humanitarian
13 significance, is beyond political debate. The concern shared by both of
14 the undersigned for the future of Albanian children and youth that has led
15 them to reach this agreement.
16 "Both the undersigned thank their joint friends from the
17 community of Sant' Egidio for the generous commitment, help and support
18 they have given to the dialogue.
19 "Both the undersigned are furthermore certain about the
20 commitment of all those who are in charge to implementing the agreement
21 for the normalisation of the education system. A mixed group (3+3) will
22 be established to make the agreement a reality.
23 "When young people do commit themselves with purpose to their
24 educational and cultural improvement, and in so doing become responsible
25 citizens, we achieve a victory for civilisation itself and not a victory
Page 4211
1 of one side over another."
2 Thus the agreement, Dr. Rugova, was it ever implemented?
3 A. Unfortunately, it was not implemented. And for this reason, we
4 had protest demonstrations by students in October 1997 and again in 1998.
5 Part of this agreement was implemented very late, in March or April 1998
6 when it was very late. And one faculty building was released for
7 Albanians and the Institute for Albanian Studies in the national library,
8 but this was very late and, in fact, it seemed like a farce. So this
9 agreement was not implemented.
10 Q. Had you ever been hopeful that it would be implemented?
11 JUDGE MAY: There is an objection, apparently.
12 Yes, Mr. Tapuskovic.
13 MR. TAPUSKOVIC: [Interpretation] Your Honours, I consider that
14 this is the right time for me to point something out. By presenting
15 Exhibit 127, this has been introduced into the documents but it has not
16 been translated as it should have been done. You still have not decided
17 about this, that is so say, whether documents which have not been
18 translated can become a part of the evidence.
19 Now, what do I want to say about this? I wish to say that a
20 ruling on the matter should be made, because we discussed the question of
21 whether the accused knew the language well enough to be able to follow the
22 documents. He presented his own views. It is not a question of a general
23 knowledge of the language when we come to legal terminology and witnesses,
24 expert witnesses, professional terms that are used. The accused quite
25 certainly does not know all that legal language. So I think we ought to
Page 4212
1 have a ruling and decision on whether a document which has not been
2 translated can be introduced into evidence.
3 JUDGE MAY: This is a short document which the accused is well
4 able to read. If you want help about it, I'm sure at that Mr. Wladimiroff
5 will assist you.
6 We are not dealing now with matters of principle. You can raise
7 them in due course. The important thing is to get on with the evidence.
8 Now, in this case we can get on perfectly well with this document in
9 English.
10 MR. TAPUSKOVIC: [Interpretation] I don't think you understood me.
11 Your Honours, it is not me --
12 JUDGE MAY: We have in front of us a document about education, and
13 it is that document which has been produced, and it is that document which
14 I'm referring to. We haven't got on to any other document. When we do,
15 we can discuss it. But we don't want to waste time when the witness is in
16 the middle of giving evidence.
17 MR. TAPUSKOVIC: [Interpretation] Your Honours, may I just add one
18 thing? I don't need assistance. I do have this document in the Serbian
19 language, and I know it very well. I read it a long time ago, many years
20 ago. I'm well acquainted with the document itself. So it is not I myself
21 who needs assistance. But we must rule on the request made by the accused
22 that every document which is provided to him in the English language must
23 also be produced in the translation as well.
24 That is all. Thank you.
25 JUDGE MAY: It is a matter for us when we rule upon the matter.
Page 4213
1 At the moment we're dealing with the education agreement. There is no
2 need for any ruling. Now, let us get on with the evidence.
3 MR. TAPUSKOVIC: [Interpretation] Of course.
4 MR. NICE:
5 Q. Had you ever had optimism, Dr. Rugova, that this agreement would
6 be implemented?
7 A. I had hoped, but on the basis of the attitude taken in Kosova
8 towards education, there was some goodwill and hope that something would
9 come of this agreement.
10 Q. In the event, what appeared to be the approach of the Serbian side
11 to education and its effect on Kosovo Albanians?
12 A. As I said before, in 1990 and especially 1991, the schools were
13 closed, and the university, so there was no Albanian-language education,
14 and we organised in our own way in private houses. So they had a negative
15 attitude: There should not be Albanian-language education in Kosova. And
16 with this agreement, we thought something better would come about, but
17 nothing happened. And of course there was violence used against school
18 pupils and teachers, and repression.
19 MR. NICE: We can now move to the negotiations that took place
20 involving a group called the G5. We've had a great deal of evidence about
21 this already, and Your Honour, I think the general architecture of these
22 negotiations has not been challenged at all, so that I can lead it.
23 Q. After the Kosovo parliamentary elections that were held on the
24 22nd of March of 1998, was a group formed --
25 A. Yes, a group was formed, which at first was called G15. It had 15
Page 4214
1 members.
2 Q. Yes. And was its purpose to start the negotiation process because
3 conditions were deteriorating and you were concerned about the violence
4 that was developing?
5 A. Yes. It was our position that we should do something, and also
6 the international community thought the same, because the situation was
7 alarming. So this group of 15 was founded, with representatives of the
8 different political parties, civil societies, human rights organisations.
9 So it was quite an interesting and a rather solid group, ready to talk to
10 Belgrade.
11 Q. But then for practical reasons it was reduced to the G5 group,
12 whose members were yourself, Fehmi Agani, Veton Surroi, Mahmut Bakalli,
13 and Blerim Shala?
14 A. Yes. It was more of an advisory group to look at issues. We also
15 formed a group of five members, as you mentioned, for direct talks, if
16 direct talks were to start. So this was a more practically mounted group,
17 you might say.
18 Q. And also Pajazit Nushi.
19 A. Pajazit Nushi, that's right, from the Human Rights Committee.
20 Q. Now, we know that on the 15th of May, this group met the accused
21 in Belgrade, and I think you were the leader of the group; is that
22 correct?
23 A. Yes, I was.
24 Q. The meeting lasted about an hour. You explained that your
25 interest was in independence of Kosovo; correct?
Page 4215
1 A. Yes.
2 Q. And others contributed; the others of your group contributed to
3 the discussion, and the accused spoke of, amongst other things, events in
4 Prekaz. Briefly, please, your recollection of what he said about those
5 events in Prekaz?
6 A. I remember that he knew about the Prekaz case and the Jashari
7 family and what had happened. He called them terrorists. And he also
8 said that the state had to respond to cases like this. We were there to
9 discuss the situation in Kosova and to find a solution, but this is what
10 he said. I remember exactly.
11 Q. Did the meeting -- we've heard about it from other witnesses, so I
12 needn't ask you for your recollection of what others said. Did the
13 meeting having a positive outcome, as you understood it?
14 A. No. No. It didn't have any positive results. We tried to meet
15 at high level, and then at other levels, and we formed two working groups
16 for talks. These were formed later.
17 Q. Was it possible for those working groups to negotiate with
18 representatives of the Serbian side or not?
19 A. Very difficult. We tried. We tried.
20 Q. Very well. When you returned from that meeting with the
21 accused - very briefly - did you come through the border at Medare? If
22 so, what did you see there of vehicles, and what happened to you, and so
23 on?
24 A. As we were returning from Belgrade, we were stopped by the police,
25 and there were also soldiers. There was a checkpoint at the border with
Page 4216
1 Kosova, and the police stopped us for I think about 30, 40 minutes. And
2 they asked for our identity documents and so forth, and this was a sign
3 that they knew where we had been and why. They stopped us there. And of
4 course, there were police and military vehicles. And when we entered
5 Kosova, there were tanks. There was the army on the move throughout
6 Kosova, soldiers, perhaps even paramilitaries, and others.
7 Q. And on the day after, was there a change in the provision of food
8 to Kosovo?
9 A. There wasn't, but in fact Belgrade had decided to stop the trucks
10 that were bringing food from Serbia, and those belonged to various firms
11 that sold groceries. And this was a bad sign. At that time it didn't
12 have any effect, because we had our own production, but it was an ominous
13 sign. And of course, we are also trading with Macedonia. But this was a
14 very negative sign.
15 Q. Shortly after this meeting, was there a particular event around
16 Decani that you recall and can tell us about in a sentence or so?
17 A. After this, I believe in a certain part of Decan, in the village
18 of Gllogjan, on the Gjakova side of Decan, there were confrontations, and
19 as a result, people, also displaced people, left their villages, and
20 people started to cross the border into Albania and Montenegro.
21 Q. I should have asked you, and I'll go back to deal with it: In
22 your meeting with the accused, what, if anything, did you say to him about
23 the violence and oppression that was happening in Kosovo?
24 A. We said that the situation in Kosova was bad. There was violence
25 and repression. And he, of course, justified it by saying that the state
Page 4217
1 must respond, because these were terrorists. And of course, I also
2 mentioned the issue of independence, as you did yourself.
3 Q. Let's move on now to the following year, to Rambouillet, in
4 February 1999. This, of course, followed the incident, massacre, at
5 Racak.
6 A. Yes.
7 Q. You participated in the Rambouillet negotiations?
8 A. Yes, I took part --
9 Q. In summary --
10 A. -- as part of the LDK.
11 Q. Was the LDK delegation serious in its attempts to negotiate or
12 not?
13 A. Yes, we were serious, and we went in the conviction that an
14 agreement must be achieved. And this was the stand of the international
15 community too, after the massacre at Recak. The situation was
16 deteriorating in Kosova. And of course, the Kosovar delegation consisted
17 mainly of the LDK, including myself, and other political groups. There
18 was the movement for democratic unity, and the KLA, and other civil
19 societies, and there were two other members. So there were about 15
20 members in this team. So the LDK position was that an agreement should be
21 achieved, and the other members of the delegation shared this view.
22 Q. The approach of the Serb side, as you could judge it from your
23 position?
24 A. Most of them were not serious. It appeared to me that they were
25 not there in order to reach some agreement. That was our impression,
Page 4218
1 given the way the talks were being held, or the process, in fact. Because
2 we didn't have many contacts, but these negotiations -- the process
3 continued for three weeks and we didn't see any willingness on their part
4 to reach some agreement.
5 Q. Eventually -- and I'm going to cut out the detail. It's available
6 in paragraphs 46 to 48, if wanted. But eventually, was there a meeting
7 with Madeleine Albright, I think three Albanians and three Serbs together?
8 A. Yes. We held this meeting, about two weeks or so of
9 negotiations. There were three from our side and three from the Serb
10 side. Mrs. Albright was sad at the way the negotiations were going, and
11 she said very openly and explicitly, without much diplomacy, that: If you
12 Albanians - that is, Kosovars - fail to agree with the agreement, we will
13 isolate you and we will have nothing to do with you. And she said
14 likewise very clearly to the Serb side: If you do not accept the
15 agreement, you will be bombed. And that was the end of the meeting.
16 Q. The agreement that was being proposed --
17 MR. NICE: And Your Honour, it was the previous exhibit that was
18 distributed ahead of its time, and perhaps we can give it a number in due
19 course.
20 Q. The agreement that was available, in summary, said what,
21 Dr. Rugova?
22 A. In summary, it said that over a three-year period, the situation
23 in Kosova should be ameliorated; that is, the status of Kosova should be
24 raised after three years, on the basis of the political will of the people
25 and of other factors, that the Serb forces should withdraw, Kosova police
Page 4219
1 should be set up, and KLA should be disarmed, that it be transformed after
2 disarming, and then peace-keeping troops of NATO should be deployed. That
3 was more or less what it was about.
4 Q. On the way to the formulation of this agreement at Rambouillet,
5 were the Serb delegation free to negotiate with real authority or did they
6 have to refer back at any time to anyone, and if so, to whom?
7 A. Certainly they had to ask Belgrade. In this context, the Hill
8 ambassador, who was one of the negotiators, went twice to Belgrade. Once
9 the accused met him, the other time not; he didn't. But the members of
10 the Serb delegation kept constant contacts with Belgrade to get
11 authorisation for what they were going to do. That was our impression.
12 Q. Were you aware of them actually making physical trips, actual
13 trips to Belgrade, in the course of the negotiations?
14 A. It seems to me, yes.
15 Q. Once or more than once, if you know?
16 A. I don't know, but someone went there. This I know. During that
17 three-week period, we stayed in Rambouillet. We stayed there for 21
18 days.
19 MR. NICE: Your Honour - thank you - the agreement, may that be
20 given an exhibit number, if it's going to be given a different one from --
21 THE REGISTRAR: Yes, Your Honours. That will be Prosecutor's
22 Exhibit 128.
23 MR. NICE: I don't desire to turn to any part of it in detail at
24 the moment, but it's a document of reference that we may obviously wish to
25 look at from time to time. Again it comes from a book. Of course, if
Page 4220
1 Mr. Tapuskovic has got a version of it in B/C/S, no doubt he'll make it
2 available to us, if he feels that it's necessary.
3 JUDGE MAY: No doubt the accused is familiar with it, but in
4 principle, we should have a copy in B/C/S.
5 MR. NICE: We'll see if we can find one.
6 JUDGE MAY: Yes. There must be one somewhere.
7 MR. NICE: It's a question of finding it, yes.
8 Q. Tell us about the decision to sign this agreement or not then,
9 please, Dr. Rugova.
10 A. After three weeks, we put up together a text through this shuttle
11 method. It was a definitive text, and the moment came when each of the
12 delegations had to say whether they agreed with the agreement. The Kosova
13 delegation - that is, the Albanian delegation - despite certain
14 reservations of given groups, we decided, within our delegation, we
15 decided to accept the document, whereas the Serb side didn't come up with
16 any stand. We had a time-out of three weeks, to meet again in Paris to
17 sign it. But that was the final document, and the question was whether to
18 accept it or not. That was the end of the -- the conclusion of the
19 Rambouillet talks.
20 Q. The Serb side never signed?
21 A. After three weeks -- we made public the content of this document
22 in Kosova. Then after three weeks we went to Paris. The Serb side again
23 refused to sign it. We did sign it, as a delegation.
24 Q. You then returned to Kosovo, knowing or fearing that what would
25 happen, Dr. Rugova?
Page 4221
1 A. Yes, we returned to Kosova. And we, of course, were afraid of the
2 future, but also were hoping that there would be some intervention by
3 NATO, given the fact that the other side was cautioned against it. But we
4 were frightened that some even worse things might happen. We did our own
5 share of work. We did our bit, so to say. That is, we signed the
6 agreement, and that was of importance to us.
