Page 5366
1 Thursday, 23 May 2002
2 [Open session]
3 [The accused entered court]
4 --- Upon commencing at 9.04 a.m.
5 JUDGE MAY: Yes, Mr. Nice.
6 MR. NICE: A few preliminary matters first. The Prosecution would
7 seek to recall Dr. Baccard to give further evidence in relation to the
8 bodies of the women found in the well. We forecast that the evidence he
9 could give in direct evidence would only take about ten minutes.
10 His evidence will fit with other evidence going to show where the
11 women came from but will be the only evidence going to show the manner in
12 which they died and would go to show that they were alive when they were
13 thrown into the well and would go to show, to some extent, in respect to
14 two bodies that were capable of examination in sufficient detail, either
15 that they very probably had been or may have been sexually assaulted
16 before being thrown into the well to die.
17 So it's important evidence, and it won't take very long to give,
18 and in our respectful submission, the doctor could properly be allowed to
19 give that evidence before he leaves, which he has to today, I understand.
20 [Trial Chamber confers]
21 JUDGE MAY: Mr. Nice, we had an indication that you may make this
22 application. We understand the importance of the evidence, but
23 nonetheless, we are applying strict rules, strict rules to the length of
24 time which the accused can have and strict rules to you as timing, and
25 part of that procedure must be that we move along with the witnesses. To
Page 5367
1 allow this witness to be recalled on a matter which should have been
2 prepared beforehand and should have been part of his witness statement
3 will take up the best part of an hour, I suspect. It's also evidence
4 which, as far as I can see, has not been disclosed before, although I may
5 be wrong about that.
6 Nonetheless, we are going to apply strict rules to you as we apply
7 them to everybody else. We understand it may cause inconvenience, but
8 nonetheless, the Prosecution must be ready before it calls its evidence,
9 like anybody else.
10 MR. NICE: The evidence has in fact been disclosed in advance. The
11 precise history of the oversight whereby the evidence was omitted the
12 first time is not something I can deal with immediately. The Prosecution,
13 I think, must make its position clear now, as it will have to in
14 subsequent discussions about timing, that we will respectfully say that
15 there has to come a time when the mere interests of the time of the case
16 must be balanced against the interest of having the full evidence before
17 the Chamber.
18 We will do all that we can, as we have been from first to last, to
19 deal with this matter expeditiously, but we would respectfully say that
20 there will inevitably be occasions when things don't go perfectly, and we
21 would invite the Chamber not always to say that such imperfections should
22 lead to the exclusion of evidence.
23 The second point I wish to make --
24 JUDGE MAY: No, let me deal with that since you make the point.
25 The interests of time are not mere interests. They are in the interests
Page 5368
1 of justice and the interests of justice are that this case is finished
2 expeditiously.
3 Secondly, of course there are occasions when the interests of time
4 must give way to other considerations, and the Trial Chamber is fully
5 alert to that. We will consider any applications you have in due course
6 to call other evidence, but it must be made plain that this case is to be
7 finished on time, and that means that the parties, both parties, must put
8 on their case with the maximum of expedition.
9 Yes. The next point.
10 MR. NICE: The next point relates to expedition, a topic, of
11 course, to which I know we're returning generally next week, I think.
12 K5, who is a witness in waiting and one that, for example, we may
13 be able to take tomorrow if the other two witnesses were, happily, to be
14 finished by then, is one in respect of whom the Chamber has made no order
15 about adducing his evidence under 92 bis. I think the Chamber indicated
16 on an earlier occasion it was provisionally not minded to grant the 92 bis
17 application, subject to further discussion and argument; and in the
18 interests of economy, may I just explain why the Chamber might think it
19 appropriate to take his evidence under the provisions of 92 bis without
20 necessarily ruling on the matter immediately, although we would need to
21 have his statement subject to the 92 bis provisions today, which would
22 involve our negotiating with the Registry about it.
23 Would Your Honour just give me one minute?
24 [Prosecution counsel confer]
25 MR. NICE: These are the reasons why 92 bis provisions might be
Page 5369
1 appropriate: The time constraints, to which we've already made allusions;
2 the fact that his evidence goes to acts and conduct of people other than
3 the accused; and then as to the body of his testimony, the Chamber will
4 recall that his testimony covers acts of arson, grenade attacks that he
5 was obliged to engage in and aware of performed against the Albanian
6 community one way and another.
7 Now, that evidence, although of course it's important evidence, is
8 nevertheless corroborative of the allegations of destruction of property,
9 intimidation, and targeting of high profile Kosovo Albanians that has been
10 given in general and specific terms by other witnesses.
11 So those are the reasons why the Chamber might think that it is an
12 appropriate witness for the provisions of 92 bis, but, Your Honour, that's
13 as far as I'm going to go in relation to it.
14 JUDGE MAY: It may be convenient to raise something in private
15 session. Can we go into private session, please.
16 [Private session]
17 (redacted)
18 (redacted)
19 (redacted)
20 (redacted)
21 (redacted)
22 (redacted)
23 (redacted)
24 (redacted)
25 (redacted)
Page 5370
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12 Page 5370 redacted, private session.
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
Page 5371
1 (redacted)
2 (redacted)
3 (redacted)
4 (redacted)
5 (redacted)
6 (redacted)
7 (redacted)
8 (redacted)
9 (redacted)
10 (redacted)
11 (redacted)
12 (redacted)
13 (redacted)
14 (redacted)
15 (redacted)
16 (redacted)
17 (redacted)
18 (redacted)
19 (redacted)
20 (redacted)
21 (redacted)
22 [Open session]
23 THE REGISTRAR: Your Honours, we're back in open session.
24 JUDGE MAY: On the issue of 92, whether he's appropriate for 92
25 bis, it may be sensible if we confer for a moment.
Page 5372
1 [Trial Chamber confers]
2 JUDGE MAY: We've considered this. This is an exceptional witness
3 in the nature of the evidence which he gives, which is unlike any other
4 evidence we've heard. Given the background and the nature of the
5 evidence, we think it should be given in full and not in statement form.
6 MR. NICE: We will prepare accordingly. I'm grateful for that
7 ruling. I was in error when I said that he was not being granted voice
8 distortion. In fact your order of the 22nd of March permitted both facial
9 and voice distortion.
10 JUDGE MAY: Very well.
11 MR. NICE: As far as I'm aware, the next witness I'm going to be
12 calling, Baton Haxhiu, it has been raised with me the possibility of
13 reversing the order of witnesses. Mr. Ryneveld's dealing with that. I'll
14 ask Ms. Graham just to go out and make sure it's going to be Baton Haxhiu
15 next.
16 JUDGE MAY: Actually, if we could stick to that because too much
17 variation makes it very difficult for everybody.
18 MR. NICE: I gather he's in the witness room. I'm sorry.
19 JUDGE MAY: Yes.
20 MR. KAY: It's just on K5. It may help the proceedings if both
21 parties agree that the Court has the statement of the witness in full. It
22 might make it easier to navigate through his evidence, which is -- the
23 statement is so detailed that I can foresee there will be problems without
24 it.
25 JUDGE MAY: Yes. Well, we have that statement.
Page 5373
1 MR. KAY: Yes. You've had it already.
2 JUDGE MAY: We've had it.
3 MR. KAY: And the summary.
4 JUDGE MAY: And we've got a revised summary.
5 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] In this connection with the next
6 witness -- what's his name? Baton Haxhiu, yes. I think that it is quite
7 clear that, according to your rules, he could not testify according to
8 Rule 92 bis because he mentions and says in his statement -- talks about
9 his statement -- in his statement about his alleged contacts with me, with
10 the chief of security and so on and so forth. So he can't come under Rule
11 92 bis. He must give an entire, complete statement and testimony.
12 And my second remark is: Why was this witness known as Witness
13 K28 up until now? And why have these double listings for the witnesses
14 both as secret and --
15 JUDGE MAY: You can ask him about that if you want. That's not a
16 matter for us.
17 MR. NICE: I was going to say, as I had indeed forecast yesterday,
18 that there is one paragraph in the addendum to the statement which I'll
19 take you to which would fall outside the potential for 92 bis procedure,
20 and if the Court has the addendum, it's under the: "I would add the
21 following: I first met Mr. Milosevic ..."
22 JUDGE KWON: We haven't received that.
23 JUDGE MAY: We haven't had that.
24 MR. NICE: I'm sorry if you haven't received that. It was dealt
25 with --
Page 5374
1 JUDGE MAY: And the proposal is?
2 MR. NICE: That paragraph to be given in live.
3 JUDGE MAY: Yes.
4 MR. NICE: It's a press conference where ...
5 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] One more thing, please, that I wish
6 to say. I don't mind what you're going to decide, I just wish to draw
7 your attention once again to the violation of the Rules, because this is
8 an additional statement, and as Mr. Nice said a moment ago and it was
9 provided to me last night, after the end of business yesterday, and
10 statements must be provided at least a certain amount of time before they
11 are read. That is one point.
12 Secondly, I was given all the material in English once again
13 although we have a Trial Chamber ruling that I must be supplied with the
14 documents in my own language. The other side has English as their mother
15 tongue so I am receiving documents in the mother tongue of the opposite
16 side, and that is a fine illustration on the small issue of the equality
17 of arms of the two sides. That is to say that I am being provided with
18 the material in the mother tongue of the opposite side let alone all the
19 other --
20 JUDGE MAY: Let's hear what the Prosecution have to say about
21 this. When was this second statement? I see it's dated the 22nd of May.
22 MR. NICE: I think the addendum was only done yesterday in the
23 process of preparation in the usual way where witnesses are taken through
24 the material. These are matters he had to add. When we introduced the 92
25 bis procedure that we've been adopting with considerable judicial economy
Page 5375
1 some weeks ago, it was on the basis that there might be occasional
2 additional points to be made or corrections to be made, and as I
3 understand it, although I haven't been in court for these witnesses,
4 broadly similar practice have applied and there is nothing at all unfair
5 in him adding -- in his adding to his previous statement by these one or
6 two additional matters. The accused can no doubt deal with them.
7 As to the English language version, we understand that the B/C/S
8 translation will be with us shortly. We had a language assistant working
9 on it all night.
10 [Trial Chamber confers]
11 MR. NICE: Your Honour, can I say the translated version is now
12 available.
13 JUDGE MAY: Yes. Let that be handed over.
14 MR. NICE: And might I, I hope without inconveniencing you, just
15 add this point: To allow this additional material to be given, one way or
16 another, is no different from what happens with witnesses who give
17 evidence in full viva voce but whose proofing summaries add material
18 exactly of this kind to their pre-existing statements in a way that's
19 inevitable when witnesses come to the moment of giving evidence and are
20 focused on the relevant history.
21 Applying the 92 bis provisions to an addendum of this kind is
22 simply a sensible use of our procedures to achieve judicial economy. We
23 would, of course, be content, subject to the restrictions of time, simply
24 to take addendums in full viva voce but there's no need to, in our
25 respectful submission, in a case like this. Although the passage
Page 5376
1 involving the accused directly should be given directly.
2 JUDGE MAY: The issue really is whether the accused should have
3 more time to prepare for cross-examination on this material. The answer
4 may be to allow the evidence to be called and then, if the accused wants
5 more time for cross-examination, we would have to consider that as a
6 matter of fairness since he's not had time to prepare for this.
7 Mr. Milosevic, we'll hear the witness, and you could cross-examine
8 on the other statement. If you want to ask for more time to prepare for
9 cross-examination on this one, then you shall -- we will consider that
10 application if you think there's some matter which you need some time for
11 preparation.
12 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Let me tell you straight away I'm
13 not asking for anything and I don't need more time. It's all the same to
14 me. I'm just drawing attention to daily violation of the Rules that occur
15 here in this room.
16 THE INTERPRETER: One, two, three? One, two, three?
17 JUDGE MAY: Yes. No doubt it was the volume on my controls.
18 THE INTERPRETER: One, two, three.
19 JUDGE MAY: Yes. I have it now, thank you.
20 You're not asking for more time. Very well. Your comment about
21 the daily violation of the Rules is, of course, wholly wrong and
22 inappropriate.
23 We'll call the witness.
24 MR. NICE: Thank you.
25 [The witness entered court]
Page 5377
1 JUDGE MAY: Yes. Let the witness take the declaration.
2 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] I solemnly declare that I will speak
3 the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
4 JUDGE MAY: Yes. If you'd like to take a seat.
5 THE WITNESS: Thanks.
6 WITNESS: BATON HAXHIU
7 [Witness answered through interpreter]
8 MR. NICE: Your Honour, I will take the short evidence in chief
9 from this witness in a couple of minutes' time. Before I do so, can I
10 remind the Chamber that by his two statements, to which we will refer
11 later, the witness gives an account of his having been involved in the
12 founding of the newspaper Koha Ditore, and indeed he is a journalist in
13 due course to receive an award in the United States of America at the 9th
14 Annual Press Freedom Awards ceremony where he was awarded for his
15 commitment to the defence of press freedom in Kosovo and throughout the
16 world.
17 His statements cover matters of which we've already heard in part,
18 and sometimes substantially, including the history of the education
19 problems and the education agreement in Kosovo, the non-violent
20 demonstrations by students and others that led to protests in October
21 1998, which involved violent police intervention, and in the judgement of
22 the witness, reaction thereafter by Albanians.
23 He can speak, of course, of the violence perpetrated at the
24 offices of the newspaper where he worked, of his own arrest and
25 interrogation, and of the processes of negotiation between Kosovo
Page 5378
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12 Blank page inserted to ensure pagination corresponds between the French and
13 English transcripts.
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
Page 5379
1 Albanians, including the person we've seen as a witness, Bakalli, and
2 others that followed.
3 He can deal with the meetings involving, amongst others, the man
4 Stanisic, and indeed he's a witness who observed the participation in
5 events by the last witness but one before this Tribunal, the witness
6 Tanic.
7 He can explain how the Serbian delegation at those negotiations
8 indicated its implacable opposition to certain proposals and can remind
9 the Chamber of the Burnt or Scorched Earth policy that was referred to by
10 the Serbian side. He will be able to remind the Chamber of how it was
11 that authority for negotiation appeared to be vested in and only in
12 ultimately the accused and the man Stanisic who attended at a second
13 meeting in December of which the witness can speak, in the course of which
14 Stanisic said that the chief of police in Kosovo, Sreten Lukic, had
15 convinced the accused to break up the students' peaceful demonstration by
16 use of force, Stanisic saying that he could not decide anything on his
17 own, although being emphatic that the proposition for a republic in Kosovo
18 would never be accepted to those nationalistic circles surrounding the
19 accused who were prepared to go to war.
20 He, as a witness, expresses the view that the KLA was the product
21 of Serb repression, of an inert international policy and, it may be, of
22 the conservatism in the approach of President Rugova, again a witness from
23 whom you've heard. This witness is one who, with no involvement on his
24 own part or on the part of his family, lost five members of his family on
25 his father's side, including a 9-year-old boy, in the course of the
Page 5380
1 conflict.
2 Examined by Mr. Nice:
3 Q. With that summary, your full name, please?
4 A. My name is Baton Haxhiu.
5 JUDGE MAY: The statement ought to be admitted, the original
6 statement.
7 MR. NICE: Your Honour, yes. I was going to turn to that.
8 Q. Did you, Mr. Haxhiu, sign declarations as to the accuracy of two
9 statements that you have made?
10 A. Yes.
11 Q. The first being a statement prepared at interview on the 20th,
12 21st, and 22nd of August of the year 2001, and the second being an
13 addendum prepared as recently as yesterday?
14 A. Yes. The first was taken down in Prishtina on the said date, the
15 second yesterday. That's correct.
16 Q. The second makes one or two corrections and amplifications, deals
17 with the significance you see in certain documents, and deals with one
18 face-to-face encounter you had with the accused.
19 Turning to that, were you, as a journalist, present at a press
20 conference in Ljubljana, Slovenia, in the late spring or early summer of
21 1990?
22 A. Yes. It was in March or April of 1990. It was a news conference
23 organised after the meeting held by the six presidents of the former
24 republics of the former Yugoslavia, and I was there in the capacity of a
25 journalist, represented then the newspaper Epoka. And I asked two
Page 5381
1 questions of the accused.
