Page 3186
1 THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL TRIBUNAL CASE NO. IT-94-1-T
2 FOR THE FORMER YUGOSLAVIA
3 IN THE TRIAL CHAMBER
4 Tuesday, 25th June 1996
5 (10.00 a.m.)
6 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: Mr. Niemann?
7 MR. NIEMANN: Thank you, your Honours. I call Hamdija Kahrimanovic.
8 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: Is that No. 30 listed on your new list, Mr. Niemann?
9 MR. NIEMANN: Hamdija Kahrimanovic, 28, your Honour. 28 on the new list,
10 30 on the old list.
11 HAMDIJA KAHRIMANOVIC, called
12 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: Thank you. Sir, would you take that oath, please?
13 THE WITNESS [In Translation]: I solemnly declare that I will speak the
14 truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
15 (The witness was sworn)
16 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: Thank you. You may be seated.
17 Examined by MR. NIEMANN
18 Q. Is your full name Hamdija Kahrimanovic?
19 A. Yes.
20 Q. Were you born on the 6th February 1942?
21 A. No, 1941.
22 Q. Where were you born?
23 A. I was born in a locality called Kozarusa, between Kozarac and
24 Prijedor, about 1,400 metres away.
25 Q. Did you attend primary school in Kozarusa?
Page 3187
1 A. Yes, in Kozarusa I completed the first four grades, and in Kozarac
2 another four.
3 Q. After that I think you did secondary school in Prijedor?
4 A. Yes, I graduated from the Secondary School of Economics in Prijedor.
5 Q. I think you then went to Belgrade where you attended Teachers
6 College?
7 A. Yes, I went to Belgrade and graduated from the Teachers College in
8 Belgrade.
9 Q. Following graduation as a teacher, did you then go back to Kozarac to
10 teach?
11 A. I graduated as a secondary school teacher. I went back to Kozarac
12 after graduation and I found employment in the Rade Kondic elementary
13 school in Kozarac.
14 Q. Then did you in 1968 build a house in Kozarac where you lived until
15 the commencement of the war in 1992?
16 A. Yes.
17 Q. During your time at the school in Kozarac did you serve part of the
18 period or some considerable part of the period as the principal of
19 that school?
20 A. Yes, in 1974 I was appointed assistant principal and I remained in
21 that post for just under two years. After that I was for two terms,
22 that is for eight years, the principal of the school in Kozarac.
23 Q. Did you do your military service in Macedonia from 1965 until 1966?
24 A. Yes, Macedonia, the towns of Tetovo and Gostivar.
25 Q. Are you by nationality and religion a Muslim?
Page 3188
1 A. Yes.
2 Q. Do you know the accused in these proceedings, Dule Tadic?
3 A. I do.
4 Q. For how long have you known him?
5 A. Well, you see, as soon as I was employed in Kozarac I lived with my
6 parents until about 1967. Then I moved in Kozarac. I lived in a
7 building across the street from the school, a small apartment, studio,
8 and about 15 or 20 metres away from Dule's parents until 1968 when I
9 built my own house. Therefore, I know him a very, very long time.
10 Q. Was he ever a student at your school?
11 A. Well, he must have been a student of our school. I do not know
12 exactly when he went to school, possibly the higher grades in '66,
13 '67,'68, I do not know exactly when he was born, but since the school
14 is there and all his brothers went to that school, then he must have
15 gone to that school. I do not remember teaching him personally
16 because while I was in the classroom I usually worked in the first
17 shift, you see, but the rule of the school was that for students
18 living in the immediate vicinity of the school to attend in the second
19 shift, so it is possible that I replaced someone in the afternoons,
20 but mostly I worked in the first shift.
21 Q. Do you know where Tadic lived in the town of Kozarac?
22 A. Yes, of course I know. I could not go into the street or into my
23 yard without seeing the building in which the Tadics lived.
24 Q. Would you please look at Exhibit 196, if that could be shown to the
25 witness? (Same handed to the witness) Mr. Kahrimanovic, I would ask
Page 3189
1 you, first of all, to look at that document and can you tell me
2 whether you recognise what it is?
3 A. Yes.
4 Q. What is it?
5 A. It is the main road through Kozarac, the Marsala Tita Road going from
6 Rajkovici to the Prijedor/Banja Luka junction. This rectangle
7 indicates the Tadic house -----
8 Q. If I just stop you there for a moment? I would ask that the plan be
9 put on the overhead projector. We want to put it on the video screen
10 beside you there, Mr. Kahrimanovic. I would ask you, if you would,
11 just to point with a pointer, firstly, to where your house is, if you
12 are able to identify that for us. You will need to do it on the screen
13 beside you and to your right. You cannot do it on the television
14 screen.
15 A. I am sorry. I did not understand the question.
16 Q. You will have to do it on the plan.
17 A. This should be Tadic's house and in this part is my house. Somewhere
18 here, going from Tadic's house to my street, it is the Prvomajska
19 Street, and the second house on the right is mine.
20 Q. I ask you, if you would, to look at these two photographs that I now
21 show you. Just have a look at these two photographs and if they can
22 be marked respectively A and B, 237A and B, and then shown to the
23 witness? Mr. Kahrimanovic, I would ask you to look at these
24 photographs you are shown and if you recognise what it is a photograph
25 of, could you tell us, please?
Page 3190
1 A. On this photograph is the cafe owned by Dule.
2 Q. OK, and the other one?
3 A. And this photograph is of his house which was built on top of the old
4 house. The upper floor was his own apartment.
5 Q. When you refer to "Dule" and his, are you referring to Dule Tadic?
6 A. Yes, he was usually known as "Dule" in Kozarac. Most frequently he
7 was referred to as "Dule". It was his nickname.
8 MR. NIEMANN: I tender those photographs.
9 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: Is 27A the cafe and 27B the photo of Mr. Tadic's
10 house?
11 MR. NIEMANN: Would you look at the back of the photograph for me, please,
12 or perhaps just pass them to me? 27A is just the house and 237B is
13 the cafe.
14 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: Is there any objection?
15 MR. KAY: No objection, your Honour.
16 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: Exhibit 237A and B will be admitted.
17 MR. NIEMANN: Could you just put them on the screen firstly and zoom up on
18 that, if you would? Just looking at that, Mr. Kahrimanovic, what is
19 that? Can you describe that, please?
20 A. It is the Tadic house. Below is the old building in which they used
21 to live and the upper floor was built later, and that was his actual
22 apartment.
23 Q. If you go to the right of the screen there, you see a building
24 starting to project out from there in the photograph. Is that also
25 part of the Tadics' building?
Page 3191
1 A. It is an annex and in that annex is the cafe, the business premises.
2 Q. Can you look at the next photograph, 237B, and are you able to tell
3 us what that is?
4 A. That is the cafe, that is the business premises, as I said.
5 Q. Thank you. Perhaps they could be returned to the Registrar? Mr.
6 Kahrimanovic, this is the building that you would see, is it, from
7 your house if you turned into your street and headed towards the main
8 street of Kozarac? Mr. Kahrimanovic, if you walked into your street
9 and turned towards the main street and walked up towards the main
10 street of Kozarac, is that the building that you would see when you
11 walked up towards the main street of Kozarac from your place?
12 A. Yes.
13 Q. As far as you know, did Dule Tadic and members of his family live in
14 these premises for all of their lives for all of the time that you
15 were there?
16 A. I could not say because he probably spent a part of his life after
17 elementary school studying somewhere and then he probably did his
18 military service. So it is hard to say, yes, that he spent his whole
19 life there. But recently, that is several years before the war, he
20 lived there without interruption.
21 Q. Did you know the names of his mother and father, Dule Tadic's mother
22 and father?
23 A. Yes, I did. His father's name is Ostoja, his mother, Staka.
24 Q. Is his father still alive?
25 A. No, he died a few years before the war.
Page 3192
1 Q. Did you know his father?
2 A. I knew him well. He was a man of prestige. He was the bearer of the
3 1941 partisan badge. We are neighbours. We were very close. We must
4 know each other. We had to see each other almost every day. But, you
5 know, you are living in the same community and that is how it is in
6 everyday life.
7 Q. Do you know whether Dule Tadic was married when you were living in
8 Kozarac?
9 A. Yes.
10 Q. Do you know his wife's name?
11 A. Mira.
12 Q. Do you know where she worked?
13 A. Most recently, the years before the war, she worked in the health
14 clinic in Kozarac.
15 Q. Where did your wife work?
16 A. My wife also worked in the health clinic in Kozarac. This
17 institution was the only one she worked in and continued working
18 there. Her entire employment was there, first in the old building and
19 then in the new one.
20 Q. Did your wife stay in this employment up until the takeover of
21 Prijedor in April/May 1992 when she was dismissed?
22 A. Until the takeover in Prijedor she worked in the health clinic in
23 Kozarac, and somewhere in mid-May 1992 she assessed the situation as
24 it was and she left and went to Austria to stay with our son.
25 Q. Did you know whether Dule Tadic had any children?
Page 3193
1 A. Dule Tadic had two daughters. I am sorry, I did not answer the
2 previous question you asked me. I am sorry.
3 Q. I think the answer you have given is sufficient. Did you know any of
4 the neighbours of Dule Tadic?
5 A. Well, I knew them all. I knew all the inhabitants of Kozarac, but
6 Dule Tadic's home was very much in the heart of Kozarac. It was
7 surrounded with Muslim houses. If we go from the direction of
8 Prijedor towards Mrakovica, there is Ankic Salih's house, then the
9 house of Dule and Dule's parents, then Sulja Mujagic's house.
10 Q. I think just on either side would be sufficient, if you can tell us
11 that?
12 A. Across the street, not exactly across the street but diagonally, is
13 Hamdija Hodzic's house, then an apartment building socially owned in
14 which teaches worked, lived, and next to it another socially owned
15 building with a chemist shop, a barber's shop and above that were
16 apartments.
17 Q. Thank you. I think that is probably sufficient. Did you know from
18 time to time whether Dule Tadic used premises at the school for the
19 purposes of teaching karate?
20 A. Yes, yes. I was then principal of the school when very often we met
21 his requests and allowed him to use the gym.
22 Q. Did students of the school from time to time attend his karate
23 lessons in this hall?
24 A. Yes, they did. Members of the club were certainly students of our
25 school and it was in our interests for our children to take part in
Page 3194
1 sports, and karate is one.
2 Q. Do you know what Dule Tadic was trained as when he did his education,
3 his schooling?
4 A. After elementary school, eight year elementary school, I know he went
5 to secondary school -- at least I heard it from his parents because we
6 were often in touch -- but I do not exactly know what speciality he
7 graduated in.
8 Q. Do you know any of Tadic's friends that you saw him with from time to
9 time?
10 A. Well, yes, he was often in the company of my colleagues from school,
11 Kemal Susic, Basic Zijed, Sinanagic Mustafa. He was also friendly
12 with others, but these boys were linked with him mainly through
13 sports.
14 Q. What sport in particular was that?
15 A. I am thinking of karate and the colleagues I mentioned, they were
16 teachers of physical education.
17 Q. Do you know whether Dule Tadic was in any way involved in politics?
18 A. More recently, just before the war, it could be noticed that he was
19 engaged in politics, but earlier on, I would not know.
20 Q. Do you remember reading an article in a newspaper sometime in 1990,
21 1991, relating to Dule Tadic and his family?
22 A. Yes.
23 Q. What was the nature of this article that you read in the newspaper?
24 A. I think the article was published in a Belgrade newspaper called
25 Vecernje Novine. The contents of the article could roughly be
Page 3195
1 summarised as follows, that Dule Tadic had received an anonymous
2 letter in Kozarac saying that if he does not move out within three
3 months, he and his family would be liquidated, with an unclear
4 signature of the author of the letter.
5 Q. Do you know whether this matter was investigated?
6 A. Well, you see, that letter was like thunder because until then
7 nothing like it had happened and the leading party in Kozarac reacted,
8 disassociating itself from the text, from the letter and spirit of the
9 letter. I know that an analysis of that text and the letter and the
10 handwriting were investigated in Prijedor.
11 Q. Do you know whether the person who wrote the letter was ever
12 discovered?
13 A. I did not read the official report of the police regarding the
14 analysis, but it was widespread, the rumour was widespread that the
15 author of that letter was Mira Tadic.
16 Q. When you said the main party in Kozarac, the leading party in
17 Kozarac, reacted disassociating itself, are you referring to the SDA?
18 A. Yes, that was the ruling party at the time.
19 Q. Prior to this letter being published, had any incidents like this
20 occurred in Kozarac that you can recall relating to tension between
21 the ethnic groups in Kozarac?
22 A. I am not aware of it.
23 Q. Was this article published in the newspaper in Belgrade as well as
24 the local newspaper in Kozarac?
25 A. The article appeared in the Belgrade newspaper, but you know what
Page 3196
1 journalists usually do, after such a sensational article then they
2 copy the same context and that text appeared again in the Kozarac
3 Vjesnik and in the daily newspaper of Oslobodjenje.
4 Q. Why do you describe the article as being "sensational"?
5 A. I think that the locality of Kozarac, its inhabitants, did not
6 deserve because they had not shown any reason for being humiliated in
7 that way; to say that the people of Kozarac were threatening anyone
8 with liquidation is something unacceptable because we were not like
9 that, we, the people of Kozarac.
10 Q. Did the SDS party and the Serbian people, Bosnian Serbian people, in
11 the region who were associated with that Party rely on this letter in
12 the course of their political campaigns?
13 A. Yes, certainly.
14 Q. Did you ever see people involved in the SDS party gather at the
15 premises of Dule Tadic while you were living in Kozarac?
16 A. Well, more recently, that is right before the war, Dule Tadic
17 socialised with more or less the same circle of people in Kozarac.
18 Let me mention, for instance, Milos Radulovic, Dusko Kesic, Mirko
19 Grahovac, Trivo Relic, Slobodan Selimovic. Those were people who
20 lived in that locality. Very many did not even live, had ceased to
21 live, in the place itself.
22 Q. To your knowledge, were these people involved in the SDS party?
23 A. In my own view, all the Serbs in Kozarac were members of the SDS.
24 Q. You mentioned one person, Simo Miskovic, do you know his involvement
25 with the SDS party?
Page 3197
1 A. Simo Miskovic was even the President of the SDS.
2 Q. President where?
3 A. Well, the headquarters of the party was in Prijedor. I presumed they
4 had their branches in surrounding localities such as the area of
5 Kozarac, Omarska especially, that is, in those parts where there was
6 Serbian population.
7 Q. Apart from Tadic's premises, his cafe, do you know where else these
8 meetings were held?
9 A. Often times one could see, even I had the opportunity to see, often
10 how groups of those people met in the priest's house in Kozarac which
11 was almost next to the church in Kozarac. One could even observe them
12 walking around Kozarac often, presumably, discussing whatever they had
13 to discuss. Myself, I, for instance, saw Dusko Tadic with Djoko Kesic
14 who worked as a laboratory technician in the health centre in Kozarac,
15 and they would meet and then have their tete a tete, conversations.
16 Some permanent premises, I mean, some local premises, fixed premises
17 in Kozarac, I do not think existed.
18 Q. When you refer to "priest" you refer to the Serb orthodox priest?
19 A. Yes, yes, we called them "pop" like that, we just say "pop", priest.
20 He is, of course, the Serb orthodox priest.
21 Q. Apart from meetings that took place in the town of Kozarac and
22 surrounding areas, were there meetings, to your knowledge, held in
23 other towns in the opstina of Prijedor?
24 A. Frequent contacts, frequent meetings, took place in Omarska.
25 Q. Any particular reason why these meetings would take place in Omarska?
Page 3198
1 A. My personal view, yes, Omarska was an exclusively Serb locality with
2 Serb inhabitants.
3 Q. This time frame that we are talking about when you made these
4 observations about these meetings in these various places of these
5 people, is that the period 1991/92?
6 A. Yes, especially '92.
7 Q. In 1992, particularly leading towards April and May, did you and
8 other members of the Kozarac community take steps to address the
9 deteriorating political situation in the Kozarac region?
10 A. Yes.
11 Q. What did you do?
12 A. Well, the inhabitants of Kozarac, especially in May, during May '92,
13 created a Citizens Peace Council, a Council for Peace Citizens League.
14 I was one of the members of that forum. Members of this forum were
15 mostly prominent inhabitants of Kozarac, people of prestige there, who
16 thought that we should try to solve the problems that had already
17 begun and appearing there by peaceful means and to try to continue as
18 we did until that time.
19 I remember that sometime in the middle of May we had a joint
20 meeting of a part of that League of ours because we could not always
21 meet in full because, of course,
22 people worked, but sometime in mid May '92 we had a meeting in
23 Prijedor which was attended by Dusko Tadic, among others. He was also
24 involved in this patriotic League.
25 Q. Apart from Dule Tadic and yourself, can you remember other members of
Page 3199
1 this particular League of Peace?
2 A. Yes.
3 Q. Can you name some of those people?
4 A. Dr. Jusuf Pasic, Kemal Fazlic, Hamdija Balic, Kemal Susic, Husein
5 Mujagic, Dusko Tadic, Milenko Zigic.
6 Q. Which of those people that you have named were Serbian people?
7 A. Dusko Tadic was a Serb and Milenko Zigic.
8 Q. Do you know why Dusko Tadic was appointed to the League of Peace?
9 A. For a very simple reason, that we wanted, because until that time we
10 had lived together, to go on fighting for our joint life in the
11 future, and we did not want only the Muslims turn out to be the only
12 ones fighting for this joint life. We wanted, we cared about having
13 other people, representatives of other ethnic origin on our forum in
14 Kozarac, a Serb, for instance, who lived in Kozarac, because we did
15 not want it to look like a mono-ethnic forum, mono-ethnic Council.
16 Q. You speak of attending a meeting from Prijedor, that is, the League
17 of Peace attending a meeting in Prijedor during May, do you remember
18 mentioning that?