7 Q. As you returned to Kosovo, did you calculate that you may have
8 been at some personal risk?
9 A. Yes. I was afraid that the situation might be dangerous in
10 Kosova, but I had made up my decision to return, because my family was in
11 Prishtina. And on the way from Skopje to Prishtina, I saw the first bad
12 signs, that some cities and villages of Kosova were being emptied of their
13 population.
14 Q. On your return, did you make a press statement?
15 A. Yes. I was very worried at what I saw from the border with
16 Macedonia on the way to Prishtina, and as I told you, I saw many empty,
17 deserted villages and cities. Han i Elezit was on the border of
18 Macedonia. I remember to this day two little puppies wandering in the
19 streets, and nothing else. And so I made a statement in front of my
20 house, in the presence of many journalists, telling them that it's high
21 time that NATO took some action, that something must be done. That
22 happened on the 20th or 21st of March, 1999.
23 Q. Were you in your house when the bombing in fact started?
24 JUDGE MAY: If you're moving on to another topic, it may be
25 convenient to break.
Page 4222
1 Dr. Rugova, we're going to adjourn now for half an hour. Could
2 you remember, please, in this adjournment and any others there may be
3 while you're giving evidence, not to speak to anybody about it until it's
4 over, and that does include the Prosecution. Thank you.
5 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Yes. Yes, certainly. I will abide
6 by your Rules.
7 --- Recess taken at 11.00 a.m.
8 --- On resuming at 11.30 a.m.
9 JUDGE MAY: Yes, Mr. Nice.
10 MR. NICE:
11 Q. Paragraph 55. Dr. Rugova, were you in your house when the bombing
12 began, with your wife and three children, later to be joined by your
13 sister-in-law with her husband and their three children?
14 A. Yes. I was at home with my family and with my brother-in-law. I
15 was at home with my family. And meanwhile, my brother-in-law had come
16 there with their children.
17 Q. Thank you. Before the bombing began had the telephone lines
18 ceased to work, and if so, why?
19 A. Yes. All telephone lines were cut in Prishtina, no doubt in
20 Kosova as a whole, no doubt to ensure that nobody could communicate with
21 anybody else. And on the 22nd and 23rd, the city was under blockade and
22 all movement was very difficult.
23 Q. Your own political party's office and, I think, the United States'
24 office in Pristina were both subject to the same fate. Namely, what
25 happened to them?
Page 4223
1 A. On the first night of the bombing, my office was burned. That's
2 the office of the LDK, which also housed other institutions. And then the
3 US office in Prishtina was also burned.
4 Q. Was it burned as a result of the bombing or of some other reason?
5 A. No. No, no. They were burnt by Serbian forces, by different
6 Serbian groups, the army. I don't know who, but they were burnt by groups
7 from the army or the paramilitaries or the police, no doubt in revenge.
8 This was what it was about. And then my office was burnt again because
9 they thought that it wasn't properly burnt.
10 Q. Did you learn of the death, at some stage around this time, of the
11 lawyer Bajram Kelmendi?
12 A. Yes. I learnt about two or three days later, because it was very
13 difficult to communicate. And after two or three days later, I heard the
14 news of his murder with his two sons. He was taken on the first night of
15 the bombing.
16 Q. Did you become aware, difficult though it may have been to
17 communicate or see things, but did you become aware of Serb forces being
18 reinforced by others from outside Kosovo?
19 A. Yes. You could see these. They were present. And the
20 reinforcement of the Serbian forces started during our time-out period,
21 the three-week period. You could see them on the streets. You could see
22 them from my house.
23 Q. Were these uniformed people or were they simply un-uniformed
24 volunteers?
25 A. Some of them were uniformed. There was the military police.
Page 4224
1 There were soldiers. There were police uniforms. But there were also
2 volunteers without uniforms. I heard later that volunteers came from
3 Serbia and stayed for a few days and did what they had to do and went
4 back.
5 Q. And what was it that was being done in this period of time by Serb
6 forces with or without volunteers?
7 A. They were no doubt either working together or in a coordinated
8 manner. They were expelling people and mistreating them, and they also
9 killed people. They -- unfortunately, there were also local Serbs from
10 Kosova, because up until then, the local Serbs had not been involved, but
11 from this point they started to take a part in expelling people from their
12 houses and the like.
13 Q. Your house was in the Velania area of Pristina?
14 A. That's right. That's what it's called. It's in the eastern part
15 of the city.
16 Q. Was there a police presence there? What did you observe?
17 A. There were police throughout Prishtina, but they also moved around
18 in my neighbourhood.
19 Q. Were your neighbours allowed to stay in their homes or were they
20 forced out, and if so, where did they go?
21 A. Two or three days, they stayed in their houses. Nobody went out.
22 But after this time, they were threatened and they were told they had to
23 go out and leave the town. And some neighbourhoods such as Dragodan in
24 the West of Prishtina, they were threatened and they had to leave early.
25 Professor Agani lived there. And then they started in our neighbourhood
Page 4225
1 too, and people began to leave.
2 Q. Where did they go to eventually and how did they travel, these
3 people who were forced out?
4 A. They mainly went to Macedonia by the Hani i Elezit or Gllobocica
5 border crossing points, and also trains were used on the Prishtina-Skopje
6 line. And the military police ordered people to go to the station and
7 board the train and go abroad. And these trains started running crammed
8 with people.
9 Q. Paragraph 59. On the 31st of March, did four armed -- or three or
10 four armed soldiers break into your house and hold you and your family at
11 gunpoint for a time?
12 A. Yes. On that day, three neighbourhoods of the city, including my
13 own, were cleansed, and all the people were expelled from my
14 neighbourhood. And finally, some soldiers, three or four or more - it was
15 a whole group - came to my house, and they entered my house. They didn't
16 wait for me to open the door, but they entered by force.
17 Q. And in your house at that time, there was your family, your
18 sister-in-law with her family, I think, a baby, a journalist from Der
19 Spiegel, and your chief of security, Adnan Merovci; is that right? There
20 may be some others.
21 A. Yes, those people were there.
22 Q. What happened after they had broken into your house, these armed
23 soldiers?
24 A. They were military policemen and soldiers, and they told us to go
25 downstairs. I have an entrance hall. All the people who were in the
Page 4226
1 house, including myself, they held us there for four hours. They were
2 calm and they were careful, but we were scared of what would happen. And
3 they kept us until 4.00.
4 Q. The commander, how was he dressed?
5 A. He was in military clothing and he had a cap. He had a red cap.
6 Q. Could you identify the unit to which the clothing he had related?
7 A. I don't know what unit it was. Later I heard it was some kind of
8 legion. But that's what they looked like. Of course, they also had
9 helmets and weapons, semi-heavy weapons.
10 Q. While the men were there keeping you under guard, did you make
11 requests to leave and to go somewhere?
12 A. When they told us, after four hours, that we could go up to the
13 first floor and use the living room - they told us that this was the only
14 place where we had the right to go - I said, "Let me go to Skopje. I go
15 abroad to Macedonia." And they were throughout the house, but they said
16 they had no authority to let me go to Macedonia.
17 Q. At about 6.00 in the evening, did some journalists, mostly Serbs
18 but also some Greek and Turkish journalists, arrive at your house together
19 with the director of the Serbian press centre in Pristina?
20 A. Yes. Around 6.00 they came and told me that I had to hold a press
21 conference. And I said no, but they insisted. And the state security
22 officer - I think his name was Joksic - was there. And so I held this
23 press conference. There were journalists, mainly Serbs, but there were
24 also some from Turkey and Greece, because the other international
25 journalists had been expelled from Kosova a few days before.
Page 4227
1 Q. Can you remember in detail, or at all, what you said in the course
2 of this press conference?
3 A. Of course, they asked me to say -- well, I said that the Serbian
4 security was in my house. In fact, there was also the military police and
5 others. And of course, there was talk in those days that I had gone into
6 hiding or that I had been killed, but I said, "Here I am." And I said
7 that the situation is serious, and so forth. It was very short. It
8 didn't last long, but it was important that they wished me to appear. And
9 of course, they were there with their military hardware and so forth.
10 Q. A couple of hours later, did other people arrive, this time
11 telling you that you had to go somewhere else?
12 A. A few hours later the Serbian state security chief that I
13 mentioned came, and I think -- and they told me that I had to go to
14 Belgrade on the following day. Of course, at first I said yes, but they
15 insisted, and I went [as interpreted]. And I went. I said I would go the
16 next day.
17 Q. Who was it, do you think, who gave that instruction, precisely?
18 The Serbian state security chief, is that the man Joksic?
19 A. Yes, it was Mr. Joksic. He was the head of the security in
20 Prishtina, I think. Mr. Joksic said that I had been asked to go to
21 Belgrade.
22 Q. The next day, although you didn't want to go, and I think no
23 reason had been given to you why you should go, did you in fact go to
24 Belgrade?
25 A. It was not something I wanted. It was not something that I wanted
Page 4228
1 at all, but the accused had requested it and that was what was conveyed to
2 me. And if I hadn't gone, there would have been consequences and there
3 would have been other steps. So therefore, I agreed to go on the
4 following day.
5 Q. Did you travel in a police vehicle, with military personnel and a
6 driver and the man Joksic present, with some other official cars as well,
7 and did you leave at about 7.00, arriving at the accused's palace, Beli
8 Dvor, about noon, and did you then meet the accused?
9 A. Yes, that's what happened. We set off at 7.00 in the morning.
10 Q. If I've got it right, just say "yes" and we'll move on to the next
11 question.
12 A. Yes.
13 Q. When you met the accused, how long did you spend with him? What
14 passed between you?
15 A. It seems that -- to me that it was about 12.00, and we spent 40
16 minutes to an hour together. And of course I told him about what was
17 happening in Kosova and some people I was concerned about such as
18 Professor Agani, and the accused listened to me and suggested that we
19 should issue a statement for the press. I was not very interested in
20 this, but he insisted. And this was a statement for the press which,
21 according to him, had to be signed. I didn't see any reason to sign, but
22 nevertheless, I said we can do this. And then the television was there
23 and made some films.
24 Q. Now, pausing there a minute, a little bit more about what passed
25 between you and the accused. Before we come to that, was Merovci there as
Page 4229
1 well?
2 A. No. At the beginning it was only myself and the accused. Then
3 Merovci came later, joined us later, as well as the chief of cabinet of
4 the accused, I think, or secretary.
5 Q. Can you remember his name?
6 A. No. That I can't remember.
7 Q. First of all, what was the accused's attitude insofar as he
8 expressed it as to what was happening with the NATO bombing and so on?
9 A. He was upset, of course, about the bombing, which was what
10 happened in his view. I said to -- I told him about what happened in
11 Kosova. He accused the international community for that.
12 Q. Well, now, you told him what was happening in Kosovo. In
13 particular, what did you tell him? You've told us about Agani. Did you
14 mention any other people by name? What did you tell him in general about
15 what was happening in Kosovo?
16 A. I mentioned some names like Agani, my associate; Mustafa Gashi,
17 about whom we didn't know what was happening. And I informed him of what
18 was happening in Kosova, that people are leaving the place and so on. I
19 gave him a general picture.
20 Q. You've told us of what was being done by way of crimes committed
21 against the people. Did you make any mention of that to him?
22 A. I made some mention, but he certainly knew. In fact, I didn't go
23 into details, but I mentioned them, what was happening those days.
24 Q. And in particular, because we need to know what it was you told
25 him, what did you tell him of what was being done in Kosovo by Serb forces
Page 4230
1 or those working with them?
2 A. I expressed my concern over my associates first, and told him that
3 people are being driven out of Kosova by military and police forces and
4 other groups. I asked him to find out what was the matter, to do
5 something, and he was listening to me.
6 Q. Yes. You told us, I think, that people were also dying and being
7 killed, is that right, at this time?
8 A. Yes, there were some who were killed. Some left, some injured.
9 Q. Did you explain this to the accused?
10 A. I mentioned them. I didn't go into details.
11 Q. Now, the lawyer Kelmendi, were you aware of anything about him at
12 the time of this meeting with the accused?
13 A. Yes. I knew that he was kidnapped and he was executed. I found
14 that out later. Yes, I knew.
15 Q. Was his name mentioned at all in this meeting?
16 A. It seems to me yes, yes.
17 Q. Insofar as you named people, Agani or your other colleagues or
18 possibly Kelmendi, did the accused give any particular response, saying
19 whether he knew what had happened to them or whether anything had happened
20 to them or whether nothing had happened to them?
21 A. He did -- he didn't say that he knew about that. I don't know. I
22 believe he knew. He just told me that, "I will see about it." I believe
23 he was already informed.
24 Q. Now, let's come to the agreement that he wanted you to sign. Were
25 you willing to sign --
Page 4231
1 JUDGE KWON: Mr. Nice.
2 Dr. Rugova, it's about the general picture you say you gave the
3 accused at the time. You said earlier that you didn't get any information
4 of what was happening then. How did you get that information apart from
5 some specific persons you personally know such as Agani or Kelmendi?
6 Where did you get that general information, and how did you put it to the
7 accused at that time?
8 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Yes. As I said, it was because of
9 lack of communication. There were no telephone lines and no links, but
10 still people came to me. They often came to me, even though with
11 difficulty, and they showed me what was happening. And the radio stations
12 broadcast news. I listened to the radio up to the 31st. Now and again
13 the television, too, was working. So I followed what was saying through
14 the radio-casts and the people, as I said, who came and met me. So this
15 is how I came to know about what was happening in the city.
16 JUDGE KWON: Thank you.
17 MR. NICE:
18 Q. The agreement that you signed, can we have a look at a report of
19 it in another exhibit? It comes from a newspaper.
20 MR. NICE: Your Honour, this is an example of an exhibit where I
21 would ask the Chamber not to detain the original. It's an open-source
22 information. It's a newspaper. We only need it, for these purposes, for
23 the one article that's on the front. The newspaper itself, which is
24 probably the only version we have in the office at the moment, is not
25 copied, and we need the other pages for continuing reference purpose. So
Page 4232
1 if we can just provide a copy, having provided the original for
2 inspection, that will assist the work of the office rather than lose that
3 source of material.