2 Q. The questions and his replies, if you please.
3 A. Since I had read the book written by the accused where, on page
4 146, he had said that all issues are open issues, from the border to the
5 kindergartens and the creches, then taking my queue from that statement, I
6 asked the accused: "When are you, Mr. Milosevic, going to get rid of
7 chauvinism and enable the Albanians of Kosovo to determine their own
8 status and win the status of the Republic of Kosova?" And he answered,
9 "This will never occur because the Albanians there are in minority and
10 they don't have the right to self-determination and we are not going to
11 allow secessionism in Kosova and do everything we can to prevent that from
12 happening."
13 Q. You say there were two questions you asked. Was the other one of
14 any significance?
15 A. No.
16 Q. Thank you.
17 THE INTERPRETER: Can you please switch the microphone on, please.
18 MR. NICE: My apologies.
19 Yes. The book to which the witness refers has been located in the
20 building. The passage to which he refers has been translated. They're
21 both being brought to court pretty well immediately. And, Your Honour,
22 with your leave, I would just ask two other questions arising from the
23 supplementary material.
24 Q. In addition to the book to which you've referred, do you regard
25 one or two other documents of particular significance, documents that were
Page 5382
1 published at that time? If the answer to that is yes, can you, but very
2 shortly, in a sentence or so, explain what the documents were and their
3 significance, they being documents that you know we don't have here in the
4 building in English. We do have them, I think, available in Serbian.
5 A. [Interpretation] Yes. There are three documents which have been
6 published in 1996. The first is called "Unfinished Peace," compiled by a
7 group of authors. Then it came out in the form of a book. It's about the
8 visit they made in the region in 1996. They met the accused, and they
9 found out that the situation of the two ethnic groups and the relations
10 between Serbia, the regime of Milosevic, and the parallel system in Kosova
11 were at a deadlock. During the meeting, they found out that the Serbs are
12 incapable of maintaining a tolerant stand towards Albanians and
13 negotiating with them.
14 Another book which observed the same thing was another book
15 speaking about the meeting with Albanian and Serb leaders and warning that
16 the situation in Kosova was on the brink of war. Another document was
17 that which was prepared on the basis of a meeting held between the
18 Albanian and Serb leaders in New York, and it noted that the Albanians and
19 the Serbs are extremely away from each other and from coming to terms
20 regarding the definition of the status of Kosova.
21 These were sufficient reasons to note that the situation in Kosova
22 was serious and the political process was degenerating. And for this,
23 Belgrade was to blame, and the accused as well, who had started -- who
24 continued, I would say, to dramatise the problem of Kosova and transform
25 it into his own private affair.
Page 5383
1 Q. I invite you to pause there. You've identified the documents in
2 general terms, more specifically in the statement, and they're available
3 here for consideration by the accused or the Chamber, if necessary.
4 You've explained their significance, that settlement seemed
5 difficult or impossible at that time. Just then tell us this:
6 Penultimate paragraph on the addendum statement, in the course of your
7 work as a journalist, how complete was your survey of the relevant
8 politicians? How many of them were you able to meet?
9 A. To be frank, Koha Ditore was the only institution free of any
10 influence either by the Serb regime or the Democratic League of Kosova.
11 We were an entirely independent institution, and we tried to reflect the
12 opinions of all parties in order to make clear the prevailing views.
13 Personally, I have conducted 21 interviews with all the Serb
14 opposition and ruling party leaders. That is the Socialist Party,
15 including Mihajlo Markovic, Radomir Bijodic [phoen], former Prime
16 Minister, Vukanic -- I can't -- I don't want to number them here, but
17 there are a total of 21 interviews, and in all of them, with the exception
18 of two or one of them, I think, the others said that the problem of Kosova
19 cannot be resolved without the engagement of the accused and another name
20 very close to him, Mr. Stanisic.
21 Q. All right.
22 A. That all the interviewees --
23 Q. That's, I think, all I need for the time being.
24 A. Okay.
25 Q. Did you attempt to interview the accused? Did you attempt to
Page 5384
1 interview the accused's wife?
2 A. In fact, I considered it as a very serious challenge for myself to
3 conduct an interview with the accused, because he was the main participant
4 in all the events in -- from 1987. But despite my insistence, I have
5 always received a negative answer or no answer at all.
6 Q. Thank you, Mr. Haxhiu, you will be asked some further questions.
7 JUDGE MAY: Yes. An exhibit number for the statements.
8 THE REGISTRAR: Your Honours, this will be Prosecutor's Exhibit
9 169.
10 JUDGE MAY: Mr. Milosevic, it's for you now to cross-examine this
11 witness, bearing in mind that much of the evidence is about background
12 matter. We've already expressed a view about that, that the relevant
13 matter in this case concerns the indictment, and any preliminary matter is
14 only of significance insofar as it relates to that. The political views
15 of the witness are irrelevant, and therefore, a political argument will
16 not be of assistance to the Trial Chamber. So if you would take this as
17 shortly as you think proper.
18 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Does that mean that the
19 cross-examination will be limited to one hour?
20 JUDGE MAY: Yes. This is a 92 bis witness. There was a bit
21 added. The normal rule is one hour. We will consider at the end of it if
22 there's any significant matter which needs covering, and also whether the
23 hour has been spent to proper effect. So that means an absence of
24 argument and repetition.
25 Mr. Haxhiu -- just one moment. Just one moment.
Page 5385
1 Mr. Haxhiu, could you bear in mind, please, when answering
2 questions, that time is limited and, therefore, if you would answer as
3 shortly as you properly can, that would be of assistance.
4 THE WITNESS: Okay.
5 JUDGE MAY: Yes, Mr. Milosevic.
6 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] I wanted, as a preliminary, to put a
7 question to you, because you said if the questions are appropriate. Do
8 you mean that some of my questions were inappropriate?
9 JUDGE MAY: Some of them, yes, because you tend to argue with the
10 witnesses and to repeat what's been said and go over the same ground
11 several times.
12 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Mr. May, I would like to get an
13 answer to my question. I only insist on getting an answer. I am not
14 aware of having quarreled with any witnesses, because these false
15 witnesses that are coming to testify do not merit me disputing -- having a
16 dispute with them.
17 It is now ten to ten. I'll see what I can do.
18 Cross-examined by Mr. Milosevic:
19 Q. You gave a statement to the investigators of the Prosecution, did
20 you not?
21 A. Yes, I did, a statement that was recorded in Prishtina.
22 Q. You spoke to an investigator whose name is Fred Abrahams; is that
23 right?
24 A. Yes. Yes. And apart from him, there was also someone else
25 present at that meeting.
Page 5386
1 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Would you please explain to the
2 witness, if I'm asking such direct questions, that his answers have to be
3 yes or no. I did not ask him about the presence others but only about
4 Fred Abrahams. His answer is yes, so I can move on.
5 JUDGE MAY: Yes. Bear that in mind, if you would, Mr. Haxhiu.
6 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]
7 Q. Did that person introduce himself as an investigator of the OTP?
8 A. Yes. The other person who was there present introduced himself as
9 by this name or in this capacity.
10 Q. [Previous translation continues]... about the other person.
11 However, in your statement, you say that you gave that statement to the
12 International Criminal Tribunal. Isn't that right?
13 A. Yes.
14 Q. And the person who interviewed you, did he introduce himself as an
15 investigator of the Tribunal or an investigator of the Prosecution?
16 A. He introduced himself as an investigator of the Tribunal.
17 Q. Thank you.
18 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Gentlemen, Messrs. May, Robinson,
19 and Kwon, I wish to indicate something because Fred Abrahams, the person
20 who appears here in the role of an investigator that the witness is
21 referring to, that same said Fred Abrahams, is a witness testifying on
22 behalf of Human Rights Watch here.
23 JUDGE MAY: Yes, we noted that and in due course you can ask Mr.
24 Abrahams about it if he gives evidence.
25 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] No, I'm not asking Mr. Abrahams, I'm
Page 5387
1 asking you whether someone who works at the same time as an investigator,
2 someone who is following all trials, and witnesses are not supposed to
3 follow trials, and who is a journalist of Human Rights Watch to appear in
4 the role of a witness here. In how many roles can a person appear in?
5 Only not in my case, apparently.
6 JUDGE MAY: Let's deal with that when it comes to Mr. Abrahams'
7 evidence.
8 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Yes, indeed.
9 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]
10 Q. You gave your statement in English. That is what you say in the
11 first paragraph of your statement. But in the last paragraph, on page 10,
12 it says, certification of witness: That the witness [sic] was read out
13 aloud to you in the Albanian language.
14 A. I gave the statement in English. That's fact.
15 Q. Well, how, then, was it read out to you in Albanian?
16 A. These documents, which is done in English, is also translated in
17 Albanian in this case. Every witness has a right to ask for that.
18 Q. I am glad to hear that. Do you think that that applies to Serbian
19 as well?
20 JUDGE MAY: That's not a matter for him.
21 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]
22 Q. If you made your statement in English and it was read out to you
23 in Albanian, does that mean that the statement was not read out to you at
24 the time you gave it but after a certain period of time, sometime later?
25 A. I gave the statement in my own home. It was recorded there. Then
Page 5388
1 it was read to me in my office at Koha Ditore.
2 Q. After how many days?
3 A. I don't really remember. I don't think it was important. I
4 really can't say how, exactly how -- when was that, after how many days.
5 Q. In any event, several days later; is that right?
6 A. Yes, that's right.
7 Q. You graduated at the faculty of law at the university in Pristina
8 in 1992; is that right?
9 A. Yes.
10 Q. However, it says in your statement that you graduated in 1991,
11 that you concluded your studies in 1991. Why the difference?
12 A. I did my studies at the regular university of Prishtina, but some
13 outstanding exams which I had, I gave them in a parallel university, those
14 exams which I couldn't take during the regular course of studies because
15 we were driven out of the offices of the faculty of law where I was a
16 regular student.
17 Q. And when were you chased out of the premises of the law faculty?
18 A. It was not that we were driven out, actually, but we were not
19 allowed to enter it in October 1981 -- in 1991. There were police forces
20 in front of this faculty building as well as in front of other university
21 buildings.
22 Q. And you are claiming that the police would not allow Albanian
23 students to enter the faculty premises in 1991?
24 A. Yes, that's correct.
25 Q. Please answer my question: Is it true that it was not that
Page 5389
1 tuition was suspended but there was a boycott by Albanians in response to
2 a call by separatist Albanian politicians in the country and abroad to
3 boycott everything under state control; in education, in health, in public
4 media, in economic enterprises and so on. Is that correct or not?
5 A. No.
6 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Your Honour, may I have a document
7 here which shows that in 1990 some municipalities of Kosova, all the
8 professors were withheld their pay, and after that, 680 professors of
9 Prishtina municipality were likewise withheld their salaries. And this
10 went on for 2.000 professors in Prishtina. I have documents here with me
11 to corroborate what I'm saying as to the number of professors who have
12 been -- who have been -- tied their hands. I have documents here. I
13 don't see it as a boycott. It seems unreasonable for me to boycott
14 tuition and education.
15 JUDGE MAY: Very well. We -- Mr. Haxhiu, we have the point. At
16 the end, the Prosecution can re-examine, and if they want to bring out any
17 points, they will.
18 Yes, Mr. Milosevic.
19 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]
20 Q. So you don't know anything about the boycott from the period
21 you're testifying about. You know nothing about the boycott I asked you
22 about, nothing at all?
23 JUDGE MAY: He says it wasn't a boycott.
24 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] I answered this question. There
25 wasn't a boycott. I'm a hundred per cent sure there was no boycott.
Page 5390
1 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]
2 Q. Very well, then. And do you know why some teacher does not
3 receive his salary? Do you know that salaries are usually not received
4 when one doesn't perform one's duties and that salaries are linked to
5 work? So are you claiming that those teachers and professors in schools
6 and universities that were not receiving salaries were performing their
7 duties and still did not receive salaries, or were they not performing
8 their duties?
9 A. Even when they were -- when I was at school in 1990, in Decan and
10 Podujeva and Vushtrria, the Serbian government stopped the teachers'
11 salary. This started in 1990, let us not forget. Later this was
12 reflected in all the towns of Kosova. I believe that the Serbian
13 government will have evidence of this.
14 And in 1991, only 17 per cent, only 17 per cent of schools were
15 able to accept Albanian students, only 17 per cent of the schools of
16 Kosova. The university buildings and high school buildings were banned to
17 Albanians because each of them were watched by two or three policemen in
18 front of the schools. I was a participant in these events and I am a
19 journalist.
20 Q. All right. Don't repeat what you've already said. You claim that
21 the policemen didn't allow you to enter. What I asked you was: Do you
22 claim that the professors that did not receive their salaries, that they
23 carried out their work duties and, in spite of that, did not receive their
24 salaries? That was the point and gist of my question. Did they perform
25 their working duties as teachers in the schools? Were they doing their
Page 5391
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12 Blank page inserted to ensure pagination corresponds between the French and
13 English transcripts.
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
Page 5392
1 job properly and did -- or weren't they doing their job and that's why
2 they didn't receive salaries? Which of the two?
3 A. I think that this is a game with words. They were unable to do
4 their work if they were unable to enter the buildings. And when they
5 started going to private schools, private houses, and they received their
6 salary from the 3 per cent that was paid by the Albanians in the
7 government of Mr. Bukoshi in exile.
8 Q. All right. So you're saying that it wasn't that they didn't
9 receive their salary because they didn't perform their work, but they
10 didn't receive their salary because they were thrown out and it was made
11 impossible for them to do their work, do their job; is that it?
12 A. I can only say one thing. The Official Gazette of Serbia laid
13 down clearly what the school curriculum -- I can't remember the exact
14 date, but it laid down what the plan -- the curriculum of Kosova should
15 be. Let me give an example. In the music schools --
16 JUDGE MAY: We're now going some way from the point.
17 Yes, Mr. Milosevic. Let's move on.
18 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]
19 Q. You mentioned the school curriculum. Was the school curriculum
20 the same for all children in Serbia?
21 A. In the Prishtina musical school, you introduced about 400 songs
22 that were in the Serbian curriculum, and this in a population that was
23 about 90 per cent Albanian. Is this an argument to bring in 400 songs
24 into the school of music? Let me not -- let me not even mention the
25 issues in history lessons and other subjects of that kind.
Page 5393
1 Q. Well, apart from music, were there any other problems? You
2 mentioned history. History, you said. So music and history, is it?
3 A. Yes.
4 Q. And tell me, please, do you know how many tens of thousands of
5 Albanian children went to the schools where tuition was in Albanian right
6 up until 1999? Are you aware of that? Do you know about that?
7 A. I don't know of any Albanian, any single Albanian going to the
8 schools organised by the Serbian government. I don't know of a single
9 one. If you know one, give me the evidence.
10 Q. So they weren't going to state schools.
11 A. It was impossible. It was impossible. The schools were blockaded
12 for the Albanians.
13 Q. I say they weren't. Very well. That's what you claim. Okay.
14 Now, in your statement, you speak about the fact that Rugova's
15 representatives of the DSK party controlled the Bujku paper and that they
16 manipulated the information distributed to Kosovo's Albanian population,
17 propagating the illusion that Kosovo would one day achieve its
18 independence; is that right?
19 A. I said that -- you have taken this out of context in my statement,
20 but I can say that the newspaper Bujku, in a kind of way, propagated the
21 policies of the LDK, the Democratic League of Kosova.
22 Q. All right. So before you started work to establish a new paper,
23 this idea was propagated, that Kosovo should achieve independence?
24 A. This idea was not propagated by Bujku, but it was quite simply an
25 idea that every Albanian in Kosova had, which was obvious. It wasn't
Page 5394
1 propagated as somebody's idea, but it was the idea -- it's part of an
2 everyday mentality of the people who have their ambitions and goals to
3 achieve, the idea of independence.
4 Q. Independence. And in that regard, you had a clear awareness of
5 the fact that in Kosovo there were Serbs living there too as well as Turks
6 and Muslims and Roma and Gorani, as well as the others. What about them?