19 A. Yes. In the middle of May we had a meeting in Prijedor and at that
20 meeting the citizens, inhabitants, of Kozarac represented by me, by
21 Dr. Jusuf Pasic, by Hamdija Balic, Kemal Susic, Dusko Tadic, Milenko
22 Zigic. That meeting was also attended by delegates from the Local
23 Commune of Kozarusa. I recall that they were represented, that
24 delegation were represented, by Djuro Pupavac.
25 Q. Who represented the people in Prijedor that you went to see?
Page 3200
1 A. The Serb authorities were represented by Simo Drljaca, the MUP
2 Secretary in Prijedor, and Simo Miskovic, President of the SDS.
3 Q. What was discussed at this meeting and what was the outcome of it?
4 A. Well, we deliberated about how all the inhabitants of the locality of
5 Kozarac should be loyal to the Serb authorities because it had taken
6 over the power on 30th April, whilst members of the police in Kozarac
7 should also sign and write allegiance to the Serb authorities, that
8 is, citizens of the locality of Kozarac should be invited to turn over
9 their weapons. Those were the questions that our attention was
10 riveted on.
11 There were also some other questions. We were guaranteed that
12 after we met all those conditions, no complicated situation or
13 problems would arise. For instance, there was a question: Well, if
14 no problems are going to arise, then why had Kozarac been left by the
15 orthodox priest and gone to Omarska? And then we were charged with a
16 task of trying to return the priest, the orthodox priest, to Kozarac,
17 and Kemal, myself and Dusko Tadic were charged with trying to do that.
18 Q. What had happened to the orthodox priest in Kozarac?
19 A. I do not know why, for what reason, he left the locality. Perhaps he
20 was familiar with the situation and knew what the future held for
21 Kozarac and Kozarac people. But due to the circumstances and the
22 situation which was very tense, we met especially in May, we asked the
23 orthodox priest to return to Kozarac and that the Kozarac inhabitants
24 guarantee his safety and for those reasons we wanted, we were charged
25 with trying to bring him back.
Page 3201
1 However, we failed. We failed because all the three of us in
2 a mission, Dule Tadic was made responsible to establish contact with
3 the orthodox priest and then to arrange a meeting with him and
4 convince him to come back. The next day when we had agreed to go to
5 Omarska, Kemal Susic and I met in front of Dule's coffee bar and he
6 told us that the priest could not receive us today, he was too busy.
7 So we postponed our mission to the next day and the next day, the same
8 story, the same answer. We would postpone it for the day after the
9 next and Dule was gone by then.
10 Q. When you attended meetings in Prijedor where Simo Drljaca and Simo
11 Miskovic were presiding, do you know what role, if any, Dule Tadic
12 played in these meetings?
13 A. Well, we all had the same role, but we did not behave identically.
14 Our common role was to find a common compromise, a peaceful solution.
15 However, individual members of this Peace Council acted in a
16 destructive way, nevertheless.
17 Q. Are you able to name any of the individual members of the Peace
18 Council who had acted in a destructive way?
19 A. Well, yes, Dule Tadic, for instance; he had undertaken a
20 responsibility probably just to meet the form. For Kozarac people, it
21 was very important, it was fundamental, to have this orthodox priest
22 of Kozarac living amongst us and to be safe there. He did not fulfil
23 this undertaking, this mission -- for what reason he probably knows
24 himself.
25 Q. Were ultimately the citizens of Kozarac given an ultimatum by the
Page 3202
1 authorities in Prijedor?
2 A. That ultimatum was as follows. By May 24th, all citizens of Kozarac
3 were to take -- turn down, turn over, sorry, their weapons by 12
4 o'clock.
5 Q. Were they required to do anything else other than turn over their
6 weapons?
7 A. The police officers were to sign their allegiance, also turn down the
8 weapons. Those were the central issues of the ultimatum, as far as I
9 know.
10 Q. Was this ultimatum discussed with the citizens of Kozarac and was it
11 acceptable to them?
12 A. Well, listen, after the discussions within that League of ours, we
13 returned to Kozarac. We organised rallies, meetings, with people
14 there and informed them about the contents of our discussions. I and
15 other members of the League at a meeting of all the people of Kozarac
16 were given the task of visiting larger urban communities in the area
17 of Kozarac and talk to people directly.
18 Specifically, I and Kemal Fazlic were given the task of
19 attending a rally of the villages of Suhi Brod close to Kozarac on a
20 route to Trnopolje. We talked to people but their reactions varied.
21 Some were for and others against. People had been informed, were
22 informed, about what had happened. Two people in the areas which had
23 responded positively and laid down their weapons and they expected
24 similar moves to be organised in Kozarac. So people behaved in
25 different ways. But I know that some areas accepted the ultimatum
Page 3203
1 such as, for instance, villages of Hrnici or Suhi Brod which did turn
2 over their weapons.
3 Q. But as a result of this partial rejection of the ultimatum, was
4 Kozarac then attacked on Sunday 24th May 1992?
5 A. Yes.
6 Q. Did you stay in the vicinity of Kozarac until 26th May 1992 when you
7 joined a group of people that had gathered in the street?
8 A. I was in Kozarac. I did not want to leave it, whatever the cost.
9 That Sunday, May 24th, all my neighbours, Fazlic family, Saric family,
10 Kusuran family, we were all in the cellar of the family of Dautovic.
11 They were all people who lived in my street. At 1.25 I saw the first
12 shell hit my yard. From then on the shells became countless.
13 It is true that on May 26th I joined the column of people
14 moving from the direction of Mrakovica, that is, from the upper part
15 of Kozarac. I asked them, "Where are you going then?" because that
16 morning I had run out of the cellar and my neighbour had asked me,
17 told me, "Hamdo, will you go up and see what is happening? We can
18 hear some noise up there". So I asked the people where they were
19 going, and they said, "We are going to the crossroads of the Banja
20 Luka/Prijedor road".
21 I returned to the shelter and I told my neighbours, "I am
22 joining that column". I took the bag that I already had prepared and
23 they followed suit, and that is how we joined them and headed towards
24 Prijedor.
25 Q. At Kozarusa, were men and women separated from the group and were you
Page 3204
1 placed on a vehicle that took you to the Keraterm camp?
2 A. Yes, from the Kozarac junction on the road Prijedor/Banja Luka, we
3 moved perhaps a kilometre up to the bus station which we used to call
4 Limenka, and we saw there masses of weapons, masses of military tanks,
5 APCs, enormous quantities of them, and on that road the controls that
6 took place, and women and children were taken to one side and men to
7 the other.
8 After the search and the control, we were boarded on to buses.
9 Some people remained at that checkpoint, unfortunately, forever. I
10 entered the bus where my neighbour Ilijaz, my neighbour Abdulah, my
11 brother-in-law Zijad were already on that bus, and we were taken with
12 many more people -- I cannot remember them all -- to the premises of
13 the tiles factory called Keraterm.
14 Q. Did you spend the night of 26th at this camp and the next day, 27th
15 May 1992, were you then taken to Omarska?
16 A. Yes, on 26th we arrived in Keraterm, perhaps around 10.00 or 11.00.
17 I cannot remember. We spent the night there. Then Wednesday came
18 and we spent the whole day where we were. We were getting ready to go
19 to sleep, and then around 9.00, 9.30 in the evening, somebody said,
20 "Buses are arriving on the Keraterm grounds", and somebody, I think,
21 even mentioned that there were 26 of them.
22 A little bit after that, the gates opened, "Get up, in
23 columns, one by one", and 70 on to each bus. We started on Wednesday
24 around 2200 hours and arrived in Omarska between 3.00 or 4 o'clock in
25 the morning and that was a journey of horror. You see, I mean, it was
Page 3205
1 20 kilometres only, yet you see how long it took. We stopped very
2 often. People were taken off those buses. Bursts of fire could be
3 heard. Buses crawled and, as I have said, we arrived in Omarska
4 between 3.00 and 4.00. There we were taken by surprise because we
5 immediately attended a very ugly scene when a man from Kozarac was
6 beaten probably so that we could see what was in store for us.
7 Q. Where were you taken to when you went to Omarska, where were you kept
8 when you first arrived?
9 A. They locked us in a hall. To be honest, Omarska is, well, near
10 Kozarac, some 15 kilometres, yet I never been there. I have only been
11 to the place, so that was my first encounter and a very ugly one. It
12 was night time. I did not know the area at all, but the door of the
13 bus, the front door opened right against the entrance into the room
14 where they put us. Then this bus on which I was, those prisoners went
15 into that room and then they continued coming and coming and coming.
16 I do not know how many really, but I think about four or five hundred
17 people were put in that room.
18 Q. Did you see the accused Dule Tadic when you were in Omarska camp?
19 A. Yes.
20 Q. Did you see him once or on more than one occasion?
21 A. Twice.
22 Q. When did you first see him in Omarska camp?
23 A. That Thursday when we arrived in the camp, I was in the second group
24 of five taken for interrogation and after the interrogation we were
25 taken back to a place which was called "garage" and there were very
Page 3206
1 many of us there. Once I counted up to 150 and I did not go on. Then
2 Friday came and since there were many, the garage door was open and we
3 were let out of the garage pista.
4 We were staying -- we were standing the length of the building
5 which housed that garage. We stood there until late afternoon, until
6 dusk. The sun had already set when we were taken to another room on
7 the upper floor of that structure. We were allowed either to
8 sit or to stand up, however one felt like doing. At a certain point I
9 stood up because I was bored with sitting, I could not sit any more
10 and, as I started standing up, I noticed, I saw Dule Tadic, and I
11 turned suddenly my back and sat down and I did not stand up any more.
12 Of course, I did not move until we moved to this other accommodation,
13 to that room on the upper into.
14 Q. Was this the Friday after the attack that occurred on the previous
15 Sunday, 24th May?
16 A. Yes.
17 Q. So that would make it 29th May; is that correct?
18 A. Yes.
19 Q. At what time of the day, can you remember, did you see Dule Tadic,
20 approximately what time of the day?
21 A. Well, it was the afternoon. I can hardly say what time of the day
22 it was because without a watch one had to look at the sun to assess
23 this, but I should say around 4.00 or 5.00 perhaps.
24 Q. Did you recognise him when you first saw him?
25 A. Yes.
Page 3207
1 Q. How far away from him would he have been when you saw him?
2 A. Well, listen, some 20 or so, he was standing in front of the kitchen,
3 in front of the canteen, well, listen, some 20, 25 metres. I would
4 not know exactly.
5 Q. What were the weather conditions like? Did the weather conditions in
6 any way hamper you having a good view on that day?
7 A. That day was very bright and sunny.
8 Q. Did anything else obstruct your view that you can remember?
9 A. I do not remember that there was anything that could obstruct my
10 view.
11 Q. Was Dule Tadic on his own when you saw him or was he with somebody
12 else?
13 A. Well, there were two or three uniformed with him.
14 Q. Did you observe what he was doing?
15 A. Listen, I did not really stand for much longer. I guess they were
16 talking about something.
17 Q. Did you observe how he was dressed?
18 A. Camouflage, standard clothes.
19 Q. Did you see whether or not he had any weapons on his possession?
20 A. I did not see.
21 Q. I think you said you saw him on a second occasion when you were in
22 Omarska. Can you remember approximately or can you remember when that
23 was, the date of that sighting, when you saw him?
24 A. It was in the middle of the following week, about mid-day. We were
25 taken to the dining room for lunch, and going there, on the way there,
Page 3208
1 towards the dining room, I noticed Dule Tadic again roughly at the
2 same place where I had seen him the first time.
3 Q. Again, approximately what distance were you from him when you first
4 saw him?
5 A. Then maybe 10, 15 metres.
6 Q. Were you able to get a good view of him on this occasion, on this
7 second occasion?
8 A. Yes.
9 Q. Can you remember whether there was anything that interfered with your
10 view, whether it be weather conditions or any other obstruction that
11 prevented you from getting a good view?
12 A. No.
13 Q. Did you see whether Tadic was on his own on this occasion or was he
14 accompanied by other people?
15 A. Again, he was in the company of two or three people.
16 Q. On this occasion can you recall how he was dressed?
17 A. The same, in camouflage uniform.
18 Q. On both these occasions are you sure that the person you saw there
19 was the accused Dule Tadic?
20 A. Yes.
21 Q. How long did you stay in Omarska camp?
22 A. On Friday of that week I was transferred to Trnopolje camp.
23 Q. This is Friday of the first week of June?
24 A. Yes.
25 Q. How long did you stay in Trnopolje camp?
Page 3209
1 A. I spent the night, overnight.
2 Q. What happened then?
3 A. We arrived in Trnopolje by bus from Omarska. There were 27 of us.
4 Entering the Trnopolje camp, somebody escorting our bus made a list of
5 our names and said that we would be spending the night there and that
6 tomorrow at 7.00 a bus would come to collect us and take us to
7 Prijedor. We left the bus, entered the camp, Trnopolje. There were
8 friends and colleagues there waiting. I was accommodated in the
9 premises of the library of the school, together with my friend and
10 neighbour, Sulejman Caufe.
11 At 7.00 or 8.00 in the morning when we were told to get ready
12 outside the command building, a man in uniform was there. He swore at
13 us, our God, he said, "Where have you been? We were looking for you
14 last night? The bus has gone." They found 22 people and five of us
15 were missing. I said, "But that was what we were told. What should
16 we do now?" "I do not know, we will see". That was the answer.
17 I went back to the library and maybe only some 15 minutes
18 later Sulejman comes in saying, "Hamdo, they have come to pick us up
19 with a police van". Then I went out together with Suljo and another
20 three men whom I did not know. We entered the van and we were taken
21 to the Prijedor police station.
22 We were then taken to the hall and told to sit down. We sat
23 down. A policeman came and asked, "Who is Hamdija Kahrimanovic?" and
24 I said, "Me" and he told me to follow him. I followed him and he led
25 me through the premises and took me to a room where Simo Drljaca was
Page 3210
1 sitting.
2 Q. What happened then when you came to Simo Drljaca?
3 A. Just outside the room of Simo Drljaca, there was Vokic was standing.
4 I think his name is Radovan. I know he was a student of mine. He
5 was Simo Drljaca's driver and he said the following, "Oh, my teacher.
6 If you had beaten me, I would now pay you back". I just shrugged and
7 entered the room. I sat down. We used to be colleagues at work. He
8 was a lawyer in the centre for elementary education and upbringing.
9 Q. Who is "he"? Whom are you referring to as "he used to be a lawyer"?
10 A. He was a legal by education in peace time. He was a lawyer in peace
11 time.
12 Q. Yes, but tell us who "he" is. Are you talking about Simo Drljaca,
13 are you?
14 A. You asked me what I did outside Simo Drljaca's room. Yes, I am
15 talking about Simo Drljaca.
16 Q. What happened? What did he say to you?
17 A. He offered me a seat. I sat down. I had two glasses of cognac and
18 he said to me, "Look at what your people have done. They went and
19 killed such a good man as Osme". He was Police Commander in Kozarac.
20 Then he listed some other boys, some other men, saying, "You see what
21 your people have done? They have killed them". I just shrugged. I
22 did not know what to say.
23 We sat a while and then he ordered his secretary to write out
24 some kind of certificates with the help of which we could move around.
25 I did not know what address to give him because I did not know where
Page 3211
1 I would be staying, but that was a Saturday and he ordered that I
2 should come back on Monday to tell him my address, and with this
3 certificate we had freedom of movement within the territory of the
4 city of Prijedor.
5 Q. What period of time did you stay in the city of Prijedor?
6 A. I stayed until August 20th 1992.
7 Q. During the period of time that you were in Prijedor city itself,
8 living there, did you ever at any stage see the accused Dule Tadic?
9 A. Yes, I saw him in Prijedor very often, most frequently in the company
10 of Drljaca. I remember a direct contact the two of us had. We ran
11 into each other on the steps of the police station when he said to me,
12 "Hamdo, if we find medicines in your school, you will end up like your
13 secretary, Ante", and I said, "In my school you will find medicines
14 but that will be the first aid kit that every school has to have". Of
15 course, I did not know what had happened to Ante. I later learned
16 that he was in Omarska. You see, I did not know that this kit would
17 be transformed into a large pile of medicines. I was afraid, of
18 course, and I avoided contact with people that knew me. I grew a
19 beard. I put on glasses. I put on a cap on my head when I was doing
20 my work and moving around Prijedor.
21 Q. Did you work while you were in Prijedor, that period of time after
22 you had arrived there from Trnopolje?
23 A. Yes, just before the war, about mid-May, I was appointed by the
24 assembly of my school principal of the school, because the previous
25 principal had left and as the end of school year was approaching the
Page 3212
1 school needed a principal, and I was elected. In spite of my refusal
2 because I knew what it meant to be a principal, particularly in view
3 of the times lying ahead, I accepted the will of the absolute
4 majority. After leaving the camp, I was given premises in Prijedor in
5 a kindergarten. I was able to visit Kozarac to see my school, to try
6 to save what could be saved of the property of the school, the
7 pedagogical aids, the financial means.
8 I was driven there by the police with three policemen and my
9 assistant was with me, the secretary, Ante, too. What documentation
10 we could find, we moved to Prijedor and every day I reported for work.
11 The parents would come. Students would come for certificates at the
12 end of the school year. You know what happens at the end of any
13 school year. I continued doing this until August 20th, but it was my
14 assessment that my safety was in jeopardy and it was, indeed, in
15 jeopardy. I was taken twice.
16 Q. Why did you come to the conclusion that your safety was in jeopardy?
17 A. The military police came twice to pick me up, to take me. I learnt
18 that the military police knew about me or, rather, Miso Radulovic had
19 recommended me to the military police. That is the man I was talking
20 about before, unfortunately -- he was my witness at my marriage, at my
21 wedding.