4 JUDGE MAY: Provided it's available at any time and provided it's
5 available while the witness is giving evidence.
6 MR. NICE: Certainly, yes.
7 THE REGISTRAR: Your Honours, that will be Prosecutor's Exhibit
8 number 129.
9 MR. NICE: If the usher could very kindly lay the photocopy of the
10 newspaper on the overhead projector first so that we can see the
11 photograph of the accused and the witness and the text of the agreement
12 with the signatures.
13 JUDGE MAY: What is the newspaper?
14 MR. NICE: "Politika." A little bit further up. That's perfect.
15 Q. The photograph there, is that a photograph taken on that occasion,
16 Dr. Rugova?
17 A. I don't know. It might have been taken that day, but there was
18 also another photo taken from the previous meeting of 15 May 1998. It may
19 be.
20 MR. NICE: Could we now put the English translation of the Serbian
21 text onto the projector and just read the translation. Thank you very
22 much.
23 Q. The agreement copied on the newspaper is to the following effect:
24 "President of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Slobodan Milosevic
25 has received Dr. Ibrahim Rugova in Belgrade. In discussions about
Page 4233
1 problems in Kosovo and Metohija, it has been fully agreed that they are
2 both committed to the political process and that the problems can be
3 successfully and permanently resolved only through political means."
4 Then there are the two signatures, yours and the accused's. Is
5 that correct? I know you haven't had a chance to review this document
6 before coming to give evidence because it's only just been retrieved, but
7 does that appear to be the agreement you told us about?
8 A. I can't say. This is an agreement. It is a press release. This
9 is how it was. I don't know how they have described it. But it is, in
10 fact, only a press statement from that meeting. It is more or less the
11 same text.
12 Q. After that meeting with the accused, did you return with your
13 colleague Merovci to Pristina that evening?
14 A. Yes. We returned in the evening, at about 6.00 or 7.00 in the
15 evening.
16 Q. Had you expected your meeting with the accused to be made public
17 or had you expected it to be kept private?
18 A. I was told that it was -- remained confidential, but the accused
19 insisted that it become public, and then it was publicised, as you saw the
20 statement from that meeting.
21 Q. And also, was it broadcast on television or anything of that sort?
22 A. Probably it was broadcast. I didn't have a chance to see it,
23 because my television set had broken down.
24 Q. Were you informed as to whether it was, and do you know whether
25 they used current or old footage?
Page 4234
1 A. I was informed then through the radio. I had a radio transistor
2 at home, and then I heard there that they had used another photo, but I
3 didn't see it myself on the television.
4 Q. Let's move on. On the 2nd of April, some, you describe them as
5 Serb functionaries, came to your house and said they would provide you
6 with food, but in fact you had your own supplies. Is that correct? Just
7 yes or no.
8 A. Yes, that's correct.
9 Q. And then I think at about this time you were able to fix the
10 satellite dish, so that you could watch CNN; you did have a small radio,
11 so you were able to keep in touch to a degree; and you found yourself
12 occasionally obliged by the local police to go below ground floor because
13 of the risk of NATO bombing. Correct?
14 A. Yes, that's correct.
15 Q. A little later, and I think you place it at about --
16 A. They kept telling us to go down, yes.
17 Q. A little later, and I think you place it at about the 15th of
18 April, the same security officer, Joksic, told you you had to go and meet
19 the then president of Serbia, Milan Milutinovic. You initially declined,
20 but in light of the attitude of Joksic, you eventually agreed, and you
21 went to Belgrade about a week later. Correct? And then again --
22 A. Yes.
23 Q. -- you went with your associate and colleague Merovci, under
24 police escort, Joksic being present. You met Milutinovic in his office.
25 Some reporters arrived as well, including members of the international
Page 4235
1 press, and you were photographed?
2 A. Yes. First I said I didn't want to go, but they insisted, and
3 they became very aggressive when I first declined. Then I said, "Okay.
4 We may go tomorrow or some other day." But then we went. There was a
5 team from Serb television, some international media reporters who were
6 allowed then in Belgrade. Yes.
7 Q. What did you tell Milutinovic about what was happening in Kosovo?
8 A. I told him about what was happening, that Kosova was being emptied
9 of people, that there is oppression, violence committed against people.
10 And he said, "This is the outcome of the international community," the
11 same slogan being used by Serb community all the time, that this is being
12 done by the international community. The fact is that they were actually
13 being driven out by Serb police and military forces, paramilitaries, and
14 other voluntary forces that I mentioned earlier.
15 Q. Was this meeting also attended by Nikola Sainovic, the Deputy
16 Prime Minister of Yugoslavia?
17 A. Yes. Yes, he was there present too.
18 Q. We haven't yet heard about this man, although he was a man that
19 you had seen before this particular meeting, I think, in your own house.
20 A. Yes. He came once or twice, I think, to my own house.
21 Q. Tell us: What was Sainovic's position, as you could understand
22 it, in Kosovo at this time?
23 A. He was in the post you mentioned. He was also, I think,
24 responsible for Kosova. He came often and stayed in Kosova. Before the
25 war and during the bombing he was present in Kosova. I can't tell you
Page 4236
1 what exact office he held, but I know that he was responsible for Kosova.
2 Q. Were you aware of anybody in Kosovo having more authority than
3 Sainovic?
4 A. I think he had more authority, along with other Serbs, but he was
5 there and he was the most responsible person, I think.
6 Q. And when he had visited you in your house before your visit to
7 Milutinovic, what had those visits been about? What had he said?
8 A. He used to talk about general things. We didn't discuss any
9 concrete matters, because it was not an easy thing to talk with him. It
10 was a vain conversation, I would say, just to pass the time. It was not a
11 substantial debate or something like that. He used to come in late
12 evening.
13 Q. In any event, Sainovic was present at the meeting with
14 Milutinovic, and as you've already explained, there was a desire that you
15 should make some agreement; is that correct?
16 A. Yes, he was present, but we were discussing issuing a press
17 statement. I think we did give a press statement without signing it. I
18 said that Belgrade has to accept the terms put forward by the
19 international community and NATO. But it was, as I said, a press release,
20 without any signatures.
21 Q. Later did Milutinovic come down to Pristina?
22 A. Yes, he did. It was the end of April.
23 Q. And on this occasion was a document signed?
24 A. Yes. It was a document, and we did that at his request, that is,
25 at the request of Belgrade. We signed that document. I did that also
Page 4237
1 outside my own free will, but I had no choice. I had to do it.
2 MR. NICE: Can we produce this exhibit, please?
3 THE REGISTRAR: Your Honours, this will be marked Prosecutor's
4 Exhibit number 130.
5 MR. NICE: May the copy of the Serbian be placed on the overhead
6 projector first. When that's been viewed -- Serbian first, please. You
7 can see what it is. Then pass it down so that we -- thank you very much.
8 Now can we see the English text, please.
9 It's sufficiently short, I think, to justify it being read. It
10 sets out that:
11 "The President of the Republic of Serbia, Milan Milutinovic, and
12 Dr. Ibrahim Rugova have agreed on the following Joint Statement.
13 "1. It is necessary to immediately renew and intensify the
14 discussions begun between the government of the Republic of Serbia and the
15 political leaders of Albanian political parties in Kosovo and Metohija on
16 the political agreement which grants Kosmet extensive self-government,
17 along with the full respect for equality of all citizens in national
18 communities, the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Serbia and
19 Yugoslavia. It was noted that such an approach constitutes a basis for a
20 lasting and just solution to the Kosmet problem."
21 Explain the use of the word "Kosmet," please, can you,
22 Dr. Rugova?
23 A. Yes, I can explain. It was a substitute, if you like, or coinage
24 formed especially after the Second World War for "Kosova," because the
25 name "Kosova" was always used in our history. But after the Second World
Page 4238
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12 Blank pages inserted to ensure pagination corresponds between the French
13 and English transcripts. Pages 4238 to 4250.
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
Page 4251
1 War, this "Kosmet" came into being. It's -- Kosova is composed of two
2 plateaus, Kosova plain where Prishtina is, and Metohija, as the Serbs call
3 it, the western part, whereas we refer to it as Dukagjin plateau. They
4 have deliberately coined this word to lose the name of Kosova that has
5 been used by Albanians. That is how it came into being, politically
6 motivated of course.
7 Q. The statement goes on:
8 "Both sides concluded that the talks should be direct, along with
9 the equal participation of all the national communities which reside in
10 Kosovo and Metohija, which is a precondition for achieving acceptable
11 solutions for all who live in Kosovo and Metohija. Direct talks should be
12 a reaffirmation of the strengthening of mutual trust as an essential
13 condition for finding a way out of the current situation.
14 "On the basis of the agreement of both sides, representatives of
15 the international community may attend the talks as guests.
16 "Agreement was reached on the need to establish soon, under
17 changed conditions, the Provisional Executive Council of Kosovo and
18 Metohija which would perform the function of a provisional government
19 until the constitution of the organ on the basis of the Basic Document on
20 Self-Government in Kosovo and Metohija. The composition of the
21 Provisional Executive Council and its internal organisation, and
22 especially the distribution of new portfolios among the administration
23 organs, must take into account the current problems of Kosovo and
24 Metohija."
25 Well, now, you say you weren't really agreeable to signing that
Page 4252
1 statement. Had you taken any part in any particular parts of the drafting
2 or anything like that?
3 A. No, I wasn't involved. It was given to me. I had the occasional
4 suggestion, but it was no use. So this was nothing to do with my own
5 will. You've mentioned the name Kosmet, and they wanted to change the
6 name. So they put in this old name of Kosova. I believe in the Middle
7 Ages it was called Dadanija. But to return to the text, I had no
8 influence on it at all.
9 Q. Also at the meeting, was there a man present, Zoran Andjelkovic,
10 and if so, what was his role in Kosovo at the time?
11 A. He was present, yes. I think he was chairman of the Executive
12 Council of the Serbian government in Kosova. He was a kind of governor or
13 something like that, but he -- there was a Serbian government that
14 operated at that time in Kosova, and he was present.
15 Q. We see that the fourth paragraph of the signed joint statement
16 speaks of the establishment of a provisional Executive Council and indeed
17 of allocation of portfolios, as it were. Did that ever come about as
18 something which you were seriously expecting to be involved? Tell us
19 about it.
20 A. These points were included and it was signed but without any talks
21 at all. Yes. That was the entire declaration. Excuse me.
22 Q. Throughout that -- that meeting with Milutinovic, what was your
23 expressed view as to your own position? Did you say what you wanted to
24 do, where you wanted to be, whether you wanted to leave?
25 A. At this meeting and at other meetings, I asked them to allow me to
Page 4253
1 go abroad via Skopje or Macedonia, and I repeated this question on this
2 day too. I repeated it continually.
3 Q. Why were you prepared now to leave or why were you anxious now to
4 leave Kosovo?
5 A. Because at that time, Kosova was emptied. A lot of people had
6 gone, mainly to Macedonia and to Albania. The statistics say 700.000 to
7 800.000. Prishtina was empty. My colleagues were gone. I wanted to go
8 abroad and continue my work and do something for Kosova from abroad, and
9 also to be with my family.
10 Q. Apart from being the person who was taken to meetings and
11 requested or required to sign document, were you able to do anything
12 politically in Kosovo at this time or not?
13 A. No. This was impossible. It was impossible to do anything in
14 Kosova. And this statement was more on paper than anything practical,
15 because the government, the institutions, were not working. The situation
16 was -- there were no people.
17 Q. Apart from that, were you free yourself to move about or were you
18 under some kind of constraint?
19 A. No, please. I was -- I was in house arrest. It wasn't said to
20 me, but I was unable to move without permission. And it was only when
21 these people took me and sent me where they wished. In de facto, I was
22 under house arrest. I was a prisoner of war. I don't know about these
23 legal definitions, but I was under a kind of house arrest.
24 Q. I think at about the same time as the preparation of this signed
25 document, your colleague Merovci had gone to or managed to go to Macedonia
Page 4254
1 where he met with some diplomats. I think you understand that -- you may
2 hear more of this from elsewhere, but he was trying to put some pressure
3 on the authorities in Belgrade to effect your release. Did that help at
4 all?
5 A. Yes. He was in Skopje and met diplomats to put pressure on
6 Belgrade to allow me to go, and two or three days later, he returned to
7 Prishtina. This no doubt had some kind of effect, because there were
8 demands from abroad, from the EU and the United States and other countries
9 of the world. There were a lot of demands that I should be released.
10 Q. Were you obliged to go on a further visit to Belgrade, this time
11 to see the Russian Patriarch Aleksey?
12 A. Yes.
13 Q. Again was Joksic involved and did you travel in police vehicles
14 with police escorts?
15 A. Yes. It was in the same way.
16 Q. Did you tell the Patriarch of your desire to leave Kosovo?
17 A. Yes. I told him too about my wish to leave. He agreed, but he
18 had no power to make decisions. But I did express my wish.
19 Q. And then finally, Dr. Rugova, we can come to the meeting on the
20 4th of May, again in Belgrade, again taken there by police with an escort,
21 where you met the accused. What was the accused's proposal to you at this
22 time?
23 A. On the 4th of May, he said that I had to be there, and I asked to
24 go abroad. So I repeated my demands at the first meeting of 2nd of April
25 with the accused. And he said I could go, but that my family should stay
Page 4255
1 in Kosova, that I could go and come back. But I didn't agree to this.
2 Q. [Previous translation continues] ...explanation as to why your
3 family should be detained in Kosovo as a condition for your being allowed
4 elsewhere?
5 A. He no doubt wished to place a condition that my family should
6 remain in Kosova, and so I didn't agree. And then the accused changed his
7 mind and said that my family could come with me to Italy.
8 Q. And were arrangements made that your family came first to
9 Belgrade, for onward travel to Italy on the 5th of May?
10 A. Yes. They said that my family should come on the next day, and
11 they came. And on the 5th of May, in the afternoon, we flew to Italy.
12 Q. Had you learned at about this time of the death of your colleague,
13 Fehmi Agani?
14 A. Yes. It was on the 6th of May that I heard, in Rome, that he had
15 been executed by Serbian soldiers or paramilitaries, and that was
16 when -- then we heard that some kind of group of Djiletovic [phoen] or
17 something had executed him. And this was very bad news for me, and we
18 heard that on the following day.