7 Did you consider that that was of no importance?
8 A. I think that in Kosova, or in a democratic political system, the
9 majority decides in a referendum and that a part -- and it is clear that
10 the majority ethnic group support the idea of independence and that the
11 Serbian minority does not.
12 Q. Yes. But Kosovo is a part of Serbia. Is that something that you
13 have in your awareness, in your consciousness? Kosovo is not a state for
14 you to be able to speak about a majority community or a minority
15 community. Kosovo is a part of a state, and the name of that state is
16 Serbia.
17 A. I do not know that the state of Serbia is represented in Kosova.
18 Kosova is in the process of forming its own statehood, and Serbia, for the
19 moment, has no presence in Kosova, whether institutional or physical. And
20 what was once an illusion -- so now the return of Serbia to Kosova is now
21 an illusion, just as the independence was once apparently an illusion for
22 us.
23 JUDGE MAY: We're now getting a long way from the indictment,
24 Mr. Milosevic. Let's get back to the topic of this trial.
25 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]
Page 5395
1 Q. Please. Would you answer my question, this question: Do you
2 understand by that that you are now free?
3 JUDGE MAY: No. That's an irrelevant question.
4 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]
5 Q. And when you say that Serbia cannot meddle, do you imply the
6 occupation, a state of occupation at the moment of Kosovo and Metohija?
7 JUDGE MAY: That also is irrelevant. Mr. Milosevic, deal with the
8 time with which this indictment is dealing with, not irrelevancies.
9 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Very well.
10 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]
11 Q. So from your statement, it would emerge that in a situation where
12 independence was being propagated and in the situation in which you say
13 you know that the Serb authorities would not allow independence - so those
14 are the premises that you talk about - and also faced with a situation in
15 which you know, as you yourself say that the Serb authorities will
16 tolerate a parallel system which the Albanians have, therefore, what then,
17 in a situation of this kind, does your option mean to accept disturbances
18 of this kind for Kosovo to move ahead, risk shaking up the situation?
19 A. Let me only remark that the Serbian regime and the police had for
20 years humiliated the Albanians and had assaulted their dignity. They had
21 entered into every home. However, you, at the same time, tolerated a
22 parallel system in Kosova which did not offer a danger of changing the
23 situation that you had created.
24 The second element -- element, you tolerated what we might call
25 the -- Mr. Rugova's 32 square metres of independence. And this little
Page 5396
1 enclave of independence was subjected to extreme pressure. There was the
2 pressure of murders, of torture, and of crimes committed by your police.
3 So you were playing a double game.
4 And a third factor was the international community which found
5 this situation a comfortable one, on the one hand to --
6 Q. [Previous translation continues]... I'm not asking about the
7 international community now. What I'm asking you is this: I was asking
8 you about your readiness. You say you were ready to accept violence, to
9 opt for violence and shaking up the situation. So you were ready to opt
10 for violence as a means of achieving your political goal. Yes or no.
11 Yes or no.
12 A. Excuse me, I didn't say that in my statement. I said that Kosova
13 had to change the status quo, and the only institution that was -- which
14 was able to move in any way was the newspaper Koha Ditore, and it was able
15 to bring new things into this process, which didn't mean violence but
16 activism. Because the political process in Kosova had totally
17 degenerated.
18 Q. All right. You say that in 1991 -- you say that in 1991, the Serb
19 police closed down the student paper Bota e Re and that you moved to the
20 Zeri paper. How come the police closed down the Bota e Re, the student
21 newspaper, and it didn't do this to Zeri or Bujku and the others that were
22 well known at the time for their nationalistic and separatistic
23 orientation and so on?
24 A. There were two interventions in Bota e Re. The first one was
25 because we published three caricatures and the police intervened, and then
Page 5397
1 an article entitled "Kosova is not Serbia," and then the police intervened
2 and imposed compulsory measures, and you, the Republic of Serbia, imposed
3 a deputy of Assembly of Serbia as editor of Bota e Re.
4 I will not -- for personal reasons, I will not mention this
5 person's name.
6 Q. And what happened? Was perhaps this publisher a Serb?
7 A. What importance is that, when you introduce compulsory measures,
8 whether he was an Albanian or a Serb?
9 JUDGE MAY: Yes, this kind of argument isn't going to assist us.
10 Let's move on.
11 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Mr. May, I'm asking questions,
12 questions that refer to what the witness talks about in his statement.
13 JUDGE MAY: Yes, and you get into an endless argument. You have
14 got, so far, to page 1, paragraph 3 in the English, of his statement, and
15 you've been cross-examining for nearly half the time you're allowed. I
16 suggest we move on.
17 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]
18 Q. Did you leave Bota e Re because that same institution published
19 the Serbian paper Zeri, so you wanted this paper to become extinguished,
20 this student paper? Yes or no.
21 A. I don't understand the question.
22 Q. The question is: Did you leave so that Bota e Re could become
23 extinguished because it -- there was a parallel edition of Novi Svjet in
24 the Serbian language put out by the same institution? Therefore, you
25 extinguished this institution and moved on to another one which was a
Page 5398
1 purely Albanian institution where there was no parallel paper printed in
2 the Serbian language. Is that right or not?
3 A. Bota e Re was an institution where only Albanians worked. On the
4 other hand, there was Novi Svjet where only Serbs worked. I didn't go to
5 Zeri because there were only Albanians there, I went for other reasons
6 which I said, in fact.
7 Q. All right. Very well. Now, you say in your statement that in
8 1991, Television Kosovo was closed down. I don't know that Television
9 Kosovo ever existed. I know that Radio Television Pristina existed, for
10 example, within the composition of Radio Television Serbia, but Radio
11 Television Kosovo, that -- did it exist? Did Radio Television Kosovo
12 exist at all?
13 A. Excuse me for this semantic nuance, but there was -- Prishtina
14 Radio Television did exist and I said Radio Television of Kosovo. In
15 fact, it was Prishtina Radio Television that was closed and 1.300 workers
16 were dismissed.
17 Q. All right. And what about Radio Television Pristina, which is
18 within the frameworks of Radio Television Serbia just as Kosovo is within
19 the frameworks of Serbia? Did it continue after those dates that you make
20 mention of by broadcasting programmes in Albanian, in Serbian, in Turkish,
21 in Romany? So what I'm asking you is did it have, throughout this time,
22 that is to say from the time that you mentioned, did it broadcast all
23 those programmes both in Serbian, Albanian, Turkish and Romany, in all
24 those languages, where the editors who were Albanians, Turks, Romas,
25 Serbs, et cetera? Did it or did it not?
Page 5399
1 A. The programme was absolutely ridiculous. I just cannot imagine
2 how a state like Serbia could sink so low as to employ people who were
3 unable to read in the Albanian language.
4 JUDGE MAY: Mr. Haxhiu, if you would spare us the comment and just
5 concentrate on the facts, please.
6 THE WITNESS: But he made a comment.
7 JUDGE MAY: It doesn't matter. I'm asking you if you would
8 refrain from comment and just give us the facts.
9 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]
10 Q. So is it yes or no? I asked you did the Radio Television Pristina
11 have all these programmes and in all these languages, the languages of the
12 nationalities living in Kosovo? Yes or no.
13 A. It had programmes only in Albanian -- Serbian and Albanian and a
14 five-minute programme in Turkish.
15 Q. All right. But in Serbian and in Albanian. It had programmes in
16 those two languages and you confirm that, do you?
17 A. The Albanian programme was ridiculous.
18 Q. Now, do you know about the network -- that's another question,
19 whether it was ridiculous to you or not. That's a matter of criteria.
20 We're not discussing that here now.
21 JUDGE MAY: Don't waste time on things like that, Mr. Milosevic.
22 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]
23 Q. What about local stations? Did they exist? Those which broadcast
24 in Pec, Prizren, Kosovska Mitrovica, Orahovac, Djakovica, Gnjilane, that
25 broadcast programmes there, did those local stations exist? They didn't.
Page 5400
1 All right. With editorial offices and journalists and editors who were
2 Albanians and all these that I mentioned?
3 A. There was not a single radio station of that kind existed.
4 Q. All right. Which were the only ones, you say? Ah, I see, there
5 were none, not a single one. Now, you say that the paper Bujku, that was
6 under the control of Rugova's LDK, manipulated information and that it
7 propagated the illusion that Kosovo would achieve independence and that
8 therefore you were ready to accept the risk of shaking up the situation;
9 shaking up the situation, disturbing the situation.
10 A. You have the translation wrong.
11 Q. Well, usually those doing the English don't make mistakes.
12 A. I said we were in a position to promote the process and lead it
13 forward.
14 Q. Yes. Yes. I understand what you're trying to explain. Now, you
15 say that those who gained diplomas at the parallel Albanian university had
16 no prospects for getting jobs or moving on professionally because the
17 state did not recognise those diplomas. That's what you say. Now, do you
18 personally know of the case or the example of a single state that
19 recognises the diplomas, even those from legal universities, before they
20 are registered and recognised and certified? Do you think that a right
21 has been violated there?
22 Q. Is there any state that banishes all its pupils and -- pupils and
23 students from its school buildings? You asked for the reasons, and I give
24 you the consequences.
25 JUDGE MAY: Let us deal with the question. The question was the
Page 5401
1 diplomas.
2 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Well, he answered that more or less,
3 and it's not a vital point, but he did answer it indirectly.
4 JUDGE MAY: Very well. Let's try and move on from the early
5 1990s.
6 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]
7 Q. You talk about demonstrations. And you even say that the war in
8 Kosovo began on the 1st of October, 1998, when the students held their
9 first peace protest and that the goal of the protest was the application
10 of the agreement that was signed in September 1996 by Milosevic and
11 Rugova, and then you say that the Serb side did not implement what had
12 been agreed upon.
13 Now, as I assume you know that it was precisely in the application
14 of that agreement that tens of thousands of square metres were given the
15 technical faculty, the Albanological institute and so on were handed over,
16 and that the Serb side did in fact implement this, I'm asking you quite
17 specifically now and concretely whether certain elements among the
18 Albanians perhaps did not want to have the agreement applied because the
19 agreement was signed in their name by Ibrahim Rugova whom you yourself did
20 not recognise because, as you used to say, through his policy - and you
21 say that on page 1 of your statement - that the DSK or LDK, whose head he
22 was, propagated just an illusion that Kosovo would be independent and that
23 it was necessary to move forward. Now, you --
24 JUDGE MAY: Now, shorten this question. It's quite impossible to
25 deal with a question which has lasted a minute and more. What is the
Page 5402
1 question?
2 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] He can answer because --
3 JUDGE MAY: No.
4 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] -- he differs from other --
5 JUDGE MAY: No. There are at least two questions in that, if not
6 more. One of them was that the Albanians did not want to implement the
7 agreement.
8 Now, Mr. Haxhiu, is that right or not?
9 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] It's not right. We very much wanted
10 the agreement to be implemented, because if it were not, the process would
11 be radicalised and the whole -- also the level of tolerance would
12 degenerate down to zero.
13 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]
14 Q. I'm not talking about you personally now because you're not
15 testifying about yourself personally. I don't think you have anything to
16 testify about yourself personally. I'm asking you about the radical
17 elements who endeavoured to produce violence in Kosovo. Now, were they
18 opposed to the fact that Rugova's agreement should be successful, that the
19 agreement signed by Ibrahim Rugova should be successful? Yes or no.
20 A. I don't know what you're implying by "radical" forces. I know
21 that we were all concerned for the agreement to be carried out, because
22 this would show -- we see that the political process in Kosova was
23 radicalised and the intervention against the students was fatal for the
24 future of Kosova. It was the students who restored a fragment of the
25 Albanians' lost dignity and disputed the occupation that you imposed in
Page 5403
1 1989.
2 Q. Very well. You're now under occupation. You were not occupied
3 then. But you were under a similar occupation during Mussolini and during
4 Hitler. There's not much difference. Probably you felt free in those
5 days as well.
6 JUDGE MAY: This is a very long way from the indictment, indeed,
7 and it's time to adjourn.
8 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]
9 Q. Page 3 of your --
10 JUDGE MAY: We're going to adjourn now. It's time for the break.
11 Mr. Haxhiu, just to clarify one matter, you have clarified it in
12 your second statement: Your arrest, I take it, and the various meetings
13 took place in 1998; is that right? Not 1997.
14 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] It took place in 1997.
15 JUDGE MAY: That's the date of the first protest, is it?
16 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] On the 1st of October, the police
17 entered the premises of Koha Ditore.
18 JUDGE MAY: That is 1997.
19 THE WITNESS: 1997, yes.
20 JUDGE MAY: Thank you very much.
21 THE WITNESS: You're welcome.
22 JUDGE MAY: During the adjournment, Mr. Haxhiu, don't speak to
23 anybody about your evidence until it's over, please.
24 THE WITNESS: Okay.
25 JUDGE MAY: Mr. Nice, I ought to clarify the ruling on Dr. Baccard
Page 5404
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12 Blank page inserted to ensure pagination corresponds between the French and
13 English transcripts.
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
Page 5405
1 and make it plain that if you want to recall that witness, then it must be
2 done by way of an addendum to his report served in the normal way and so
3 everybody has the time to consider it and prepare, and in due course, if
4 you want to do it, we'll consider whether we'll allow him to be recalled
5 or not.
6 MR. NICE: Thank you.
7 JUDGE MAY: Yes. We will adjourn now for 20 minutes.
8 --- Recess taken at 10.32 a.m.
9 --- On resuming at 10.54 a.m.
10 JUDGE MAY: Yes, Mr. Milosevic. You've got three-quarters of an
11 hour more, which means you'll have nearly an hour and a half with this
12 witness.
13 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] So another three-quarters of an
14 hour; is that right?
15 JUDGE MAY: Yes.
16 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Very well. Let me try and be
17 expeditious in covering these remaining questions that I have.
18 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]
19 Q. So after this agreement that we referred to a moment ago, you
20 continued to fear a radicalisation of the situation with respect to the
21 attitude of the Albanians towards that agreement and in respect to Kosovo
22 in general; isn't that so?
23 A. Yes, that is right.
24 Q. After these demonstrations that you referred to, you said that it
25 was clear that there was no possibility for a peaceful settlement in
Page 5406
1 Kosovo with the Serbs and that that was the view of the Albanians. You
2 find that on page 3 of your statement.
3 A. Yes. I said after the unnecessary brutal intervention of the
4 police against the students who were staging peaceful demonstrations, then
5 I didn't see any other way out than the further radicalisation of the
6 situation in Kosova. This was my personal view and analysis of the
7 situation.
8 Q. Very well. Do you personally believe, because you say that was
9 your personal opinion, that the student demonstrations in which four
10 persons were taken into custody and when there were certain physical
11 contacts between the police and the students, do you believe that that was
12 the moment when the Albanians in Kosovo were beginning the war? Was
13 really that sufficient for the war to begin?
14 A. I think that a process was needed to tackle the radicalisation of
15 the situation. But in fact, there was a brutal intervention of the
16 police. That was not the only case that contributed to the radicalisation
17 of the situation. I can encounter here -- I can enumerate here many
18 instances to prove that the radicalisation of the situation started from
19 1987 until the time came for the emergence of the KLA.
20 Q. Very well. But if on the 1st of October, 1998, you organised the
21 demonstrations with the aim of implementing the agreement on education,
22 tell me, then, why do you think there were demonstrations in Pristina and
23 other places in Kosovo? For example, in 1981, which lasted for quite some
24 time, when at the time 800 elementary and secondary schools were working,
25 at the time more than 600 Albanian, more than ten faculty departments with
Page 5407
1 separate tuition --
2 JUDGE MAY: We're now going backwards. Just one moment.
3 Mr. Haxhiu, just one moment.
4 Mr. Milosevic, we're now going backwards in time, and we've had
5 another beginning of a question.
6 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] I'm trying to link certain things
7 up, and my direct question is:
8 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]
9 Q. Is it true, then, that the aim of the demonstrations on the 1st of
10 October, 1998, was not the education agreement but, as in 1981, Kosovo
11 Republic or an independent Kosovo? Yes or no.
12 A. I didn't say that the participants in these demonstrations did not
13 aspire to independence at a point in time but I said that they protested
14 being banished from entering the premises and protesting the insult
15 perpetrated against them for a long time. I can talk to you about the
16 demonstrations staged on the 1st of October.