22 Q. When you say you saw Tadic several times in Prijedor city when you
23 were there, was he dressed the same way on each occasion that you saw
24 him?
25 A. Roughly the same, yes.
Page 3213
1 Q. How was that?
2 A. I noticed his camouflage clothes, like military clothes in different
3 colours. I do not know much about uniforms. I know what my uniform
4 was like while I was doing service, probably that was the fashion now.
5 Anyway, he was wearing such a uniform. I saw him very often in
6 Prijedor, as I said, and very often in the company of Drljaca and this
7 Vokic.
8 Q. Did you see him about the same area or did you see him in various
9 areas all over Prijedor?
10 A. While I was doing the work I was doing in Prijedor, my route was
11 always the same, from the kindergarten to the municipality building
12 and the police station, occasionally to the bank building. That was
13 the same path, the same direction, because somehow it had become a
14 habit. I knew the people I was going by. There were lots of
15 checkpoints, lots of patrols, and I had some luck because in my ID
16 papers it said that I was inhabitant of Prijedor. It said Prvomajska
17 6, Prijedor, and when they saw that I came from Prijedor, it was easy
18 to pass, but people from Kozarac had grave difficulties. Therefore,
19 my route was more or less the same and it was along that path that I
20 saw Dusan Tadic, but most frequently in front of the police station.
21 Q. The police station is sometimes referred to as the SUP?
22 A. Yes, the same building where the police station was and the other
23 departments of that institution, MUP.
24 Q. Were you at any time during 1992 a member of any military,
25 paramilitary, group or any anti-Serb armed resistance group?
Page 3214
1 A. No. Just at the beginning of the election activities, I was thinking
2 of continuing in SDP because at that time, I must admit, I was a
3 member of the League of Communists, but in the election campaign I did
4 not join any party and particularly not ethnic parties -- I am a
5 teacher -- because I have children of various ethnic groups whom I
6 teach.
7 Q. Have you ever met or known of anyone in the Kozarac region or area
8 who looks very much like the accused Dule Tadic and who from time to
9 time has been mistaken for Dule Tadic?
10 A. No.
11 Q. Would you please now look around the courtroom and tell me if you can
12 see the person that you know and recognise as Dule Tadic?
13 A. Yes, that is Dule Tadic.
14 Q. Would you please point to that person and describe for the record
15 where he is located in the courtroom?
16 A. He is left of me in the middle between two uniformed persons.
17 MR. NIEMANN: Might the record reflect, your Honour?
18 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: The record will reflect that the witness identified
19 Mr. Tadic.
20 MR. NIEMANN: I have no further questions, your Honour.
21 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: Thank you. Mr. Kay?
22 Cross-examined by MR. KAY
23 Q. Mr. Kahrimanovic, I would like to deal with something, first of all,
24 that you mentioned at the end of your evidence, and that was that you
25 decided not to join any political party during the elections as you
Page 3215
1 felt that, as a teacher, you did not want to be identified with any
2 particular group; is that right?
3 A. Yes.
4 Q. Did it seem to you, then, that the people in your area were dividing
5 themselves along ethnic lines?
6 A. That is what it seemed to me, yes.
7 Q. That the people were identifying themselves with the political party
8 that supported their ethnic group?
9 A. Well, yes. Muslims SDA, Serbs SDS. There were people belonging to
10 other parties, there were other parties, not just these two ethnic
11 ones, the Reformists, the Liberals, the SDP members etc.
12 Q. The HDZ?
13 A. Yes, yes, HDZ. I left it out of course, certainly.
14 Q. In Kozarac, that was a village or town that was principally Muslim,
15 that would have made the SDA a powerful party within that town?
16 A. Yes.
17 Q. In fact, looking at the numbers of different nationalities within
18 Kozarac, the SDA would have been the overwhelming voice of the people
19 who lived within Kozarac?
20 A. According to the election results, yes, because it was the majority
21 party and the majority people. The Muslims were the majority in
22 Kozarac.
23 Q. These elections we are talking about were the ones in 1990; is that
24 right?
25 A. Yes.
Page 3216
1 Q. After 1990 many people had identified themselves with a political
2 party for the first time?
3 A. I am not quite sure that we can say for the first time, because, you
4 know, from the previous prewar period there was one party, the League
5 of Communists, and certainly that many of the members of that party,
6 the prewar party, accepted and joined new organisations, new parties.
7 Q. Yes, you are quite right to refer to the previous political situation
8 before 1990 because there was only one party, but for the first time
9 in 1990 there was more of a choice for the people to identify
10 themselves with other parties?
11 A. Yes.
12 Q. After those elections in 1990, politics and the choices for the
13 people became much more greatly discussed by the citizens than they
14 had in the former days under the Communist government when there was
15 only one political party?
16 A. Yes. The era of democracy, they say.
17 Q. Yes, and this was very much a new era that was to start and for the
18 first time people were experiencing the new politics?
19 A. Yes.
20 Q. You seem to be someone who has lived in this area for many years and
21 know the people. Can you assist me at all as to how Kozarac became
22 principally a place where Muslims lived?
23 A. I am afraid I could not tell you how. It would be as if you were to
24 ask me how come that Omarska was a place inhabited exclusively by the
25 Serbs. I suppose it was the will of the people through history
Page 3217
1 through the centuries to decide where they would live. As far as I
2 know, there was no coercion forcing anyone to live here or there.
3 Everybody could live where they wanted.
4 Q. That was going to be my next question, since you had posed it, which
5 was how Omarska, as you described it, became a Serb village or town
6 and why it is identified as such? But it seems you cannot supply me
7 with the answer; would that be right?
8 A. Yes.
9 Q. At this time then with the new politics emerging, outside Kozarac
10 were the people aware of the tensions between politicians and the
11 government, the government of Bosnia-Herzegovina, as well as the
12 government in Belgrade?
13 A. Well, you see, the general political situation was what it was.
14 Whether there were people who believed that there were differences in
15 the political views between Belgrade and Sarajevo, well, certainly
16 there must have been.
17 Q. Presumably, you citizens within Kozarac were aware of these arguments
18 or debates that were taking place at a higher political level beyond
19 you citizens?
20 A. We had occasion to see the Assemblies at the Republic level. We
21 could listen to the Assembly meetings at the communal level, and the
22 same roughly could be said of meetings at the local level.
23 Q. Did this cause citizens to identify themselves, perhaps more
24 strongly, with the parties that they favoured?
25 A. I would not say so.
Page 3218
1 Q. What I am going to suggest to you, you see, is that within Kozarac
2 many of the younger people were identifying themselves very strongly
3 with the SDA, and what it meant to them as young Muslims, perhaps not
4 looking back at history with the experience that older people may
5 have?
6 A. It is not my view that those people turned to the young Muslims.
7 This was a process that had swept the whole country. There was
8 infiltration among the youth of the Muslims and their identification
9 with the SDA. The same could be said of the HDZ and the SDS parties.
10 MR. KAY: Your Honour, that is a convenient moment.
11 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: We will stand in recess for 20 minutes.
12 (11.30 a.m.)
13 (The court adjourned for a short time)
14 (12.05 p.m.)
15 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: Mr. Kay, you may continue. I apologise for the
16 delay. We had asked someone to indicate to counsel that we were in a
17 plenary meeting discussing matters that required a vote. So I
18 apologise for the delay, but here we are.
19 MR. KAY: Mr. Kahrimanovic, I would like to continue asking you some
20 questions about politics in Kozarac. The first thing I want to deal
21 with is this, it is right, is it not, that Kozarac did not have an SDS
22 party founded within it prior to the conflict?
23 A. May I ask you something? I have never engaged in politics, and I was
24 not a member of any political party. I was not interested in all
25 that. So, would you please ask me less questions which deal with
Page 3219
1 politics? As for your question, listen, in Kozarac itself one could
2 count on the fingers of one hand the number of people who were members
3 of political parties, and I think that people who lived in Kozarac
4 were active within SDS party which was founded where there were far
5 more Serb inhabitants.
6 Q. So, would it be right, if I can take the take end of that answer,
7 that what you are saying is that Kozarac did not have its own SDS
8 party established within that town?
9 A. I do not know if it did or did not. I know that groups of people of
10 Serb ethnic origin often rallied around those people that I mentioned
11 which seems to be indicating that some activity was, indeed, taking
12 place there, and that they were embroiled in the SDS politics because
13 how else can I interpret their meetings, their socializing, their
14 agreements, acceptance and extended arm, a branch of another place,
15 such as Omarska or Prijedor and such like.
16 Q. So what you are saying is that associations between Serb people at
17 this time prior to the conflict you were interpreting as being
18 necessarily connected with politics?
19 A. Yes.
20 Q. Just standing back and looking at that, do you not think that is a
21 little bit unfair? You mentioned that Mr. Tadic was with a man called
22 Kesic, you called him Djoko Kesic, do you think it was "Dusan" Kesic?
23 A. Dusko Kesic -- and Djoko, I did not mention that -- a laboratory
24 technician in the health centre in Kozarac.
25 Q. We are both talking about the same person you described that seeing
Page 3220
1 him with Dusko Tadic that it was like a tete a tete, as though they
2 were secretly discussing politics?
3 A. Well, listen, it was not secret. Had it been secret, it would have
4 happened in some -- in camera somewhere, but they talked as they did.
5 I said that I am not aware that in Kozarac, in this particular
6 locality, there were any particular premises assigned to the SDS, but
7 that their meetings, their associations, their communication, their
8 contacts took place -- were held in places which I described.
9 Q. Do you know if Dusko Kesic was ever a member of the SDS?
10 A. Personally, I do not and I also do not know many other people who are
11 members of other parties. I have not seen his application or his
12 membership card. But the very fact that you are usually seen in the
13 same milieu, that you often associate with the same people, allows one
14 to assume that you are a member or a sympathiser, a follower of a
15 particular party.
16 Q. Or Trivo Relic, do you know if he has ever been a member -----
17 A. Trivo Relic?
18 Q. Yes. Do you know if he has ever been a member of the SDS?
19 A. Of course I saw him in this company, so it applies to him as well.
20 Q. But do you know if he has ever been a member of the SDS?
21 A. Not to my specific knowledge. I have had no opportunity to learn
22 that.
23 Q. You see, these people that you are saying that Mr. Tadic associated
24 with, you do not know whether they were talking about politics or not?
25 A. I assume they did.
Page 3221
1 Q. But you are assuming as a guess, but I would be right in saying to
2 you that you do not know, and that would be a fair answer to say you
3 did not know?
4 A. I said that I knew they all worked together and co-operated and,
5 surely, they had no other reasons to meet and to talk except for party
6 reasons.
7 Q. But there would have been a life outside party politics, would there
8 not?
9 A. It is all an integral part of politics.
10 Q. As you say yourself, you were outside party politics?
11 A. And I did not socialise with people who were members of some of the
12 parties that I knew about, we had nothing to discuss, to talk about.
13 Q. Within Kozarac itself, would it be right to say that certain groups
14 who were in favour of the SDA party had formed checkpoints or guard
15 posts at various buildings and positions in that town?
16 A. I do not know about that.
17 Q. You did not know about the guard post outside the orthodox church
18 quite near to where you lived?
19 A. I had heard about various other places, but those other places, they
20 were of different ethnic composition. I also heard another version
21 that the priority task and exclusive task of that guard post was to
22 look after the church, because there were rumours in Kozarac that
23 somebody was about to blow up the church, and the church has not
24 bothered any of Kozarac inhabitants for centuries, so, presumably,
25 they were there to look after the church.
Page 3222
1 Q. The orthodox priest that you mentioned, he is Mladen Mejakic?
2 A. Believe me, I do not know that individual at all. I have never seen
3 him.
4 Q. Did you not know him because he lived next door to the church?
5 A. Yes, but I did not know him at all. Probably he only lived there for
6 a very short time because I know that many people changed there in
7 that part. There were a few people. I did not know him. I may have
8 met him that day had we accomplished the mission that we were supposed
9 to.
10 Q. You knew that he had fled from Kozarac with his family?
11 A. Well, there was talk about that in the locality, "The orthodox priest
12 is gone, something might happen", and that was why we cared, that we
13 really wanted to bring him back to the locality and have him live with
14 us because we did not think, at least in our view, there were no
15 reasons why he should leave Kozarac.
16 Q. He had left with his family, were you made aware of that?
17 A. No.
18 Q. That he had left at the beginning of May, in fact, 3rd May?
19 A. I know we were given that mission to try to persuade him to come back
20 somewhere around the middle of May. When he left, I would not know.
21 Q. Did you not know that originally he had left Kozarac and gone to
22 Banja Luka?
23 A. About his movements and the routes he took were something that I know
24 nothing about at all.
25 Q. You did not know anything then about the circumstances as to how he
Page 3223
1 left?
2 A. Nothing.
3 Q. But you told us that Mr. Tadic acted destructively because he failed
4 to get the priest to return?
5 A. No, it was not his mission. His mission was to establish the contact
6 with the priest, so that the priest would receive us and so that
7 myself and Dusko and Kemal Susic could go to him. That contact was
8 not established on two occasions and the third time when we came to
9 him to see if we could go, we did not find Dusko there.
10 Q. When you say that contact was not established, did you mean that the
11 priest would not see you or are you saying that Dusko Tadic did not
12 speak to the priest?
13 A. Both alternatives are possible.
14 Q. Because you told us earlier today that Mr. Tadic had told you that
15 the priest was too busy to see you and did not want to see you?
16 A. Yes, he could not receive us that day because he was too busy and
17 that meant that we would probably be received the next day, and when
18 the next day we returned, and those same people at the same place, the
19 answer was that he was busy again. The third time when Susic and I
20 came, we did not find Dusko at the place we had agreed upon the
21 previous day, and that was it, in front of the coffee bar.
22 Q. You expressed that to the court as Dusko Tadic acted destructively,
23 but you did not know what had been said between Dusko Tadic and the
24 priest?
25 A. It is logical; either the priest did not want to receive us or Dusko
Page 3224
1 did not want to establish contact with him. There is no third
2 possibility.
3 Q. So if the priest did not want to see you, then it would not be right
4 to say that Dusko Tadic had acted destructively?
5 A. Why did Dusko Tadic not tell us the reason why the priest would not
6 receive us that day? But if the priest was busy today, then he would
7 be free tomorrow. If he was busy tomorrow, then he would see us the
8 day after tomorrow. But I really wonder if it was possible that he
9 could not receive us on any one of those three days.
10 Q. Yes, exactly so it would be wrong as you do not know to blame Dusko
11 Tadic if the priest did not want to see you?
12 A. Dusko Tadic had assumed a responsibility of the Civic Council, a
13 member of which he was, and he had to comply with it.
14 Q. If he cannot comply with it, that is not his fault, is it?
15 A. Then he should have told us that the task was beyond him and that we
16 should look for another person through which we could establish the
17 contact.
18 Q. Again, when you told us about the newspaper article and the anonymous
19 letter that had been sent to the Tadic family threatening them, you
20 did not know from your own knowledge who wrote that letter?
21 A. In the beginning it was not known, but I said that the ruling party
22 expressed its reservations regarding the letter and its contents, and
23 people were making guesses in Kozarac because never before had
24 anything like that happened. Of course, it was also submitted to the
25 relevant authorities in MUP to conduct the necessary investigation and
Page 3225
1 all the other procedures, that is, decipher the handwriting and so on
2 and so forth. I said that rumour went around Kozarac as to the author
3 of the letter.
4 Q. Exactly. That is what you heard from someone else telling you
5 something about what they had heard from an investigation or, even
6 worse, from many other people speaking to each other?
7 A. Officially, the official interpretation of the police did not exist,
8 and it is quite natural why there was not because it could have caused
9 further conflicts, further problems, and that is perhaps why there was
10 no official communication.
11 Q. You say that the SDA party disassociated itself from sending that
12 letter, but that is not to stop anyone having sent that letter
13 unofficially, some young hot heads or older hot heads sending such a
14 letter not officially?
15 A. I think that that news which spread around Kozarac was that the
16 letter had been written by Mira Tadic and that there was such a rumour
17 in Kozarac.
18 Q. No-one accepted responsibility for sending that letter?
19 A. No.
20 Q. As far as Kozarac itself was concerned, were not certain people
21 identifying themselves more as proMuslim, proSDA?
22 A. I do not think so.
23 Q. Were you unaware of anyone obtaining weapons for themselves?
24 A. I did not know. I had no contact. I am telling you. It was of no
25 interest to me, politics and all that. I am telling you.
Page 3226
1 Q. Would it have surprised you at the time if you had learnt that is
2 what some people were doing?
3 A. Well, listen, I would not have been surprised by such an act because
4 in Kozarac I had opportunity to see uniformed people of Serb origin
5 carrying bags with ammunition or a rifle or something. So, if a Serb
6 can carry it around, why not a Muslim?
7 Q. So, are you telling us then from what you saw and your own experience
8 and this is how you remember things, that you only saw Serb people in
9 Kozarac carrying ammunition, uniforms, weapons, that you did not see
10 any Muslim people wearing uniforms or carrying weapons?
11 A. I saw Muslims, but they are people that I know were hunters and they
12 had hunting rifles, and why had he -- why did he carry it around on
13 his shoulder or in his hands, I do not really know, but I did not
14 observe anyone carrying that conventional military rifle or some more
15 up-to-date arm, automatic or semi-automatic weapon, and I did see
16 people of Serb ethnic origin. I saw Borovnica carrying an automatic
17 weapon around Kozarac or a fellow called Tepo. His family name could
18 have been Vidovic, I am not sure. Likewise, he would go into a
19 restaurant, armed.
20 Q. So, what you are saying is you did not see any people at checkpoints,
21 Muslim people, with any weapons anywhere in Kozarac?
22 A. Well, listen, I did not say that. If -- there were people at
23 checkpoints like that and they said they were members of the
24 Territorial Defence, which was a regular unit attached to the JNA.
25 Q. So did you see TO people then before the conflict at various
Page 3227
1 positions in Kozarac with weapons standing guard?