19 Q. Just a couple more questions, Dr. Rugova --
20 JUDGE KWON: Dr. Rugova, at the meeting, apart from your departure
21 problem, what did you talk with the accused, at the last meeting?
22 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Besides these problems, we didn't
23 say anything important about Kosova. A few matters of history and things
24 like that. But there was nothing of substance.
25 JUDGE KWON: Thank you.
Page 4256
1 MR. NICE:
2 Q. Dr. Rugova, what would have been or might have been the effect on
3 your political standing of the documents that you had been asked to sign?
4 A. Of course, they thought that they could compromise me politically
5 and discredit me in the eyes of the Kosovar public, the Albanian public,
6 and they also wanted to foment conflicts on the Albanian political stage
7 among Albanians. This was no doubt the purpose of this exercise, the
8 purpose of what they were doing to me.
9 Q. If those were the purposes, were they effective? Did these things
10 happen? Were you discredited or not?
11 A. No, it didn't happen like that. This was shown in the local
12 elections held in 2000 in Kosova, and also the general elections held last
13 year, when my party won a majority of the votes. So it didn't have an
14 effect. Of course, it was a serious matter, but it didn't have an effect,
15 because the people decided by their votes.
16 Q. I think we can conclude in this way, Dr. Rugova: You continued
17 your political work in Italy and in other European countries. On the 5th
18 or the 6th of June you met Madeleine Albright, on the 10th of June you
19 signed the NATO agreement, and on the 28th of July you returned to
20 Kosovo. Correct?
21 A. Yes, that's quite correct. Thank you.
22 Q. Thank you. You will be asked some further questions.
23 A. Thank you.
24 JUDGE MAY: Mr. Milosevic.
25 THE INTERPRETER: Microphone, please.
Page 4257
1 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Now it's on.
2 As I was saying, before I start my cross-examination, I would like
3 you to give me a clarification, please. A short while ago, Mr. Nice
4 explained, when providing this document, that this is a public source of
5 information, and therefore there is no problem of making it accessible,
6 regardless of whether it's an exhibit or not. The agreement of
7 Rambouillet is also a public source of information, and I cannot know
8 whether this document that is given, on so many pages, is actually the
9 agreement from Rambouillet. See how many pages there are. The
10 Rambouillet agreement is in archives of Serbia, of Yugoslavia, and of the
11 Provisional Council of Kosovo and the Assembly of Serbia, et cetera,
12 et cetera, and --
13 JUDGE MAY: Let us get a copy in due course of the original, but
14 for the purposes of this examination, we can go along with what we've
15 got.
16 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Of course. I just wanted to put in
17 this objection so that some day somebody would not come up and say that
18 this is an authentic document.
19 Cross-examined by Mr. Milosevic:
20 Q. [Interpretation] Mr. Rugova, do you think that you personally and
21 the Kosovar Albanians were used as a means of implementing the interests
22 of the great powers? Yes or no.
23 A. No, we were not used. The great powers and the international
24 community came out in our defence, in the defence of human rights, the
25 rights of a people, like that of Kosova, and to save them from the
Page 4258
1 massacre that was being perpetrated by Belgrade and by you against them.
2 No people can be used by someone else. That is the truth.
3 Q. Well, history gives many examples to the contrary. But when you
4 say "the people of Kosovo," in all these statements of yours, including
5 your examination-in-chief today, you are referring to Albanians only,
6 aren't you?
7 A. No. No. I'm sorry. I did not refer only to Albanians. I
8 referred to all the citizens of Kosova. Even in the constitution of
9 Kacanik, that of 1990, that is also stipulated, that the others too who
10 live in Kosova, the other ethnic groups - the Serbs, the Bosnians, the
11 Turks, the Romas, and others - will have equal rights. This is mandatory
12 in the constitution, as well as in the other documents. The same can be
13 said of the elections of 1992, where Albanians mostly turned out, but the
14 Bosnians, others, maybe some Serbs, also took part in those elections. I
15 can't rule that out. There it was said -- and we even left 14 seats in
16 the Albanian parliament, which numbered 114, which means -- 140. So we
17 had also the seats for Serbs, for them to be integrated, to enjoy equal
18 rights, to be citizens of Kosova. And we are going to uphold their
19 rights. And we are saying the same today, three years after the war, when
20 Kosova is free. And they are taking part in all the institutions of
21 Kosova. They have taken part in the election. And this is progress, I
22 think.
23 Q. All right. We'll move on to that later. I'm going to prove that
24 it was the opposite. But since you said a while ago that NATO had come to
25 defend the Albanian people, and now you define the Albanian people as
Page 4259
1 Serbs, Turks, and all the rest who live in Kosovo, are you claiming that
2 NATO came to Kosovo to defend the Serbs and the Gorani and the Roma and
3 the Turks and everybody else? Is that your claim, that NATO came to
4 Kosovo to protect the Serbs as well? Just say yes or no. Let's not waste
5 any time, because we only have Monday left, and I have a great many things
6 to ask you.
7 JUDGE MAY: Let the witness answer.
8 A. NATO came to defend all, but the Albanians were, of course, being
9 the majority, most in danger. So NATO came to defend all. This is what
10 it is doing today, NATO and the other peace-keeping troops, and also we,
11 with our new institutions of Kosova.
12 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]
13 Q. So this defence that you are now carrying out, and all the other
14 peace-keeping troops, 360.000 Serbs and other non-Albanians were expelled
15 from Kosovo, several thousands were killed, several thousands were
16 abducted, precisely under this defence that you have been talking about.
17 Is that right or is that not right?
18 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] I kindly ask you, Your Honours, this
19 is not very much the focus of my testimony.
20 JUDGE MAY: Yes, I quite agree. Let's concentrate on events
21 before 1999. That is the time we're talking about.
22 Yes, Mr. Milosevic.
23 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Do you think that he should not
24 answer my question, the witness?
25 JUDGE MAY: Yes. Let's get on with events before 1999 and the
Page 4260
1 events of 1999. You can ask about that, of course.
2 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Mr. May, this witness is testifying
3 about the entirety of the political circumstances involved, and he has
4 provided assessments of the most complex issues that are relevant to the
5 region of Kosovo, and my cross-examination cannot be limited to a
6 particular period or particular questions that he can or cannot answer. I
7 think there's no point in you trying to defend him from such questions, or
8 rather, giving such answers. You can do whatever you want to do, as you
9 most certainly will, but I want to object.
10 Q. So you think --
11 [Trial Chamber confers]
12 JUDGE MAY: You will not be limited in asking questions about the
13 evidence which he gave, and it's right he did cover a lot of ground. You
14 can ask about that. What you can't do is to take the evidence way beyond
15 anything which is relevant, and on that you'll be stopped.
16 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] At any rate, in his statement he
17 mentioned the role of NATO and the role of what he calls the international
18 community. So in relation to the role of NATO and the role of what he
19 calls the international community, I can ask him without any
20 restrictions.
21 JUDGE MAY: Yes, but don't harp on events now. What we're
22 concerned about is events before and during 1999.
23 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Please. Did the witness say that
24 NATO was there to protect all citizens? That is precisely what I'm
25 questioning, that position of his, because under this alleged protection,
Page 4261
1 the most horrible crimes have been committed against Serbs and other
2 non-Albanian people. The thousands of persons were killed --
3 JUDGE MAY: What is the relevance to this indictment? It's no
4 good shouting. What is the relevance to this indictment?
5 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] The relevance is that this is an act
6 of aggression against a sovereign country, an act of terrorism, internal
7 terrorism which was supported by this aggression. This is an act of
8 support to illegal decisions.
9 Judge Robinson asked the witness about the relations involved
10 within the framework of the constitution of Yugoslavia under which this
11 illegal Republic of Kosovo was establish. He is going to get answers to
12 that question. The witness will have an opportunity to answer all of
13 this.
14 So all of these questions were indeed raised during his
15 statement. They were raised. They were mentioned. And I'm sure --
16 JUDGE MAY: Yes. What was mentioned, of course, is relevant, and
17 you can ask questions about it. But don't ask questions about what is
18 happening now. That's irrelevant. Now, do let's get on with this.
19 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Please let us make things quite
20 clear. What is happening now shows the true intentions related to the
21 events that were taking place then. That is the core of the matter.
22 Because in politics, things are measured by their consequences. The
23 consequence of the policy of aggression against Yugoslavia is what is
24 happening now, not what was happening then, especially not what was being
25 stated then.
Page 4262
1 JUDGE MAY: We will consider your argument. Meanwhile, you're
2 confined to what happened before and during 1999. We'll consider the rest
3 of the argument.
4 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]
5 Q. Do you believe that Serbs are going to give up on Kosovo and
6 Metohija altogether, Mr. Rugova?
7 A. I believe they will, and they should give up and Kosova.
8 And I apologise to this distinguished Chamber, because we are
9 going rather into dry political debates and phrases.
10 Kosova belongs to the Kosovars. That is the Albanian majority,
11 the Serbs of Kosova, the Bosnians of Kosova, the Turks and others who live
12 there, because Kosova used to be an entity, a former member of the
13 Federation. So I don't know what Serbs are you talking about about giving
14 up Kosova. But if you mean Belgrade, it should give it up because Kosova
15 belongs to the Kosovars. And the sooner you do that, the better we'll
16 be.
17 JUDGE MAY: Yes. This again is going a long way from the
18 indictment.
19 Mr. Wladimiroff, perhaps you can give us some assistance on this
20 matter. Now, if you would consider during the adjournment the argument
21 raised by the accused as to how wide his cross-examination should be
22 allowed to go, we'll hear you after the adjournment. And if the
23 Prosecution want to add anything, we'll hear it. Clearly it's a matter of
24 principle as to how extensive the relevance should be and what is relevant
25 to this indictment.
Page 4263
1 Meanwhile, Mr. Milosevic, you're confined to events before and
2 during 1999.
3 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Since I have received this answer
4 now, I cannot be limited in putting my questions in terms of the answers.
5 JUDGE MAY: It is you who introduced these potentially irrelevant
6 topics. Now, would you go on to what matters which are relevant if you
7 want to continue with this examination.
8 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Well, I certainly intend to show
9 through this examination that things are actually quite the opposite,
10 Mr. May. Now I'm going to move on to those years.
11 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]
12 Q. Well, is it correct -- is it correct that the so-called KLA, in
13 1998, was primarily a group of unrelated groups without a unified
14 command?
15 A. The KLA, as I said, came into existence as a response to the
16 violence exercised in Kosova over long year period. Initially they
17 started up as individual groups, but then they got together, were unified,
18 had their command, joint command, during 1998, especially by the end of
19 1998 and early 1999.
20 Q. Oh. So before that, you -- do you think that what I said, rather,
21 is correct or not?
22 A. I already stated that. What I'm saying is what the truth is.
23 JUDGE MAY: The question was -- the question was: Was the KLA
24 primarily a group of unrelated groups without a unified command? Can you
25 assist us on that, Dr. Rugova, or not?
Page 4264
1 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Initially they were unrelated
2 groups, that is, groups that wanted to protect the people and to provide
3 security. And it was very difficult for them to have a unified command
4 right at the beginning. But as the time passed, they united and had a
5 joint command. This is what I know about that. They were more organised
6 afterwards.
7 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]
8 Q. All right. Is it correct -- is it correct that these were
9 criminals who were financed, trained, and supported by foreign services,
10 primarily the German Secret Service?
11 A. No. No, that's not correct.
12 Q. Was the KLA a terrorist organisation?
13 A. No, it was not a terrorist organisation. It was an organisation
14 composed of people who responded to violence and repression exercised over
15 a long time with the purpose of winning freedom for the people. That was
16 their objective.
17 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Mr. May, since you keep telling me
18 not to make speeches, please try to make sure that the witness doesn't
19 make speeches either, that he answers my questions, rather.
20 JUDGE MAY: He hasn't been. He hasn't been making speeches. If
21 you keep the questions short, no doubt we can get short answers too.
22 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] He could have given just a yes or no
23 answer to this question. So he is saying no, it was not a terrorist
24 organisation. This speech about them being liberators and whatever was
25 completely unnecessary.
Page 4265
1 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]
2 Q. Now I'm going to read a quotation to you and now you're going to
3 tell me whether it's correct or not.
4 [In English] "The KLA was an odd assortment of grouplets,
5 including gangsters, mercenaries, brothel-owners, fascists, and even some
6 who claim to be followers of Albanians' former Marxist leader, Enver
7 Hoxha."
8 JUDGE MAY: What's the source of the quotation?
9 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] The source is the Wall Street
10 Journal, 1998, entitled: [In English] "Soldiers of Misfortune."
11 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]
12 Q. Is this definition correct?
13 A. No.
14 JUDGE ROBINSON: Mr. Milosevic, who is the author of the article?
15 JUDGE MAY: What year?
16 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] The name is here. The 28th of April
17 is the date, and now I'm going to tell you -- now I'm going to tell you
18 the year as well. The 28th of April, 1999, Gary Wilson.
19 JUDGE ROBINSON: And in future, you are reminded that you must
20 provide the source for all material that you seek to quote. It's only
21 fair to the witness, and, in fact, it's a requirement.
22 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] I do not understand that it is fair
23 to the witness to tell him in advance what I'm going to cross-examine him
24 about. The point of cross-examination is to show -- I'm not going to
25 define what I meant. You know what I mean.
Page 4266
1 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]
2 Q. So did you not answer my question. Is this statement correct or
3 not? Just say yes or no.
4 A. No. That's newspaper stuff.
5 Q. All right. Now I'm going to quote something that is not from the
6 newspapers, but it was in the newspapers too, of course, because you told
7 me that the KLA was not a terrorist organisation. [In English] "We condemn
8 very strongly terrorist actions in Kosovo. The UCK, KLA, is without any
9 question a terrorist group."
10 [Interpretation] Is that definition correct or not?
11 JUDGE ROBINSON: Where is that from?
12 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] This was all over the press. This
13 is the statement of Robert Gelbard, the American envoy to the Balkans at
14 that time in 1998. I could have used any of the media, but I am
15 particularly using the AFP, Agence France-Presse, which quoted part of
16 this. And after all, this was quoted by all newspapers. I can have it
17 sent to you if you wish.