17 Q. Very well. You also stated that in those days, that is in 1998,
18 you had not even heard of the so-called KLA, and you make no mention of it
19 in your statement. Do you know what kind of crimes and do you know of any
20 examples of terrorism carried out by this organisation that you hadn't
21 heard of on the 5th [sic] of October, 1998, which you indicated as being
22 the date when the conflict in Kosovo started?
23 A. I didn't say that I didn't know anything about the KLA in 1998,
24 but I said up to the moment that the students started their
25 demonstrations, I knew nothing about the existence of the KLA.
Page 5408
1 Q. So that is October 1998.
2 A. No. It is October 1997, not 1998. The demonstrations started in
3 1997, October the 1st, but the education agreement was signed in 1996.
4 Q. The 1st of September, yes.
5 JUDGE KWON: Excuse me. When was the date when you were arrested?
6 Is it 1997 or 1998?
7 THE WITNESS: 1997.
8 JUDGE KWON: Thank you.
9 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]
10 Q. So up to then, up to those demonstrations, you hadn't heard of a
11 single killing, kidnapping, or any other crime or act of terrorism by the
12 KLA, and you hadn't heard of the KLA.
13 A. Yes, indeed. I never heard of KLA up to the 26th of November,
14 1997. That was when I heard and I wrote for the first time my first
15 article on the KLA, titled "Someone Has Been Fighting in Lubovec."
16 Q. Very well. You have devoted almost half of your statement to
17 conversations that, together with Bakalli, as you say, had with people
18 from the State Security Service. In those conversations, did you
19 represent anyone in your organisation or were you participating as an
20 ordinary citizen?
21 A. I was arrested. I was interrogated in the building of the state
22 security. After many questions, which lasted for two hours, then one of
23 those present there asked me, "Is there someone from your side - from the
24 Albanian side, that is - who can be our interlocutor?" I answered that,
25 until now, all the dialogue and conversations conducted have been
Page 5409
1 unsuccessful because they have been conducted by people who have been on
2 the sidelines, and if you are really serious about holding a dialogue with
3 us, then I can take civic courage and I will assume also my personal and
4 public responsibility to find out -- to ensure that we establish such a
5 dialogue, for many reasons. We had the example of Bosnia, Croatia, the
6 murders there --
7 JUDGE MAY: Just try -- Mr. Haxhiu, just try and concentrate on
8 the questions. So the answer is that you were not representing anyone in
9 an organisation but participating as an ordinary citizen.
10 THE WITNESS: As a citizen. I had a responsibility for that.
11 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]
12 Q. You also said that in those conversations -- about those
13 conversations, you regularly informed Mr. Hill, in the US embassy in
14 Belgrade, and Mr. Norman, also a diplomat in the US embassy with whom you
15 cooperated throughout that time.
16 A. We did not cooperate. We had friendly contacts with the aim that
17 we prevent the outbreak of a war in Kosova. That was our goal. I don't
18 like the play of words of saying "collaboration" so it sounds rather more
19 like a Balkan conspiracy than something which is really of interest to
20 discuss. It is true that I had discussed this issue with Hill, Bujar
21 Bukoshi, Fehmi Agani and others, but we discussed a crucial issue; how to
22 stop the war from breaking out in Kosova. That was the crux of the
23 matter. And each and every one were interested to prevent that from
24 happening, all these people that I mentioned.
25 Q. Very well. So you're explaining this as not being cooperation but
Page 5410
1 friendly relations, and I understand your explanation. But let us now
2 clarify this point regarding your arrest.
3 You said that you were taken to the premises of the State Security
4 Service. However, it emerges from your statement that this was an
5 information interview. So you were not arrested.
6 A. It was right. When I was taken there, I realised that it was an
7 information talk which, in Kosova, was a common phenomena. Tens of
8 journalists underwent similar procedures like me. And I may say that
9 those who were with me in that room behaved very correct with me.
10 Q. So they treated you correctly. They had this conversation with
11 you to gain information. You were not arrested. They were courteous with
12 you, as you yourself say in your statement, the only thing was that you
13 were a bit nervous.
14 A. Yes, that's it, because in light of the prevailing situation and
15 the way I was taken from the editorial office premises, it was rather
16 aggressive. The police came there to fetch me. But when we actually
17 arrived there in that building, they were, as I said, very correct towards
18 me.
19 Q. Very well. So whatever I have just said is correct. The
20 policemen told you clearly then that they didn't want any conflict, that
21 they wanted to take steps to avoid a conflict and so on.
22 A. Yes. That was my impression.
23 Q. Please answer my direct question now: Did they ask you to
24 establish contact or was this something that you offered to do?
25 A. No. They simply asked me if we could find the proper way to start
Page 5411
1 negotiations. I promised that I will try, and then, for this, I needed to
2 have my civic, public responsibility and courage, because in fact there
3 was no one to stand up for Kosova. And we who knew, who were informed of
4 what was going on, who were working in the newspaper, we received
5 information from Serb, Albanian, international sources and we knew that it
6 was impossible to undertake an uprising against a state machine and a
7 military power like Serbian one was. And having this civic responsibility
8 and courage, I said -- I promised them that I will see what I can do,
9 because I was someone who had some influence, and I worked in an
10 institution which was independent, like the Koha Ditore is. And Veton
11 Surroi was another editor who also had a great influence at that time.
12 So therefore, this was why I accepted to try and find someone who
13 could negotiate between the Serbs and the Albanians. So I think I had
14 enough arguments to try and do that.
15 Q. Will you please give me a direct answer to my question, and it is
16 a very simple one with a yes and no: Were you a cooperator of the state
17 security or not?
18 A. No, never. I only met your security service people three times;
19 once in Bakalli's home, once in Brezovica, and another time when they took
20 me and interrogated me.
21 Q. Very well. And they told you explicitly that they wanted to
22 assist in establishing a dialogue to avoid a conflict; isn't that right?
23 That's what you say?
24 A. Yes.
25 Q. However, you said that the situation was extremely tense and that
Page 5412
1 you were afraid of an open dialogue precisely because of the existence of
2 extremist groups which would not approve of such a dialogue; isn't that
3 right?
4 A. We tried. I gave you the reasons why I tried to do; because of
5 what had happened in Bosnia, because the Serbian state was very powerful
6 militarily, and there was no one to stand up for Kosova. We had tens of
7 arguments why we should enter into dialogue, and none of -- no arguments
8 against it. This was why we had -- we felt we had to start dialogue. And
9 I think this dialogue did not start because people around you didn't want
10 that to happen.
11 Q. Yes. But you say on page 4 that you were afraid of a frank
12 dialogue because of extremist groups.
13 A. I think that in April or May 1997, efforts were made to establish
14 this dialogue with the Serbs. Mr. Agani tried to do with that Mr.
15 Duhanovic and Tanic, but efforts were unsuccessful in New York and in
16 other attempts made. Since the intervention against the students had
17 provoked a revolt, a large scale revolt in Kosova every open form of
18 dialogue in Belgrade or Prishtina we thought would be unsuccessful. I
19 stated this at the peace institute in the United States, the State
20 Department, Voice of America, in Serbian/Croatian language in an interview
21 I gave to that radio.
22 Q. I understand, but I was just drawing your attention to what you
23 said, that you were afraid of a frank dialogue because of the existence of
24 extremist groups. That is in your statement.
25 JUDGE MAY: He's given his explanation. Let's move on.
Page 5413
1 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]
2 Q. So you attended the conversations conducted by Stanisic with
3 Bakalli and you.
4 A. Yes. But before that, we held another meeting with Gajic and
5 Hadic, whom we never invited nor asked to come, but they offered to come,
6 thinking -- we thought that Mr. Stanisic is part of the group. But when
7 we saw them coming to Bakalli's home, we couldn't turn them back.
8 JUDGE MAY: Mr. Haxhiu, just deal with the questions you're asked,
9 please.
10 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]
11 Q. Did Stanisic make any threats against you at those meetings or was
12 he -- did he treat you decently and enter into a dialogue with you?
13 A. [Previous translation continues]... Hadic were very severe with
14 us. I think they came to Bakalli's home to show their force. They
15 referred to projects which were shocking to us. Stanisic was something
16 else.
17 Q. So Stanisic did not threaten you.
18 A. No, he didn't. Only Hadic kept pointing his finger at me.
19 Q. I'm talking about the meeting with Stanisic. Very well. So
20 Stanisic did not threaten you with any kind of violence against the
21 Albanians. Isn't that right?
22 A. Let me go back and make a digression. Stanisic said that we won't
23 accept the option you offered, which was Kosova Republic. He said there
24 is no one around Milosevic who will accept this alternative, and I am
25 saying you that if you pursue it, we will end up in war. That was
Page 5414
1 expressly what Stanisic said. But he also said that, "I will personally
2 see to it that you have your university and academy. But as to the status
3 of Kosova Republic, forget about that. There are nationalist people
4 around Milosevic who will invoke a war if you ask for that."
5 Q. Please. Please. I asked you a very clear question. Stanisic did
6 not threaten you with any kind of violence against the Albanians during
7 those interviews.
8 JUDGE MAY: He has given his answer.
9 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] But I am asking this because he is
10 the only participant apart from Mr. Bakalli, Mr. May. And Bakalli
11 explained here that Stanisic allegedly threatened them.
12 JUDGE MAY: You put the matter -- you put the matter to him and he
13 has --
14 Just one moment.
15 THE WITNESS: Yes.
16 JUDGE MAY: And he's answered in the words which Stanisic used.
17 Now, that is an answer to the question.
18 Now, Mr. Haxhiu, what do you want to add, briefly?
19 THE WITNESS: Just I want to answer this: [Interpretation] Mr.
20 Bakalli said here that not Stanisic but Gajic and Hadic said -- and
21 threatened 600 and -- 463 villages which would be burnt, "If you did not
22 give up the options you put forward." Stanisic did not mention the burnt
23 villages, but it was the two representatives who came at the meeting with
24 Stanisic. I can say that they were both fat bureaucrats, and their
25 position was a stupid one.
Page 5415
1 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]
2 Q. Very well. But Stanisic was the main speaker, not they, and he
3 did not make any threats to you, and we can confirm that and move on.
4 To go back to Koha Ditore, you say that in March 1999, it was
5 punished. On the 22nd of March, it was fined 500.000 dinars. You called
6 this a disgrace for the international minister, who started proceedings in
7 the court in which you were fined; isn't that so?
8 A. I was sentenced to four -- 435.000 marks equivalent in dinars,
9 and I consider this to be a disgrace for a minister of information. More
10 over, the judge who sentenced me told me that he was obliged to give me
11 the sentence because this had come from Belgrade. And this was the main
12 issue for me, because he had no evidence at all.
13 Q. It says that you were fined 500.000 dinars. That is what you told
14 the Beta agency.
15 JUDGE MAY: What page?
16 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Let us ask the witness.
17 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]
18 Q. Were you fined 500.000 dinars?
19 JUDGE MAY: No. I want to find it in the statement.
20 THE WITNESS: Mr. May, in the second statement --
21 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Isn't this a statement on his part
22 when he says it is correct that he was fined 500.000 dinars?
23 JUDGE MAY: Mr. Milosevic, we will get on better, if you are
24 cross-examining on a statement, if you tell the Court where it is that
25 you're referring to. It's fair to the witness, but it's also important
Page 5416
1 that we can follow the points that you're trying to make.
2 Now, I've yet to find where this is.
3 MR. NICE: Can I help? The addendum has a reference to the fine
4 on the second page, the third paragraph.
5 JUDGE MAY: Yes. Thank you.
6 Yes, go on.
7 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Very well. The witness has
8 confirmed that he was fined 500.000 dinars.
9 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]
10 Q. And as far as I was able to understand from information I
11 received, 410 was the fine for your newspaper and 110 you personally.
12 A. I don't know what the dinar equivalent is, but that seems to be
13 accurate.
14 Q. So 500.000 dinars, the equivalent in German marks. If you
15 remember in 1999 the rate of exchange was 13 dinars to one German mark, so
16 it could have been a couple of tens of thousands of marks. Isn't that so?
17 So not 200.000 marks, as it says here, if I said it -- if I saw it
18 correctly. Whether it is in the addendum or somewhere else, I don't know,
19 I'm not sure.
20 Yes, in the addendum.
21 JUDGE MAY: Yes, we have the point. We have -- we have the point.
22 Now, let's move on.
23 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]
24 Q. So we've cleared that up as well. The newspaper was fined because
25 of articles it carried, and the media wrote that the proceedings were
Page 5417
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12 Blank page inserted to ensure pagination corresponds between the French and
13 English transcripts.
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
Page 5418
1 instituted because the article provoked a national intolerance. Isn't
2 that right?
3 A. Information we got from the court, that is true, but we don't know
4 with what article we incited racial hatred.
5 Q. So you were punished for provoking national intolerance and
6 hatred, and in your statement to the Beta agency, you called it a disgrace
7 for the minister of information of Serbia. Isn't that right?
8 A. Yes.
9 Q. So less than a year after that, on the 9th of February, 2000, the
10 head of the civilian mission in the UN, Mr. Kouchner, issued a decree,
11 saying that anyone who publicly provokes hatred, conflict, or intolerance
12 between ethnic groups will be fined heavily, up to a prison term of five
13 years, and in special circumstances, it can go up to eight years, and if
14 it is systematically done, up to ten years of prison. So I assume you're
15 familiar with that decree.
16 How then do you feel as an intellectual, a journalist, a free
17 journalist, a fighter for the freedom of the press, consider this fine of
18 a couple of thousand German marks, you call this a disgrace, and here you
19 have this same matter sanctioned by --
20 JUDGE MAY: This is turning into a speech. Now, what is the
21 question? Put it shortly.
22 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]
23 Q. The question could roughly be the following: How did it happen
24 that in less than a year you should be transformed to such an extent that
25 the fine of 400.000 dinars for you -- for your newspaper and 110.000
Page 5419
1 dinars for you personally, you call it a disgrace, and a decree that
2 provides for punishment up to ten years you consider acceptable?
3 A. The question of Kouchner has never been the means to punish any
4 journalist because there has never been any need, just as no Serbian
5 government ever sentenced Hashim Thaci for his news conferences. And we
6 reported Hashim Thaci's news conferences in our newspaper. So why should
7 I be convicted for carrying them in the paper?
8 JUDGE MAY: We're now moving into the realms of irrelevance. If
9 you want to ask him about that particular incident, you can, but trying to
10 compare it with other matters does not assist. I suggest we move on.
11 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Very well. Let us move on so as not
12 to waste time.
13 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]
14 Q. Is it true that you were informed about the beginning of the
15 bombing and that you then went to Tetovo, Macedonia, and continued to
16 publish your newspaper there?
17 A. To tell the truth, after the 18th of March, I wore a shirt reading
18 "NATO, just do it." And even today, it seems to me incomprehensible why
19 we didn't sign Rambouillet and --
20 JUDGE MAY: You were asked, Mr. Haxhiu, about going to Tetovo and
21 continuing to publish. Now, will you please deal with that question and
22 that alone.
23 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Yes. I left Kosova on the 2nd of
24 April, and I was in a cellar in Kodra e Diellit neighbourhood, and there
25 were -- with 30.000 inhabitants of that neighbourhood. We were all
Page 5420
1 expelled on the same day, with a family and a child whom I did not know,
2 and we travelled to Tetovo by car and came out in Macedonia. In
3 Macedonia, I organised the newspaper Koha Ditore in exile, and this was
4 distributed to the refugees in the camps in Macedonia and in Albania.
5 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]
6 Q. We finally got an answer to my question. You fled to Macedonia
7 and you continued to publish the newspaper in Macedonia; isn't that right?
8 A. I didn't flee. I was expelled. The whole neighbourhood was.
9 JUDGE MAY: Let us not argue about that. He said he was expelled.
10 It's quite plain.
11 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Very well.
12 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]
13 Q. Only five days after the beginning of the NATO aggression on the
14 29th of March, there was a report that you had been killed. Do you
15 remember that?