2 A. Yes, the guards were of mixed ethnic origin. There were Serbs as
3 well. One of my neighbours, rather, he was not a neighbour, he was
4 the son-in-law of my neighbour, a man called Ljuban -- I cannot
5 remember his surname -- was also one of those guards. They took
6 turns, so it was not a single ethnic guard.
7 Q. So, you are saying that it was not just Muslims at guard duty; it was
8 guard duties that involved all people from the community?
9 A. Yes, members of Territorial Defence because that was the suggestion,
10 that we should control these crossroads to avoid somebody, an unknown
11 person, entering and provoking an incident or something like that. In
12 my assessment, that was the role of those guards at checkpoints.
13 Q. In the mediation meetings in May in Prijedor, did you attend all
14 those meetings or only some?
15 A. No, I remember attending one meeting. I was invited, but I had my
16 job to do. I was working in the school. I did not go, but all others
17 went and then they would come and inform the citizens what had been
18 agreed with the representatives of the Serb authorities at the time,
19 what is required, what needs to be done, and so on.
20 Q. So the one meeting that you attended was that, you say, the one
21 meeting that Dusko Tadic attended?
22 A. Yes, and Zigic Milenko.
23 Q. Do you know, in fact, if he attended another meeting but you were not
24 present?
25 A. I do not know.
Page 3228
1 Q. After the attack on Kozarac, you took refuge in a position within the
2 town itself; you did not leave the town like many others did?
3 A. I was there in Kozarac on the day of the attack, on Sunday, all the
4 time, all night, the night from Sunday to Monday, and on Monday
5 morning my neighbours had the idea that we should try to seek shelter
6 in the woods. My car was in the yard and we decided that I should go
7 and my next door neighbour, Fazlic Kemal. He took the Saric family in
8 his car and I took the Kusuran family and my brother-in-law, Zijad.
9 We went in the direction of Debeli Brijeg where we had a
10 lovely chalet there. There were lots of people there, horse drawn
11 carriages, tractors, people on foot, limousines. When we had climbed
12 just above the mosque, I left my car -- we saw we could not go any
13 further -- I left my car near a house that was under construction and
14 my neighbour, Kemal, and the Saric family went on. We could not go
15 further because there were shells were falling, so we sought shelter
16 in the cellar of a neighbouring house full of women and children. I
17 spent two or three hours there.
18 Then I saw I could not stay on because it was dangerous, and I
19 told my three friends, "I am going and you think it over". Then they
20 followed me down the so-called Brdjani where late in the afternoon on
21 that Monday we spent a couple of hours and when it was quite dark, we
22 turned back towards our homes, towards the centre.
23 Q. So you would have stayed that night on the Monday night, 25th May,
24 back in Kozarac, is that right?
25 A. No, the night between Monday and Tuesday, and the night between
Page 3229
1 Sunday and Monday, I spent the night in Kozarac with the neighbours I
2 have named.
3 Q. So on 26th May when you joined the column from Mrakovica -----
4 A. This was not a column from Mrakovica; it was a column coming from the
5 direction of Mrakovica. I do not know exactly where they were coming
6 from, but we called it the direction of Rajkovici. This was a column
7 that we joined with the exception of the Fazlic and Saric family whose
8 whereabouts at the time I did not know.
9 Q. Yes, I understood what you said and I was quoting from your words
10 this morning. All I wanted to know was at what time you joined that
11 column.
12 A. Between 7.00 and 8 o'clock.
13 Q. Is that in the morning?
14 A. Tuesday morning.
15 Q. When you got to the bus station on the Banja Luka/Prijedor road, can
16 you tell me what time that was?
17 A. The place where I had joined was about 300 or 400, 500 metres from
18 the Banja Luka Prijedor cross roads. Maybe you need some 10 minutes
19 to reach that junction, but we did not stay there. We went ahead in
20 the direction of Prijedor. We reached the bus station at Kozarusa
21 known as Limenka. There was a big point there, lots of army men, lots
22 of equipment, tanks, guns. This was a checkpoint. We were searched
23 and men were separated from the women and children who went left, we
24 were told to go right.
25 Q. I am sorry, my question was, and perhaps you can help me, what time
Page 3230
1 it was that you reached that checkpoint, if you can tell us?
2 A. Maybe it took us about half an hour to get there from the point at
3 which I joined the column in Kozarac.
4 Q. You said that the people were being separated there, men, women and
5 children, is that right?
6 A. Yes.
7 Q. Who was doing that separating?
8 A. People in uniform, mostly wearing the grey-green uniforms of the
9 former Yugoslav People's Army.
10 Q. Did you know any of them?
11 A. No, I did not.
12 Q. When you got taken to Keraterm where you stayed one night, did you
13 know any of the guards who dealt with you there?
14 A. I did not know any of the guards, but I knew a soldier who entered
15 the camp or rather the room in which we were housed. I even asked him,
16 "Cedo, can you give me a cigarette or two?" This Cedo was my teacher's
17 brother, the brother of Tambic Bozo. He went out and he brought me one
18 or two cigarettes.
19 Q. When you went to Omarska the next night, did you know any of the
20 guards who had dealings with you there?
21 A. No.
22 Q. When you were taken for interrogation after you arrived, did you know
23 who was questioning you?
24 A. There were five of them. I did not know any one of them personally,
25 though in the neighbouring rooms there were interrogators whom I knew.
Page 3231
1 Q. Just dealing with your own questioning, did you know any of the
2 guards?
3 A. No. No, I did not know anyone. They were not guards. There were
4 five of them in the room in which I was interrogated and I did not
5 know any of them. The police that escorted me, there were three of
6 them. I did not know any of them either.
7 Q. When you were put in the place you called the garage, did you know
8 any of the guards who were dealing with you there?
9 A. Personally, no, but I would see when the door was open that there was
10 a man in uniform there. But I did not know anyone.
11 Q. When you were taken out on to the pista from the garage, did you know
12 any of the guards there?
13 A. No, I did not. They would walk by us, two or three. They were
14 taking turns, but I did not know any of them.
15 Q. When you said about the other people who were interrogating
16 detainees, did you see anyone there that you knew in the interrogation
17 building?
18 A. You are thinking of the other Commission members?
19 Q. Yes, because you did not know who questioned you or the other people
20 in that room and I am asking whether you knew anyone else in that
21 building whom you saw that you knew?
22 A. We had occasion at least on that day when we were standing on the
23 pista in the afternoon, they would end their work, they would climb a
24 bus, a small van intended for the miners from Ljubija, and they would
25 leave the interrogation rooms. I saw a colleague of mine, he was a
Page 3232
1 teacher in the 16th May school. His name was Radakovic. I cannot
2 remember his first name.
3 Q. Was he the only one that you knew getting into that bus?
4 A. I only noticed him. I recognised him. I did not know the others.
5 Q. You said there was an occasion on the pista that you saw Dusko Tadic?
6 A. On that Friday, yes, we were allowed to sit down or to get up, to
7 stand there, but where we were on the spot, where we were standing,
8 that is when I saw Dusko Tadic.
9 Q. If it is possible, you have got a pointer on the table beside you,
10 are you able to stand up and indicate -- and if the video monitor can
11 now show the model between the interrogation building and the hangar
12 so that we can see on our screens, if we can focus in, please on to
13 the model? I do not seem to have the same control as others! I use
14 that politely.
15 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: I can see it. Why do you not try to ask the
16 gentleman to point. There we go.
17 MR. KAY: Thank you. (To the witness): If you can indicate to us where
18 you were standing at the time you say you saw Dusko Tadic?
19 A. Can I show this on the model here?
20 Q. Yes.
21 A. Because I cannot see it on the screen very well.
22 Q. Do not look at the screen.
23 A. The garage is here.
24 Q. Keep your pointer there. Yes, we are familiar with the buildings
25 ourselves.
Page 3233
1 A. I was standing facing the entrance where I entered on Thursday
2 morning. I was halfway along this building, here somewhere I think,
3 so I could see diagonally.
4 Q. Yes, keep your pointer there, please, where you say you were standing
5 just for a moment, where you were standing. Is that where you were
6 standing?
7 A. Sitting and standing at that moment I was standing.
8 Q. If you could just keep the pointer there where you were sitting and
9 standing when you saw Dusko Tadic? I do not know if there is another
10 shot that the camera men -- yes, they can. That is the one. Perhaps
11 if you could indicate where you say Mr. Tadic was when you saw him on
12 the pista?
13 A. Roughly here somewhere, about here.
14 Q. Thank you. So the point that you indicated was close to the
15 interrogation building, is that right?
16 A. Yes.
17 Q. Is that where you and the other prisoners were taken from the hangar?
18 A. Would you please repeat the question?
19 Q. You described being on the pista because you and the other detainees
20 were let out and you could stand or sit up. Were you in that area
21 with the other detainees?
22 A. Please, on that Friday morning when we were allowed out of the
23 garage, probably because it was too crowded inside, they let us stand
24 alongside the building. We asked whether we could sit down, they said
25 we could. Some people were sitting, some were standing and changing
Page 3234
1 positions. Those were the people who had been interrogated on
2 Thursday afternoon. They would then be put in the garage. That is
3 where we had spent the night about 150 or 200 people. Those were the
4 people who had come out and from there in the evening when it became
5 quite dark we were moved in the same direction to one of these garage
6 doors, one or the other, up the stairs to the last room upstairs. We
7 were not joined only by those who had spent the night in the garage,
8 but later on in the afternoon there were other prisoners who joined
9 us. Where they came from, where they had spent the night, I do not
10 know.
11 Q. How many of them were there in that group that you describe on the
12 Friday?
13 A. The evening on Thursday I do not know exactly, maybe 10, 11, 12.
14 When I was brought to the garage after interrogation I was in the
15 second group of five. People were coming, coming, coming and then at
16 one point I counted 150 and I gave up counting. We were so closely
17 packed that no one could sit down. Some of us were standing on one
18 foot. I remember two men, Susic Zijed who fainted, who lost
19 consciousness, there was a small window, there was no air, Denic
20 Junuz, they were thrown out of the door outside to catch some air and
21 then they were brought back in. That was the group on Friday morning
22 that was let out of the garage. They saw that they could not live in
23 that small space. We spent until late in the afternoon there when, as
24 I said, we were moved into that room upstairs.
25 Q. So the position you indicated to us by that building was where you
Page 3235
1 were placed with at one stage you counted some 150 other people, is
2 that right?
3 A. Yes, the garage was the place where we were taken after interrogation
4 on Thursday, we spent the night Thursday to Friday. Friday morning we
5 were taken out. We spent the whole day on the pista and in the
6 evening we were moved to that room upstairs.
7 Q. Yes, but perhaps you would like to stand again with the pointer and
8 indicate where you were and I will ask you the question again. Thank
9 you. If we could have the same camera shot.
10 A. I roughly remember the gate which I entered Wednesday to Thursday,
11 this door. On that Friday I was just opposite that door, maybe a
12 metre left or right, I cannot say for sure.
13 Q. If you could just remain standing so that we can see it with the
14 pointer. I want to make sure you understand the question. Can you
15 point to that same place again and leave the pointer there?
16 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: He has pointed twice, Mr. Kay. He understands the
17 question. I believe I understand the question and I understand both
18 answers. Why do you want him to point a third time?
19 MR. KAY: Your Honour, I am just trying to make it clear ----
20 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: It is clear.
21 JUDGE STEPHEN: It is perfectly clear.
22 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: It is very clear.
23 MR. KAY: Your Honour, in my mind I think the witness ----
24 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: You are not to determine whether it is clear or not
25 in your mind. We have determined it is clear. You have asked him
Page 3236
1 twice. Move on.
2 MR. KAY: I will move on. (To the witness): If you could sit down, but
3 ----
4 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: But you want to say it is still not clear in your
5 mind. It is clear. Move on, Mr. Kay.
6 MR. KAY: (To the witness): Were you in that position with some 150 other
7 people?
8 A. You are asking me?
9 Q. Yes.
10 A. All the prisoners who had spent the night in the garage, I repeat,
11 on that Friday morning were taken out to the pista. I was among them.
12 We were standing in line one behind the other, a line, we spent the
13 night standing. When we came out on the pista we asked whether we may
14 sit down. We were allowed to sit down, but only one by one lined up.
15 Sitting there you can move left or right. Sometimes you get up a
16 little. That is how we spend the day.
17 Q. Were there any other prisoners in any other place other than that one
18 you have indicated outside on the pista?
19 A. Were there other prisoners from among this group or generally other
20 prisoners?
21 Q. Not generally in the camp, but on the pista. You have said that you
22 were with a large group. Were there any other prisoners on the pista
23 ----
24 A. That is the group.
25 Q. Thank you. So, when you say you saw Mr. Tadic you were actually
Page 3237
1 looking through a large group of people?
2 A. I would not say so. Most of the people were sitting down.
3 Occasionally they would get up because they were tired from standing
4 all night, the torture we had experienced during the interrogation,
5 the mistreatment, the harassment. So there was no theoretical chance
6 of anybody obstructing me, obstructing my view.
7 Q. The person you looked at you did not look at for a long period of
8 time, only a short moment?
9 A. Long enough to recognise him and I sat down immediately. You know
10 why.
11 Q. But it was a short period of time, is that right?
12 A. Quite long enough to recognise my neighbour whom I had known for
13 years.
14 Q. Because what I suggest to you in fact is that you made a mistake in
15 that short period of time. You did not see Dusko Tadic?
16 A. I did not see you, sir, in Omarska and I was there.
17 Q. At this stage so far you have not recognised anyone else who has had
18 dealings with you during your confinement in Keraterm, your
19 confinement in Omarska. This is the first person you know?
20 A. In Keraterm I said I had met Cedo Tambic.
21 Q. I forget. You are right.
22 A. People did not communicate with me because there was no need. To
23 tell you the truth, I did not want to communicate because it would be
24 better for me, for them not to see me or to recognise me, because in
25 the Omarska camp there were no orderly records of the names of the
Page 3238
1 persons detained there and precisely to avoid identification, not just
2 me but many others behaved in the same way avoiding contact with
3 others.
4 Q. But you had been a school master in Kozarac for many years, many
5 pupils had passed through the schools where you had taught, and in
6 those three days until the Friday other than the guard who was a son
7 of a colleague of yours, the only person you can recognise is Dusko
8 Tadic?
9 A. Yes.
10 Q. The next time you say that you saw him was in the middle of the
11 following week about mid-day, is that right?
12 A. About mid-day, I am not sure whether it was Thursday or Friday. I
13 cannot say for sure.
14 Q. Can you recollect the date it was that you left Omarska?
15 A. It was the Friday of that week.
16 Q. At that stage you had been in the camp three days?
17 A. No, I stayed a week before that. I reached Keraterm on 26th. Then
18 on 27th to 28th I was in Omarska. Then the whole week in Omarska and
19 the whole following week in Omarska.
20 Q. Can you recollect how many days it was before you left Omarska?
21 A. A day or two. It was the middle of that week and I left at the end
22 of the week. Then it must have been a day or two before that.
23 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: We will stand in recess until 2.30.
24 (1.00 p.m.)
25 (Luncheon Adjournment)
Page 3239
1
2 (2.30 p.m.) PRIVATE
3 MR. NIEMANN: Your Honour, Judge Vohrah asked, I think, on the last day
4 for a plan. We have a plan, your Honours. There are three plus an
5 original. I do not know whether your Honours want to mark it as an
6 exhibit? I have given a copy to the Defence. If it is to be marked as
7 an exhibit, it would be 238, but it is a ground floor plan and the
8 first floor plan of the big garage building. The numbers that appear
9 on the plan that is now being handed to your Honours correspond with
10 the numbers as in the model itself.
11 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: Is it 238, did you say, or do you want to make it an
12 exhibit? 130, I think, is the -----
13 MR. NIEMANN: It could be 130A which, perhaps, might correspond.
14 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: We will look, I suppose, to 130, but this is really
15 for our ease, is that correct?
16 MR. NIEMANN: It is.
17 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: OK. Then 130 is in, but 130A will be admitted as
18 something that it was easier for us to look at when we are not in the
19 court room at least. Very good. There is no objection?
20 MR. WLADIMIROFF: No, your Honour.
21 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: Very good. Thank you.
22 MR. KAHRIMANOVIC, recalled
23 Cross-examined by MR. KAY, continued
24 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: Mr. Kay, you may continue.
25 MR. KAY: Just so it is clear, Mr. Kahrimanovic, may I also put to you
Page 3240
1 that, in fact, that second occasion when you say you saw Dusko Tadic
2 that in the circumstances you saw him that you were mistaken, it was
3 not him?
4 A. That was him.
5 Q. Can you describe what he looked like?
6 A. Standard uniform, and then slightly, well, not really a beard but a
7 growth, not particularly well kept.
8 MR. KAY: No further questions. Thank you.
9 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: Mr. Niemann?
10 MR. NIEMANN: I have no questions in re-examination.
11 Examined by the Court
12 JUDGE STEPHEN: Witness, I do not understand at all this evidence that you
13 gave about medicines at the school. What was the importance of there
14 being or not being medicines found at the school? Can you explain
15 that to me?
16 A. Yes, I can. By Statute, every school was to have a first aid kit,
17 either in a box or a bag, and the kit included bandages, plastic small
18 scissors, a needle or something, in case a pupil would be injured
19 outside the building or around the school building, in the school
20 yard, so that first aid could be extended to him or her.
21 It was important because my secretary, that is, the school
22 secretary, he was Ante Zlotaj, the school secretary, found himself in
23 the camp at Omarska again because one of the members of those SDS
24 troops, I do not know whom, when going through the school found a
25 contingent of such medicines and they thought there were medicines,
Page 3241
1 some medical supplies, prepared for combat operations possibly. So in
2 my school there was such a first aid bag which included this and it
3 was to serve the purpose.
