Tribunal Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia

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 1                           Wednesday, 8 April 2015

 2                           [Appeals Judgement]

 3                           [Open session]

 4                           [The appellant entered court]

 5                           --- Upon commencing at 2.59 p.m.

 6             JUDGE MERON:  Please be seated.

 7             Good afternoon to everybody.  Registrar, will you please call the

 8     case.

 9             THE REGISTRAR:  Good afternoon, Your Honour.  This is case number

10     IT-05-88/2-A, the Prosecutor versus Mr. Tolimir.

11             JUDGE MERON:  Thank you.

12             Mr. Tolimir, can you hear the proceedings in a language you

13     understand?

14             THE APPELLANT: [Interpretation] Yes.  God's speed to everybody.

15     I can follow the proceedings in Serbian.  Thank you.

16             JUDGE MERON:  Thank you, Mr. Tolimir.  I will now ask for the

17     appearances by the parties.

18             First, Mr. Tolimir.

19             THE APPELLANT: [Interpretation] Thank you, Mr. Presiding Judge.

20     My name is Zdravko Tolimir, and in front of me is Dr. Alexander Gajic, my

21     legal advisor.

22             JUDGE MERON:  Thank you.  For the Prosecution.

23             MR. WOOD:  Good afternoon, Mr. President, Your Honours.  Kyle

24     Wood for the Prosecutor, along with Todd Schneider, Nema Milaninia, and

25     Lada Soljan, along with our Case Manager, Janet Stewart.


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 1             JUDGE MERON:  Thank you, Mr. Wood.

 2             As the Registrar announced, the case on our agenda today is

 3     Prosecutor against Zdravko Tolimir.  In accordance with the Scheduling

 4     Order issued on 24th of March, 2015, today the Appeals Chamber will

 5     deliver its Judgement.

 6             At the outset, I would like to inform the parties that

 7     Judge Patrick Robinson is unable to sit during this hearing.  The Appeals

 8     Chamber, therefore, will conduct this hearing pursuant to Rule 15 bis of

 9     the Rules of Procedure and Evidence in the absence of Judge Robinson.

10             Following the practice of the Tribunal, I will not read out the

11     text of the Appeal Judgement except for the disposition but instead will

12     summarise essential issues on appeal and the central findings of the

13     Appeals Chamber.  This oral summary does not constitute any part of the

14     official and authoritative Judgement of the Appeals Chamber which is

15     rendered in writing and will be distributed to the parties at the close

16     of the hearing.

17             This appeal concerns the responsibility of Mr. Tolimir for crimes

18     committed in the Srebrenica and Zepa enclaves in Eastern Bosnia in 1995.

19     At the time, Mr. Tolimir was an assistant commander and the chief of the

20     sector for intelligence and security affairs of the Main Staff of the

21     Army of the Republika Srpska.  I will refer to the Army of the Republika

22     Srpska as the VRS.

23             The Trial Chamber, Judge Nyambe dissenting, found that Tolimir

24     participated in two joint criminal enterprises alleged in the

25     indictment - a joint criminal enterprise to murder the able-bodied men of


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 1     Srebrenica, and a joint criminal enterprise to forcibly removed the

 2     Bosnian Muslim population from the Srebrenica and Zepa enclaves.  The

 3     Trial Chamber, Judge Nyambe dissenting, found Tolimir guilty pursuant to

 4     Article 7(1) of the Statute of the Tribunal of genocide, conspiracy to

 5     commit genocide, extermination, murder, persecutions, and inhumane acts

 6     through forcible transfer.  The Trial Chamber, Judge Nyambe dissenting,

 7     sentenced Mr. Tolimir to life imprisonment.

 8             Mr. Tolimir submits 25 Grounds of Appeal challenging his

 9     convictions and his sentence.  He requested the Appeals Chamber reverse

10     all of his convictions or, in the alternative, significantly reduce his

11     sentence.

12             The Appeals Chamber will now address each of Mr. Tolimir's

13     contentions.