16 A. Yes. I saw it on television when I was in the cellar. And I
17 think it was Komodor Velbi [phoen] who made a statement saying that, in
18 Kosova, Fehmi Agani, Baton Haxhiu and three other intellectuals had been
19 executed. I heard the report as other people did. I don't know where the
20 information came from.
21 Q. Very well. My question is: At the time, you were in Macedonia,
22 and on the 7th of April --
23 A. No, no, no. No. On the 29th, NATO stated that I was dead, at a
24 news conference. I at that time was in a cellar in Kodra e Diellit in
25 Prishtina, with three families.
Page 5421
1 Q. On the 7th of April, you stated for the independence that you
2 could not deny the report on the radio because you had to hide for five
3 days in a basement in Pristina. That's what you stated. And if on the
4 7th of April you were already in London and you made yourself heard in
5 London, does that mean that you went to London straight from that cellar
6 or did you first go to Macedonia?
7 A. After the cellar, we were four days in the hills near the border
8 with Tetovo, and we left Kosova, and on the next day I went to Germany and
9 met German Foreign Minister Mr. Fischer, and immediately from Germany I
10 flew to London and met Mr. Cook with a group of intellectuals, and then
11 until the 18th of April I went to France and met the French Foreign
12 Minister. And I didn't stay a single day in Macedonia after arriving
13 there.
14 Q. When did you deny this false NATO report that you had been
15 executed by the Serbs? When did you deny that report?
16 A. I denied this on the 6th or the 7th of April on Deutsche Welle, at
17 the 1530 broadcast, because the telephone links with Prishtina were cut
18 and it was impossible to phone. And third, I was very frightened of
19 announcing that I was alive. This is obvious.
20 Q. All right. What you want to say -- what you're saying is that you
21 were late in denying it, not because you were saving credibility of NATO
22 information, these false ones, but because physically you weren't able to
23 make a statement earlier, before the 7th of April?
24 A. It seems a rather sad statement to make, but everybody in Kosova
25 at that time was dead. We were impotent, in cellars, and with no idea of
Page 5422
1 what would happen to us. Anybody who was announced as being dead, this
2 was a useful and relevant kind of information at this time.
3 Q. All right. Tell me this: In what capacity were you in the state
4 of Virginia in July 2000; as a member of the delegation of Albanians or as
5 a journalist? In what capacity?
6 A. There were two meetings, in Eli House in Washington and at
7 Lansdowne.
8 Q. I was just asking you in what capacity.
9 A. I represented civil society. I have the documents with me, and
10 you can see what I presented in -- at Eli House and at Lansdowne.
11 Q. All right. On the 26th of May, 1999, you took part, in the throes
12 of the bombing in Yugoslavia, in Ljubljana at a meeting called Who is that
13 Singing There? It was the fund opened by the association of Slovenia
14 while your paper was coming out in Macedonia, and at that time you praised
15 the NATO bombing; is that right? You supported it.
16 Now, do you consider, Mr. Haxhiu, with all these activities of
17 yours, that you were a part of the scenario not to support any kind of
18 negotiations or, rather, to give a pretext for the NATO pact aggression
19 against Yugoslavia? Do you consider that you were part of that scenario
20 and a participant in that scenario?
21 A. Can I ask something? Why did not you, the Serbian delegation --
22 JUDGE MAY: Can you just try and deal with his questions. What is
23 suggested, it appears, is that you were a part of -- part of a scenario,
24 it's described, that was set up, which seems to be some sort of conspiracy
25 which was set up to give a pretext for the NATO aggression, as it's
Page 5423
1 called, against Yugoslavia. Now, was there any conspiracy, plan, or
2 pretext of that sort?
3 A. Absolutely not. Absolutely not. This is the Balkan mentality.
4 People in the Balkans always think of conspiracies. Life in the Balkans
5 is a conspiracy. And --
6 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]
7 Q. All right. Not to waste time. You said no, so let's move on.
8 Now, at the time you're describing on page 5 of your statement,
9 you say: "It was clear to all the Albanians that to demand full
10 independence could lead to war and that moderate Albanians had the
11 position that to demand independence can lead to war."
12 A. We considered that the problem of the status of Kosova would be
13 solved by a process, and the insistence on immediate independence led to
14 conflicts, and we asked for a process in a very sophisticated and
15 continual fashion, and indeed a dignified manner.
16 Q. All right. You indicate the existence of great demands for
17 independence and that an obstacle to the public negotiations was fear of
18 extremist groups therefor, that is to say groups in favour of the use of
19 violence in order to achieve their political goals; is that right or not?
20 A. I would like to explain. Please do not take matters out of
21 context. We are not dealing with extremist forces here or the threat of
22 extremist forces. We are dealing with your lack of will and your -- the
23 lack of will on your staff to solve the problem of Kosova. That's clear.
24 You personally dramatised and made an icon out of Kosova as a problem, and
25 the obstacle was here.
Page 5424
1 Q. All right. So what I'm claiming is not correct; is that it?
2 A. No.
3 Q. Very well. Now, as you mentioned the Koha Ditore paper, is it
4 correct that Ibrahim Rugova called upon the citizens of Suva Reka to join
5 the KLA and give contribution to the fund to finance the KLA and that this
6 was in the summer of 1998 in that paper, through that paper?
7 A. Rugova did not like to mention the KLA, and Rugova mentioned the
8 KLA after the war, and this statement does not exist.
9 Q. But in the talk you said you had with the representatives of the
10 security service, as far as I was able to understand on page 7, last
11 paragraph, they mentioned armed Albanians fighting against the state; is
12 that right?
13 A. The KLA was not mentioned. Armed groups were mentioned.
14 Q. Fighting against the state. Well, the KLA is the so-called KLA
15 because it was a terrorist organisation, in fact. That's quite clear.
16 A. That's your idea. I think that the KLA was the product of the
17 incessant repression by the Serbian state, and a group that, in a way --
18 JUDGE MAY: We're not going to go into that. We're not going to
19 go into that for the moment, the various characterisations. You were
20 asking about the meeting. Yes.
21 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]
22 Q. All right. You say at the end of 1977 [sic], no Albanian wanted
23 to accept any kind of autonomy or any kind of negotiation except about
24 independence; is that right?
25 A. Right.
Page 5425
1 Q. So in 1997.
2 A. Right.
3 Q. Very well. The ultimatum for an independence was something that
4 every Albanian wished for, and you knew that any solution to the status
5 quo of Kosovo would lead to an open conflict, and you talk about that in
6 the appendix to -- addendum to your statement, and it is the Prosecution
7 number 030363047; is that right?
8 A. Could you put the question again? Because it's not very clear to
9 me.
10 Q. Well, it has to do with the fact that you said that no Albanian
11 wanted to accept anything but independence; is that right? And then --
12 A. There were -- there was an element of flexibility in this, but
13 there was not a lot of courage.
14 Q. All right. Through violence, then. And that conflict is
15 something that you wished for and wished to provoke. Is that right or
16 not?
17 A. Who?
18 Q. With some structures in the West. Is that right or not?
19 A. No, no. No, no. This is ridiculous.
20 Q. It isn't. All right. Now, it was your position that regardless
21 of who was at the head of Serbia, that the problem was in fact Serbia and
22 that it was the Serbian mentality when it came to the relationship towards
23 Kosovo. So your position was that I was created by Serbia.
24 A. Yes. There was an article I published in a book called "Kosova"
25 in Washington --
Page 5426
1 JUDGE MAY: Very well.
2 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]
3 Q. All right. You've answered my question.
4 JUDGE MAY: Mr. Haxhiu, we're getting away from the indictment.
5 Mr. Milosevic, your time is coming to an end. You can ask one
6 more question.
7 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] I have five more minutes, as far as
8 I can see here, Mr. May.
9 JUDGE MAY: No, you haven't. You have one more question and then
10 you will have had your 45.
11 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]
12 Q. I must now refer to the addendum to the statement in English that
13 I received last night, with just a few points, just a few points, please.
14 I'm not going to take up much time in discussing it.
15 So you said that you saw me in Slovenia in 1990 and you were among
16 a group of journalists when there was the conference of six
17 representatives of the republics of the former Yugoslavia.
18 A. We were just this kind of distance from one another.
19 Q. All right. As a journalist asking questions, then. And you say
20 here that you asked me a question, and it was: "When would Kosovo
21 Albanians be handed self-determination in Kosovo Republic?" That's what
22 it says here in the statement.
23 A. Yes.
24 Q. Now, a moment ago when you were talking, you said that you had
25 asked me, "When are you going to leave behind the chauvinist positions and
Page 5427
1 give us Albanians the right to self-determination," et cetera, et cetera,
2 which is something that you don't make mention of in your statement and
3 I'm sure you couldn't have asked me something like that at the time using
4 those words and that language but let's go back --
5 A. Of course look at the transcript, because you are -- a hundred per
6 cent you were asked this question.
7 Q. All right. Now, please, do you consider that national minorities,
8 that ethnic minorities in any country can, by expressing their rights to
9 self-determination, secede from that state?
10 A. This is a dogmatic view. I don't think we should dwell on this.
11 JUDGE MAY: The views of the witness are not relevant. Now,
12 you've got one more question.
13 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]
14 Q. All right. Do you know how many European states would fall apart
15 if their national minorities had the right to self-determination?
16 JUDGE MAY: If those are the questions you're going to ask, I'm
17 bringing this to an end.
18 Mr. Kay, have you any questions?
19 No. Mr. Milosevic, you've had more than enough chance.
20 Yes, Mr. Kay.
21 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] I have three more minutes, and it
22 refers to --
23 JUDGE MAY: No. I'm going to ask Mr. Kay if he has any questions.
24 MR. KAY: Yes.
25 Questioned by Mr. Kay:
Page 5428
1 Q. I'm looking at the second statement of the witness, served 22nd
2 May, and I'm looking at the passage which reads as follows. I'll read it
3 out for your benefit, Mr. Haxhiu. "It is my opinion that the birth of the
4 KLA was the product of Serbian repression towards Albanians, of inert
5 international policy, and of Ibrahim Rugova's desire to preserve the
6 status quo. After the Prekaz massacre in 1998, the KLA grew from a very
7 small number to more than 20.000 men under arms."
8 And it's that matter that I want to ask you questions about. Do
9 you understand? It seems that there was a rapid growth of the strength of
10 the KLA from 1998 to 1999. Is that right?
11 A. Yes, that's right.
12 Q. When you say that there were 20.000 men under arms, in what
13 context do you mean that? Twenty thousand as a military force or 20.000
14 dispersed between military and living as civilians? Can you explain that
15 to the Court?
16 A. I may explain it. In 1997, when I wrote an article in my
17 newspaper, I didn't see more than 100, let's say, KLA soldiers. Following
18 the Prekaz and Likoshan massacres, the revolt spread out all over Kosova
19 and everyone thought it could find solutions by taking to the mountains
20 and they rallied around this armed group which was called KLA.
21 We think that this was the first step to restitute a lost dignity
22 and fie the occupation, Serb occupation of Kosova. And the growth in
23 number of the KLA is due to the murders perpetrated against children,
24 women, elderly. This is the response of every Albanian who thought that
25 some resistance should be put up to the Serb regime.
Page 5429
1 Q. You've given us a lot of background there. I'm interested in
2 detail. So please don't repeat the background again as we waste time.
3 A. Okay.
4 Q. We understand what you would say, all right? So 20.000 men, then,
5 is that men in the hills, with weapons? Is that what you mean? Not
6 citizens living in villages? How do you put that figure of 20.000?
7 A. A group of journalists, international journalists, and some of us
8 visited the mountains near Malisheva. There was a burial ceremony there.
9 We saw a long line of people -- of soldiers and males who were waiting to
10 be -- to join the KLA. I can't say accurately whether -- if there was --
11 if there were 20.000 people, but something like that. It was in May 1998.
12 Q. Twenty thousand men under arms, and presumably the support for the
13 KLA, including those not under arms, you would put as a bigger figure
14 again?
15 A. I didn't say that all of them were armed, but some of them were
16 sympathisers. Some were members of the KLA. Some were dressed in
17 civilian clothes, some of them were dressed in military uniforms and with
18 the KLA logo.
19 Q. Thank you. You answered my last question there.
20 MR. NICE: A few matters arising in relation to the questions
21 asked by Mr. Kay.
22 Re-examined by Mr. Nice:
23 Q. The restoration of dignity by the KLA - it's also in the second
24 statement you made - what had removed the dignity of Kosovo Albanians?
25 A. The dignity of the Albanians was broken. They were debased in
Page 5430
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12 Blank page inserted to ensure pagination corresponds between the French and
13 English transcripts.
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
Page 5431
1 Kosova. They started in 1987. Just to give you some examples,
2 constitutional amendments --
3 Q. Very short.
4 A. The constitutional amendments by force, the isolation of 300
5 intellectuals, banishing students from entering school premises,
6 systematic repression, and the entry of police forces in every house,
7 failing to implement the education agreement, the generation of the
8 political process in Kosova, the fleeing of 500.000 Albanians from Kosova
9 up to 1997 because they didn't find employment there, and the brutal
10 intervention against the students; all this led up to the establishment of
11 the KLA which in some way restored our dignity and contested the
12 occupation, Serb occupation of Kosova.
13 Q. Thank you. Back to a few questions arising from questions of the
14 accused. It was suggested at one stage that you had been ready to opt for
15 violence. Just yes or no, had you personally been ever ready to opt for
16 violence?
17 A. No, never. Never were we in favour of violence. We always were
18 in favour of peaceful solutions. I have done this also in my site that I
19 have opened on the Internet to promote Serb/Albanian dialogue.
20 Q. You were anxious at one stage in the questioning to say something
21 about the Albanian language television programme. I'd like you to confine
22 your answer to one sentence and preferably a short one: What was the
23 characteristic of the Albanian language television output that you found
24 unsatisfactory?
25 A. I think when it -- the television was closed and replaced by the
Page 5432
1 Albanian speakers. I don't know where they found those people, but the
2 syntax of the Albanian language they used was outdated, incomprehensible,
3 and the translations were absolutely translations using a Serb syntax.
4 Q. Was it an output that was likely to impress and cheer Albanian
5 listeners or not?
6 A. This was done in the framework of a Goebbels plan initiated by
7 Serb nationalists and translated in Albanian by Albanian speakers who were
8 working in the Radio Television of Prishtina.
9 Q. The man Tanic, you spoke of his being involved in negotiations. To
10 what degree was he a serious participant in these negotiations?
11 A. Tanic was -- we were together with Mr. Tanic and a group of Serbs
12 in 1992 in Orid [phoen] at a conference organised by Boris Vukobrad, in
13 Paris. I never met that person ever since, but the way he talked about the
14 problems seemed -- gave me the impression that he was well-informed about
15 the situation and the Kosova issue because he had a friend in Belgrade who
16 was an Albanian journalist, and --
17 Q. [Previous translation continues]... was he actually -- was he
18 participating in the discussions in a serious way?
19 A. Yes.
20 Q. Is it correct in answer to a question from His Honour Judge Kwon,
21 a detail about --
22 A. Mr. Nice, [Interpretation] he was -- Mr. Mihajlovic
23 and Tanic kept constant contact with Fehmi Agani as of 1993, and as the
24 man who kept the contacts between them was Farim Strihiu [phoen], an
25 Albanian journalist in Belgrade.
Page 5433
1 Q. You corrected a date about your arrest, or you clarified a date
2 about your arrest. Just for the avoidance of any doubt, in your
3 statement, you speak of your understanding being that the war began on the
4 1st of October of a particular year. What year do you say it was that the
5 war really began?
6 A. Politically speaking, the war started after the intervention of
7 the Serb police against the students in the fictitious sense of the word
8 but in real terms, it started with the massacre perpetrated against
9 Likoshan.
10 Q. At the meeting with Stanisic and the two more heavily-built men
11 who made threats that you described as not serious, did Stanisic expressly
12 dissociate himself from the threats of the other two men, including the
13 man Hadic?
14 A. Stanisic was aware of all what was said by Gajic and Hadic.
15 Mr. Hadic was very arrogant, very brutal, and he turned towards me and
16 said, "If you make this public, then you will end up where you deserve."