4 Q. Thank you very much, that explains it. The second question I wanted
5 to ask you was when you say that you saw the accused in Omarska twice,
6 is your recollection that the person you saw was bearded or without a
7 beard on those occasions?
8 A. Well, as for the beard, no, he was simply unshaven. That is what I
9 mean. That is what he looked like. I mean, when a beard, then it is
10 already a growth of hair; whereas he looked as if unshaven.
11 Q. Thank you. The last question I wanted to ask you relates to the
12 priest who had left the town and your task initially was to try to
13 secure his return. That being so, did you not make some enquiry as to
14 why he had left and what were you told as to why he had left?
15 A. I did not enquire about that. Personally, I think he left it for
16 reasons of security. I believe he knew what awaited our town and that
17 was why he left because we felt, we thought that there was no reason
18 for it, that we had lived there together until then, and we also
19 wanted perhaps to recover our self-confidence by bringing him back
20 into our environment because there was no reason why. But he did
21 leave, so evidently he had some reason to do so and, presumably, that
22 meant that he knew something that we did not know.
23 Q. But no-one gave you any explanation for his leaving?
24 A. Not that I would know about.
25 Q. Thank you.
Page 3242
1 A. Not since he left.
2 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: Mr. Kahrimanovic, you testified that 27 persons left
3 on a bus to the Trnopolje camp, is that correct? Then when you left
4 there were 22 of you. My question is what happened to the other five,
5 or do you know?
6 A. I will try to explain. There was a misunderstanding. From Omarska
7 we were taken by a bus and there were 27 of us. We arrived in front
8 of the Trnopolje camp and then we were all filed by person who
9 escorted us, that is, we were put on record and we were told to
10 manage for ourselves and to spend that night there and then the next
11 day a bus would come to the command building, and then take us from
12 there to Prijedor. So, it depended on how people managed; I managed
13 somehow because I had some friends and colleagues there and I was
14 taken there, that is, they took me to the school library. That is
15 where I spent the night. In the morning I went to the command
16 building as it had been agreed to report there or enquire about a
17 superior. I do not know what had happened to the bus that we had been
18 told the previous evening would come to take us to Prijedor.
19 He cursed my God and used other four letter words and said,
20 "Well, where are you? We were looking for you all night and we
21 managed to find 22 of you and to put on the bus and take them to
22 Prijedor", and then I asked him, "And what about us? What do we do?"
23 "Whatever you can manage", and meanwhile the camp commander arrived,
24 Slobodan Kuruzovic, who was a school fellow of mine, and I asked him,
25 "Slobo, you know that we arrived last night, and this night this
Page 3243
1 happened they had found 22. I know no reason for which they should
2 take those 22 and what are we supposed to do now?" He said, "I do not
3 know, wait".
4 So I went back to the school library and a few minutes later
5 my colleague, Sulejman Causevic, came, and said, "They are asking for
6 you, Hamda". So I and another three persons came out, I do not know
7 who they are, but that is those last five, and we were put in a police
8 car and taken to SUP office. So the next day we were all there, all
9 27 of us.
10 Q. I have another question. It is a general question, sir. You have
11 lived in Kozarac or did live in Kozarac your whole life, I gather, is
12 that correct, until recently?
13 A. Well, yes, I said I was born in Kozarac and that is where I came out
14 from the latter part of the primary school, that is the last four
15 years, I passed examinations to come out of the primary school and I
16 lived in Kozarusa with my parents when I return from my military
17 service until 67, 68 when I finished, and then in 68 I built my own
18 house. Until then I lived in my family house and in this house, of
19 course, I lived until 26th May '92.
20 Q. I gather that you have taught both Muslims and Serbs in the school
21 where you were a school teacher and then a principal, is that correct?
22 A. Absolutely. While I was the principal, I did not teach because I was
23 the principal. So I had to perform the duties of the principal, but
24 before I was assigned deputy principal in '74, I worked in classrooms,
25 and after '74, after my second term as a principal, I went back to
Page 3244
1 teaching but then to the school in Kozarusa which had been built
2 meanwhile as the primary school eight grade elementary school, but as
3 a part of the school in Kozarac until '82 when I was again appointed a
4 principal of that school.
5 While I was in Kozarusa, I was the, how shall I put it, as a
6 host. I was a supervisor there, that is, I did not rank the same as
7 the principal of the school in Kozarac.
8 Q. My question really related to your having taught Muslim and Serb
9 children; I gather Serb children go to school with Muslim school?
10 A. Absolutely.
11 Q. You testified that you have persons of other religion in your family.
12 You lived in a neighbourhood where there were Serbs, is that correct?
13 Is all of this correct?
14 A. My next door neighbour was a Serb, a very good man.
15 Q. So I guess my question ---
16 A. He died in my wife's hands.
17 Q. -- is perhaps not a fair question, I do not know that you could give
18 a complete answer, but perhaps you can help me to understand since I
19 am not from that area. How could you explain that some of the
20 atrocities that we have heard have been committed, generally I am
21 talking about, throughout the former Yugoslavia, how can you explain
22 that something like that would happen? Given your background, given
23 your experience, knowing that Serbs and Muslims lived together, went
24 to school together, intermarried, how did it happen?
25 A. It is difficult to answer, this question. I am also at a loss. I
Page 3245
1 have the keys to my next door neighbour who was a Serb, but he had my
2 keys. That is how we looked after each other, one another. We
3 visited each other for holidays. My best man at my wedding was a
4 Serb. We were friends and he was the same one who threatened us. It
5 is inexplicable what happened to those people. It was some kind of
6 madness. I mean, one did not know whom to trust any more and I do not
7 have a word of explanation for that.
8 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: Is there any objection to this witness being
9 permanently -- any additional questions, Mr. Niemann, Mr. Kay?
10 MR. KAY: No, your Honour.
11 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: Is there any objection to Mr. Kahrimanovic being
12 permanently excused? Very good. You are permanently excused, Mr.
13 Kahrimanovic. Thank you very much for coming.
14 (The witness withdrew)
15 THE WITNESS: Thank you.
16 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: Mr. Niemann, could you call your next witness.
17 MR. NIEMANN: Thank you, your Honour. I call Zijad Jakupovic.
18 ZIJAD JAKUPOVIC, called.
19 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: Sir, would you take that oath, please?
20 THE WITNESS [In translation]: I solemnly declare that I will speak the
21 truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
22 (The witness was sworn)
23 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: You may be seated, sir.
24 Examined by MR. NIEMANN
25 Q. Is your name Zijad Jakupovic and were you born on 8th September 1956?
Page 3246
1 A. Yes, yes.
2 Q. Where were you born, Mr. Jakupovic?
3 A. I was born in Kozarac, Hrnici 107, the village of Hrnici.
4 Q. How far is the village of Hrnici from the centre of the town of
5 Kozarac?
6 A. A kilometre-and-a-half.
7 Q. Where did you attend your primary school?
8 A. Kozarac.
9 Q. Did you attend secondary school in Prijedor?
10 A. Yes.
11 Q. When at secondary school did you do a course in building
12 construction?
13 A. Yes, that was a course.
14 Q. Did you live at your property in Hrnici up until 1992?
15 A. Yes.
16 Q. Were you initially employed as a bricklayer and then subsequently did
17 you work land in an agricultural sense in the Hrnici area after you
18 had done this, after you had worked as a bricklayer?
19 A. Yes, yes.
20 Q. Were you in the army from July 1975 to 1976?
21 A. Yes.
22 Q. Did you do your military service in an artillery unit and did you
23 attend your military service in Serbia?
24 A. Yes.
25 Q. Are you by nationality and religion a Muslim?
Page 3247
1 A. Yes.
2 Q. Do you know the accused Dule Tadic in these proceedings?
3 A. Yes.
4 Q. Do you remember when you first met him?
5 A. The first time we were in primary school in Kozarac together, that is
6 in the 6th, 7th and 8th grades we were together.
7 Q. Were you in the same class as Dule Tadic?
8 A. Yes.
9 Q. Although you lived in the village of Hrnici which is close to
10 Kozarac, did you see him from time to time in Kozarac throughout the
11 course of your life up until 1992?
12 A. Yes, I saw him often.
13 Q. Can you tell us very briefly where he lived in Kozarac?
14 A. Kozarac, he lived -- he has a restaurant and above this restaurant is
15 next to Perusa -- Perusa was his next door neighbour, that is his
16 nickname, Perusa and Hankic was the surname -- that is, there is this
17 coffee bar and above it is his house. There, I think, is a shop and I
18 believe there is yet another home, I cannot remember their name, the
19 name of the man between the shop and Dule's coffee bar, is yet another
20 house and beyond his house is the road leading to the hospital.
21 Q. So far as you know, did he live, he and his family, at this place all
22 the time that you knew him?
23 A. As far as I can remember, they had lived there all their lives.
24 Q. Do you know what Dule Tadic did in Kozarac for a living?
25 A. Yes, he coached karate.
Page 3248
1 Q. After he coached karate do you know what he did?
2 A. Oh, after that he had the coffee bar.
3 Q. Do you know his father's name -----
4 JUDGE STEPHEN: If this is merely for the purpose of qualifying him as
5 somebody to identify, surely that has been sufficiently done?
6 MR. NIEMANN: If your Honours feels so, that is fine. (To the witness):
7 Do you recall when Kozarac was attacked in May 1992?
8 A. Yes, I do. It was on 24th May 1992 in the afternoon.
9 Q. Were you at home at the time when the attack occurred?
10 A. Yes.
11 Q. What did you do immediately the attack started, where did you and
12 your family go?
13 A. Well, I went back home to the cellar and we hid there with my wife
14 and children and other members of the family while the shelling
15 lasted.
16 Q. Did you then receive instructions over the radio for people to report
17 to Trnopolje?
18 A. Yes, on the radio they were informing us and I learnt that in
19 Trnopolje a kind of a reception centre was being formed, that we were
20 all to report there, so that I took my family and went out.
21 Q. How long did you stay in Trnopolje?
22 A. In Trnopolje, some six days.
23 Q. Were you then transferred to Keraterm?
24 A. Yes.
25 Q. When you went to Keraterm were you placed in a large room with about
Page 3249
1 200 other prisoners?
2 A. Yes, yes.
3 Q. While you were in Keraterm were you beaten or mistreated in any way?
4 A. Yes, I was, that is, beaten by Duca and Zigic -- not once, many
5 times.
6 Q. When you say "Duca", to whom are you referring?
7 A. I am referring, I did not know Duca before the war. I met him in the
8 Keraterm camp. "Duca" is his nickname. I believe he is called Dusan
9 Knezevic. "Dusan" is his first name. I am not sure about "Knezevic".
10 Q. On how many occasions were you beaten by Dusan or Duca Knezevic?
11 A. Well, he sometimes would come in the morning, sometimes in the
12 evening, and some meanwhile by car in civilian clothes, and he would
13 do what he had come to do, that is, beat us and be on his way again.
14 Q. Are you familiar with the appearance of Duca Knezevic?
15 A. Yes.
16 Q. You have just said a moment ago in your evidence that you knew Dusan
17 Tadic or Dule Tadic. In your mind, is it possible to confuse the two
18 men by looking at them?
19 A. No, it is not.
20 Q. Is there any particular reason why you say the two men are not
21 similar to each other?
22 A. Well, as they were more or less of the same height, except that Duca
23 was very well built, very broad shoulders. He had a round face, and
24 he looked younger.
25 Q. How long did you stay in Keraterm camp?
Page 3250
1 A. I stayed between 15 and 16 days.
2 Q. Where did you go then?
3 A. I went to the Omarska camp.
4 Q. When you went to Omarska where did they place you?
5 A. They put us in the white house.
6 Q. While you were in the white house at Omarska, did you ever see the
7 accused Dule Tadic?
8 A. Yes.
9 Q. Can you tell me approximately when this was that you saw him -- in
10 Omarska camp, I mean, the date?
11 A. Roughly the date, it was about 21st June, 21st or 22nd. I do not
12 remember exactly, but around that date.
13 Q. Can you tell me approximately what time of the day it was when you
14 saw him, approximately?
15 A. Approximately, to tell you truth, I did not have a watch because they
16 took our watches away but it was the afternoon. I think it was about
17 3.00 or 4.00 in the afternoon.
18 Q. Where were you precisely when you first saw Dule Tadic?
19 A. I was in the white house, entering the white house, the right-hand
20 room.
21 Q. You were near the entrance to the white house?
22 A. Me? Would you please repeat the question?
23 Q. Were you sitting near the entrance to the white house, is that what
24 you said?
25 A. I was sitting inside, in the room in the white house.
Page 3251
1 Q. I see. The answer that I have here in the transcript to the question
2 is, "I was in the white house, entering the white house, the
3 right-hand room". You were already in the white house, I take it,
4 you did not enter it?
5 A. I was sitting in the white house and I was looking through the window
6 when I saw Dusko Tadic. It is the room, the first room, to the right.
7 That is what I said. I spent 15 days there.
8 Q. How for away was Dule Tadic from you when you first saw him?
9 A. Roughly, he was not far away from the window, seven to 10 metres away
10 from me.
11 Q. Did you recognise him when you first saw him?
12 A. Yes.
13 Q. Were you able to see all of him?
14 A. No.
15 Q. How much of him could you see?
16 A. I just saw the upper part of him.
17 Q. Is that from the waist up?
18 A. Yes. Yes, yes, from the waist up.
19 Q. Apart from being obstructed in seeing that part of him, were you
20 obstructed from seeing any other part of him as he came past that
21 window?
22 A. Yes, I was sitting below the window sill, in front of me was the
23 window sill so I could not see the lower part of him.
24 Q. But apart from that did you have a clear view of him?
25 A. Yes.
Page 3252
1 Q. Were the weather conditions fine on that day?
2 A. Yes, it was fine.
3 Q. Were you able to keep him under observation for some time?
4 A. No, not long -- just as he passed by beneath the window.
5 Q. Was he walking or standing still when you saw him?
6 A. Walking.
7 Q. Was he with anybody or was he on his own?
8 A. There were two other guards with him.
9 Q. Had you seen him with these people before?
10 A. No.
11 Q. Was there any particular reason or any particular factor that
12 triggered your recollection of Tadic when you saw him on this
13 occasion?
14 A. The only reason was that I already had some experience with camps, if
15 somebody recognises you, because mostly acquaintances killed their
16 own, their acquaintances, their colleagues from work, and I was
17 afraid. I was afraid he might recognise me.
18 Q. So it was because you knew him that made you more attentive when you
19 saw him?
20 A. Certainly.
21 Q. Do you recall how he was dressed?
22 A. I remember he had the top part of a camouflage uniform, no cap on his
23 head and a shirt, camouflage shirt.
24 Q. Were you able to see whether or not he was armed?
25 A. No, I could not see whether he was carrying anything in his hand.
Page 3253
1 Q. Were you able to see where he appeared to be going?
2 A. He was moving towards the entrance of the white house.
3 Q. Did you actually see him enter the white house?
4 A. No, I could not see him enter. I just heard that somebody entered.
5 Q. When you say you "heard", did you hear footsteps?
6 A. Yes, like footsteps, you could hear somebody walking.
7 Q. The footsteps that you heard were consistent with him and two other
8 guards entering the white house?
9 A. I do not know whose footsteps they were. I just heard footsteps.
10 Q. How long were you in the white house?
11 A. In the white house, 15 days roughly. I do not know exactly whether
12 it is was 15 or 16.
13 Q. Had you seen Dule Tadic in the white house on any other occasion?
14 A. No, I saw him just that once.
15 Q. Did you ever see him again in the Omarska camp?
16 A. No.
17 Q. Did you see him leave the Omarska camp on that day that you saw him?
18 A. No.
19 Q. During the period 1992, were you a member of any military,
20 paramilitary group?
21 A. No.
22 Q. Would you please look around the courtroom and tell me whether you
23 see the person that you know as Dule Tadic?
24 A. Yes, that is he sitting between the two policemen.
25 MR. NIEMANN: Yes, I think he has described it, your Honour.
Page 3254
1 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: The record will reflect that the witness described
2 the accused -- identified the accused.
3 MR. NIEMANN: No further questions, your Honour.
4 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: Cross-examination?
5 Cross-examined by MR. KAY
6 MR. KAY: Thank you. Mr. Jakupovic, you mentioned that it was about 21st
7 or 22nd June that you say that you saw Dusko Tadic in Omarska?
8 A. Yes.
9 Q. Can you tell me how you are able to specify either of those days,
10 21st or 22nd June?
11 A. I could specify those days because from the day I went to the camp,
12 and the time I spent in Trnopolje and Keraterm, plus the white house
13 and then after I came to the white house, three or four days later I
14 met -- I saw Dusko Tadic.
15 Q. Yes. What I am asking about is how you are able to pick out either
16 of those two dates of 21st or 22nd June.
17 A. I did not pick out those two dates. I do not remember whether it was
18 21st or 22nd. I said 21st or 22nd, roughly. I do not remember the
19 date. I came from Keraterm, how should I say, I was beaten up. I was
20 fighting for my life. I did not know what date it was.
21 Q. So it could have been a date other than 21st or 22nd June?
22 A. It could not be any other date because I know. That is why I said
23 "roughly" because I know how many days I spent in Trnopolje, how many
24 in Keraterm, how many in the white house.
25 Q. On that occasion that you said you saw him, you had been in the white
Page 3255
1 house how many days?
2 A. I was four or five days in the white house.
3 Q. You said that you were sitting in the room on the right-hand side;
4 was that sitting on the floor?
5 A. Yes -- no, not on the floor. We had, like, a small bench which was
6 on the floor but it was not very high.
7 Q. How many other people were in the room with you?
8 A. In that room there were another 10, about 10 people.
9 Q. Were they like you, sitting down or any of them standing up?
10 A. No, some were sitting. The bench was small. Only two or three
11 people could sit on the bench. Most of them were sitting on the
12 floor, on the concrete, most of them.