14             In Grounds of Appeal One through Four, Mr. Tolimir challenges the

15     Trial Chamber's decision to take judicial notice of adjudicated facts in

16     its evaluation of certain evidence.  For reasons given in its Judgement,

17     the Appeals Chamber, Judge Antonetti dissenting, finds that the Trial

18     Chamber did not err in taking judicial notice of 523 adjudicated facts

19     from other ICTY trial and appeal judgements and it did not err in its

20     assessment of these facts.  The Appeals Chamber, Judge Antonetti

21     dissenting, dismisses Tolimir's Ground of Appeal One.

22             Mr. Tolimir also challenges the Trial Chamber's reliance on

23     intercepted communications produced by the Bosnian Muslim side to the

24     conflict.  He submits that in reaching its conclusions on the intercepted

25     communications, the Trial Chamber made a number of errors which


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 1     invalidated the Trial Judgement.  For reasons set out in the Judgement,

 2     the Appeals Chamber finds that the Trial Chamber did not err in its

 3     assessment of the intercepted communications.  The Appeals Chamber,

 4     therefore, dismisses Tolimir's Ground of Appeal Two.

 5             Under his Ground of Appeal Three, Mr. Tolimir submits that the

 6     Trial Chamber erred in law by accepting Richard Butler as an expert

 7     witness.  He argues that the Prosecution failed to disclose his expert

 8     report as required by Rule 94 bis of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence

 9     and that Butler's long-standing association with the Office of the

10     Prosecutor should have led the Trial Chamber to characterise Butler as an

11     OTP investigator giving evidence of his personal opinion.  For reasons

12     given in the written Judgement, the Appeals Chamber finds that the Trial

13     Chamber erred in considering that the Prosecution's notice of its

14     intention to call Butler as an expert witness sufficed to meet the

15     requirements of Rule 94 bis.  The Appeals Chamber also finds that the

16     Trial Chamber erred in finding that Mr. Tolimir implicitly accepted

17     Butler's expert status during the trial.  The Appeals Chamber concludes,

18     however, that these Trial Chamber's errors caused no prejudice to

19     Mr. Tolimir or had any impact on his conviction.  The Appeals Chamber,

20     Judge Antonetti dissenting, further finds that for reasons given in the

21     Judgement, the Trial Chamber did not err in regarding Butler as an expert

22     witness or in the manner in which it evaluated his evidence.  The Appeals

23     Chamber, Judge Antonetti dissenting, therefore dismisses Tolimir's Ground

24     of Appeal Three.

25             Tolimir further challenges, under his Ground of Appeal Four, the


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 1     Trial Chamber's assessment of the evidence of six Prosecution witnesses

 2     who are current or former Prosecution investigators.  For reasons given

 3     in the Judgement, the Appeals Chamber finds that the Trial Chamber

 4     applied the correct legal standard when assessing the evidence of these

 5     witnesses and that it acted within its discretion in determining the

 6     weight to be given to their evidence.  Accordingly, the Appeals Chamber

 7     dismisses Tolimir's Ground of Appeal Four.

 8             In Grounds of Appeal Six through Thirteen, Mr. Tolimir challenges

 9     some of the Trial Chamber's legal and factual findings regarding

10     extermination as a crime against humanity, genocide, and forcible

11     transfer.

12             Under his Ground of Appeal Nine, Tolimir makes a number of

13     challenges to the Trial Chamber's calculation of the number of persons

14     unlawfully killed by Bosnian Serb forces after the fall of Srebrenica.

15     First, he asserts that the Trial Chamber erred in law in calculating the

16     number of persons killed in circumstances other than the incidents

17     specified in the indictment.  Second, he asserts that the Trial Chamber

18     committed methodological errors in calculating the total number of those

19     killed.  Third, he challenges the Trial Chamber's findings in calculating

20     the number of victims unlawfully killed in four specific incidents.

21             I will return to Grounds Six and Nine in a moment.

22             The Trial Chamber found that at least 5.749 Bosnian Muslims were

23     unlawfully killed by the Bosnian Serb forces following the fall of

24     Srebrenica.  This number included those killed at the specific crime

25     sites cited in paragraphs 21.1 through 22.4 of the indictment and 779


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 1     individuals killed in circumstances not specified in the indictment.  The

 2     Appeals Chamber emphasizes that in reaching its Judgement, a Trial

 3     Chamber can only convict an accused of crimes which are charged in the

 4     indictment.  Material facts not pleaded in the indictment cannot serve as

 5     a legitimate foundation for a conviction against the accused.