18 JUDGE ROBINSON: You must identify the source.
19 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] I asked whether this statement is
20 correct, and that is the statement made by Robert Gelbard, the US envoy to
21 the Balkans at that time. In all fairness, I quoted it, and I gave the
22 source in my introductory statement after this false indictment that was
23 served upon me here. So I hope you will be able to find it in the
24 transcript as well.
25 JUDGE MAY: Let the witness answer.
Page 4267
1 Dr. Rugova, do you remember what it was you were asked, what
2 Mr. Gelbard was reported as saying?
3 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] I don't think like this. Perhaps he
4 made a statement of this kind, perhaps not.
5 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]
6 Q. All right. Now I'm going to read just a small excerpt precisely
7 related to this particular question, because you have denied that the KLA
8 was a terrorist organisation.
9 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Mr. Robinson, you're interested in
10 this. I see that. The source is a book of Michael Parenta [phoen],
11 entitled "To Kill a Nation." It is in the Library of Congress catalogue
12 in Washington and also in the British library, and it came out in 2000 in
13 London and New York. These are the sources that I'm quoting:
14 [In English] "[Previous translation continues] ...from US Drug
15 Enforcement Administration stated: `Certain members of the ethnic
16 Albanian community ..." I must wait for translation. "... in the Serbian
17 region of Kosovo have turned to drug trafficking in order to finance their
18 separatist activities."
19 [Interpretation] This is a quotation, Frank Vivano [phoen], "KLA
20 Linked to Enormous Heroin Trade," San Francisco Chronicle, May 5, 1999.
21 And then Roger Boyce.
22 [In English] "[Previous translation continues] ...drug money
23 linked to the Kosovo rebels."
24 Times London, March 24, 1999. [Interpretation] Further on, [In
25 English] "[Previous translation continues] ... KLA finance war with heroin
Page 4268
1 sales."
2 Washington Times, May 3rd 1999 --
3 JUDGE MAY: Yes. Let the witness -- let the witness answer if
4 you're putting these matters to him.
5 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]
6 Q. Is that true or not?
7 A. It's not true. I have information that people helped the KLA, and
8 other people came out to protect it. And people fought against violence.
9 There can be different views about this issue, but they have always
10 accused Albanians of going in for this kind of traffic, and you can't say
11 this about the KLA in general. So I see these things more as -- these
12 things as gestures made by the accused in order not to go into the truth
13 that we are facing.
14 Q. Have you finished your answer to this question?
15 A. Excuse me. I have finished, and I have answered it, Your Honour.
16 Q. All right. Now I'm going to quote another passage from the same
17 source. What I wish to present here is precisely an attempt to have the
18 public reach the truth, and you know the truth as well as I do.
19 JUDGE MAY: No need to make a speech. Now, what's the question?
20 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]
21 Q. All right. I'm going to read yet another quotation:
22 [In English] "[Previous translation continues] ... in Kosovo
23 resembles CIA covert operation in Indo-China, Central America, Haiti, and
24 Afghanistan, where rightists, assassins, and mercenaries were financed in
25 part by drug trade. Within a year, KLA rebels were magically transmuted
Page 4269
1 by western officials from terrorists and drug dealers into freedom
2 fighters who supposedly represented the broad interests of all Kosovar
3 Albanians. In 1999, the KLA experienced what the New York Times called a
4 rapid and startling growth, which included considerable numbers of
5 mercenaries from Germany and the United States who sometimes assumed
6 leadership positions."
7 JUDGE MAY: Yes. That's now enough, if the witness is to answer
8 properly these allegations.
9 You've dealt with the allegations in relation to the drug trade.
10 It's said that in 1999 the KLA experienced a rapid growth, including
11 considerable numbers of mercenaries from Germany and the United States.
12 Can you assist, Dr. Rugova, with that allegation?
13 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Excuse me, Your Honour. In fact, I
14 have no comments on these things. He may read these things all day.
15 These are speculations of various kinds. The fact is that the majority of
16 people in the KLA were people who had come out to defend themselves and
17 their homes. And I can tell you an episode in the attack on Prekaz, in
18 Drenica. This was the first. And then there were many other attacks.
19 JUDGE MAY: Let him finish. You make these allegations,
20 Mr. Milosevic. He must have the opportunity of answering.
21 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Excuse me.
22 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] He should answer rather than tell us
23 about episodes.
24 JUDGE MAY: He is entitled to give us an example, which he's about
25 to do.
Page 4270
1 Yes. You were going to tell us about Drenica and Prekaz.
2 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] In this context, they were not
3 mercenaries or people of the kind the accused imagines; they were people
4 who had come out to defend themselves. I'm talking -- they were ordinary
5 villagers, 200 people, 300 people, who would come out to defend themselves
6 with old guns, which were really useless against such huge attacks.
7 People tried to defend themselves. So I'm not in agreement with what the
8 accused said, and that is my comment. Thank you, Your Honour.
9 JUDGE MAY: Mr. Milosevic, no doubt you could call the author to
10 give evidence about these various allegations which are made.
11 Meanwhile, we're going to adjourn. Half past 2.00. And we'll
12 hear the argument about relevance when we return.
13 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Before you go, if the witness does
14 not like what I have been quoting from these books and these sources, you
15 and he can certainly consider that to be my own position.
16 JUDGE MAY: That's totally irrelevant. Now, we will return again
17 at half past 2.00.
18 --- Luncheon recess taken at 1.00 p.m.
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
Page 4271
1 --- On resuming at 2.30 p.m.
2 JUDGE MAY: Mr. Wladimiroff. I don't know if you're in a position
3 to assist us on this ground of relevance. The indictment date is 20th of
4 June, as I recollect, of 1999. Clearly that's not an absolute date, but
5 it's necessary to bring the case within reasonable bounds.
6 MR. WLADIMIROFF: Yes, Your Honour. Yes, Your Honour. During
7 this stage of the trial, cross-examination is the only weapon of the
8 accused to challenge allegations against him, but this courtroom is not a
9 political arena. On the other hand, we can't ignore this case is about
10 alleged criminal consequences of political differences. It is no doubt
11 that the witness is an important Prosecution witness in the Kosovo case,
12 an important witness for the accused as well.
13 The accused has dealt with the -- the witness has dealt with the
14 political differences between him and the accused which relate to criminal
15 behaviour as alleged in the indictment. However, we should remind
16 ourselves that the Kosovo case is, as I said, the alleged criminal
17 consequence of political differences. Hence, nevertheless,
18 cross-examination should be controlled to avoid excessive inquiry into the
19 arena of politics.
20 We should also remind ourselves that it is not held against the
21 accused that Yugoslavia oppressed aspirations of Kosovars to become
22 independent being Kosovo as part of the Yugoslav Federation or not. It is
23 not charged in the indictment that Yugoslavia waged out conflict in
24 Kosovo. Relevant for the examination, the cross-examination, is that the
25 indictment alleges the accused's responsible for the way Yugoslavia dealt
Page 4272
1 allegedly by violations of humanitarian law with the political differences
2 and especially the actions of the KLA.
3 In chief, little or nothing was said by the witness about these
4 means and the role played by the accused in relation to that. The
5 evidence --
6 THE INTERPRETER: Could Mr. Wladimiroff please slow down for the
7 interpreters. Thank you.
8 MR. WLADIMIROFF: I apologise to the interpreters.
9 The evidence of the witness is focused on the political role of
10 the LDK, his personal life and involvement in the LDK. For this reason, I
11 believe the accused should be given some room to examine more general
12 issues deriving from the role of the witness and the LDK related issues
13 there too, even if they go beyond the date of June 1999.
14 Where the evidence of the witness is a mixture of historical and
15 political fact and aspirations, the accused should be allowed room to
16 address or to challenge these issues. This flexible approach would also
17 be right, as the accused is entitled to put his case through
18 cross-examination. There may be issues which the accused wishes to raise
19 to which we are not privy to. Clearly it is the case of the accused that
20 the witness, his party, and other Kosovar political groups and especially
21 the KLA was -- raised the issues that led to the indictment or at least
22 caused the issues that may have led to the indictment. May I recall the
23 observations of the amici about the tu quoque defence, at least as a
24 matter of mitigating circumstances.
25 In sum, it seems to me fair to allow the accused a more in-depth
Page 4273
1 cross-examination on matters that are indirectly related to the evidence
2 in chief, provided that certain questions are within the ambit of the
3 allegations within the indictment or the limited consequences of it beyond
4 the date of June 1999.
5 Thank you.
6 JUDGE MAY: Thank you, Mr. Wladimiroff.
7 Yes, Mr. Nice.
8 MR. NICE: The scope of cross-examination is really determined by
9 the general provisions of Rule 89 and the particular provisions of Rule
10 90(H)(i), which says that:
11 "Cross-examination shall be limited to the subject-matter of the
12 evidence in chief and matters affecting the credibility of the witness
13 and, where the witness is able to give evidence relevant to the case for
14 the cross-examining party, to the subject-matter of that case."
15 It would be our submission that evidence significantly outside the
16 period of the indictment may be relevant under 89, and specifically
17 admissible under 90(H), if it explains or aids in the interpretation of
18 events that fall within the period of the indictment; if it goes to the
19 issue of the credibility of the instant witness, as Rule 90(H)
20 specifically allows; and, possibly further, if it's material that might be
21 of value in discrediting witnesses already called or reasonably to be
22 expected to come. I add that last possibility as one that, although I
23 can't give an example, I can imagine hypothetically might arise where
24 there will be competing views of political events spoken of by witnesses
25 before the Court. But those, in our submission, are the only grounds upon
Page 4274
1 which it would be proper to allow any extensive cross-examination that is
2 significantly outside the period of the indictment.
3 JUDGE MAY: It's post the indictment period with which we're
4 concerned at the moment.
5 MR. NICE: Yes.
6 JUDGE MAY: And the question is: Is it relevant to any case which
7 the accused is trying to put forward?
8 MR. NICE: I haven't been able to discern one, and in these
9 exceptional rather than standard circumstances, it may be appropriate to
10 require the accused to identify the purpose, although, of course --
11 JUDGE MAY: I'm sorry. I think he's attempted to do that by
12 saying it was a consequence of political acts. As I understand it, he's
13 saying there was a conspiracy and this was the result of the conspiracy.
14 MR. NICE: Well, then that might be permissible, if it is modern
15 material, or post-indictment material, going to throw light on relevant
16 within-indictment events.
17 JUDGE MAY: But clearly limited in its scope.
18 MR. NICE: Absolutely. And we would respectfully invite the
19 Chamber to consider requiring explanation when any such cross-examination,
20 beyond the odd question, is not immediately obvious in its purpose.
21 JUDGE MAY: Thank you.
22 Mr. Milosevic, do you want to add anything?
23 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Every question that I pose here is
24 relevant in order to assess the overall case that we are discussing here
25 at trial. The Kosovo problem is over a hundred years old, and upon it
Page 4275
1 rests the witness, in waging his policy and in his conduct, both in
2 topical events and on historical issues to which he refers. So I do not
3 think that my cross-examination can be limited or restricted in any way
4 whatsoever.
5 JUDGE MAY: No, but you know the question that we need answered,
6 is this: What is the relevance of topical events to the indictment with
7 which you're charged? How is it relevant, what is happening now, do you
8 say, to the events with which this trial is concerned, which took place
9 before June of 1999? How is that relevant? That's the question.
10 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Precisely because we are now seeing
11 events taking place, that is to say, serious crimes against Serbs, on the
12 territory of Yugoslavia, and because those very grievous crimes which are
13 taking place today in Kosovo as well as in other areas, including
14 Bosnia-Herzegovina and especially the Republika Srpska, and so on and so
15 forth - I don't want to expand upon that subject here and now - but it is
16 the direct consequence of an anti-Serb policy that was waged throughout a
17 decade, in an effort to annul and change the consequences of both the
18 First and Second World Wars. And we're talking about --
19 JUDGE MAY: Let us not go into that for the moment. So what
20 you're saying is this: that the events which took place before the
21 indictment were the result of a policy - and the events of the indictment
22 period - were a policy, according to you, which started some time ago and
23 has continued throughout. So you're saying it's a consistent policy. Is
24 that your case? Perhaps you can say yes or no, as you so often invite the
25 witnesses.
Page 4276
1 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Yes. Yes, that is right.
2 JUDGE MAY: [Previous translation continues] ...
3 [Trial Chamber confers]
4 JUDGE MAY: Very well. We shall allow some limited questions on
5 events now, in order that the accused may develop his defence, but they
6 will be limited. And of course, Mr. Milosevic, as you know, there will be
7 a limit to the time as far as this cross-examination is concerned. The
8 time taken during legal argument will, of course, not count against it.
9 Dr. Rugova, I'm sorry you've been detained during the argument,
10 but we'll go on with the cross-examination.
11 Yes, Mr. Milosevic.
12 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Have I understood you correctly,
13 that you want to restrict my time for cross-examination? Is that right?
14 JUDGE MAY: It will be as it has been throughout the trial. You
15 know there are limits upon the time available. So perhaps you can get on
16 with some relevant matter.
17 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Would you please bear in mind then
18 when you're thinking about time - and you are the one doing the
19 assessments and evaluations - that for more than half a day we heard the
20 examination-in-chief taking place, plus the fact that we had a very brief
21 piece of material with 85 points, paragraphs, plus ten pages of a witness
22 statement. So all that would make up and constitute at least two days if
23 we were to add it all up. And from the practice of this institution of
24 yours so far, we can see that for far less important cases the examination
25 of certain witnesses went on for as long as three days. So I don't think
Page 4277
1 there's any sense in speaking about restricting cross-examination in terms
2 of time. But let me continue.
3 JUDGE MAY: In this trial there will be time limits in order to
4 avoid the wastage of time. Now, then, let's move on.
5 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] And you will indicate which of my
6 questions is wasting time. But let me carry on with a specific question,
7 one or two perhaps.
8 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]
9 Q. On the 12th of March, 1999, in the Czech Republic, you received a
10 humanitarian prize and award from the Czech government as the personality
11 of 1998, and the name of it was "Man in Jeopardy." I think that was on
12 the 12th of March 1999, and I'm sure you will recall the event of that
13 award. Yes or no?