13 Q. You were looking out of the window and you would be looking to the
14 area of the pista in between the interrogation centre and the hangar
15 building at Omarska, would that be right?
16 A. No, I was looking straight through the window and you cannot see the
17 pista through the window because the pista is a little to the left.
18 Q. So if you looked out of that window, what view would you have of the
19 camp from where you were sitting?
20 A. From where I was sitting, I could just see straight ahead the other
21 building, straight ahead.
22 Q. From the position that you were sitting in, you could not see the
23 grass in front of the white house?
24 A. Grass? No, how could I see the grass in front of the white house
25 when I was sitting low down and the sill was just below the window?
Page 3256
1 So I just saw a little bit in front of me.
2 Q. When you say you saw Dusko Tadic, do you know where he was walking
3 from?
4 A. He was coming from the direction of the pista.
5 Q. From the position where you were sitting, can you see the path up to
6 the door of the white house?
7 A. No, you cannot see it.
8 Q. From the position you were sitting then what you saw of that man, are
9 you able to describe what he looked like? What was his appearance?
10 A. Yes, the upper part of his body, as I said, was in a camouflage
11 uniform like a shirt without a cap on his head. He had a small beard,
12 actually an unshaven, not a big beard, not an old beard, not a big
13 beard.
14 Q. The position that you were looking at him from, presumably, you only
15 saw him very briefly?
16 A. Yes, but enough to recognise him.
17 Q. In those circumstances, you were sitting down on that bench in the
18 room that you have described and can you remember what you were doing
19 before you say you saw this man, what was happening in the room where
20 you were?
21 A. I remember nothing was happening in the room. When somebody was
22 coming, and they usually came to the white house for beating, that was
23 regular, and then everybody would fall still, waiting for somebody to
24 come to our door.
25 Q. Was the door to your room open or shut?
Page 3257
1 A. Shut.
2 Q. You have described two other men whilst you were at Keraterm, one of
3 them called Zoran Zigic and the other one Dusan Knezevic?
4 A. Yes.
5 Q. You said that you had dealings with them?
6 A. Yes -- no, I had no contact. They beat me. They beat me to death.
7 Q. Did you know anyone else in Keraterm, any of your other guards?
8 A. Yes.
9 Q. Who else did you know in Keraterm?
10 A. I just knew somebody called Kailj, Kajin, something like that, and I
11 did not know any other guards. I did not know this one either before,
12 but he was in charge of one of the shifts, so I do not really know
13 whether that is his name or nickname. I just remember the name
14 "Kajin".
15 Q. In Omarska did you know anyone else who was a guard there?
16 A. Yes.
17 Q. Who was that?
18 A. I knew Pirman, but I met him in the camp too. Among the guards in
19 Omarska, those that I knew from before was Janjic Nenad, known as
20 "Neso".
21 Q. Any others that you knew from before?
22 A. No-one else.
23 Q. If you could describe for us so that it is clear, in the room that
24 you were sitting in whereabouts the bench was that you were sitting
25 upon. If you opened the door, whereabouts was the bench?
Page 3258
1 A. It was next to the wall. The bench was leaning on the wall, opposite
2 the window.
3 MR. KAY: Thank you. I have no further questions.
4 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: Mr. Niemann?
5 MR. NIEMANN: I have nothing in re-examination.
6 Examined by the Court
7 JUDGE STEPHEN: Witness, when you say you saw the accused out of the
8 window, he was with two other men, were they one behind the other or
9 were they walking abreast of one another?
10 A. They were going one beside the other.
11 Q. If the three were abreast of one another, beside one another, where
12 was Tadic in that group of three, according to you?
13 A. Tadic was the first next to the white house.
14 JUDGE STEPHEN: Thank you.
15 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: Mr. Niemann?
16 MR. NIEMANN: Nothing further.
17 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: Mr. Kay?
18 MR. KAY: No.
19 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: I have no questions. Mr. Jakupovic, is there any
20 objection to Mr. Jakupovic being permanently excused? Mr. Jakupovic,
21 you are permanently excused. Thank you for coming.
22 THE WITNESS: Thank you.
23 (The witness withdrew)
24 MR. NIEMANN: Mr. Tieger will be taking the next witness.
25 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: Mr. Niemann, if I told you that was a record 20
Page 3259
1 minutes, what would you say, instead of two to three hours! OK. Mr.
2 Tieger, would you call your next witness, please?
3 MR. TIEGER: Yes, your Honour. Before I call the next witness, I wanted
4 to alert the court to a potential problem. The witness has a severe
5 hearing problem which he has had since he was a child. We made an
6 effort the other day to check to see if the equipment here would
7 enable him to communicate with the court. At one point we found that
8 it was nearly impossible and then with some adjustments it seemed that
9 the communication was even better than is normally the case for the
10 witness. So I trust that may be the case at this point, but I wanted
11 to let the court know that we might be dealing with this kind of a
12 problem. In addition, I wanted to alert the interpreters. I will
13 attempt to speak slowly, so that they can follow my questions
14 sufficiently slowly to make communication as effective as possible.
15 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: I suppose there is no way to increase the audio,
16 whatever, in the earphones? If you do that, do you do it for
17 everyone? I know that, but there is a maximum. Have you checked to
18 see whether anything can be done? We, of course, press the volume up.
19 MR. TIEGER: Apparently, if the volume is too high it interferes with his
20 hearing aid. There is an appropriate level and I guess he will have
21 to find it.
22 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: We will be flexible. I am sure that if we are
23 patient we will be able to find that level. OK. Call the next
24 witness.
25 MR. TIEGER: Thank you, your Honour. The Prosecution calls Dzemal Deomic.
Page 3260
1 DZEMAL DEOMIC, called.
2 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: Sir, would you take that oath, please?
3 THE WITNESS [In translation]: Yes. I solemnly declare that I will speak
4 the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
5 (The witness was sworn)
6 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: Fine. Thank you. You may be seated.
7 Examined by MR. TIEGER
8 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: Mr. Tieger?
9 MR. TIEGER: Thank you, your Honour. Sir, your name is Dzemal Deomic?
10 A. Yes.
11 Q. What year were you born?
12 A. March 20th 1959. I was born in Kamicani.
13 Q. How far is Kamicani from the centre of Kozarac?
14 A. About two kilometres.
15 Q. Are you a Muslim by nationality and religion?
16 A. I am by religion a Muslim.
17 Q. Mr. Deomic, what was your occupation before the war?
18 A. I was engaged in construction work.
19 Q. Do you know the accused in this case, Dusko Tadic?
20 A. Yes.
21 Q. For how long have you known him?
22 A. From our school days, in Kozarac.
23 Q. Did you see him many times in Kozarac as you were growing up?
24 A. Many times.
25 Q. After you grew up did you continue to see Dusko Tadic in Kozarac?
Page 3261
1 A. Could you please repeat?
2 Q. Yes, of course. After you grew up did you continue to see Dusko
3 Tadic in Kozarac?
4 A. I saw him for the last time in his cafe Nipon before the war, three
5 weeks before the war.
6 Q. Did you see Dusko Tadic in Kozarac at other places besides his cafe
7 Nipon?
8 A. I would see him everywhere, at the disco club, he was a member of the
9 fire brigade, and in many other places, in restaurants, in open air
10 gardens, everywhere I saw him. I would sit with him in Kozarac on the
11 terrace. We would talk about his work. He was working in the cafe.
12 I did not have a job. I could not work for him because I had some work
13 scheduled in advance.
14 Q. Are you referring to a discussion you had with him about the
15 possibility of working at his cafe?
16 A. Yes, I was a good worker and a relative of mine worked for him and I
17 would help my relative to cover the building as soon as possible to
18 build the roof and then I went on.
19 Q. That was the roof at Dusko Tadic's cafe or house?
20 A. His cafe was next to the asphalt road and the old house was behind
21 the cafe.
22 Q. Mr. Deomic, were you in Kamicani when Kozarac was attacked?
23 A. Yes.
24 Q. Were you at home?
25 A. Yes.
Page 3262
1 Q. Did you leave your house after the shelling began?
2 A. I was sleeping at home. The shelling woke me up. I got up, went out
3 in front of the house, and in Kamicani in the streets, in the roads,
4 one could see all on fire, burning, everything collapsing from those
5 shells, buildings falling down, and my house was not hit by a shell
6 until I went down -- I was trying to look for my people to see where
7 they had gone.
8 Q. Were you wounded after you left your home?
9 A. I was wounded. As I was moving from my house to the sawmill some 700
10 metres, I was hit in front of the house of Hrustic, and there were his
11 two sons, one of his sons lost two hands and I was hit and injured in
12 the lower back and I still have some metal of that shell.
13 Q. Did you then go to a shelter where members of your family were?
14 A. Yes.
15 Q. That night did you stay there or did you go to the forest to seek
16 shelter?
17 A. Yes.
18 Q. Was that the forest area near Brdjani?
19 A. Yes.
20 Q. Did you stay in the forest for two nights, that first night and the
21 next night?
22 A. From the shelter in the evening, we moved towards Softici, then
23 towards the village of Brdjani, and we dropped in a house before we
24 entered the forest, and then a neighbour of mine went to look for some
25 doctors who would know how to do things. She had a gas lamp to see
Page 3263
1 where the wound was and if she could help, but it was not possible to
2 help it because the metal had got stuck in the bone, and then towards
3 the midnight we climbed down the hill in the forest to Brdjani.
4 Q. On the third day of the attack did the people of Kozarac begin to
5 surrender?
6 A. Those attacks, as far as I remember, on the second day, I mean, our
7 folk had to move towards Kozara and on every house, on every building,
8 on every mosque, there were flags showing surrender, but we did not
9 want to surrender and we went on towards Kozara.
10 Q. You decided not to surrender with those people who were going towards
11 Kozarac with white flags?
12 A. Some families, those, for instance, who had women and children and
13 who did not want to escape to flee towards the Croatian borders, some
14 of them surrendered and moved towards Trnopolje, and most of us who
15 did not surrender, we were fleeing towards Kozara.
16 Q. So, you were heading up toward the mountain, into the mountain area?
17 A. Yes.
18 Q. Were you captured by Serbian soldiers?
19 A. Yes.
20 Q. At that point were you alone or with a group of other people who were
21 trying to flee over Kozara mountain?
22 A. They were trying, half of the people escaped -- they did not want to
23 surrender and some of them fled, we do not know what happened to them
24 -- and half of them surrendered. Down there there was a stream. We
25 were up on the hill on Kozara mountain.
Page 3264
1 Q. Where were you taken after you were captured by the Serbian soldiers?
2 A. They captured us in the woods. On the top there was a soldier. He
3 had some insignia ranks and he had a megaphone, and he told us over
4 the megaphone to surrender, that the Red Cross would help us and there
5 was nothing to be afraid of, and we believed that story and after
6 that, all sorts of things .....
7 Q. Were you and the others who were captured with you taken to a place
8 called Benkovac?
9 A. Well, the group which we surrendered, we had our hands up, and were
10 coming down in the column to the river, and up on the slope next to me
11 we saw a body, a soldier had been killed. Then there is another
12 hillock and there is a clearing -- no, there is a clearing and there
13 is crushed stone there, and we then lied down three by three as we
14 were moving, and then they order us to take out everything we had in
15 our pockets, to empty our pockets, that nothing was to be left in our
16 pockets. We had to empty our pockets and put it above our heads and
17 put our hands behind our head and nose to the sand.
18 Then they started collecting with bags, with the stick going
19 through the things that we had. Next to me was Salid Hrustic. He had
20 a Croatian dinar and the Serb got him by the scruff of his neck, took
21 him some 20 metres away and he was lying on his back, and he fired at
22 him from his hunting rifle from the face and from the back. After
23 that we had to wait for another two or three hours and vehicles,
24 trucks, came to fetch us. We were loaded on to those trucks and then
25 we were taken to Uspine at Benkovac.
Page 3265
1 Q. Just one question about that, Mr. Deomic: was your friend Mr.
2 Hrustic shot and killed because they found Croatian dinars on him?
3 A. Yes.
4 Q. When you arrived at Benkovac were there Serbian troops there?
5 A. Yes.
6 Q. What was done with you and the others who had been brought to
7 Benkovac once you arrived?
8 A. We came to -- we came up to the stage, the stage which was there for
9 various events, for various performances. We came up to that. We had
10 our hands at the back of our heads. I do not know how many of us
11 because we were too many.
12 Then they started questioning them one by one; first, Meho
13 Alic's son from Kamicani. He was taken to the shed and he was beaten.
14 He was so beaten that he could not bear the pain, so he screamed and
15 they killed him straightaway. Then Senad and Hamid and all the others
16 were coming after him. Softic's father was severely battered, but he
17 endured. He did not let out a sound and he was returned to us.
18 So, a number of them were taken to the sheds and nobody came
19 out, not more than one-third of us remained. Two or three hours
20 passed by and we went to have our names put on record and where we
21 were from, and then we were taken into the sheds. There were showers
22 there from some former campaign or something, and that is we spent, we
23 had very eventful nights there.
24 MR. TIEGER: Your Honour, I would like to have marked for identification
25 as Prosecution 238, 238A and B, the following two photographs.
Page 3266
1 THE WITNESS: May I ask for a favour, please? It is too loud and I also
2 hear some other interference.
3 MR. TIEGER: Certainly we will take care of that immediately. Thank you
4 for telling us. Is that better?
5 THE WITNESS: Would you please say something?
6 MR. TIEGER: Is that better? OK. Mr. Deomic, do you recognise what is
7 shown in these two photographs?
8 A. Yes. I do.
9 Q. Does one of the photographs show the stage at Benkovac which you
10 spoke about and ---
11 A. Yes.
12 Q. -- does the other photograph show the sheds you referred to?
13 A. Yes.
14 MR. TIEGER: Your Honour, those can be called up on the screen as soon as
15 I find out which is A and which is B. If we could call up 53/9, that
16 is 238A?
17 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: Mr. Tieger, we are attempting to locate Benkovac and
18 as much as we encourage you sometimes to move along, can you help us,
19 perhaps, on one of the maps? Can we locate it?
20 MR. TIEGER: If you will give me just a moment, I will check with Miss
21 Sutherland.
22 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: Maybe the witness can tell the general area, please?
23 MR. TIEGER: Mr. Deomic, can you tell the court approximately where
24 Benkovac is located?
25 A. Benkovac is located not far from Mrakovica, some four or five
Page 3267
1 kilometres away. As you head for Mrakovica from Kozarac, there is a
2 junction there you move where there was a summer work campaign
3 organised, that is, as you moved towards Mrakovica from Kozarac, from
4 the junction you turn off.
5 Q. So if one followed the road from Kozarac toward the top of Mrakovica,
6 toward the top of the mountain, you would get to the junction to
7 Benkovac first before you reached Mrakovica?
8 A. Before, yes, before -- before to the left.
9 Q. Can we call up 53/9, please?
10 A. Yes.
11 Q. Does this show the sheds or barracks at Benkovac which you referred
12 to?
13 A. Yes.
14 Q. Can we now call up 53/12? Mr. Deomic, does this show the stage where
15 prisoners were lined up?
16 A. Yes.
17 MR. TIEGER: Your Honour, I do not believe I have tendered 238A and B yet
18 and I would do so now.
19 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: Which is the stage?
20 MR. TIEGER: The stage is B, as I understand it.
21 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: Any objection to 238A and B?
22 MR. WLADIMIROFF: No, your Honour.
23 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: OK. 238A and B will be admitted.
24 MR. TIEGER: Mr. Deomic, how long were you held at Benkovac?
25 A. Three days and two nights.
Page 3268
1 Q. Then were you ordered on to buses and taken to Omarska?
2 A. Yes.
3 Q. Can you describe for us how prisoners were made to board the buses in
4 Benkovac?
5 A. They were driving us, I do not know what the reason was, but all of
6 us, all of us, who had to board buses had to show three fingers and
7 run towards the buses. I could not hear that well, so I was walking,
8 I had my arms outstretched and the Serb got me by the scruff of my
9 neck, took me back and they put me against a wall and hit me on my
10 hand with the butt of his rifle. Then he showed three fingers to me.
11 Then I had to show three fingers on both my hands and to crawlingly
12 approach the bus, and there were military lined up every two or three
13 metres and they were all beating me until I reached the bus.
14 Then they pushed at us, pushed us on to those buses, and in a
15 couple of minutes they closed the door. There were a couple of
16 soldiers in the bus and we started off slowly, very slowly, towards
17 Kozarac. Before we started off, we had to sing their song, their
18 anthem, "Who says who lies". So we started towards Omarska.
19 Q. The song "Who says who lies", is that a Serbian nationalist song?
20 A. Yes.
21 JUDGE STEPHEN: I wonder if you could ask the witness to sit back a bit?
22 MR. TIEGER: Mr. Deomic, if you could just sit back a little bit? That
23 will be fine. When you arrived in Omarska where were you first held?
24 A. They put us in the first shed to the right on the corner.
25 Q. Using the pointer which is on the table in front of you, just to your
Page 3269
1 right, can you point to the place where you were first held when you
2 came to Omarska. You can stand up.
3 A. (The witness indicated on the model). Here on the corner, here. The
4 first garage.
5 Q. You may be seated. That is a small garage in the building where the
6 kitchen is?
7 A. The kitchen is behind it at the end on the corner and next to my
8 garage was another, well, something like a garage but it was not a
9 garage. It was a big room with two pillars and very many people were
10 put in there.
11 Q. Mr. Deomic, I would like to show you a couple of pictures. May I have
12 these two photographs marked as 239A and B, your Honour? Mr. Deomic,
13 can you recognise what is shown in those two photographs?
14 A. Yes.
15 Q. What is that?
16 A. Yes, 100 per cent, it is 100 per cent that that is where I lived the
17 first day I was brought from Benkovac in that first garage.