17 Mr. Hadic -- in fact this group that is composed of two bureaucrats, was
18 very brutal.
19 Q. [Previous translation continues]... did Stanisic dissociate
20 himself from the threats to which they referred?
21 A. No. No, absolutely not.
22 Q. Then two last questions, one about the fine. There was a certain
23 amount of room for uncertainty, I think. You've set out in your addendum
24 statement, in Deutschmarks, a figure for how much you say the newspaper
25 was fined and how much you were fined. The accused has drawn your
Page 5434
1 attention to the figure of 200.000 Deutschmarks. Can you remember or tell
2 us how much the fines were?
3 A. Mr. Nice, you cannot understand the inflation rates -- rate then
4 in Yugoslavian state. Deutschmark kept fluctuating. Within a day, this
5 inflation, for example, was 40.000 -- worth 40.000 Deutschmarks that day.
6 On the next day or after two or three days, it went down to 25.000
7 Deutschmarks. So under these conditions, it's very difficult for me to
8 give a precise figure.
9 Q. But as to whether it was a very substantial sum of money, as
10 200.000 Deutschmarks would always be, or a much more modest sum of the
11 scale the accused is suggesting is reflected, what do you say? Was it a
12 substantial fine or a comparatively trivial one?
13 A. It was very high fine. Earlier on, two other newspapers in
14 Belgrade were fined. I think it was Vreme and Danas, if I'm right. I'm
15 not sure about Danas. The third newspaper to be fined and warned to be
16 closed down was Koha Ditore, but we were unable to pay that amount of
17 money.
18 Q. I think the fine has never been paid, has it?
19 A. No.
20 Q. The judge told you that he had to fine you because he was told to
21 do so by Belgrade. That's the way you put it in evidence. Did the --
22 without guessing, first of all, did the judge explain things in any more
23 detail than that or were these exactly the words he used?
24 A. I said Bajram Kelmendi was my lawyer two days before he was
25 murdered, and he addressed Mr. Kelmendi. He said, "Mr. Kelmendi, I know
Page 5435
1 that this is not right, not just, but I have received orders from Belgrade
2 and I have to carry out the order." Even though it was Sunday, a holiday,
3 they took us to the judge's office to communicate the decision that we
4 were fined because of an article.
5 Q. Did you - just yes or no to this, please - did you understand what
6 he meant by saying that Belgrade had given this instruction? Just yes or
7 no.
8 A. Yes, we understood.
9 Q. Right. It was just yes or no. Would that understanding be based
10 on previous experience of a similar kind or would it be based on a general
11 understanding of the political situation at the time?
12 A. I think that there were similar occasions going on -- cases going
13 on in Kosova courts.
14 Q. Do you have - and again just yes or no - do you have any hard
15 evidence to show where the instructions from Belgrade were coming from,
16 whether they were coming from the judiciary, from the administration, from
17 an individual, from another body? Just yes or no, do you have hard
18 evidence to say where the instructions were coming from?
19 A. No. I can't say, but this is what he told us. "I have orders
20 from Belgrade." He didn't show us any proof or any evidence.
21 MR. NICE: I'm obviously content to go and ask the next question
22 but in the circumstances unless the Chamber wants me to, I don't think I
23 will.
24 JUDGE MAY: No.
25 MR. NICE:
Page 5436
1 Q. And finally, you were asked about connections to NATO at the time
2 that you'd been reported as dead when you were in fact in hiding. At the
3 time that you were in hiding, did you have any connection, practical,
4 whether by radio or otherwise, with NATO or any members of NATO?
5 A. I have never had any connections with NATO, neither did I have any
6 physical possibilities to communicate with my neighbour, let alone with
7 NATO.
8 MR. NICE: Those are all the questions I ask arising from the
9 cross-examination.
10 Questioned by the Court:
11 JUDGE KWON: Mr. Haxhiu, up to quite recently, you were known to
12 us under a pseudonym as K28. Do you know that?
13 A. No.
14 JUDGE KWON: Didn't you apply for the protective measures?
15 A. [No translation]
16 JUDGE KWON: Were there any threats or danger in regards to your
17 testimony?
18 A. No. There has never been any threats because I've never had
19 anything to hide. Some media has written some prattle about me.
20 JUDGE KWON: If Mr. Nice could assist us.
21 MR. NICE: I'll make clarify that. I'll make inquiries and
22 clarify, perhaps after the break, and I'll certainly I'll retain the
23 witness long enough to ensure that anything that arises from the
24 clarification can be dealt with.
25 JUDGE KWON: Thank you.
Page 5437
1 JUDGE MAY: Mr. Haxhiu, that apart, in case there are any
2 questions about that, but apart from that, that concludes your evidence.
3 Thank you for coming to the International Tribunal to give it. You are
4 now free to go.
5 THE WITNESS: Thank you.
6 [The witness withdrew]
7 MR. NICE: The next witness is one to whom I had hoped to speak
8 this morning before he came to give evidence. In the event, I haven't
9 done so and haven't been able to ask him a couple of questions arising
10 from his summary that I would prefer to do. I don't think it's possible.
11 And the summary has just been served. It's a rather long summary but I'm
12 happy to tell the Chamber that nearly all of the material in the early
13 pages has been covered by other witnesses and so I'll be able to go
14 through it very quickly. It's one of those statements that might
15 conceivably have been dealt with on a partial 92 bis basis but we decided,
16 in light of his position, not to. So I was going to wonder if the Chamber
17 might consider taking a slightly earlier than usual break.
18 JUDGE MAY: Yes.
19 MR. NICE: May I make a correction to something I said this
20 morning in relation to Dr. Baccard's possible giving of evidence about the
21 other report, other forensic report. I said that that evidence had been
22 disclosed. The position is that it was disclosed in full and in colour to
23 the amici on the 6th of February. At that time, a black and white copy
24 only was served on the accused because he wasn't looking at or using his
25 materials at all and it was thought better to save the colour version for
Page 5438
1 provision to him at a time when it became more likely to be useful to him.
2 His approach has, of course, now changed, as we now know. We will -- we
3 are in a position and will serve the colour version on him today.
4 JUDGE MAY: But as far as I understand it, Dr. Baccard's comments
5 are something knew; is that correct?
6 MR. NICE: Correct. They'll have to be the subject of a further
7 report if we decide that we wish to seek to add his evidence at a later
8 date.
9 JUDGE MAY: Yes. Well, that seems to me the proper way to deal
10 with it.
11 MR. NICE: And if we do that, if we do that today, we'll be in
12 time within 30 days from now.
13 JUDGE MAY: Very well. We'll adjourn now. Twenty minutes.
14 --- Recess taken at 12.02 p.m.
15 --- On resuming at 12.24 p.m.
16 [The witness entered court]
17 JUDGE MAY: Yes. Let the witness take the declaration.
18 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] I solemnly declare that I will speak
19 the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
20 JUDGE MAY: If you would like to take a seat.
21 WITNESS: ADNAN MEROVCI
22 [Witness answered through interpreter]
23 Examined by Mr. Nice:
24 Q. Your full name, please. Can we have your full -- it may be a good
25 idea if the witness puts the headphones on, I think. I know you
Page 5439
1 understand English.
2 A. It's okay. It's okay for me.
3 Q. Very well. Could you tell us your full name, please.
4 A. My name is Adnan Merovci.
5 MR. NICE: Your Honour, the summary that's been provided in 12
6 pages, I think it is, is one that I can deal with, I think, very summarily
7 so far as the first six or seven pages is concerned.
8 As to background, I hope I may be permitted to lead.
9 Q. Were you born in the Vucitrn area, studying electrotechnical
10 engineering at Pristina, graduating in 1981, thereafter working for the
11 Associated Bank of Kosovo in Pristina?
12 A. That's right.
13 Q. In 1983, did you start compulsory military service which you
14 completed, returning to your job in the bank until 1990, when you were
15 dismissed in circumstances we'll hear about shortly? Correct?
16 A. That's right.
17 Q. And as we're going to discover, you were, for several years, the
18 personal assistant to Dr. Ibrahim Rugova, the witness who we saw a few
19 weeks ago?
20 A. That's right.
21 Q. By way of clarification and in order to explain why I'm skipping
22 over certain paragraphs, Your Honour, although the witness deals with the
23 Kosovo Polje events in paragraph 2, Mr. Merovci, were you actually present
24 there yourself or not?
25 A. No, I was not present personally, but I followed it in the media.
Page 5440
1 Q. In which case I can go to paragraph 3, the background of ethnic
2 tensions.
3 Before you lost your job, while you were still at work, in work
4 was there any deference of one side to the other? If so, how? Or of one
5 group to the other.
6 A. At the time we're talking about, that's after 1981, relations at
7 work and human relations between the Serbs and Albanians were tense. And
8 the Albanians respected the Serbs in daily life and at work. Personally,
9 I worked in an office with members of the Serbian community, and we were
10 very polite to them. I can cite only one example in a group whenever a
11 meeting was held and there was only one Serb was present, the Serbian
12 language was used so that one person in the middle of ten others should
13 not feel discriminated against.
14 Q. Paragraph 4 but over the page. Television output, did it have any
15 effect on relations between Albanian Serbs -- Albanians and Serbs? I beg
16 your pardon.
17 A. At this time, propaganda in the mass media had its effect. It was
18 propaganda dictated from above, and it was propaganda that treated the
19 Albanians as second-class citizens, and it favoured the Serbs and
20 described the Albanians as a people perpetrating injustices against the
21 Serbs. This is what it was like.
22 Q. Give us, just in a sentence, what if any would be the effect of
23 such output on relationships at work in a mixed community on the day or
24 days following output of the type you've described.
25 A. In fact, at this time, relations were at a minimum and might be
Page 5441
1 described as proper on the surface, but they were in fact tense because of
2 the events of these times and because of the propaganda that was directed
3 from above. And any event that happened was described in a false way and
4 this had an effect on working relationships.
5 Q. We've heard a great deal about the revocation of Kosovo's
6 autonomy, and we've heard of the arrest of the man Vllasi. After his
7 arrest, was there a movement of Serbs into Kosovo?
8 A. As I said, the initiative, the constitutional changes were issued
9 for public discussion, and the people of Kosova expressed their discontent
10 at the prospect of these changes. And at this time I was employed in the
11 bank and was a member of the Independent Trade Union which mainly dealt
12 with workers' rights. And we, too, as bank workers, expressed our
13 discontent at the constitutional changes, the changes to the constitution
14 of 1974.
15 Q. You mentioned in your statement and in the summary the speech at
16 Gazimestan, but again were you present? Just yes or no.
17 A. If -- if I may be allowed, the previous question you mentioned
18 Vllasi, who was the political boss of Kosova and the man who in the
19 political structures mounted the greatest opposition to the constitutional
20 changes, and he paid with prison for all the things he did.
21 Q. Yes. But we've had this evidence, you see, from elsewhere.
22 A. Okay. [Interpretation] As for Gazimestan, this was
23 an event of a nationalist character. It was an event involving --
24 Q. [Previous translation continues]... follow what may seem to you to
25 be tedious instructions. Yes or no, were you there?
Page 5442
1 A. No, I was not.
2 Q. We've had the evidence from other witnesses, so unless you're
3 asked about it by the accused, I'll move on.
4 We know of the creation of the LDK party. Did you become active
5 in it from an early stage, and indeed, did you take the position initially
6 as part-time assistant to Dr. Rugova while you were still working at the
7 bank?
8 A. From the foundation of the Democratic League of Kosova on the 21st
9 of October, 1989, I was an activist or a part-time activist. And when I
10 was dismissed from my job, I became a very involved activist, involved
11 full-time in the work of the LDK.
12 Q. Let's move towards the loss of your job, but first of all, tell us
13 this: At work, were you a member of the trade union, and indeed did you
14 hold office in the trade union at the bank?
15 A. Yes. We tried -- we tried hard to defend workers' rights because
16 this was a period when the rights of Albanian workers, too, were
17 threatened.
18 Q. At this time, 1989, were there measures that I think you described
19 as emergency measures in place, and if so, what effect did they have on
20 Albanian employees at work?
21 A. This was a time when the Serbian regime wanted to take economic
22 control of Kosova, and in this sense, in the bank where I worked,
23 emergency measures were imposed, and as a result of this step, about 300
24 workers were dismissed in the entire organisation of the bank, and only 60
25 Albanians were left, and not one Serb was dismissed from his job at this
Page 5443
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12 Blank page inserted to ensure pagination corresponds between the French and
13 English transcripts.
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
Page 5444
1 time.
2 Q. A couple of other things: The measures of which you speak, did
3 Albanians have to indicate their acceptance of those measures in some
4 particular way?
5 A. In fact, these measures were of an entirely political character,
6 and the imposed management was directed by the regime and tried by means
7 of some simple operations, supposedly merely of a contractual nature, to
8 dismiss the Albanians en masse. I could produce evidence of this. In one
9 case, the imposed authorities tried -- tried to dismiss all the workers
10 from the bank.
11 Q. Back to the question: How did the Albanian workers have to show
12 they acknowledged, if this is the case, these emergency measures?
13 A. The Albanians understood these measures as being political ones,
14 even though, in the bank where I worked, they tried to explain them as a
15 part of -- part of the bank accountancy measures.
16 Q. It's my mistake for not being clear, obviously. I'm going to move
17 on. It may not apply to people in the bank but was there anything a
18 person had to wear to show their acknowledgement of measures?
19 A. Sixty workers were left from 400 previously, and they were all
20 mainly experts in their professions without whom the bank wouldn't have
21 been able to work. And I was one of them to start with, for a few days --
22 Q. All right.
23 A. -- because I used to work in the computer centre.
24 Q. I'm not making myself clear. My fault, Mr. Merovci. We're just
25 going to move on, I think.
Page 5445
1 Despite the cut in number of Albanian employees, were other
2 workers taken on in the bank, and if so, what nationality or what group
3 were they from?
4 A. At this time, there were cases in which other employees were taken
5 on, and these were Serbs. And not a single Albanian, as I said before,
6 was ever employed later, and not a single Serb was dismissed. On the
7 contrary, we have cases in which other Serbs were engaged.
8 Q. Where did these new Serbs find to live when they got a job in the
9 bank?
10 A. Could you repeat the question, please?
11 Q. Yes. These incoming Serb workers at the bank, where did they find
12 to live?
13 A. These people who were employed, we're now talking only about the
14 time when emergency measures were taken, because some Serbs indeed even
15 came before this time as part of the programme to bring Serbs to Kosova,
16 and there were Serbs brought from Serbia; and in my office, sometime
17 around about 1986, a colleague of mine came who knew nothing about the job
18 but who had every privilege, and he was not competent and decided to leave
19 himself. His name was Budimir Kavacic, and he was a chemist.
20 Q. Mr. Merovci, again probably my fault, but the simple question was
21 where did they find to live; how did they find apartments, matters of that
22 sort? And you've replied how they had every privilege.
23 A. They came and lived in flats assigned to them by the company,
24 mainly outside Kosova.
25 Q. Now, you lost your job, as you've already told us. What was the
Page 5446
1 cause, what caused you to lose your job?
2 A. I was involved in the computer centre, and I was removed along
3 with all the other Albanians in the bank because of the bank clearance
4 system, but a few days before, my supervisor summoned me to his office and
5 said that, "You will have to choose between your job and politics,"
6 because he had seen me on television with Mr. Rugova. And my response
7 was, "This has no effect on the work I do, and my political activities are
8 free and are my personal affair." But after this, the following day I
9 received the decision on my desk for my dismissal.
10 Q. Albanian police officers, were any of those to lose their jobs?
11 Were any retained? And if so, on what terms?
12 A. The police of Kosova, which had been largely Albanian, most of
13 them left their work, refusing the orders brought by Belgrade. There were
14 some who were dismissed in various different ways.
15 Q. Paragraph 13. Dr. Rugova was to become president following a
16 referendum. And did you become his full-time assistant or personal
17 secretary?
18 A. In 1992, that is after the referendum, there were presidential and
19 parliamentary elections, and I was a person who was a close colleague, in
20 the technical sense, of Mr. Rugova. I was his personal secretary.