14 A. It was not on 12th of March. It was in December 1998. I got that
15 prize from the association People's in Need. It is a Czech association in
16 Prague. At the end of December it was.
17 Q. All right. The date is not that important, but it is within a
18 framework. You have set a framework. Now, is it true that at the
19 reception that was given in your honour, some -- the king of these drug
20 bosses was arrested? His name was Dobroshi, and that he was detained and
21 arrested by the head of the Czech central station, Jexi Komerovz [phoen],
22 for drug trafficking? Is that correct or not?
23 A. No. And I'm not interested in them.
24 Q. And did you know that that same man, Dobroshi, for smuggling
25 dangerous drugs was arrested in 1993 in Scandinavia, in Norway, in fact,
Page 4278
1 where he was sentenced to 15 years in prison? He succeeded in escaping.
2 In Croatia he changed his appearance and once again entered into this
3 operation that was under the investigations of Interpol?
4 A. No. I don't know. I was never involved in such things. That was
5 not my interest.
6 Q. So you haven't even heard of the man, nor do you know anything
7 about the financing, his financing of the KLA, is that what you're
8 saying? Just say yes or no.
9 JUDGE MAY: The witness has said that it's not his interest, and
10 he knows nothing about it. Now, let's move on instead of these broad
11 allegations.
12 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Well, this isn't a broad
13 allegation. I hope goes to show the character of the terrorist
14 organisation.
15 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]
16 Q. I'm going to quote now the continuation of where I was interrupted
17 a moment ago by Mr. May.
18 JUDGE MAY: What are you quoting?
19 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] I'll tell you in just a moment. I'm
20 quoting a portion in which -- it is the "US Today," in fact writing, and
21 the date is October 1998, Michael Kosodovski [phoen], "Kosovo Freedom
22 Fighters Financed by Organised Crime." And there is also some indication
23 of some Associated Press images where members of the KLA are bearing arms
24 and German uniforms, and also some other points.
25 But I said a moment ago that if you don't like me quoting, then
Page 4279
1 you can consider the quotation to be a direct answer by me. So I think it
2 was -- what I am saying.
3 "The KLA was given training sites [In English] supplements of aid
4 and arms by Germany and the United States, Albania, and Islamic
5 fundamentalist organisations, enough to transform it from a ragtag
6 assortment into a well-financed force equipped with some of the most
7 advanced arms."
8 JUDGE MAY: Dr. Rugova, do you know anything about what is being
9 put to you?
10 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] No. I don't know anything.
11 JUDGE MAY: Just one moment. We'll confer.
12 [Trial Chamber confers]
13 JUDGE MAY: Mr. Milosevic, we've been considering whether to rule
14 these questions irrelevant. They're about the KLA. This witness has
15 nothing to do with the KLA, he says. You could put them to a witness who
16 knows something about the KLA. This witness doesn't. He represents a
17 political party, as you've heard. You can ask him about his evidence.
18 But we've wasted a great deal of time with these points being put and
19 these quotations made.
20 Now, in due course if you want to put evidence before us, we will
21 consider it on these matters, but this way of going on, of putting
22 quotations to a witness about which he knows nothing, is pointless, and
23 we're going to rule it irrelevant.
24 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] You don't have to call those
25 quotations. They're my questions.
Page 4280
1 And the second point is the witness himself, as far as I'm able to
2 recall in his statement, says that many members of his party joined the
3 KLA, which means that the witness, who was at the head of that party, did
4 have very much to do with the KLA. I assume that that is not something
5 that is challenged.
6 JUDGE MAY: You can move on now to another topic.
7 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]
8 Q. Well, I would like to ask him precisely the following: Is this
9 what I'm asking now as a question, forget about the fact that it was a
10 quotation --
11 JUDGE MAY: No. We're not going to allow this questioning. Now,
12 move on to another topic. No doubt there's something else you want to ask
13 the witness about, particularly what he said in evidence.
14 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Well, does that mean that you are
15 limiting my possibility of asking him about the terrorist character of the
16 KLA?
17 JUDGE MAY: Yes. You've been doing so for 20 minutes or more.
18 The witness has said he can't help. It's pointless going on. You can ask
19 other witnesses. You can ask -- you can call your own evidence about it,
20 but we're ruling it irrelevant now in this cross-examination.
21 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]
22 Q. And do you know - now, this is a question. It is addressed to
23 you, Mr. Rugova - that here it is mainly members of the KLA and persons
24 under the control of the KLA, I mean those coming from Kosovo, who come to
25 testify here?
Page 4281
1 JUDGE MAY: That has nothing to do with him at all. Now, ask
2 another question.
3 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]
4 Q. And are you conscious of the fact that what is happening now in
5 the long-term just opens the way to new conflicts and not to a solution?
6 So are you thinking about the long-term consequences of it all?
7 A. I don't know what the accused means by this, but we think that
8 this is a positive development. If you allow me to say a few words
9 without wanting to go beyond the limit.
10 There is progress made in Kosova which opens the perspective to
11 close the conflict and that new developments in Kosova, with the
12 participation of all ethnic groups and citizens and institutions in
13 Kosovar life, we think will close the path to conflicts. This is what I
14 think. Thank you.
15 Q. You know that Serbia was not afraid, even when long-term sanctions
16 were imposed or NATO aggression. So do you assume that it will be afraid
17 of this court, Tribunal, which is a means of war?
18 JUDGE MAY: No. Mr. Milosevic, if you seek to use your right to
19 cross-examination and abuse it by making political comments and speeches,
20 you will be stopped and your cross-examination will be brought to an end.
21 Now, if you want to cross-examine this witness, you must do so properly.
22 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] I think that every question is
23 proper, but let me continue.
24 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]
25 Q. For many years, you said that you always strove for a peaceful
Page 4282
1 road. Now, my question is as follows: Why did you give up that peaceful
2 road? Were you forced to do so by the powers? Or perhaps you didn't even
3 ever believe in it. Which of the two is correct, is true?
4 A. I have worked and believed for a peaceful solution over more than
5 over ten years, but there is the other option that if there are no
6 results, then anything can happen. Unexpected events may occur, as the
7 case was in this case when Belgrade and the accused were -- did not opt
8 for political solutions. They were given the chance, the opportunity to
9 do so, but they continued the perpetration of violence and suppression
10 with the aim, final aim, of emptying Kosova of its population. And this
11 continued in the last ten years. This was a calmly done cleansing of the
12 population. And then during the war, the conflicts, we all know what
13 happened in 1998 and 1999. That is what I wanted to say. Thank you.
14 Q. Yes, but in the course of today's examination-in-chief here, you
15 endeavoured, every time, each and every time, to explain how, in practical
16 terms, in none of the meetings, either with me or with Milutinovic, you
17 did not take part of your own free will in those meetings and that you did
18 not consider that some conclusions had to be made. But we'll come back to
19 that later on, the way in which you explained it all.
20 But my question now is as follows: What in those statements which
21 you say you were forced to make was said other than the fact that problems
22 must be solved through peaceful means? Therefore, why are you defending
23 yourself from having signed those statements when all they say is that
24 problems should be solved peacefully?
25 A. Excuse me. Those were not talks. I was a prisoner and I came
Page 4283
1 against my own will, as I -- that stands firm. When it was time to reach
2 an agreement at Rambouillet, your delegation, the Belgrade delegation -
3 i.e., yours - paid no attention to this agreement. This was another
4 phase, and this was a phase of the punishment of the side which did not
5 accept the agreement, and it was said clearly at the time that whoever
6 does not accept the agreement will suffer the consequences.
7 Q. As for Rambouillet, we're going to get to that later. I'm asking
8 you here and now: What motivates you at this point in time to seek
9 justification for yourself in terms of one statement where it says only
10 they agreed that problems at Kosovo would be resolved by peaceful means
11 and political means? Why are you seeking justification? Who are you
12 seeking justification before?
13 A. This is not a justification; this is the truth.
14 Q. We'll get to that later too. Tell me: Your first meetings with
15 German politicians, they go back to which period?
16 A. I had many meetings, not only with German politicians, but
17 politicians of other European countries - France, Britain - the United
18 States, and we talked about the situation in Kosovo and about improving
19 the situation. So I don't believe that this is a relevant question for
20 this case, to my evidence, if I may use legal terms.
21 Q. I'm not asking you about everybody else, and I'm not asking you
22 about how many contacts did you have. I'm asking you: When did your
23 contacts with German politicians start?
24 A. If it's relevant, I started in 1989, 1990, when all these
25 countries expressed their concern about Kosovo, and we talked about how
Page 4284
1 the situation could be resolved. I don't suffer from conspiracy theories.
2 Q. And at that time, that is to say, the early 1990s - and if so,
3 when - is that when you heard the ideas of certain German politicians
4 aimed at the abolition of the Yugoslavia created at Versailles?
5 A. Excuse me, Your Honour. We might continue. I've never heard any
6 such idea about destroying the peace of Versailles. We're talking about
7 the 1990s, long after the war, after the fall of the Berlin Wall, after
8 the Cold War and the start of democracy in the Communist East. It's a
9 completely different era. It's a time for human rights and freedoms which
10 were being violated. So I don't consider this at all a reasonable
11 question. I don't really want to go into polemics about issues of this
12 kind.
13 Q. So is it correct that it was precisely after the fall of the
14 Berlin Wall, after the reunification of Germany, these ideas resurfaced,
15 their spectre resurfaced? Is that true? Yes or no.
16 JUDGE MAY: The witness doesn't agree with the premise that there
17 were any such ideas about, so talking about resurfacing them is a
18 nonsense. Now, have you some further questions?
19 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Of course I have further questions.
20 And as to whether this was ever said or not, there are statements made by
21 German politicians at that time that the Versailles Yugoslavia should be
22 abolished. But this is not the opportunity for me to present them to you
23 and to spend time on that.
24 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]
25 Q. Now, in your opinion, Germany's support to your movement at the
Page 4285
1 end of the last century, is that due to the fact that major Albanian units
2 took part on the side of Hitler and Mussolini in the Second World War?
3 JUDGE MAY: Well, as translated, this question is to do with
4 support at the end of the last century and to do with the Second - I have
5 the question - and to do with the Second World War. It's going well
6 beyond, it seems to me, the scope of the --
7 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] It's not true.
8 JUDGE MAY: Very well. Thank you.
9 Yes.
10 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]
11 Q. And is it true that the Albanian fascist militia in Western Kosovo
12 during the Second World War expelled over 100.000 Serbs and brought in
13 more or less the same number of people from Albania? Is that fact
14 correct?
15 JUDGE MAY: What's the relevance of this? What is the relevance
16 of these events 50 years ago to this indictment?
17 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] The relevance is that it is this
18 same awareness, these same ideas, on the basis of which the Kosovo
19 Albanians formed the Nazi 21st SS Division, which took part --
20 JUDGE MAY: I'm ruling this irrelevant to the witness's evidence.
21 Dr. Rugova, we're not going to go back this far.
22 Yes. Now, why don't you deal with the matters which he gave
23 evidence about this morning.
24 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Well, inter alia, he testified about
25 the support that he got from abroad. I am trying to get to the background
Page 4286
1 of that support by seeking his answers. You, for example, say that this
2 is not relevant, and I suggest to you to do some reading in the --
3 JUDGE MAY: Let's get on with this. Let's get on with the
4 cross-examination.
5 Dr. Rugova, no, let's not continue this debate.
6 Now, deal with something relevant.
7 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Well, I am just indicating to you
8 that, for example, Foreign Affairs, for May, June 1999, considered these
9 questions relevant. Read Chris Hegis's [phoen] article in that particular
10 edition and you will see why they are relevant. However, you will not
11 allow these questions as relevant, so I am going to continue with
12 questions which I believe you will deem relevant. Because it seems to
13 appear that anybody who ever said anything about this, anywhere in Europe,
14 was not telling the truth, and I've been quoting only Western sources to
15 you.
16 JUDGE MAY: We are not going on with more and more opinions about
17 history. Now, either you ask relevant questions or this examination comes
18 to a close.
19 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Now I'm going to continue with
20 questions that you will not be able to call irrelevant, because they have
21 to do with the witness himself.
22 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]
23 Q. Mr. Rugova, I am not going to repeat all the information Mr. Nice
24 presented as to where you were born and where you were educated,
25 et cetera. I assume that what he said was correct. My question for you
Page 4287
1 is the following: When you grew up, you became a member of the League of
2 Communists of Yugoslavia. You advocated brotherhood and unity all the way
3 up to 1989; isn't that right?
4 A. Excuse me. This is also a question that is not really relevant.
5 Of course, I was educated, I was a member of the League of Communists,
6 because it was necessary to have work, to have a kind of protection in
7 society. I wasn't a convinced Communist. And I'm not sure why the
8 accused is interested in this. Because, like many other intellectuals in
9 Kosova and the former Federation, if we want to talk about Communism and
10 its ideas of brotherhood and unity, it was Belgrade that undermined these
11 things and destroyed them. But I don't consider this a relevant issue.
12 Q. You seem to like this word, "relevant," the word that Mr. May has
13 been using. But I think that it is relevant, because if you listened
14 carefully, I have the right to put questions to you about your
15 credibility. These are relevant questions.
16 So my next question is: As a member of the League of Communists,
17 in 1988, you became president of the Association of Writers of Kosovo. Is
18 that right or is that not right?
19 A. Not as a member of the League of Communists. I was elected as a
20 writer. This was a professional association, such as existed in all parts
21 of the former Federation. Of course, I was the leader of this association
22 for many years. It was one of the first associations to stand up for the
23 cultural, national, democratic values of society. Because the accused
24 will remember very well that this was the time when he started his own
25 political career, but I don't really want to go into that. And this was
Page 4288
1 the time when the institutions of Kosova were destroyed, when this process
2 started. But the intellectual associations of Kosova did not surrender,
3 but they raised up their voices to defend the values and the human rights
4 of the citizens of Kosova, most of them Albanians.
5 It's well known that at this -- that time other associations in
6 Serbia tried to close down the Writers Association in Kosova. This was a
7 time when there was talk of democracy around, and the writers talked
8 most. But unfortunately, there was also a talk about Belgrade dominating
9 others. So it was a time -- it was a different kind of time which
10 inaugurated by the events after the Cold War and the onset of democracy.