 6             In the present case, the incidents charged in the indictment are

 7     not mere examples of criminal conduct for which Tolimir is alleged to be

 8     responsible but an exhaustive list of specific allegations charged

 9     against him.  The Appeals Chamber, therefore, finds that the Trial

10     Chamber erred by finding that 779 persons were unlawfully killed by

11     Bosnian Serb forces in circumstances not specified in the indictment and

12     by relying on this higher number in support of its conclusions on

13     Mr. Tolimir's convictions.

14             The Appeals Chamber is not satisfied, however, that this error of

15     law invalidates the Trial Judgement as Mr. Tolimir fails to show why his

16     convictions should not stand on the basis of the number of individuals

17     the Trial Chamber found were unlawfully killed in the specifically

18     circumstances of the indictment.

19             With respect to Mr. Tolimir's contention that the Trial Chamber

20     committed methodological errors in calculating the total number of those

21     killed, the Appeals Chamber observes that the Trial Chamber reached its

22     findings on the number of individuals killed in the incidents specified

23     in the indictment by analysing a combination of evidence comprising

24     witness testimony as to the circumstances of the killings, forensic

25     evidence, and demographic data.  For reasons detailed in the Judgement,


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 1     the Appeals Chamber rejects Mr. Tolimir's challenges to the

 2     Trial Chamber's findings that persons identified from Srebrenica-related

 3     mass graves were killed unlawfully.  Similarly, for reasons given in the

 4     Judgement, the Appeals Chamber dismisses Mr. Tolimir's arguments

 5     challenging the reliability of the demographic and DNA-based evidence

 6     relied upon by the Trial Chamber.

 7             The Appeals Chamber also finds that the Trial Chamber did not err

 8     in calculating the number of Bosnian Muslims killed at four incidents

 9     specified in the indictment, as alleged by Mr. Tolimir.  Accordingly, the

10     Appeals Chamber dismisses Tolimir's Ground of Appeal Nine.

11             Under Ground of Appeal Six, Mr. Tolimir challenges his conviction

12     for extermination.  His principal argument is that the Trial Chamber

13     erred in law by applying an incorrect legal standard concerning the

14     mens rea for extermination as a crime against humanity, arguing that the

15     victims of this crime must have been targeted on the basis of their

16     civilian status.  Tolimir further submits that the Trial Chamber erred in

17     finding that the killings of Mr. Mehmet Hajric, Zepa's mayor and

18     president of the War Presidency, Colonel Avdo Palic, commander of the

19     Army of Bosnia-Herzegovina Zepa Brigade based in Zepa, and Mr. Amir

20     Imamovic, the head of the civil protection unit - I will refer to these

21     three as three Zepa leaders - were part of a single murder operation

22     since they were killed in a period after the murder operation in

23     Srebrenica.

24             The Appeals Chamber recalls that while the establishment of the

25     actus reus of a crime against humanity requires that the crime occur as


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 1     part of a widespread or systemic attack directed against a civilian

 2     population, the victims of the underlying crime do not have to be

 3     civilians.  The Appeals Chamber thus rejects Mr. Tolimir's argument that

 4     the Trial Chamber applied an incorrect mens rea standard.

 5             With regard to Tolimir's argument that the killings of the three

 6     Zepa leaders was not part of the one murder operation involving the mass

 7     killings of the men of Srebrenica, the Appeals Chamber recalls that the

 8     actus reus of the crime of extermination is, and I quote, "the act of

 9     killing on a large scale," and the mens rea is the intention to kill on a

10     large scale.  The assessment of "large scale" is made on a case-by-case

11     basis, taking into account the circumstances in which the killings

12     occurred.  While the actus reus of the crime of extermination may be

13     established through an aggregation of separate incidents, the Appeals

14     Chamber has held that, and I quote, "the element of killing on a large

15     scale cannot be satisfied by a collective consideration of distinct

16     events committed in different prefectures, in different circumstances, by

17     different perpetrators, and over an extended period of time; that is, a

18     period of two months."