21 Q. As to the result of those elections, how do you say they were
22 dealt with by the authorities in Belgrade? Were they -- were they
23 recognised? Were they tolerated? How would you describe it?
24 A. The Democratic League of Kosova was formed as a result of the
25 tolerance extended to the pluralist system in the old federation. It was
Page 5447
1 what you might call a bona fide party. And after this, elections were
2 held, but these elections were not accepted by the regime and nor were
3 they internationally recognised. But nevertheless, these elections were a
4 continuation of the institutions of Kosova under the previous system so
5 that there would not be an institutional vacuum. And the absolute
6 majority of Kosova citizens organised elections at which the LDK and
7 Rugova won a majority and Mr. Rugova won an absolute majority as president
8 of the Republic of Kosova.
9 Q. Paragraph 14. In the late spring or early summer of 1995, did you
10 find yourself in the police headquarters of Pristina?
11 A. That's true. In 1995, I was summoned by the Serbian secret
12 service in Prishtina to what was called an interview for three days, three
13 successive days.
14 Q. The apparent objective of those interviewing you being what?
15 A. The pretext to summon me was an absurd one and was not what the
16 real purpose of the interview was. The real purpose was to ascribe to my
17 work and through me to the -- to Dr. Rugova and to implicate Dr. Rugova in
18 a supposed creation of a Ministry of Interior which was not part of the
19 Republic of Kosova at all.
20 Q. You were interviewed for three days but you were not detained
21 further?
22 A. I was held for three days, and after three days, I was released
23 without being imprisoned.
24 Q. Were you presented with any document to sign in the course of this
25 exercise?
Page 5448
1 A. At this time, my position near to Mr. Rugova was very important to
2 the security service, and most Albanians summoned to interviews of this
3 kind were offered the chance of cooperating with the security service.
4 And it was sort of offered to me but in a more subtle way.
5 Q. All right. We'll move on from that.
6 In September 1995, did you find yourself involved with the police
7 when you did land up spending time in custody?
8 A. Yes. In September of the same year, that is 1995, I was summoned
9 by the same service. I refused to go there without having an official
10 warrant. Then they warned me that they would resort to other means and
11 ways. And one day the police stopped me on the street and told me to go
12 there, and from there I -- there I was arrested. After the arrest -- this
13 was a Thursday. It was not a coincidence, but it was deliberately done to
14 detain us there during the weekend. And on Monday, they continued -- they
15 said I would be staying -- and they kept me there for 30 days on the
16 pretext that I was in possession - I don't remember even today - on
17 possession of arms, of an arm, that is, three, four years ago. In fact,
18 I offered to buy an arm, which was never found on me, was never
19 confiscated, and was never used by me but in a statement of a person whom
20 I don't know --
21 Q. We don't want to retry the whole issue. Were you eventually
22 imprisoned for six months?
23 A. Yes. I was imprisoned. My lawyer, the late Bajram Kelmendi,
24 appealed for my release, and I was released after 60 days. And my family
25 to pay to put in my houses as a guarantee for my release.
Page 5449
1 Q. And was the conviction dealt with on appeal and was it overturned?
2 A. After this time, the second instance court refused -- revoked this
3 punishment. Then I was sentenced to six months of probation, but it was
4 revoked by the second instance court on account of absence of evidence.
5 Q. Okay. We're going to move on from that. Thank you.
6 Paragraph 16 I can deal with briefly. We've heard about the
7 education agreement, we've heard about the meeting of Dr. Rugova and the
8 accused at the White Palace. I think you went there but you stayed
9 outside with the accused's chief of security; is that correct?
10 A. Yes, that's correct.
11 Q. Paragraph 17. By 1998, were you concerned that you and Dr. Rugova
12 were being followed from time to time?
13 A. Yes, that's right.
14 Q. Could you calculate what was the reason for your being followed?
15 A. I think that we were being followed by secret services which knew
16 everything about our activity in details. I have noted that. The
17 Democratic League of Kosova was a legal party, and it made use of this
18 possibility for conducting legal activities, which in my view were a
19 jewel, I would say.
20 So in this way, there were very few pretexts or reasons for
21 mistreating me.
22 Q. Why do you think they were following you or why were you being
23 followed?
24 A. Because I was a key person in the technical structure of the
25 president, the then-president of the Republic of Kosova's office.
Page 5450
1 Q. I think you can speak, if asked, about the treatment you received
2 at the Macedonian border on your return to Kosovo from trips abroad.
3 A. Yes.
4 Q. Don't worry about that now. Just yes, and if anybody wants to
5 know, they can ask you.
6 A. Yes.
7 Q. Likewise at paragraph 19, did you become aware of what seemed to
8 you a build-up of troops of the VJ near Suva Reka at one stage?
9 A. Yes.
10 Q. Again, you can answer detailed questions about that, if asked.
11 Was there an agreement between the accused following meetings or
12 following meetings of Dr. Rugova with the American Ambassador Walker? Was
13 there an agreement to withdraw troops?
14 A. The agreement between the accused and the -- Mr. Rugova, there
15 wasn't at that time. It was an agreement between the accused and Mr.
16 Holbrooke, in fact.
17 Q. Were you -- were you aware of the terms of that agreement?
18 A. I was aware as much as I could through the media. I knew that it
19 was an agreement on reducing as much as possible the Serb forces in
20 Kosova, and on allowing a Verification Mission of the OSCE led by
21 Mr. Walker.
22 Q. Did you get regular reports from the Kosovo information centre
23 that enabled you to check whether the accused was sticking to the
24 agreement?
25 A. The centre for information in Kosova was an institution to provide
Page 5451
1 information to the public in all areas, mainly about the developments at
2 that time, and we had correspondence covering all the parts of Kosova.
3 Q. Were the terms of the agreement the accused had made with
4 Ambassador Holbrooke being honoured?
5 A. In fact, this agreement was never made public to -- in details,
6 but only it was referred to. Opinions were given about it. And we saw
7 that a commission of the OSCE verification in Kosova was established.
8 Q. Very well. You went to Rambouillet as head of the Federal
9 Secretariat, I think?
10 A. Yes. I was part of the delegation.
11 Q. We've heard a lot about that so we're going to go over to page 6
12 and paragraph 23. Was everybody bar one person of the Albanian delegation
13 ready to sign the agreement at the conclusion of the talks?
14 A. In the first attempts made by the Kosova delegation, which worked
15 jointly with the others, there was in fact minimal consensus reached, with
16 the exception of Mr. Thaci, who had his reservations and who for some days
17 kept postponing the signing of this agreement. In fact, it was not signed
18 at that meeting. It was -- a letter of intent was signed, saying that the
19 actual agreement would be signed in two weeks' time, after consultations
20 to be held in Kosova.
21 Q. Yes. During that period of time and between then and the later
22 meetings in Paris, I think, did you notice a change in the level of troops
23 in Kosovo?
24 A. At this two weeks' period, which in fact turned out to be three
25 weeks, despite the Holbrooke agreement, the Serb forces made use of this
Page 5452
1 period to occupy Kosova. Normally, these forces came mainly in the night.
2 And I can prove their deployment with the reports of our correspondents
3 who kept reporting on their movements all over Kosova.
4 Q. Same period of time, did you notice a change in the composition of
5 the police units or in their presence in the area?
6 A. The Serb forces and what we could see in the streets intensified
7 the so-called notorious checkpoints, as they call them. The structure of
8 the police force was various, that is in terms of uniforms and technique
9 and armaments they used or carried.
10 Q. Very well. Typically, how were they dressed, the police who you
11 noticed at this period of time?
12 A. They were police donned in uniforms, in combat alertness. They
13 wore green uniforms, blue uniforms, while the special forces usually wore
14 green uniforms.
15 Q. So then we come to the Paris meeting. We've heard about that so I
16 needn't trouble you with it save for this: Following the meeting, did you
17 travel to Brussels and meet General Wesley Clark? Paragraph 27.
18 A. Personally, I didn't travel there, but the other group went there.
19 Q. I needn't trouble you with that. On your return from Paris, I
20 think you went first to Tirana in Albania.
21 A. Yes.
22 Q. You went and found your way back into Kosovo. Did you notice
23 Albanians already leaving the territory?
24 A. During my trip from Skopje to Prishtina, through the border of
25 Hani i Elezit, we were the only ones travelling, going into Kosova by car.
Page 5453
1 And we saw many cars leaving Kosova. They were mainly cars belonging to
2 foreign organisations and civilians who were leaving Kosova with their
3 families.
4 Q. Did you notice VJ personnel at tunnels on the highway?
5 A. Yes. But they were invisible, so to say, because it was a latent
6 period, we then trying to pretend that everything was in order in Kosova,
7 but in essence, the situation was quite different.
8 Q. What did you actually see the VJ personnel doing?
9 A. They were hiding, mainly in the mountains. I saw them on the road
10 from Hani i Elezit to Prishtina, and in one instance, they stopped us at
11 the crossroads leading to Viti. They conducted a routine check on us.
12 Q. Did you see them doing anything at any tunnel, please?
13 A. When we entered Prishtina, we saw that Prishtina was unlike
14 before, with a fear prevailing everywhere. And we saw the presence of
15 Serb forces like never before.
16 Q. And you can't remember anything special about what they were doing
17 at any tunnel?
18 A. Are you talking about the day when we returned? This is all I
19 saw. If you are asking me about the period up to the beginning of the
20 NATO airstrikes, because we returned on the 21st and the bombing started
21 on the 24th. During these three days, the situation was very tense and
22 insecurity reigned everywhere. This was due to the demonstration of
23 military and police force and their movements and activities, as I said,
24 which were never seen before.
25 And to be more specific, they were present mainly in public places
Page 5454
1 where people usually go, because --
2 JUDGE MAY: I don't think we're going to get this particular
3 point. It's impossible.
4 MR. NICE: No. We'll move on.
5 JUDGE MAY: Yes. Move on.
6 MR. NICE:
7 Q. Paragraph 29. When you got back to Pristina, did you see any
8 irregular or paramilitary forces, and if so, what were they doing?
9 A. Yes. We saw people carrying different weapons, civilians, people
10 without hats with green jackets, as if they belonged to some formations,
11 with their weapons on their shoulders, or sometimes they carried it on
12 their hand and demonstrating, making their presence very obvious.
13 Q. What, more particularly, if anything, were they doing to property
14 or to people?
15 A. During those days, in public places, in bakeries where people
16 lined up to get loaves of bread or in various restaurants, coffeeshops,
17 they started to show off their force and to destroy these places that
18 belonged to the Albanians in Prishtina. This was the time when many
19 explosions occurred and many restaurants and coffeeshops were destroyed
20 which belonged to the Albanians.
21 Q. Had there been a cellular telephone system available to Albanians
22 until then?
23 A. Communication with mobile phones was interrupted for Kosova. This
24 happened mainly after the beginning of the NATO airstrikes.
25 Q. Very well.
Page 5455
1 A. As well as the fixed telephone lines.
2 Q. 24th of March, the beginning of the bombing, did several prominent
3 Albanians lose their lives? If so, can you name those who did?
4 A. After the NATO bombing, that night, the late Bajram Kelmendi was
5 killed with his two sons. He was arrested in his own home, and he was
6 liquidated --
7 JUDGE MAY: We've had evidence about this.
8 MR. NICE: Yes.
9 Q. And were others killed? You've listed them in your --
10 A. Yes. The wisest and most outstanding people promoting peaceful
11 movements were killed; Latif Berisha, Agim Hajrizi from Mitrovica.
12 Q. And what was the effect of those deaths on --
13 A. The aim of the deaths or murders was to strike terror among the
14 population by killing those wise men, as I said.
15 Q. Paragraph 32. Did there come a time shortly after the bombing
16 started when Serb MUP turned up at Dr. Rugova's house? And I think you
17 let them in; is that right?
18 A. Yes, that's right.
19 Q. Now, Dr. Rugova was upstairs and you stayed downstairs, so what
20 you'll tell us will be new. Don't take long over it, but just tell us
21 what happened to you and what did you hear these Serb MUP people saying?
22 A. The neighbourhood where Mr. Rugova lived was called Velania, and
23 after the neighbourhood was purged of its inhabitants, the turn came for
24 Rugova's house. An armoured unit came. The number of the police and
25 soldiers was somewhat around ten, I think. They broke down the doors of
Page 5456
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12 Blank page inserted to ensure pagination corresponds between the French and
13 English transcripts.
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
Page 5457
1 his courtyard and the door of his home. I came down of the upper floor
2 and I told them that there are people here, and then I raised my hands up
3 in the air. I was maltreated by them. And when I told them that this is
4 the house of Mr. Rugova, they said that, "We are doing your job, and this
5 is the man who has been the first to ask for NATO bombing."
6 Q. How long were you kept there by these people?
7 A. On the ground floor I was mistreated, as I said, beaten for about
8 an hour, and then they ordered me to call the entire family that was
9 upstairs, which were Mr. Rugova and his family, two of his cousins with
10 their families, myself, my wife. We all went down and for four hours we
11 were detained there without water, without bread, without allowing us to
12 go even to see to our natural needs. And there were even young children,
13 a baby of six months old. A policeman --
14 Q. We've heard a little about this. I think -- were you subsequently
15 instructed as to what you were to do next?
16 A. May I --
17 Q. Yes. Later that day, did somebody else arrive and instruct
18 Dr. Rugova what he was to do next?
19 A. Yes. Later - it was about four hours later - a police official
20 came, and I asked him what was his name. He said, "Jankovic from Suva
21 Reka."
22 Q. I'm going to cut you short because we've heard about this. You
23 can give the detail, if necessary, but the upshot of it all was that on
24 the following day, the 1st of April, in accordance with what you were told
25 to do, you left, under police escort, for the White Palace in order to see
Page 5458
1 the accused; correct?
2 A. Yes, that's correct. It was in the evening.
3 Q. Right. Then at the White Palace, because we can get straight
4 there, the Judges don't need to hear the same account twice, save in
5 respect of important matters. At the White Palace, the beginning of the
6 encounter with the accused, I think you were out of the room and you were
7 with the accused's chef de cabinet, Goran Milenovic; is that right?
8 A. Yes, that's right.
9 Q. When did you join the meeting? Top of page 9.
10 A. Yes, I joined the meeting --
11 Q. Tell us, please --
12 A. -- during the last part.
13 Q. Tell us, please, what passed between you and the accused, if
14 anything.
15 A. I was invited by Mr. Rugova to be present at that meeting, and he
16 asked me about a press release that the accused asked him to sign. I said
17 that the press releases usually are not signed. Usually they are not
18 signed. And then I communicated with the accused and raised my concern
19 over the dismissal, over the expulsion of the Albanians from Kosova, which
20 at that time was about 700.000, and that -- I told him this is something
21 which must threaten him too. I told him of my concern over the
22 liquidation - at least this is what they were said to be - of some
23 collaborators of Mr. Rugova - Hajrizi, Kelmendi - and the accused
24 ironically took a pencil and wrote the names on a packet of cigarettes and
25 said that, "I will see how to find out what has happened to them." And
Page 5459
1 then when we were discussing why Albanians were leaving Kosova, I said
2 that there are two arguments we have to focus on; why Albanians -- we have
3 to find out why Albanians are leaving Kosova and going to Montenegro when
4 bombing is going on there, and why not a single Serb from the northern
5 part is leaving Serbia when they are, too, afraid of NATO like us but
6 still not leaving their place.
7 These were two arguments which I presented to him while he was
8 claiming that Albanians were leaving Kosova because of NATO and not
9 because of, in fact, his police and military forces.
10 Q. When you refer to the north part, you're referring to Vojvodina?
11 A. Yes.
12 Q. And at that time, was bombing being suffered by those in Vojvodina
13 as it was in Kosovo?
14 A. The bombing was throughout the territory of Montenegro, Serbia,
15 and Kosova.
16 Q. Yet were any of the inhabitants of Vojvodina fleeing in the way
17 that they were fleeing from Kosovo?
18 A. There was not a single case that I have heard of. And I have
19 never heard of any citizen, apart from the Albanians, leaving Kosova. The
20 Albanians left Kosova because of the repression and the special kind of
21 warfare and the expulsion of the Albanians, house by house, giving them
22 five minutes' time to get out.