18 Q. Do those photographs show the garage from the outside and from the
19 inside?
20 A. Yes.
21 MR. TIEGER: Your Honour, I would tender 239A and B.
22 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: Any objection?
23 MR. WLADIMIROFF: No objection.
24 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: 239A and B will be admitted.
25 MR. TIEGER: May we first call up 25/10, that is, Exhibit 239A? Mr.
Page 3270
1 Deomic, does this show the garage, the small garage, in which you were
2 held looking at it from the outside? If you look at the screen?
3 A. Yes, I see it. I guess I see it.
4 Q. Is that the same picture on the television screen?
5 A. Yes.
6 Q. Mr. Deomic, I am referring to the television screen directly in front
7 of you.
8 A. Oh, yes.
9 Q. Does that show the outside of the garage?
10 A. Yes.
11 Q. Can we now show 25/19, Exhibit 239B? Mr. Deomic, does this now show
12 the inside of the garage?
13 A. Yes.
14 Q. How crowded was this garage with prisoners when you were placed
15 there?
16 A. It was crammed. It was overcrowded with people. At the entrance by
17 the door into that garage, there was about one metre square free, but
18 further inside there was no room for an egg to fall between two
19 persons.
20 Q. Were the doors to the garage sometimes kept closed?
21 A. Yes.
22 Q. Was there difficulty for the prisoners to get enough air?
23 A. Yes.
24 Q. Were prisoners provided with enough water while they were in the
25 garage?
Page 3271
1 A. It was very difficult to get water. It was very difficult to get
2 water. Then we asked, then we said that we would break a few windows
3 so as to get some air because with the door closed it was terrible.
4 It was hot, no oxygen, and we moved in a column by the windows, the
5 windows which we broke to get some air, and so we circulated and
6 circulated, on and on.
7 Then some of us asked the guards to bring us some water but
8 they did not want to. They ordered us that we would get more water if
9 we would sing. Then we had to sing their song again, and they did not
10 like it. We had to do it louder, so we would start to
11 sing a little bit louder, and then it was no good either, and then
12 even more louder, and then we would start singing more louder, they
13 would pass some water through the window, or sometimes they would
14 throw it at us so that all the water was spilt. Sometimes one would
15 get it on the face or we were given a can of water.
16 Q. Was that water fresh water or was there something wrong with it?
17 A. The water was -- one had to drink it because one had to, but it was,
18 but it was stale. It was polluted. There was something in it, as if
19 it has gone through the sewers.
20 Q. Were prisoners taken from the garage and beaten?
21 A. Yes.
22 Q. While you were in the garage were you taken out of the garage for
23 interrogation?
24 A. Yes.
25 Q. Were you beaten during your interrogation?
Page 3272
1 A. Yes.
2 Q. Was another prison called into your room while you were being
3 interrogated?
4 A. Yes.
5 Q. Were you asked whether or not that prisoner had a gun before the war?
6 A. Yes, he asked.
7 Q. OK. Was the prisoner, the other prisoner, asked whether or not you
8 had a gun?
9 A. Yes.
10 Q. Did you both answer "no" or that you did not know?
11 A. Yes.
12 Q. What happened then?
13 A. They beat us and beat, and I was down on my knees, and my hands were
14 down on my legs and head bowed down. I had to wait what would happen,
15 and then I had to repeat again whether I knew where he had hid it, to
16 tell them and then they would stop beating us. I was telling them, "I
17 do not know. You can kill me but I do not know. I do not know". And
18 then a solder would come from the back with a pistol and he put it
19 into my mouth and with his finger on the trigger and he asked me,
20 "Where is it? Tell us where it is". But, evidently, the gun was empty
21 and it did not fire even though he pulled the trigger, and another --
22 the other one covered him with something, with something like a small
23 rug and covered his head, and said that he would kill him unless we
24 admitted where the rifles were, but we were saying we did not know.
25 Nobody was killed at the interrogation with me, only we got quite a
Page 3273
1 lot of beatings on our legs, back, on the head, and all over.
2 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: We will stand in recess for 20 minutes.
3 (4.00 p.m.)
4 (The court adjourned for a short time)
5 (4.20 p.m.)
6 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: Mr. Tieger, you may proceed.
7 MR. TIEGER: Thank you, your Honour. Mr. Deomic, for approximately how
8 long were you held in the garage, the small garage?
9 A. Approximately four weeks, three weeks before the interrogation and
10 then after interrogation I was in a very poor condition because of the
11 beatings and I had great problem with my stomach. I had bloody
12 diarrhoea for seven days and nights. I ate nothing, nor could I.
13 Q. While you were in the garage, did you see Dusko Tadic in Omarska?
14 A. Yes.
15 Q. Can we call up 239B on the screen, please? Actually, if I may, could
16 I have the original placed on the elmo, if we are going to have the
17 witness use it for indication purposes? Mr. Deomic, were you inside
18 the garage when you saw Dusko Tadic?
19 A. Yes.
20 Q. Using the pointer can you use the photograph to your right rather
21 than the screen but use the actual photograph which is to your right
22 ---
23 A. Yes.
24 Q. -- to point our where you were? Mr. Deomic, you will need to use
25 that, if you can look to your right first, not to the right on the
Page 3274
1 screen. Miss Sutherland, can you point Mr. Deomic to that? Thank
2 you. Can you show us on that photograph approximately where you were
3 when you saw Dusko Tadic?
4 A. I was roughly here, 1 metre 20 centimetres from the door and less
5 than a metre from the wall, roughly here, there. This semicircle.
6 Q. Was the door open on that occasion?
7 A. Yes.
8 Q. Were there any prisoners blocking your view of the outside?
9 A. I was in the front. There were prisoners behind me. Sometimes they
10 would push a little to relax. It was not possible to move. There was
11 perhaps 1 metre 30 centimetres space left and right. The door was
12 open to the left, you see.
13 Q. Where was Dusko Tadic when you saw him?
14 A. Dusko Tadic was outside the garage, maybe eight to 10 metres. Next to
15 the van there was a soldier, a guard, standing here. They stopped and
16 talked a little. Then all the others started moving away as much as
17 possible and he was there next to the van with a soldier about eight
18 to 10 metres away.
19 Q. Did you see from what direction he had come?
20 A. Yes.
21 Q. Can you show us?
22 A. He came from the direction of Omarska, from Omarska to the Omarska
23 camp.
24 Q. OK. On the picture, that is from left to right?
25 A. To the left of me, he was coming from my left side.
Page 3275
1 Q. Did you do anything when you saw Dusko Tadic standing outside?
2 A. I am sorry, I did not understand.
3 Q. When you -----
4 A. When I saw him coming with this young boy, a young soldier, a Serb, I
5 was afraid that he might see us, so I pushed backwards to get as far
6 away as I could inside.
7 Q. Were you able to back behind other prisoners so you could not be
8 seen?
9 A. I did not understand. Could you please repeat?
10 Q. Were you able to move behind other prisoners in an effort not to be
11 seen?
12 A. I was there near the door. We were afraid -- there was air from the
13 outside so I got somewhere midway, halfway.
14 Q. Do you recall what Dusko Tadic was wearing on that occasion?
15 A. I remember that he had come on a motor bike. He had a band on his
16 head. He was a little unshaven. He had a beard, a small beard, and
17 he had a jacket full of pockets rather like pilot's jacket and
18 trousers, I think black, I am not 100 per cent sure, but I recognised
19 him. On his back he had an automatic rifle with a double chamber.
20 Q. After the period of time when you were held in the garage, where in
21 camp were you moved to? Where were you then held?
22 A. After that we were transferred to the white house.
23 Q. During the time you were in the white house were you interrogated for
24 a second time?
25 A. Yes.
Page 3276
1 Q. Were you beaten during that second interrogation?
2 A. Yes.
3 Q. How severely or how badly were you beaten during the second
4 interrogation?
5 A. They beat me with all kinds of things, with a metal rod, with wires,
6 with soldiers' boots. He kicked me in the area of the kidneys. I had
7 to draw how I had escaped and how I had got there. Then they wanted
8 to know where I had hidden my gun and I said I did not know, most of
9 us fled this way. I said I did not know, and they beat me and beat
10 me, and then there was old judge, a policeman, from Banja Luka. He
11 begged me to admit so that I could be returned home. I said I did not
12 know, I did not know, kill me rather.
13 Q. In what part of the white house were you held, in which room?
14 A. The corridor, along the corridor, the second room to the right.
15 Q. Were there other prisoners in that room with you?
16 A. Yes.
17 Q. Do you know approximately how many?
18 A. In my room there were just 158 people. In another room it was not so
19 full as it was in my room. Everyone had a bit of space.
20 Q. When you say 158, how do you know that number so precisely?
21 A. We had to count, so as to know which one of us would go either for
22 exchange or for interrogation. You never knew when they would come
23 for you. Mostly there were five or six of us. We repeated. One would
24 count and then another one would repeat, everything is OK, 158 men.
25 For a couple of nights, five or six people would be missing, nobody
Page 3277
1 knew why, and then at night they would come in a drunken state,
2 whoever was crouched, sleeping and if he touched you, you had to get
3 up without whispering or talking and go out quietly and we never knew
4 where they went.
5 Q. Did some prisoners return after groups were taken out?
6 A. Rarely.
7 Q. Did any of the rare prisoners who returned explain what had happened
8 to the others?
9 A. I am sorry. I did not understand that. Can you repeat, please?
10 Q. When it happened that someone returned after being called out with a
11 group, did you learn from that person what had happened to the others?
12 A. All kinds of things happened. At the other end, at the entrance to
13 the white house in a room to the left, there were many beaten up men.
14 They were intellectuals, teachers, doctors, journalists, all kinds of
15 people were there, and they had a hard time. Some of them were beaten
16 to death. It was hard.
17 Q. What was the condition of prisoners in your room?
18 A. The conditions were very, very poor. Some nights, five or six Serbs
19 would come in bearing a Muslim flag, put it in the middle of the room,
20 so that each one of us inmates had to spit at our Muslim flag, and to
21 swear that we would never be Muslims, that we would be Serbs and all
22 kinds of things. Then they would beat us on the head. You would
23 never know what would happen at night. We could not sleep. You could
24 not feel normally. He hit me with a knife. He asked me where my gun
25 was. I said, "I do not know". Then he would kick me in the chin. It
Page 3278
1 was terrible. Every night, five or six times they would come and beat
2 us.
3 Q. Were prisoners in your room forced to beat each other?
4 A. Rarely did inmates who were taken out for interrogation for a month,
5 10, 12 days, then they would come back in the day time after
6 interrogation, and in the evenings when they did not come back from
7 interrogation, then some soldiers would barge in who were guards in
8 the camp, they were drunk, and you do not know what could happen.
9 They would suddenly barge in and hit us on the head, and a
10 relative of mine, Ramasan Sovada(?), he was fat. They put him in the
11 middle, two or three soldiers on each side beating him with all kinds
12 of things until he lost consciousness, and then he cried out. You
13 just could not bear it and you could not be at peace to sleep. It was
14 horrible.
15 Q. Did you remain in the white house until the time came for your
16 transfer to Manjaca?
17 A. Yes.
18 Q. Were you and other prisoners ordered to clean the white house before
19 you were transferred?
20 A. Yes, I cleaned it and another two, one from Kozarusa and another one
21 from Prijedor, we had to clean it up. The guard would order us where
22 to go. There was a small room at the end of the corridor, some kind
23 of a canteen. Then we had to go to the hangar. It was flooded. The
24 toilet, the sewage was blocked, and it was filthy. All the filth was
25 floating. We had to take water from the tap and go outside the white
Page 3279
1 house and clean each of the rooms.
2 At the approach to the white house, the first room to the left
3 was a small room. It was full of blood and one did not know how to
4 remove the blood from the walls and the floor. When we had done that,
5 then we said we had finished. We sat on the grass behind the white
6 house, and they read out the groups A, B, C, D, where they were going.
7 We did not know where we would be going. They said some would be
8 going for exchange, some to Trnopolje, some home.
9 Then our group from the white house, we were in the yard, we
10 were transferred to the hangar. Upstairs to the right there was a
11 large room and we waited there. Afterwards, they came for us and then
12 we were lined up in the hangar and they lined us up, those for
13 Trnopolje, those for exchange, but nobody mentioned Manjaca.
14 Q. By the time you were transferred, how many prisoners were left in
15 your room?
16 A. There were only eight prisoners in my room left and 150 disappeared.
17 If only the world -- I do not know what happened, if it had not
18 happened on time, who knows when my turn would have come.
19 Q. During the time you were in the white house, did you see Dusko Tadic?
20 A. Yes, I saw Dusko Tadic twice.
21 Q. Where were you when you saw him?
22 A. I was in the corner next to the wall at the entrance to the next
23 room. I was crouching in the corner. Dusko Tadic was in the
24 corridor. The door was closed. I saw him twice.
25 Q. You say the door was closed?
Page 3280
1 A. Yes.
2 Q. Is it possible to see through a portion of that door?
3 A. It is possible.
4 MR. TIEGER: Your Honour, may I have this photograph marked as Exhibit
5 240, I believe?
6 JUDGE STEPHEN: Will the roof come off the white house?
7 MR. TIEGER: Yes, your Honour, and the camera is also set up for it. Mr.
8 Deomic, do you recognise what is shown in that photograph?
9 A. I recognise to the right my room where I was while I was there.
10 MR. TIEGER: Your Honour, I would tender this photograph as Exhibit 240
11 and ask that 22/22 be called on the screen.
12 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: Any objection to 240?
13 MR. WLADIMIROFF: No, your Honour.
14 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: 240 will be admitted.
15 MR. TIEGER: Mr. Deomic, does the photograph now on the screen show the
16 door to your room in the white house, the second room on the right?
17 A. Yes.
18 Q. Is a portion of that door at the bottom solid and a bigger portion on
19 the upper part made of glass?
20 A. The door was glassed in. I was here, next to the corner, to the
21 right, when you enter to the right.
22 Q. Thank you. Mr. Deomic, I am going to ask you -- first of all, I will
23 ask the technician if he can assist us with the camera -- in just a
24 moment to stand up and point out some places in the white house. You
25 will not be able to speak to us when you do so, but if you could take
Page 3281
1 that pointer with you?
2 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: Mr. Tieger, there was at least last week we had an
3 extension cord on this microphone. I think he can stand here.
4 MR. TIEGER: Mr. Deomic, if you want to respond to any question, you will
5 be able to speak in the microphone to your left which is on the table
6 next to you. So first, sir, can you point out where your room was?
7 A. A6.
8 Q. Can you show us where you were when you saw Dusko Tadic?
9 A. The corner here.
10 Q. Can you show us where Dusko Tadic was when you saw him?
11 A. Here.
12 Q. Thank you, sir. You can take your seat. Mr. Deomic, are you able to
13 recall all the details of the times, the two times, when you saw Dusko
14 Tadic in the white house?
15 A. It is difficult for me to say whether I am ever sure 100 per cent
16 that I know something, but I am certain 100 per cent that I saw him
17 twice. He came to the corridor. There was a soldier with him. I do
18 not know that one. He looked into the room A4. He cast a glance. He
19 looked around and then he slowly turned around towards our room. I
20 crouched down and hid myself so he would not see me. I do not know
21 what he was looking for, why he had come, but I cannot remember 100
22 per cent the details. But I am sure that I saw him, that it was he.
23 Q. You have kept a recollection of seeing Dusko Tadic in the white house
24 to this day?
25 A. I remember 100 per cent, but I cannot remember the details, but I
Page 3282
1 know he was there. I saw him twice in the white house 100 per cent,
2 100 per cent. Half his face I saw, and I am 100 per cent sure that I
3 saw it was him, but I cannot remember in detail whether I was wrong or
4 not, but I am sure I saw him twice.
5 Q. Mr. Deomic, can you look carefully around the courtroom, please, and
6 tell us if Dusko Tadic is in court today and, if so, point him out?
7 A. Dusko Tadic, yes, that is he.
8 Q. Where is he sitting, can you describe where he is sitting?
9 A. He is sitting in the middle over there, next to the wall.
10 MR. TIEGER: Your Honour, may the record reflect the identification of the
11 accused?
12 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: Yes. The record will reflect the identification of
13 the accused. He has pointed, of course, to Mr. Tadic but there are
14 four people over there.
15 MR. TIEGER: OK. If there is any concern about that .....
16 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: Ask him what he is wearing. Can you ask him what he
17 is wearing?
18 MR. TIEGER: I was just about to do that, your Honour. Mr. Deomic, can you
19 tell us what Mr. Tadic is wearing?
20 A. Now?
21 Q. Yes. Can you describe what he is wearing?
22 A. Can I get up?
23 Q. Yes, if you need to see.
24 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: Yes, sir, if you need to see, yes.
25 THE WITNESS: He is wearing a suit, a green and white shirt, and a
Page 3283
1 coloured tie, a purple-ish, blue-ish green.
2 MR. TIEGER: Thank you, Mr. Deomic.
3 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: The record will reflect that the witness identified
4 the accused.
5 MR. TIEGER: Thank you. Nothing further, your Honour.
6 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: Cross-examination, Mr. Kay?
7 Cross-examined by MR. KAY
8 Q. Mr. Deomic, did you live in Kozarac?
9 A. No.
10 Q. Have you ever lived in Kozarac?
11 A. No, I lived in Kamicani.
12 Q. When you were in work did you work in Kozarac?
13 A. Yes.
14 Q. What work did you do in Kozarac?
15 A. I worked for Dedo Turkanovic. I was reconstructing his summer
16 garden, the restaurant and the coffee bar and the stage,
17 reconstructing things, tables and things like that. Then in Kolotur
18 in the restaurant, doing the outside walls of the restaurant.
19 Q. So am I right in saying then that your work in Kozarac has been of
20 the nature of two building jobs in that town?
21 A. That is the same company, the same men, but in two different, on two
22 different sites.