19             The Appeals Chamber observes that the Trial Chamber found that

20     there are factors shared by the murders of the three Zepa leaders with

21     the mass murders of the men and boys of Srebrenica.  These are the fact

22     that the murders occurred in the weeks following the fall of the two

23     enclaves, the fact that the victims were all Bosnian Muslims, the

24     violence of the killings, the general identity of the perpetrators of the

25     killings as members of the Bosnian Serb forces, and the link to the


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 1     overall goal of the Bosnian Serb forces of "ridding the enclaves of its

 2     Bosnian Muslim population."

 3             The Appeals Chamber notes, however, that the Trial Chamber found

 4     that the three Zepa leaders were killed in late August and September,

 5     therefore after the main attack against the civilian population, which

 6     lasted until the end of July 1995, and included the military operations

 7     against both enclaves, the removal of thousands of civilians from

 8     Srebrenica and Zepa, and the killings of the Bosnian Muslim men from

 9     Srebrenica.  At the time of the killing of the three Zepa leaders, both

10     enclaves were empty, and the civilian population had been transferred to

11     Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina-held territory.

12             Further, the Appeals Chamber notes that the murder of the three

13     Zepa leaders was charged in the indictment and found by the Trial Chamber

14     to be a foreseeable consequence of the JCE to forcibly remove and not the

15     JCE to murder.

16             The Appeals Chamber additionally observes that prior to the

17     killings the three Zepa leaders were singled out from the other Bosnian

18     Muslim male prisoners who were not killed but were to be ultimately

19     subject to a prisoner exchange agreement.  Consequently, the Appeals

20     Chamber is not convinced that the killing of the three Zepa leaders was

21     part of the same murder operation that had targeted the men and boys of

22     Srebrenica.

23             For these reasons, the Appeals Chamber upholds Ground of Appeal

24     Six, in part, to the extent that it concerns the killings of the three

25     Zepa leaders, and dismisses the remainder of the ground.


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 1             Under his Ground of Appeal Thirteen, Tolimir challenges the

 2     Trial Chamber's findings that the bussing of Bosnian Muslims out of

 3     Potocari on 12 and 13 July 1995 and out of Zepa on 25-27 July 1995

 4     constituted the crime of forcible transfer.  He contends that the

 5     Trial Chamber erred in finding that the transfer of the population was

 6     forced since it was the Bosnian Muslim authorities in Sarajevo and Zepa

 7     that sought to evacuate the civilian population of Srebrenica and Zepa

 8     before the attacks on the two enclaves occurred.  He also submits that

 9     the Trial Chamber failed to provide a reasoned opinion by not explaining

10     that the civilian populations of Srebrenica and Zepa were displaced

11     within a national border, arguing that since the border between the

12     Republika Srpska and Bosnian and Herzegovina was a de jure or a de facto

13     border, the transfer of the populations across that border could not

14     constitute the crime of forcible transfer.

15             In finding that the population transfers from the Srebrenica and

16     Zepa enclaves were forced, the Trial Chamber cited the well-settled

17     principle of international humanitarian law that "forced displacement is

18     not justified in circumstances where the humanitarian crisis that caused

19     the displacement is itself the result of the accused's unlawful

20     activity."  For reasons given in the Judgement, the Appeals Chamber finds

21     no error in the Trial Chamber's assessment of the evidence and in its

22     conclusion that the transfer of the population from the Srebrenica and

23     Zepa enclaves was forced.

24             The Appeals Chamber also finds that the Trial Chamber did not

25     fail to provide a reasoned opinion, as submitted by Mr. Tolimir.  The


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 1     Trial Chamber reasonably found that the civilians were forcibly displaced

 2     to other areas of Bosnia and Herzegovina; for example, Kladanj, which did

 3     not constitute an area across a de jure or de facto border.  Although the

 4     Trial Chamber did not make an express finding that the civilians

 5     populations of Srebrenica and Zepa were displaced within national

 6     boundaries, it is clear that the Trial Chamber found that the civilian

 7     populations were transferred to areas within the national boundaries of

 8     Bosnia and Herzegovina.  For these reasons, the Appeals Chamber,

 9     Judge Antonetti dissenting, dismisses Ground of Appeal Thirteen.

10             Under Grounds of Appeal Eight, Ten, Eleven, and Twelve,

11     Mr. Tolimir makes a number of challenges to the Trial Chamber's legal and

12     factual findings regarding the crime of genocide.  The Trial Chamber

13     found Mr. Tolimir guilty of genocide committed through the killings of

14     the men from Srebrenica, through causing serious bodily or mental harm to

15     the men from Srebrenica and the woman, children, and elderly from

16     Srebrenica and Zepa, and through inflicting on the protected group

17     conditions of life calculated to bring about their destruction.