11 That's all I have to say.
12 Q. And who was it that asked for closing down the Writers Association
13 of Kosovo? That's what you said just a minute ago.
14 A. Your Honour, unfortunately, they were colleagues in Serbia. I
15 don't really want to go into arguments and polemics of this kind.
16 Q. Do I understand you correctly? Are you claiming that it was
17 writers from Serbia who asked for the Writers Association of which you
18 were President to be closed down? Just say yes or no.
19 A. Yes. I said before.
20 Q. Very well. Thank you. Tell me, now, the fact that you were an
21 active member of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, did that help you
22 in building your career, for example, at university, at the institute of
23 Albanology in Prishtina, to become the editor of Bota e Re, the students'
24 magazine, and Dituria? Did this help you or not?
25 A. Excuse me. It was my own work, the things I wrote that helped me
Page 4289
1 and enabled me to make my career, because I was not a professional career
2 communist politician. This was a condition for obtaining work. I'm
3 talking about Kosova, where there were always restrictions. But I have
4 built my career on the basis of my own work and on my moral character.
5 That's all I have to say.
6 Q. A short while ago you said that you became a member of the League
7 of Communists for reasons of status, so that you would get some kind of
8 protection and certain privileges. What you've said just now, though,
9 does that mean that membership in the League of Communists did not affect
10 your appointment or election to all these posts, positions that I
11 mentioned?
12 A. I'm sorry, Your Honours, but I consider this irrelevant. I am not
13 here in the position of a student, vis-a-vis the professor. I think we
14 should respect each other.
15 I said that I built up my career with my work. In Kosova, it was
16 very hard to find a job. In other parts of the former Federation, it was
17 rather easier, but in Kosova the situation was very difficult. So I don't
18 want to transform this discussion into an ideological question, which I've
19 never liked to do.
20 So in my view, this is irrelevant and is affecting my character
21 and the role I've played. I'm not here in the dock. I am a witness
22 here.
23 JUDGE MAY: Of course you're not in the dock, and of course you're
24 a witness. But perhaps you could answer the questions if they are
25 relevant.
Page 4290
1 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Yes. I said what I wanted to say.
2 I don't have anything else to add.
3 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]
4 Q. You were editor of Bota e Re, the student magazine. That means
5 "The New World." Did you have any problems? Did the authorities of
6 Serbia or Yugoslavia put any impediments in the course of your work at the
7 magazine?
8 A. I don't understand really what it matters here. I worked there.
9 I had problems with the authorities of Kosova because it was a magazine
10 with liberal, advanced ideas, and then it was the Kosova institutions that
11 were responsible for that. But I'm sorry, I really don't see the
12 relevance of this case, this question.
13 JUDGE ROBINSON: We'll determine the relevance. We'll determine
14 the relevance. Just answer the question without making an assessment of
15 it, and we'll get on much more quickly.
16 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Thank you. I answered this
17 question. If someone wants to look at my biography from that moment now,
18 then that's another question. I may answer no, no, no, that's it.
19 JUDGE ROBINSON: [Previous translation continues]
20 ...Mr. Milosevic.
21 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]
22 Q. You said that you had problems. Is it correct that parallel to
23 Bota e Re, whose editor you were, that students who took courses in the
24 Serbian language also had a magazine of their own called "The New World,"
25 Novi Svjet, and is it true that the Albanian paper was published weekly,
Page 4291
1 and the Serbian journal was published once a month and that it had less
2 pages than the Albanian paper had? Is that correct? I know you know this
3 very well.
4 A. I don't know what the relevance of this is. It was a magazine in
5 Albanian, in Serb, Croatian language. It came out just as many others
6 did.
7 Q. All right. You were the editor of the paper Dituria as well. Did
8 the authorities ever impede your editorial work at that paper? Did you
9 ever have problems in connection with that, problems put by the
10 authorities?
11 A. I already answered that question. There were problems related to
12 the introduction of new ideas. Sometimes we were criticised. Various
13 problems, which I don't think are of any importance to this case.
14 Q. Were they of importance in terms of the publication of your
15 newspaper?
16 A. It was a scientific magazine published by a group of students,
17 called Dituria, published by the University of Prishtina. We continued to
18 publish it despite the problems.
19 Q. In 1989, you signed the appeal of 215 Kosovo intellectuals. I
20 think that you mention that in your statement as well. This was against
21 the constitutional amendments to the Constitution of Serbia; is that
22 right?
23 A. Yes, that's correct.
24 Q. All right. This appeal that you signed you called The Appeal of
25 Kosovo Intellectuals; is that right?
Page 4292
1 A. Yes, that's right. The Appeal of Kosovar Intellectuals. We
2 didn't have a political party then. But after the suspension of the
3 federal status of Kosova, we appealed for this to come to an end. But
4 unfortunately, over 200 -- I think it was 240 intellectuals. They were
5 secretly taken, at the end of March and April 1989, taken to someplace in
6 Serbia, Leskovc and other places, and for three weeks we didn't know about
7 their fate and whereabouts. We just knew they weren't in Kosova.
8 And then we found out that -- someone from the other republics
9 told us that they were in Serbia. They had been maltreated. Some of them
10 died. They were from various walks of life, humanitarian, arts,
11 scientific areas, professors. And thanks to the intervention of
12 international associations, we managed to find out something about that.
13 Some of them were released, but for three months they were
14 detained in Serb prisons, mainly in Leskovc, Belgrade and some other
15 places. They were tried in an arbitrary way.
16 JUDGE MAY: We're going some way from the question.
17 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]
18 Q. We'll get to that later. I don't know. I heard the
19 interpretation into Albanian. It said "three days" and then it said
20 "three weeks", and then "three months." Could it be please be
21 ascertained what the witness said? Is he speaking of three days, three
22 weeks, or three months? Could you please listen to the tapes and you will
23 hear all three versions of the time involved, so to speak.
24 However, since this is the first that I have ever heard of this,
25 of course I couldn't have known about it anyway, but my question is: You
Page 4293
1 called it The Appeal of the Kosovo Intellectuals, and in response to that
2 you said yes. Now, does that mean that among the signatories, among the
3 signatories there were other intellectuals who were members of other
4 peoples living in Kosovo, Serbs, Croats, Turks, Romas, Muslims, Gorani, or
5 were the signatories only Albanians?
6 A. I said three weeks. For three weeks we didn't know anything, and
7 then after three months they started to be released. This is what I
8 said. They were mainly Albanian intellectuals.
9 Q. I'm not asking you mainly, I'm asking you at all. Whether amongst
10 the signatories there were any -- and this appeal of Kosovo intellectuals,
11 were there any Serbs, Croats, Turks, Romas, Muslims, Goranis, et cetera?
12 Were there or were there not?
13 A. There were Albanians, because repression was exerted against
14 Albanian intellectuals. And like most of the population, they too raised
15 their voice against such things. There were many people who were
16 discontented, but they didn't dare sign that document.
17 Q. In one of my previous questions I asked you, when you -- when you
18 use the term "Kosovo," "Kosovar," did you mean Albanians, and your answer
19 was no. And now with this specific example, you showed that with the
20 appeal of Kosovo intellectuals, you had in mind just the Albanians because
21 nobody else signed that appeal. Is that so or not?
22 A. Don't mix up things, please. I spoke about what the Albanian
23 intellectuals did. Unfortunately, there were other intellectuals, Serbs
24 or otherwise, who -- who were not in favour of it. And the accused knows
25 very well what happened in Kosova then. What -- during my testimony, I
Page 4294
1 said that Kosova belongs to all ethnicities. Today the reality is quite
2 different. At that time, the efforts were being made to destroy the
3 relations existing among different ethnic groups. Therefore, we shouldn't
4 mix up things. I was talking about the situation then. Now I'm talking
5 as chairman of a -- President of the Kosova, and I'm responsible for the
6 welfare and the rights of all the Kosova citizens, together in cooperation
7 with UNMIK and KFOR.
8 Q. And are you responsible for the expulsion of the 360.000 Serbs and
9 other non-Albanian inhabitants?
10 A. I kindly ask you, Your Honour, if you think it's relevant to go
11 into such a debate. It's not true that so many Serbs have been expelled.
12 A great propaganda was carried out by Belgrade that NATO is coming to kill
13 the Serbs and so on and so forth.
14 Unfortunately -- I'm just trying to give you an idea.
15 Unfortunately, some local Serbs have perpetrated some crimes. There were
16 over 100.000 police, paramilitaries, voluntary, and Serbs working in
17 different positions as well. So it's not true that they have left, as
18 some people are trying to make it out, as if 500 Serbs have left Kosova.
19 The Serbs have not been there to that extent or in those figures as is
20 being decked out. I said that we are working. Our main objective is to
21 take care of all, and I can assure you that there is progress made. There
22 is greater safety now for all, and for the Serbs as well, to move around
23 the entire territory. But we should not forget the fact that we went
24 through a horror and through a war, and many things happened. But things
25 are moving fast, because Kosovars generally are a tolerant people. Thank
Page 4295
1 you.
2 Q. Mr. Rugova, that wasn't my question. That was not my question.
3 What I asked you was: Do you consider yourself responsible? Because in
4 the previous answer you said you were the president --
5 JUDGE MAY: He's answered that.
6 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]
7 Q. -- and that you were responsible --
8 JUDGE MAY: He's answered it. Now, let's move on. That's enough
9 about the present.
10 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]
11 Q. As you claim that what I have said is not true, tell me, please:
12 How many Serbs and other non-Albanian inhabitants were expelled from
13 Kosovo? You tell us here, publicly: How many Serbs and other
14 non-Albanian inhabitants have been expelled from Kosovo?
15 JUDGE MAY: What period are you talking about, and is it within
16 the indictment period?
17 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] In the period from -- as leader of
18 the Kosovar Albanians, together with KFOR and UNMIK, as he said, that he
19 bears the responsibility.
20 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]
21 Q. So from the 10th of June, 1999, up until the present day, how many
22 Serbs, Montenegrins, Muslim, Croats, Turks, were expelled?
23 JUDGE MAY: We're going to consider whether this is relevant.
24 [Trial Chamber confers]
25 JUDGE MAY: Yes. We've heard questions. You've asked questions
Page 4296
1 about the modern situation. You've asked sufficient, and this is going
2 beyond it. Now, have you got any questions about the evidence which he
3 gave? There's been precious little so far the hour and a half or more
4 you've been cross-examining.
5 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Yes, I have a great many questions,
6 Mr. May, but in view of the fact I have the right to test the credibility
7 of this witness, and as the witness himself indicated his position and
8 responsibility, then I assume that the witness should know how many Serbs
9 and other non-Albanian inhabitants were expelled from Kosovo.
10 JUDGE MAY: We are not going to allow the question. We've heard
11 more than enough about this, and it doesn't go in any way towards the
12 witness's credibility. It doesn't go towards the witness's credibility.
13 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] And is this question allowed: Does
14 the witness know how many Serbs were killed during that period of time, or
15 abducted during that period? Can he answer that question, or is that
16 forbidden too?
17 JUDGE MAY: We will allow the witness, if he can, to answer these
18 questions, but that will be all on this topic.
19 Can you help us, Dr. Rugova, with the expulsion and killing and
20 abduction of Serbs, as alleged, since the 10th of June, 1999?
21 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] I think this is similar to other
22 questions. I'll try to be brief nevertheless. Following 12 June, some
23 Serbs left Kosova because of the great propaganda made that NATO was going
24 to kill them and so on, when in fact NATO and KFOR protected them. And
25 UNMIK, KFOR and us, we are trying to keep complete records, on the basis
Page 4297
1 of which the Red Cross and other organisations are working, not only for
2 the Serbs but also for the others who have disappeared, whom we have been
3 unable to find out so far. There are about 300 mass graves not yet
4 discovered in Kosova. There may be some in Serbia, like the case was with
5 that of Danube River, Batajnica one. So work is under way in this
6 respect. We don't have exact figures yet. There may have been cases of
7 murders, which we will enlighten and take the culprits before the justice
8 by our courts, which are working, and by other responsible institutions.
9 There are about 4.000 people considered disappeared from Kosova. Most of
10 them are Albanians. But this is not the exact figure, final figure.
11 Q. And as you say, you know about the Albanians. How many Serbs are
12 considered missing?
13 A. I said most of them are Albanians, but there are also missing
14 Serbs. The Red Cross has given some figures, but it's not yet
15 definitive. There are some other issues related to it. I think that
16 among the missing, there may be some who are still living - Serbs, I mean,
17 who are in Serbia - because they have not been allowed to communicate with
18 those left behind. So we are working on it and we'll elucidate this
19 issue. We are working on it, as I said, in cooperation with international
20 institutions and organisations in Kosova.
21 Q. Are you speaking about persons missing, Serbs missing, or Serbs
22 abducted? Are you talking about Serbs who have disappeared or Serbs who
23 have been killed?
24 A. Please, they may have been killed or they may be missing. I don't
25 know about kidnapping. I don't know in what sense you mean this.
Page 4298
1 Q. I mean the thousands of Serbs killed and the thousands of Serbs
2 abducted and the hundreds of thousands of Serbs expulsed. Those are the
3 crimes I'm thinking about, the crimes that took place in your --
4 JUDGE MAY: The witness has answered these allegations. Now, go
5 on to another topic.
6 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]
7 Q. Well, in this connection, one more question. In view of the
8 responsibility that you alluded to yourself and said you performed
9 yourself, and in view of the fact that this institution here starts out
10 from some command responsibility concept, do you consider to have command
11 responsibility for the killing and abduction of those thousands of Serbs
12 and hundreds of thousands of Serbs expelled?
13 JUDGE MAY: It's not a proper question for the witness.
14 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]
15 Q. And do you consider that the heads of state or government of the
16 countries who --
17 JUDGE MAY: No. Now, do you have any more relevant questions, or
18 we're bringing this to an end.
19 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Of course. I have many more
20 questions. Let me move on to another area, because I see that I am not
21 being permitted to follow this one up.
22 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]
23 Q. Mr. Rugova, Kosovo, according to the 1974 Constitution, was it a
24 constituent part of the territory of Serbia or not?