23 Q. Did the meeting at which you were present include some reference
24 to further progress by way of agreement, possibly by way of an interim
25 agreement?
Page 5460
1 A. The accused attempted to use Mr. Rugova at this meeting as -- for
2 some kind of political propaganda, but at this meeting too, Mr. Rugova
3 said that a third party is vital and this -- and after Rugova's political
4 liquidation, his physical liquidation would not be an important matter.
5 Q. Yes, but whether for purposes of political propaganda or
6 otherwise, was something said by the accused about an agreement?
7 MR. NICE: Paragraph 35, for the Court.
8 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] If this is this press statement that
9 is under discussion now, that Rugova said that a peaceful path was
10 necessary, and our main part on this side was our permission to leave
11 Kosova. I personally asked for a mechanism so that -- we were being kept
12 as hostages this day, and I asked for our release and asked for telephone
13 connections, and the accused agreed to this.
14 MR. NICE:
15 Q. Well, that meeting came to an end. There was the question of the
16 press release. Was one issued?
17 A. This press release, I am not a witness to its publication because
18 at this time, we didn't get the media at home - our satellite antenna was
19 cut off on the first night - but I heard that it was published in the
20 media.
21 Q. The following day, the 2nd of April, where were you, back in
22 Kosovo?
23 A. We returned on the same day, that's 1st of April. And on the next
24 day, the landline telephone was working, and the first call I made, under
25 arrest, was to call Ambassador Hill in Skopje and tell him about what had
Page 5461
1 happened and about the way the police and army had entered the house and
2 about our journey to Belgrade.
3 Q. Did you, incidentally, have a phone call with the chef de cabinet,
4 Milenovic, on that day?
5 A. On at that day, yes. We had calls from the chef de cabinet of the
6 accused who offered or, rather, insisted that we should meet Ratko
7 Markovic. But we said that these meetings are fruitless because there is
8 no political process under way here, and what is happening is a battle for
9 life or death.
10 Q. What did Milenovic say would have been the purpose of your meeting
11 Ratko Markovic?
12 A. The accused, his chef de cabinet, said, "You should meet to talk
13 about various issues which might have been a continuation of the meeting
14 with the accused on the previous day." But as I said, I was a person who,
15 in our communications, refused very determinedly to meet Markovic.
16 Q. Moving on a couple of days. Were you at Dr. Rugova's house when
17 you received a visit from Nikola Sainovic?
18 A. Yes.
19 Q. Was this the first time you'd met that man or had you met him
20 before?
21 A. It was the first time that this person had come to the house.
22 Q. On that day then, the 4th of April, was it -- I'm putting the date
23 to you, I should have asked you for it. Do you remember if the 4th was
24 the right date or was it some other date?
25 A. Yes, it was the 4th of April.
Page 5462
1 Q. Sorry. What was the purpose of his meeting on that day?
2 A. He came, no doubt on orders of the accused, in order to continue
3 the previous meeting and to issue a press statement for the public and to
4 create the illusion that there was some kind of "political process," in
5 quotation marks.
6 Q. Was any sort of statement issued - just yes or no - that day?
7 A. I don't believe so.
8 Q. The next day, did anything happen? Did you have any meetings on
9 the following day?
10 A. On the 5th of April, they brought the Russian ambassador and a
11 meeting was held, and it -- one might say the topic was an implicit one.
12 Our demand was for our release, and we asked the Russian ambassador to use
13 his influence on the accused to secure our release. This meeting was also
14 followed by the media brought by the regime, and at a meeting with
15 journalists, the -- it was arranged for the journalist of Der Spiegel, who
16 was in the house for us -- with us, was sent away.
17 Q. You say "they." Who headed this visit?
18 A. This meeting was organised by people I mentioned earlier, and the
19 meeting was between Mr. Rugova and the Russian ambassador.
20 Q. Yes. You say the people you mentioned earlier. Who in particular
21 turned up on this occasion from the Serbian authorities?
22 A. If one might speak politically, it was led -- led by the accused
23 Sainovic. It was mainly him. And a person who was appointed by the state
24 security, Ljuba Joksic.
25 Q. Now, as to Sainovic on this occasion, did he appear to have
Page 5463
1 authority to act or did he appear to need to refer back to any other
2 superior authority?
3 A. I consider that this person was entirely delegated and commanded
4 by the accused and was unable to decide anything off his own bat.
5 Q. And on what do you base that? Was there anything said or done?
6 A. Because at every possible meeting, I told him, "You are the deputy
7 president of the Yugoslav government, and you could take a decision for my
8 release," but he was never able to give me an answer to this question.
9 Then he would disappear for a few days.
10 Q. Did he ever say where, other than in him, authority lay? Did he
11 ever say to whom he had to refer?
12 A. Yes. On one occasion, he said -- he said that after a day or two,
13 a decision will be made and I will communicate it to you.
14 Q. When -- that was the 5th of April. When did you next see
15 Sainovic?
16 A. I met Sainovic at intervals. I don't remember the date now. But
17 there was also the meeting with the accused Milutinovic in Belgrade.
18 Q. And when was that roughly and by whom was that organised?
19 A. This meeting was organised on the insistence of others, without
20 our -- without our consent. It was organised by Sainovic and someone from
21 the state security by phone and with the help of repeated visits. But our
22 response was that we are not ready for these meetings, but we were
23 subjected to pressure with all kinds of strange scenarios at night, firing
24 through the windows and the balconies at night, and this was a way of
25 putting pressure on us to agree to this meeting.
Page 5464
1 Q. Can you give us the date of the Milutinovic meeting?
2 A. This was on the 28th of April.
3 Q. Is that the only meeting that you had with Milutinovic?
4 A. Could you repeat that, please?
5 Q. Was that the only meeting you had with Milutinovic?
6 A. No. There was the first meeting in Belgrade, and the second
7 meeting was in Prishtina.
8 Q. The first meeting in Belgrade, when was that? Can you give the
9 date of that?
10 A. I can't remember exactly.
11 Q. I see you're looking at something; I didn't appreciate that.
12 What are you looking at?
13 A. Excuse me. The second was on the 28th. The first must have been
14 around the 20th of April.
15 Q. And at the first meeting, what was Milutinovic's attitude towards
16 you? What did he want? What did he want to tell you?
17 A. At this meeting in Belgrade, the discussion concentrated on -- on
18 rather trivial issues, because it was -- it was generally understood that
19 this so-called political process would yield no results. And we were
20 asking every day for -- to be released, and they said that because Rugova
21 does not have any close collaborators nearby, we will allow Merovci to go
22 to Skopje to communicate with colleagues of Rugova there, because there
23 were no normal conditions for work. And we responded rather unfavourably
24 to this proposal at the beginning.
25 Q. Just taking this first meeting then very shortly, one last or two
Page 5465
1 last points. Was anything said by you or by Milutinovic at that meeting
2 -- I beg your pardon. Was anything said by either you or by Sainovic at
3 that meeting or about the time of that meeting about your status as
4 arrested or detained people?
5 A. I could illustrate this with some evidence. At this time, that is
6 the second meeting at Prishtina, I came up with --
7 Q. I think --
8 A. -- what I might paraphrase was --
9 Q. My mistake. Just go back to the question. Did Sainovic say
10 anything about whether you were arrested or not or your status or anything
11 about talking about it?
12 A. He didn't talk about our status, but he often said that we were
13 free, but we insisted that he should act on what he said, and we asked
14 that there should be no incidents during the evenings which so frightened
15 the children.
16 Q. All right. Well, I'm going to move on. Were you able, at some
17 date, to travel to Skopje under police escort?
18 A. Yes.
19 Q. And in Skopje, who did you meet?
20 A. I went to Skopje against my own will, but I went there, and first
21 of all I met all the diplomats, the foreign diplomats, Ambassador Hill,
22 Ambassador Huntzinger. I met Ambassador Walker, Ambassador Petritsch. I
23 also met Mr. Herald Koch, the Assistant Secretary of State for human
24 rights.
25 Q. And I think you returned to Kosovo, and you had your second
Page 5466
1 meeting with Milutinovic later in the month of April.
2 A. Yes. I returned on the 21st, after two or three days, and I was
3 the only Albanian to enter Kosova. And during my stay in Skopje, I also
4 gave quite a lot of interviews, which I have here.
5 JUDGE MAY: Please pay attention to the question and just deal
6 with that, would you?
7 MR. NICE:
8 Q. Now, Milutinovic had arrived from Belgrade, I think, for the
9 meeting.
10 A. Yes. On this meeting of 28th of April, this meeting was again
11 organised in Prishtina against our will.
12 Q. Was there damage to be seen in Pristina at that time, damage to
13 buildings?
14 A. At this time, Prishtina was a mysterious place, without anybody on
15 the street, only with paramilitary and military police forces. And all
16 the Albanian shops and businesses were broken into and demolished.
17 Q. Did Milutinovic say anything about the damage that he could see,
18 and did you tell him anything about what was happening?
19 A. At these meetings, I personally expressed my indignation at what
20 was happening, and I told him this humanitarian catastrophe of the
21 movement of people under the pressure of the police and the military and
22 these acts of destruction are appalling. And I asked for our immediate
23 release and appealed to him as President of Serbia and as a member of the
24 Serbian government, for an immediate decision to release us and to allow
25 us to go in peace. And Milutinovic said that he would bring us a reply
Page 5467
1 within 24 hours. And indeed we did receive a reply after about two days.
2 The answer was that we had to go to Belgrade on this issue and reach an
3 understanding with the accused.
4 Q. Let's move forward from that meeting. In May of 1999, was there a
5 meeting with a man -- arranged by the man Joksic in Belgrade where you met
6 Sainovic?
7 A. On 4th of March, we met the people you mentioned and the accused.
8 Q. On that occasion, what was said by the accused?
9 A. This was a very short and formal meeting, and it was mainly
10 communicated to us that we would leave for Italy, but there was a very
11 nasty undertone. Rugova was asked to leave his family, and we didn't
12 allow this, but the next day, Rugova's family was brought and we flew to
13 Italy.
14 Q. Did you say anything to any of the other parties at this short
15 meeting about Racak?
16 A. At one point, the accused Sainovic, during his unpleasant visit to
17 the house, there was the opportunity to talk about various topics, and I
18 told him that, "Your name is being mentioned in -- unfavourably in
19 connection with the Racak massacre, and one day you might be faced with a
20 charge about this." And he said that this is a game being played by
21 Walker. And this got out into the media and was cited as evidence that
22 the -- this person's orders were behind the Racak massacre.
23 Q. Just a couple of other details covered in paragraph 44 of the
24 summary.
25 Before the 24th of March when the bombing started, were different
Page 5468
1 signs put on houses of one kind or another?
2 A. Yes, there were cases in which apartments were occupied. These
3 were Albanian apartments in which Serbs and policemen and soldiers were
4 housed. And this was a time when every Serb able to bear arms was
5 mobilised, and there was not a single Serbian Kosovan in Prishtina who
6 wasn't mobilised, and these were put into Albanian apartments with signs
7 outside saying, "This is a MUP apartment." As evidence of this, I can say
8 that there were cases in which Albanian families who were unable to --
9 unable to move used this trick to save themselves from the expeditions of
10 the police.
11 Q. Were there rumours circulating at the time about what had happened
12 to Dr. Rugova, rumours that weren't necessarily true?
13 A. Yes, there were rumours a little while earlier that Rugova was
14 killed before his house was occupied. As you know, it was mentioned, even
15 when Mr. Rugova testified, a very bad pamphlet circulated as if it was
16 allegedly signed by him. And I would say that before this pamphlet
17 appeared and circulated, Mr. Rugova issued a press release along with --
18 to the Der Spiegel journalist, and she has got the recorded interview
19 whereby he appealed to the Albanians not to leave Kosova. And this
20 refutes the content of this pamphlet that I mentioned.
21 MR. NICE: That's all I ask of this witness. And, Your Honour,
22 I'll be grateful for one minute to explain the outstanding issue in
23 relation to the previous witness before the end of the morning. So it
24 will only take a minute.
25 JUDGE MAY: Yes, Mr. Milosevic. Do you want to start tomorrow?
Page 5469
1 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Since we have another seven minutes,
2 I don't want to have those seven minutes wasted. I assume you would count
3 them into my time anyway.
4 JUDGE MAY: Very well.
5 Cross-examined by Mr. Milosevic:
6 Q. [Interpretation] Before we begin chronologically to review this
7 statement, my first question would be one that is linked to the text of
8 the notes on the talk with Adnan Merovci in Rome, which was disclosed to
9 me by the opposing party under number 03014582.
10 In the Serbian translation, on page 3, there's only one sentence
11 which I would like to quote. Before that, in the paragraph prior to that,
12 it is said that in Pristina, they reviewed the question of departure as if
13 they had been told that they with leave, that the families would go
14 separately so as not to be treated as refugees, and other explanations
15 which apparently they were given in Pristina, and then we have the
16 following sentence: "At the last meeting with Milosevic, Merovci raised
17 this question in Milosevic's presence, saying that the families should go
18 with him and Dr. Rugova, and Milosevic responded that that was okay."
19 So, Mr. Merovci, is this what happened?
20 A. No.
21 Q. But that is stated in what I was given from -- by the Prosecution
22 as notes on the meeting in Rome. Notes of conversation with Mr. Adnan
23 Merovci in Rome.
24 JUDGE MAY: It didn't matter whether the notes were given by the
25 Prosecution or not. The witness denies that that was what was said.
Page 5470
1 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]
2 Q. Would you be kind enough to tell me, then, what was the subject of
3 the conversation when you came to see me in Belgrade if it was not
4 Rugova's and your departure? What was the subject of discussion if not
5 that?
6 A. As I -- I said it earlier in my explanation.
7 Q. Yes, but I'm asking you. So let me be more specific.
8 At that last meeting, was anything else discussed but Rugova's
9 departure together with his family and also your own from Kosovo and
10 Metohija?
11 A. I said earlier we discussed nothing else than the attempt to
12 separate Rugova and myself from our respective families and that we
13 reacted to that firmly. This is all I have to say.
14 Q. Wait a minute, please. Let us make things quite clear. Was
15 anything else discussed at that meeting except your request to leave
16 Kosovo where you felt you were threatened?
17 A. We had -- we had requested earlier, and we heard from Milutinovic
18 that we had to go to Belgrade to discuss this issue with you. We came and
19 what happened that I said earlier happened.
20 JUDGE MAY: Was anything else discussed? Was there a discussion
21 about anything other topic? That's the question.
22 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] No.
23 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]
24 Q. So you came only to discuss that you or, rather, Rugova and you,
25 someone accompanying him, should leave Kosovo and Metohija because you
Page 5471
1 didn't feel safe there. That was the only topic of discussion, was it
2 not?
3 JUDGE MAY: The witness has said that. Now, rather than go on
4 again, we'll adjourn now. It's coming up to time.
5 Mr. Merovci, could you bear in mind, please, during the
6 adjournment -- would you be back at 9.00 tomorrow morning to conclude your
7 evidence, and would you bear in mind during the adjournment not to speak
8 to anybody about it, and that does include the members of the Prosecution
9 team. Thank you.
10 MR. NICE: Can I just deal with the previous witness and His
11 Honour Judge Kwon's question?
12 The position is that protective measures were requested on the
13 14th of November on the grounds of safety and security of the witness, and
14 I think, though I haven't been able to track everything down, I think this
15 would be on the basis of perceived risk arising from his contact with
16 particular individuals, some of whom have been named in his evidence.
17 Following the grant of those protective measures and a request by
18 the Chamber that we should be more specific or should be specific in our
19 seeking protective measures, my recollection is that all witnesses were
20 contacted again, and that led to the motion of the 15th of March, having
21 in its first footnote an observation to the effect that this witness and
22 one other would not be requiring protective measures and would be giving
23 evidence in open session.
24 So it was sought out of an abundance of caution, and the witness
25 was right that he had not sought them himself personally.
Page 5472
1 JUDGE MAY: Thank you. We will adjourn.
2 --- Whereupon the hearing adjourned at 1.45 p.m.,
3 to be reconvened on Friday, the 24th day of May,
4 2002, at 9.00 a.m.
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25