18             Mr. Tolimir first submits that the Trial Chamber erred in law in

19     finding that the Bosnian Muslims of Eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina

20     qualified as part of a protected group under Article 4 of the Statute,

21     Ground of Appeal Eight.  Second, he argues that the Trial Chamber erred

22     in law and fact in its analysis of the actus reus of genocide by: (i)

23     misinterpreting serious mental harm as an underlying genocidal act and

24     applying that erroneous interpretation to the facts of the case, Ground

25     of Appeal Seven in part, and Ten in part; and (ii) misinterpreting the


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 1     term "physical destruction" under Article 4(2)(b) of the Statute, Ground

 2     of Appeal Ten in part; third, Mr. Tolimir submits that the Trial Chamber

 3     erred in law in its analysis of the mens rea required for genocide,

 4     Grounds of Appeal Seven in part, Eleven, and Twelve.

 5             For reasons set out in the Judgement, the Appeals Chamber finds

 6     no merit in Mr. Tolimir's contention that the Trial Chamber erred in law

 7     by failing to provide a reasoned opinion as to why the Bosnian Muslims

 8     qualified as a protected group under Article 4 of the Statute and why the

 9     Bosnian Muslims of Eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina were a substantial part

10     of that group.  In reaching its conclusion on this point, the

11     Trial Chamber referred to and applied by analogy the reasoning given in

12     the Popovic et al. Trial Judgement and in the Krstic Appeal Judgement as

13     to why the Bosnian Muslim population of Srebrenica, although a small

14     percentage of the overall Muslim population of Bosnia and Herzegovina,

15     amounted to a substantial part of that group.  The Trial Chamber thus

16     held that the reasoning in other relevant cases equally applied to the

17     population specified in the indictment; namely, the Bosnian Muslim

18     population in the enclaves of Srebrenica, Zepa, and Gorazde.  The Appeals

19     Chamber finds no error with this approach.  The Appeals Chamber therefore

20     dismisses Tolimir's Ground of Appeal Eight.

21             The Appeals Chamber likewise finds no merit in Mr. Tolimir's

22     arguments that the Trial Chamber erred in law and fact in finding that

23     Bosnian Serb forces inflicted serious bodily or mental harm as defined in

24     Article 4(2)(b) of the Statute on the Bosnian Muslim males from

25     Srebrenica.  The Appeals Chamber recalls that "threats of death" and


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 1     knowledge of impending death have been accepted as amounting to serious

 2     mental harm under Article 4 of the Statute.  Further, there is nothing in

 3     the Statute or in the Genocide Convention that prevents a Trial Chamber

 4     from considering the harm suffered by a victim prior to this as a

 5     separate actus reus of genocide.  Further, the Appeals Chamber finds no

 6     error in the Trial Chamber's conclusion that the forcible transfer of the

 7     Bosnian Muslim population out of Srebrenica amounted to infliction of

 8     serious mental harm and thus an act of genocide under Article 4(b) of the

 9     Statute.

10             Nothing in the Tribunal's jurisprudence or the Genocide

11     Convention supports Mr. Tolimir's contention that forcible transfer may

12     only constitute genocide if the displaced population is transferred to

13     concentration camps or places of execution.

14             Considering the Trial Chamber's findings regarding the painful

15     separation process of the women, children, and elderly from their male

16     family members in Srebrenica, the fear and uncertainty as to their fate,

17     and the fate of their detained male relatives, and the appalling

18     conditions of their journey to Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina-held

19     territories, the Appeals Chamber is satisfied that the Trial Chamber

20     provided sufficient reasoning for its conclusion that the suffering of

21     the women, children, and elderly forcibly transferred out of Srebrenica

22     inflicted serious mental harm and thus constituted an act of genocide

23     under Article 4(2)(b).