25 A. According to this Constitution, Kosova was a full member of the
Page 4299
1 Federation, with full rights, just like Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia, and other
2 republics. Merely it didn't have the title of "Republic," which Belgrade
3 never allowed it. So in 1989, Kosova was suspended from the former
4 Federation.
5 Q. I'm asking you about 1974 and the 1974 Constitution.
6 A. But please, this is 1974. This is the 1974 Constitution.
7 Q. My question was: According to the 1974 Constitution, was Kosovo a
8 constituent part of Serbia or not? Yes or no.
9 A. It was an integral part of the former Federation, but according
10 to -- with the wish of Belgrade, it was mentioned that it was also part of
11 Serbia, but it was part of the former Federation, as it was in the
12 Constitution of 1946. But Belgrade never wished ever to allow Kosova
13 more. We won't go into other intentions. But it was a full member of the
14 Federation, with all its internal regulations, its internal relations in
15 the Federation, foreign relations, economic relations, and so it had an
16 equal status with the other members of the Federation.
17 Q. Mr. Rugova, I am asking you about the Constitution, the
18 Constitution that you referred to as well, and I'm asking you that after
19 the Federal Constitution dating back to 1972 [as interpreted] came into
20 force, was Kosovo part of Serbia, according to that Constitution? 1974.
21 A. Excuse me. This is no longer important, because this state, the
22 former Federation, has now been destroyed and I don't see any point in
23 talking about it. I told you what it was like, what the status of Kosova
24 was, and this was destroyed in 1989.
25 Q. I'm not asking you about the status of Kosovo and the Albanians in
Page 4300
1 Kosovo; I'm asking you about the Constitution. As know about the
2 Constitution, please answer my question.
3 JUDGE MAY: You've asked about it and he's given an answer. If
4 you've got a different --
5 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] What was it?
6 JUDGE MAY: If you've got a different answer, you can put it to
7 him.
8 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation].
9 Q. I asked a very simple question. After 1974, was Kosovo a
10 constituent part of Serbia? I'm not asking you about the Federation --
11 JUDGE MAY: We've heard it. We heard the question. He's given an
12 answer. No doubt we can look at the Constitution to find it. There's no
13 point repeating the same question over and over again.
14 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Mr. May, I think it is your duty to
15 tell the witness to answer the question and not to say that he has
16 answered the question when quite obviously he has not. I didn't ask him
17 about the Federation; I asked whether it was a component part, a
18 constituent part, of Serbia.
19 JUDGE MAY: And he's given an answer as best he can. He's not a
20 lawyer.
21 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] What was his answer, then?
22 JUDGE MAY: He's not a lawyer. If you've got some part of the
23 Constitution you want to quote at him, you can do it. Now, let's move
24 on.
25 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]
Page 4301
1 Q. All right, then. As you don't know that, do you know this --
2 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] You say he's not a lawyer and
3 therefore need not know the Constitution, whereas he delves in politics.
4 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]
5 Q. But do you know how many national deputies from Kosovo, MPs, were
6 in the Serbian Assembly? Do you? Yes or no.
7 A. I don't know the exact figures, but just as many -- there were
8 just as many from Kosova in the federal parliament, which had two
9 chambers, from which Kosova was suspended in 1989. And as I said before,
10 Belgrade always wanted Kosova represented via Serbia in the Federation.
11 Q. Mr. Rugova, I'm asking you about the members of parliament from
12 Kosovo. Mr. Rugova, from Kosovo, there were as many members of parliament
13 as was proportionate to the inhabitants in Kosovo; is that correct or
14 not? Was it proportionate representation? Yes or no. And you can say "I
15 don't know," because that seems to me the answer that the people sitting
16 there in your seat like best.
17 A. Excuse me. I don't see this issue as being important. There was
18 a federal parliament, and there were more, and there were some in Serbia.
19 I don't know why we're talking about this.
20 Q. Well, because I asked you whether Kosovo was a constituent part of
21 Serbia, and you didn't want to answer that question. Now you don't want
22 to answer this question. You don't want to say whether the popular
23 deputies from Kosovo were members of the Serbian parliament or not. Were
24 they MPs or were they not?
25 A. Excuse me. There was the federal parliament, the Serbian
Page 4302
1 parliament, and the Kosova parliament, and I imagine that the accused does
2 not want me to mention the Federation.
3 Q. And the Municipal Assemblies too.
4 JUDGE MAY: Just answer the questions as best you can, and we'll
5 get on more quickly.
6 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] No.
7 JUDGE MAY: We haven't yet got to 1989. You've been examining, I
8 think, for about two hours. We haven't dealt with a single word virtually
9 of the evidence which he's given.
10 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Excuse me, Your Honour. I said, I
11 replied several times, and I think quite clearly, there were Assemblies in
12 the municipalities too under the system which prevailed at that time. So
13 I have given my answer. And I have said that there were deputies in the
14 federal parliament, the Serbian parliament, and the Kosova parliament was
15 made up exclusively of Kosovars, and Kosova was part of the Federation.
16 And of course institutions also functioned in the municipalities, and
17 these were destroyed after 1989 too.
18 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]
19 Q. Kosovo, as part of the Federation, was not part of Serbia. Why
20 then did the deputies from Kosovo, from the territories of Kosovo, why
21 then were they members of the parliament?
22 A. [French translation on English Channel] ...connection with
23 Serbia. I'm not denying this. They left a connection with Serbia. This
24 was an ambiguous Constitution for Kosova. But Kosova was a full member of
25 the Federation like Serbia, with the right of veto like Croatia. This was
Page 4303
1 the truth. This was the situation as it was.
2 Q. And according to which constitution [French translation on English
3 channel] ...status of Kosovo made equal to the status of the other
4 republics? [French translation on English Channel].
5 A. Excuse me. With the Federal Constitution of 1974, which we have
6 been talking about.
7 Q. If Kosovo had the status of a republic, which is what you're
8 claiming, why then at the demonstrations in 1981 was the main demand for
9 the formation of Republic of Kosovo, Kosovo Republic? Why then was the
10 demand of a Kosovo Republic made if you already had the status? Why would
11 it be made then? You just said that you had that status.
12 A. I said as a federal unit it was equal, but Belgrade did not allow
13 the name of a republic. And there were talks about it in 1968, and this
14 compromise was found in the Constitution of 1974. This is how the
15 situation was.
16 Q. Well, how did the Constitution of 1974 define Kosovo? Would you
17 be so kind as to tell me, please?
18 A. It was more or less as I have said. Otherwise, we have to find a
19 text.
20 Q. All right. Then answer my next question. It's easy to find the
21 text of the Constitution. Nobody can hide that at least. And everything
22 you have said is not correct. But as you are claiming that Kosovo had the
23 status of a republic, why at the demonstrations in 1981 was it your main
24 demand to have a Kosovo Republic?
25 A. I said it was a demand to have the name of a republic, but I don't
Page 4304
1 see it necessary to talk about these matters. This is the past. It
2 relates to a state that no longer exists.
3 Q. But you spoke about the demonstrations in 1981, even during your
4 examination-in-chief this morning.
5 A. Excuse me. The Prosecutor -- the Prosecutor invited me, and so I
6 spoke about 1981. I believe that the Presiding Judge interrupted me.
7 Q. As the Prosecutor invited you to talk about 1981 and as you spoke
8 about the demonstrations that took place in 1981 and even mentioned the
9 fact that there was violence, that some 20 people were killed in the
10 course of those demonstrations, this is all something you said this
11 morning, I am therefore asking you that as you claim that Kosovo was a
12 republic within the federation, why was the main demand made by those
13 demonstrations a call for a Kosovo Republic? I'm asking you. I'm asking
14 you precisely about what you were testifying to this morning. So answer
15 my question.
16 A. Please. The Prosecutor -- neither the Judge nor the Prosecutor
17 asked me to talk about this, but I answered very clearly, I believe. My
18 answer was quite clear. After these demonstrations, there was a gradual
19 suspension of institutions leading up to what happened in 1989. And I
20 don't see the point of going into this more.
21 Q. Leave me to make the point. It is your duty to answer my
22 questions. And please answer my following question: Was it the principle
23 demand of the demonstrators in 1981, the call for Kosovo, a republic? You
24 are speaking before the world public and the Yugoslav public. Was that
25 the demand made? Yes or no?
Page 4305
1 A. They started a social unrest, yes. The demand was, as I said
2 earlier, that Kosova should have the name of a republic. I answered
3 that. I don't know what more do you want me to say. The Albanians wanted
4 that, and the students as well, to have the name of the republic which
5 Belgrade has never given it.
6 Q. All right. That means that to my answer of whether the demand was
7 for a Kosovo Republic, your answer was yes. Now, do you know that after
8 those demonstrations by the Albanians in Kosovo and Metohija in 1981, that
9 we saw a big wave of violence against the Serb population unleashing in
10 Kosovo and Metohija? Are you aware of that fact? Yes or no?
11 A. That's not true. There was a wave, a great wave of violence used
12 by Belgrade. And ever since, there has been a military state and
13 situation in Kosova. The army, the police units came from all the former
14 federal republics. That was the reality. And it's not true that the
15 Serbs were driven out. That's not true. I've come here to declare the
16 truth, but I don't want to engage in polemics. I'm here just to testify
17 to what I know.
18 JUDGE MAY: It's -- it's now 4.00, and it's time to adjourn.
19 Dr. Rugova, we must ask you to come back, please, on Monday
20 morning to conclude your evidence. Thank you.
21 Before we do, there may be some procedural matters.
22 Mr. Milosevic, you've had virtually the same time as the
23 Prosecution with this witness. He is an important witness, and there may
24 be some relevant questions you want to ask. We have considered the
25 matter, and we will give you to the break, the first break, on Monday
Page 4306
1 morning. That's another hour and a half. You should tailor your
2 cross-examination with that in mind.
3 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] I -- Mr. May, that is absolutely
4 impossible, because I have a large number of highly relevant questions for
5 this witness. And I think that you cannot restrict my time to just an
6 hour and a half on Monday. It is absolutely vital for me to be allowed
7 and enabled to carry out the cross-examination of this witness, because he
8 is not answering questions, he is using up time, and then I cannot ask my
9 open questions quickly and ask him about his testimony. All my questions
10 were relevant to his testimony.
11 An hour and a half is nothing. And if you add it all up, it's
12 much less than they had with their 85 points, ten pages of statement, and
13 the time spent on procedural matters.
14 JUDGE MAY: None of -- none of the questions asked or put in that
15 statement are evidence, as you know. That's purely a summary which was
16 produced for the use of the Court. It's not the evidence. The evidence
17 is what the witness gives.
18 If you hadn't spent so long arguing with the witness about
19 peripheral matters, you would have had more time to put the relevant
20 matters. We have to judge what is fair and what is expeditious, and
21 that's our judgement, and you should organise your cross-examination for
22 Monday morning accordingly.
23 Mr. Nice, is there some matter you want to --
24 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Mr. May.
25 JUDGE MAY: No. The matter is closed. We're not going to go on
Page 4307
1 arguing.
2 JUDGE MAY: The -- Dr. Rugova --
3 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Mr. May, please --
4 JUDGE MAY: Dr. Rugova, if you would like to go. You needn't stay
5 for the rest of today.
6 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Thank you.
7 [The witness stands down]
8 MR. NICE: Two very short administrative things. Municipality
9 binders. We have already provided them to the amici and would hope that
10 we don't have to reprovide -- provide them again in reduced form for
11 them. Therefore, may we know how many copies the Chamber would find
12 helpful? We've had to reconstitute them and remove the material the
13 Chamber doesn't want. We will let the amici know what we've excised from
14 the fuller versions they have, but may we know how many binders to
15 provide?
16 The second question --
17 [The Trial Chamber confers]
18 JUDGE MAY: Three.
19 MR. NICE: The second point arising from the same general issue:
20 Can we treat exhibits that are within the binders in the same way as we
21 produced exhibits with General Drewienkiewicz's binder of documents, i.e.,
22 comprehensively, and if so, would the Chamber or will the Chamber want us
23 to provide them with exhibits in addition to these contained in the binder
24 or may the binder count as the Chamber's copy?
25 JUDGE MAY: That will be enough.
Page 4308
1 MR. NICE: That's very helpful. Thank you very much.
2 The second issue. I've been asked to give some words of
3 explanation about what we're intending in respect of applications to have
4 material from other cases taken as evidence in this case. We've submitted
5 one motion in respect of evidence about Brcko. We haven't yet listed all
6 the similar material we may seek to adduce. The question of me was, by
7 your staff, whether we were going to, as it were, drip feed it or present
8 it comprehensively.
9 We've presented one at the moment really in order to see if this
10 is acceptable to the Chamber. If it is, the very substantial exercise of
11 gathering the other broadly similar material will then be undertaken
12 rather than undertaken in advance lest it should be wasted, and we are
13 entirely willing to either drip feed or to try and provide in
14 comprehensive chunks or perhaps one single chunk even entirely as will be
15 most helpful to the Chamber, although, of course, if such evidence is
16 going to be admitted, some of it has yet even to be heard because it will
17 be being heard in other cases that simply will pre-date us but not by
18 unnecessarily very many weeks or months. So we'll do whatever is most
19 helpful. That's the reason for having one and only one version at the
20 moment.
21 JUDGE MAY: We'll consider the matter further.
22 We'll adjourn now -- yes, provided you're not reverting to the old
23 topic. What is it?
24 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Mr. May, I have to say that I demand
25 that you give me all day on Monday for the cross-examination of this
Page 4309
1 witness. And you cannot limit the -- by limiting the cross-examination
2 save the witness. One of the witnesses you proclaimed ill, some other
3 witnesses were proclaimed something else, but you can't send this witness
4 back before I've finished cross-examining him. He's a relevant witness,
5 and I must be -- am -- I am given the right to cross-examine him. And I
6 demand at least the full -- the whole day on Monday.
7 JUDGE MAY: We've ruled. You've got until the break.
8 Now, we'll adjourn now until 9.00 Monday morning.
9 --- Whereupon the hearing adjourned at 4.08 p.m.,
10 to be reconvened on Monday, the 6th day of May,
11 2002, at 9.00 a.m.
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