23 Q. Because what I have to suggest to you is this, that you did not know
24 Dusko Tadic?
25 A. I did. Oh, I did.
Page 3284
1 Q. That you did not spend any time with Dusko Tadic?
2 A. I was sitting at the same table with Dusko Tadic in Kozarac, in
3 Basta. He was looking for a man who would help him to build this
4 small house with the coffee bar. I was very busy because I had a lot
5 of work already, so nothing came out of it. Then he had to look for
6 other builders and I went on with my work in the summer garden in
7 Basta.
8 Q. So that the one occasion that you say he spoke to you in recent times
9 would have been to ask you to do some work?
10 A. Well, I do not know how to put it. He was looking for somebody to
11 build it for him. We were at the same table. There was Dedo there
12 and some of the Turkanovic brothers and his best colleague, Ferid's
13 brother-in-law, he was his best colleague, and he was a manager or ran
14 a shoemaker's shop and they told Tadic that I was an excellent, that I
15 was a master builder and that I said I was sorry, I was too busy and I
16 would not have time, I would be very glad to come and help and build
17 all that.
18 Q. Did you know Dusan Kuezevic?
19 A. No.
20 Q. Had you ever seen Dusko Tadic on a motor bike before?
21 A. No.
22 Q. You had never seen him in Kozarac on a motor bike?
23 A. No, never before.
24 Q. So let us go to that time that you say you saw Dusko Tadic in
25 Omarska. You said that he was ----
Page 3285
1 A. Yes.
2 Q. --- riding a motor bike?
3 A. Yes.
4 Q. Did you see him arrive on a motor bike in Omarska?
5 A. He was riding a motor bike, but it was not his. The motor bike
6 belonged to another person.
7 Q. Did you know whose motor bike it was?
8 A. Who knows? No, I do not, no, but that motor bike was stolen.
9 Q. So how do you know it was not his motor bike?
10 A. I know what every inhabitant in Kozarac had, what kind of a motor
11 bike, what kind of a vehicle, what car, everything that everybody had.
12 Q. If we could just look at those photographs again of 239A, B and the
13 interior photograph which is 239B, please? Thank you. Is it on the
14 screen? If it can be put on the monitor, please. Do you see the van
15 in the photograph?
16 A. I do.
17 Q. You refer to him as being near that van when you say you saw him?
18 A. I did not quite understand that? He was next to the van. The guard
19 stopped him and kept him there and I was here, because this is here
20 now. It was about a metre 20 away from the wall and I was standing
21 here where these things are now. So one had a semicircle open, a
22 semicircular view when the door was opened.
23 Q. Was the van there when you saw him?
24 A. Yes, he was by the van when he came from the direction of Omarska
25 towards the camp, towards our camp.
Page 3286
1 Q. Was your door usually locked to that room?
2 A. Sometimes. In the beginning it was closed for a few days until
3 things were settled with some soldiers somewhere, and then they asked
4 to open the door so that we could breathe some air and things like
5 that.
6 Q. On this day you say that the door to the garage was open?
7 A. Yes, the door was open.
8 Q. You did not actually see Dusko Tadic do anything there. Can you give
9 us any details of anything that he did?
10 A. I cannot of course invent anything. I can only say how it was as he
11 was coming slowly on the motor bike, and I saw him there, to the guard
12 and the guard halted him. The van had the door opened and the guard
13 jumped out and halted him. Then I backed away towards other people,
14 let them breathe some air and I wanted to get as far inside as I
15 could.
16 Q. Can you perhaps indicate to us where the motor bike stopped?
17 A. Here where there is this truck and this puddle, where the water is,
18 well, behind that, behind this puddle, that is where he stopped. That
19 is why I remember it because there were several days when there was
20 rain and that was the puddle after that rain and the van was outside
21 this water in the drive.
22 Q. This photograph was taken at the time, was it? Perhaps you cannot
23 answer that. Can I go to the next occasion that you say you saw him
24 which was at the white house?
25 A. Yes.
Page 3287
1 Q. You were in the room that you have pointed out to us which is the
2 second room on the right-hand side?
3 A. Yes.
4 Q. On the first occasion that you saw him, how many other people were in
5 the room with you?
6 A. Approximately 152, 53, something like that.
7 Q. And ----
8 A. I cannot remember 100 per cent but it is not 158. They were already
9 leaving and God knows where they went.
10 Q. This is a small room?
11 A. No, not really. To the right and to the left were large rooms and in
12 front in the back they were small rooms.
13 Q. A room of this size you would not normally expect to find a 150
14 people in, would you?
15 A. Small rooms 150 people, incredible, no. It is only possible if they
16 stand, but from the outside the guards do not allow it. Everybody's
17 head had to be down, not only head, not even anyone's fingers could
18 stick out above the window level.
19 Q. Were you sitting down there in the corner?
20 A. In the corner, yes, sitting.
21 Q. Were the other people in the room sitting as well or were any of them
22 standing up?
23 A. They were all sitting down.
24 Q. Were you in that same position the second time that you say you saw
25 Dusko Tadic in the white house?
Page 3288
1 A. Yes.
2 Q. Were you sitting down again?
3 A. Before the departure to Manjaca my place was in the corner to the
4 right I never moved from there all the time.
5 Q. On this second occasion were the numbers in the room the same?
6 A. There were less.
7 Q. About how many were in the room at this time?
8 A. Well, as a matter of fact, I cannot remember the second time how many
9 people were there. There were less, but I cannot remember how many
10 and we did count them. At any time when the guards were not behind
11 the glass door or the window we counted them all and the number was
12 decreasing. How many I cannot remember, but there were less.
13 Q. Were there still very many people in the room, far too many than
14 there should have been?
15 A. More than should have been, no, but less and less.
16 Q. But was the room crammed with people?
17 A. No. In the beginning in the white house the second door to the
18 right, that small room, yes, at the beginning of the first day.
19 Q. Can you describe what Mr. Tadic looked like when you saw him, how he
20 was dressed?
21 A. I cannot, no, I cannot remember details, but I am 100 per cent sure
22 that I saw Tadic twice in the corridor, but the details I cannot
23 recall those.
24 Q. Can you remember what clothes he was wearing?
25 A. No way, no, I cannot remember.
Page 3289
1 Q. Do you remember making a statement to the investigators in this case
2 sometime ago?
3 A. I gave a statement that I had seen him twice 100 per cent, but I
4 cannot remember the details what he looked like, otherwise it was when
5 you see him once and get away from his view, hide so that he does not
6 notice you, so that nobody raises his head or finger or hand. We had
7 to be completely still, not a hair was allowed to move on our heads,
8 it was that terrible.
9 Q. Do you remember saying he wore a blue jacket?
10 A. Yes, from the first garage. I am not positive.
11 Q. When you were in the white house and sitting down in the corner, can
12 you remember who else was sitting around near you at that time?
13 A. Next to me was a Prijedor journalist. Then after the journalist I
14 think somebody I did not know sat next to him, and then my relatives
15 were over there beneath the window, all family of mine, all my kin, my
16 relatives, and then there were people I did not know. They were from
17 Prijedor and from Rakovcani. They were from all over and next to me
18 was this Schipetar who had a sweet shop in Prijedor, who owned a sweet
19 shop in Prijedor.
20 Q. Were they with you when you saw Mr. Tadic?
21 A. Yes, they were there.
22 Q. You see, what I suggest to you is that you did not see Mr. Tadic in
23 Omarska at all?
24 A. I did. I saw him and I confirm it 100 per cent. I did see him, I
25 guarantee.
Page 3290
1 MR. KAY: No further questions, your Honour.
2 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: Mr. Tieger?
3 MR. TIEGER: One moment your Honour. No additional questions, your
4 Honour.
5 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: I have a few questions, sir. I believe you
6 testified that you were held at Benkovac for three days and two
7 nights, is that correct?
8 A. Three days and two nights.
9 Q. Then you were taken to Omarska?
10 A. I am sorry, I did not quite understand the question. Could you
11 please repeat it?
12 Q. Were you taken to Omarska after those three days and two nights?
13 A. After that I was taken to Omarska.
14 Q. You were taken to Benkovac on -- do you recall what your testimony
15 was? Was it on the second or third day after the attack?
16 A. The second day it was on. The third day we were already captured.
17 Q. So then you would have arrived at Omarska around, if I have looked at
18 this calendar correctly, May 26th or May 27th, is that right?
19 A. No.
20 Q. No. OK. Do you remember the date that you arrived at Omarska?
21 A. I know it was towards the end of May.
22 Q. OK.
23 A. I know it was towards the end of May.
24 Q. That is fine. Then you were taken to the garage when you arrived at
25 Omarska and you remained there for four weeks, is that correct?
Page 3291
1 A. Yes.
2 Q. Then when you saw Mr. Tadic do you remember at what point that was
3 during those four weeks, was it the first week, the second week, the
4 third week or the fourth week, if you can recall?
5 A. I remember it was after the interrogation, some five or six days
6 later.
7 Q. You were interrogated for three weeks, is that correct?
8 A. Well, I am not absolutely positive to remember days and nights,
9 minutes, seconds. With all that horror, with all that pressure, with
10 all the torture one cannot remember. It is impossible to say the
11 minute or the second when something happened, but I know it was after
12 the interrogation that I saw him.
13 Q. That would have been sometime in June, I suppose, if my understanding
14 of the dates is correct?
15 A. Yes.
16 Q. Then how long after -- well, then after four weeks at Omarska you
17 were then taken to the white house, is that correct?
18 A. Yes.
19 Q. When did you leave Omarska?
20 A. It was the month of August. I cannot again remember the day.
21 Q. How long after you were taken to the white house did you see Mr.
22 Tadic, the first time.
23 A. In the white house?
24 Q. Yes.
25 A. I cannot remember those days. I cannot remember them.
Page 3292
1 Q. How long were you in the white house?
2 A. I stayed there until August, until I left to Manjaca.
3 Q. So, it may have been in July or August or late June? If you do not
4 recall that is fine.
5 A. No.
6 Q. Did you testify that you helped Mr. Tadic build his house or the top
7 part of his house or did you testify that he had wanted you to help
8 him build the house but that you were busy?
9 A. Yes.
10 Q. It was the latter, that he wanted you to help him build his house and
11 you were busy, is that what you testified to?
12 A. He was looking for people who would build it, but they were very busy
13 and he came to the place where I worked, where I was doing this
14 reconstruction of this coffee bar, of the restaurant, and they
15 explained to him that I was really a very good builder, a real master
16 builder, and he said he needed one like that to help him build his
17 coffee bar. I told him I could not, I was too busy, if he could wait
18 I could take it up later.
19 Q. So then you did not help him build his house?
20 A. I was helping a relative which was putting a roof on his house.
21 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: Very good. Thank you. Mr. Tieger, do you have
22 additional questions?
23 MR. TIEGER: No, your Honour.
24 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: Mr. Kay?
25 MR. KAY: No, your Honour.
Page 3293
1 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: Is there any objection to Mr. Deomic being
2 permanently excused?
3 MR. KAY: No, your Honour.
4 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: Mr. Deomic, you are permanently excused. You may
5 leave, sir. You are free to leave. You are permanently excused.
6 Thank you for coming. You may leave.
7 THE WITNESS: Not at all.
8 (The witness withdrew)
9 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: Mr. Tieger, it is 20 minutes after 5. Rather than
10 call the next witness there are a couple of matters the Chamber wanted
11 to talk to counsel about. First, I wanted to remind you that the
12 Prosecutor is to file its response to the Defence's motion regarding
13 the photograph ID spread, but I believe that you have that.
14 MR. KEEGAN: Your Honour, I have some advanced copies. The official copy
15 has been filed with the Registrar but I have some advanced copies for
16 the Bench here.
17 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: If the Usher will pick those up we will take the
18 advance copies. Have you given one of those advance copies to Mr.
19 Wladimiroff?
20 MR. KEEGAN: Yes, the Defence has already been served, your Honour.
21 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: We had said that we would hear argument on this
22 matter tomorrow afternoon. How long do you anticipate you will need,
23 Mr. Wladimiroff, to present your position?
24 MR. WLADIMIROFF: It may depend, your Honour, on the admissibility of
25 having Dr. Wagenaar available to testify, if your Court will accept
Page 3294
1 that.
2 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: If we do not hear his testimony you have presented
3 your position, but you may of course present it once again. How long
4 would that need?
5 MR. WLADIMIROFF: Then I will have to cover things that I expect him to
6 tell you.
7 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: If we say that we do not want to hear him, you are
8 going to tell us what he is going to say?
9 MR. WLADIMIROFF: I will try to do so, yes, and that will take a little bit
10 more time.
11 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: How long would it take if we allowed him to testify?
12 MR. WLADIMIROFF: I think for him to testify will take about half an hour,
13 that is what I think.
14 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: OK. If you tell us what he is going to testify
15 about, that will take half an hour too or will there be
16 cross-examination? OK, half an hour for Dr. Wagenaar.
17 MR. WLADIMIROFF: If he is available. I have been advised that he arrived
18 today back home from abroad and he will call me tonight to tell me
19 whether he is available tomorrow.
20 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: Then maybe half an hour for your argument for
21 yourself?
22 MR. WLADIMIROFF: Yes.
23 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: Who will present argument for the Prosecutor?
24 MR. TIEGER: Your Honour, since it is taking the form of a responsive
25 presentation, I would estimate that half an hour or so is probably an
Page 3295
1 appropriate length of time for us as well, again, with the caveat that
2 it is not entirely clear to me what the Defence intends to present.
3 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: I see in your submission, Mr. Tieger, you have cited
4 some cases. Have you provided the Chamber with copies of those? If
5 not, would you?
6 MR. TIEGER: If they have not been provided, your Honour, they will be.
7 MR. WLADIMIROFF: May the Defence have copies of that too?
8 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: Provide the Defence as well. I do not know what the
9 Defence's library is like, but ours is not what it should be. So if
10 you are giving them to us give them to the Defence as well, please.
11 So maybe two hours. Is there anything else?
12 MR. TIEGER: I guess the only remaining question, your Honour, is how to
13 balance the time we will devote tomorrow to the motion against the
14 witnesses who are here. I think one of the primary concerns is that
15 we do not end up in a position with a witness who is in the middle of
16 his testimony.
17 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: We had planned on hearing argument in the afternoon,
18 tomorrow afternoon. I am planning on two hours and so if we start at
19 2.30 then we would continue. Two hours, that is 4.30. You have a
20 witness here to offer in the morning, do you not?
21 MR. TIEGER: Yes, we do.
22 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: So you have a witness for how much time now? You
23 would need three and a half, a witness to cover maybe two and a half,
24 maybe three hours?
25 MR. TIEGER: Yes. I do not have concerns about the morning session at
Page 3296
1 all, but there are two witnesses here. My only concern is whether we
2 begin -- I think it is just something we will have to take up at the
3 time. I am just raising the issue now.
4 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: You have two witnesses and you probably want to know
5 whether you should release the other witness?
6 MR. TIEGER: That is one solution.
7 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: I cannot tell you that because the next witness will
8 take how long? Do you estimate two to three hours? Mr. Niemann
9 handled a witness in 20 minutes and he had listed the time as two to
10 three hours.
11 MR. TIEGER: I do not intend to borrow Mr. Niemann's time, your Honour!
12 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: No. I was suggesting that maybe you do the same
13 thing. Even if you do an hour then you can do the other witness. I
14 would suggest that you have both witnesses here, I would suggest out
15 abundance of caution.
16 MR. TIEGER: Sure and we would intend to. I am only raising the issue now
17 in case we get to a point where it is not entirely clear whether we
18 should proceed with the second witness or not.
19 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: You will have two witnesses here. That is enough
20 time for three and a half hours, if we are going to spend two hours,
21 is that correct? You will need three and a half hours for two
22 witnesses or will you need maybe a third witness?
23 MR. TIEGER: No. Maybe I am not making my concerns clear. I think that
24 there is certainly a possibility that we are -- I am not concerned
25 about not having a third witness here. I do not think we will have so
Page 3297
1 much time left over that there will be a problem with wasted Court
2 time. I am just concerned about the possibility that we will have to
3 make a decision before calling the second witness, gauging the
4 projected amount of time he will testify or not.
5 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: We want to hear as many witnesses as possible. We
6 have three and a half hours, so we will hear one witness if it takes
7 three and a half hours, two witnesses, three witnesses, and if that is
8 part heard we will hear them because we want to hear as many witnesses
9 as possible. Do you understand?
10 MR. TIEGER: It sounds like the issue is raised here, so that is a
11 concern, would want to truncate a witness's testimony for a two and a
12 half to a three-week period?
13 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: I do not know. We will play it by ear. You have
14 enough witnesses here to use up three and a half hours, OK, and then
15 we will see. I just do not want us to be sitting here without a
16 witness. OK? Will you have witnesses here to spend three and a half
17 hours?
18 MR. TIEGER: We will have two witnesses here, your Honour.
19 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: I do not know how long they are going to take, that
20 is the problem, Mr. Tieger. All I can say is you have three and a
21 half hours tomorrow, use it, please. OK? Mr. Wladimiroff, you will
22 have your decision on your protective measures tomorrow. The other
23 matter I have been asked to ask you, Mr. Wladimiroff, regarding video
24 conferencing where you would propose to offer the witnesses, you need
25 the not tell me at this time, but that is a concern that the technical
Page 3298
1 people need to know, because it has to do with the equipment that is
2 necessary. I did not speak with you, Miss Featherstone about this.
3 Perhaps you could spend a moment with Mr. Wladimiroff to see if you
4 can discuss this and then we will give that information to the
5 appropriate person.
6 MR. WLADIMIROFF: We have been discussing this morning with the technical
7 unit and I am aware we have to solve this problem.
8 THE PRESIDING JUDGE: Very good. We will then adjourn until tomorrow at
9 10 o'clock.
10 (5.30 p.m.)
11 (The court adjourned until the following day).
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