24             Further, for reasons set out in the Judgement, the

25     Appeals Chamber, Judge Antonetti dissenting, also dismisses Mr. Tolimir's


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 1     contention that the Trial Chamber erred in law and fact in finding that

 2     the Bosnian Serb forces who committed the underlying acts set out in

 3     Article 4(2)(a) through (c) had genocidal intent.

 4             With respect to Mr. Tolimir's challenges to the Trial Chamber's

 5     findings regarding the serious bodily or mental harm inflicted on the

 6     Bosnian Muslim population forcibly transferred from Zepa, the

 7     Appeals Chamber recalls that under the Genocide Convention, serious

 8     mental harm results only from acts causing grave and long-term

 9     disadvantage to the ability of members of the protected group to lead a

10     normal and constructive life and threatening the physical destruction of

11     the group as such.  The Appeals Chamber notes that unlike the

12     Bosnian Muslims forcibly transferred from Srebrenica, the Trial Chamber

13     made no findings and cited no evidence as to the lasting impact of the

14     forcible transfer operation on Zepa's population.

15             The Appeals Chamber further recalls that acts falling under

16     Article 4(2)(b) of the Statute require proof of a result, that is, that

17     serious mental harm was inflicted.  The Appeals Chamber, Judge Sekule and

18     Judge Guney dissenting, finds that, in the absence of findings or

19     reference to evidence of any long-term consequences of the forcible

20     transfer operation on the Zepa population and the Bosnian Muslim

21     population of Eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina in general and of a link

22     between the circumstances of the transfer operation in Zepa and the

23     physical destruction of the protected group as a whole, no reasonable

24     trier of fact could have found that the Bosnian Muslims forcibly

25     transferred from Zepa suffered serious mental harm within the meaning of


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 1     Article 4(2)(b) of the Statute.

 2             Accordingly, the Appeals Chamber, Judge Sekule and Judge Guney

 3     dissenting, grants Ground of Appeal Ten in part and reverses Tolimir's

 4     conviction for genocide through causing serious mental harm to the

 5     Bosnian Muslim population of Eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina under

 6     Article 4(2)(b) of the Statute to the extent that this conviction was

 7     based on the Bosnian Serb operations in Zepa.

 8             This conclusion does not amount to a conclusion that the

 9     Bosnian Muslims of Zepa were not the victims of genocide.  The Appeals

10     Chamber emphasizes that the only question addressed here is whether the

11     Trial Chamber erred in finding that the forcible transfer operation in

12     Zepa inflicted on the transferred Muslim population serious mental harm

13     as this term is defined in Article 4(2)(b) of the Statute.  The

14     Appeals Chamber recalls here its earlier conclusion that the

15     Trial Chamber did not err in finding that the Bosnian Muslims of Zepa

16     were within the targeted part of the protected group and were thus among

17     the ultimate victims of the genocidal enterprise against the Muslims of

18     Eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina.

19             Tolimir further challenges the Trial Chamber's finding that the

20     conditions resulting from the combined effect of the forcible transfer

21     operations of the women and children and the killing of the Bosnian

22     Muslim men were deliberately inflicted and calculated to lead to the

23     physical destruction of the Bosnian Muslim population of Eastern Bosnia

24     and Herzegovina.  The Appeals Chamber has not previously been called upon

25     to address the issue of what acts qualify as the actus reus of genocide


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 1     under Article 4(2)(c) of the Statute.  However, it is satisfied that the

 2     legal principles stated by the Trial Chamber are consistent with the

 3     existing case law of the ICTY and the ICTR, as well as the letter and

 4     spirit of the Genocide Convention.

 5             The Appeals Chamber finds that the deliberate infliction on the

 6     protected group of conditions of life calculated to bring about its

 7     physical destruction in whole or in part covers methods of physical

 8     destruction, other than killing, whereby the perpetrator ultimately seeks

 9     the death of the members of the group.  Such methods of destruction

10     include depravation of food, medical care, shelter or clothing, as well

11     as lack of hygiene, systemic expulsion from homes, or exhaustion as a

12     result of excessive work or physical exertion.

13             The Trial Chamber considered the combined effect of:  (i), the

14     forcible transfer operation in relation to Srebrenica's Muslim women,

15     children, and elderly from Potocari and Zepa's Muslim population; and

16     (ii), the killing of at least 5.749 Bosnian Muslim men from Srebrenica,

17     to conclude that these operations were aimed at destroying this

18     Bosnian Muslim community and preventing reconstitution of the group in

19     this area; that is, Eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina.

20             In the view of the Appeals Chamber, the Trial Chamber's

21     aggregation of the killings and the forcible transfer operations under

22     Article 4(2)(c) of the Statute was an error, as it contravened the very

23     case law cited by the Trial Chamber in paragraph 740 of its Judgement.

24             The Appeals Chamber recalls that Article 4(2)(c) of the Statute

25     covers methods of destruction that do not immediately kill the members of


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 1     the group but ultimately seek their physical destruction.  The

 2     Appeals Chamber therefore accepts Tolimir's argument that the

 3     Trial Chamber was legally barred from considering the combined effect of

 4     the killing and the forcible transfer operations under Article 4(2)(c) of

 5     the Statute.

 6             The Appeals Chamber further notes that in its application of

 7     Article 4(2)(c) of the Statute, the Trial Chamber considered the

 8     destruction of mosques in Srebrenica and Zepa as an additional act

 9     through which the Bosnian Serb forces inflicted on the protected group

10     conditions of life calculated to bring about its destruction.  As the

11     Trial Chamber itself acknowledged, acts amounting to cultural genocide

12     are excluded from the scope of the Genocide Contravention.  The Trial

13     Chamber, therefore, committed a legal error in considering the

14     destruction of mosques in Srebrenica and Zepa under Article 4(2)(c) of

15     the Statute.

16             In light of the legal errors identified above, the

17     Appeals Chamber will proceed to examine the factual findings of the

18     Trial Chamber and the evidence on the record in order to determine

19     whether the forcible transfer operations of the Muslim populations of

20     Srebrenica and Zepa, excluding the killings of Srebrenica's males and the

21     destruction of mosques in the enclaves, were conducted under such

22     circumstances as to impose on the protected group conditions of life

23     meeting the threshold of Article 4(2)(c) of the Statute.

24             In this regard, the Appeals Chamber recalls its holding in the

25     Krstic case that a forcible transfer operation does not amount to


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 1     physical destruction as such and the displacement of a protected group,

 2     either in whole or in part, does not constitute a genocidal act per se.

 3             After carefully examining the relevant evidence, the

 4     Appeals Chamber is not convinced that the forcible transfer operations

 5     Srebrenica and Zepa, viewed separately from the killings of Srebrenica's

 6     male population, were conducted under circumstances calculated to result

 7     in the total or partial physical destruction of the protected group; that

 8     is, the Muslims of Eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina.

 9             The trial record is devoid of evidence that the forcible

10     transfers, if they are analysed separately from the killing operation and

11     the destruction of mosques in Srebrenica and Zepa, were carried out with

12     a view to the destruction of the group, as distinct from its removal from

13     the region.

14             Although the Appeals Chamber is satisfied that there was a

15     deliberate plan to expel the Bosnian Muslim women, children, and elderly

16     from Srebrenica, and the entire Muslim population from Zepa, the

17     Appeals Chamber finds that it has not been established beyond a

18     reasonable doubt that such a policy of removal, implemented through the

19     JCE to forcibly remove, was aimed at causing the physical destruction of

20     these populations.

21             The Appeals Chamber emphasizes that this conclusion does not

22     amount to a conclusion that the Bosnian Muslims of Zepa were not the

23     victims of genocide.  The Appeals Chamber has confirmed the

24     Trial Chamber's finding that the Bosnian Muslims of Zepa are, along with

25     the Muslims of Srebrenica and Eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina in general,


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 1     members of the protected group within the meaning of Article 4 of the

 2     Statute and were thus among the ultimate victims of the genocidal

 3     enterprise against the Muslims of Eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina.

 4             Accordingly, the Appeals Chamber grants Mr. Tolimir's Ground of

 5     Appeal Ten, in part, to the extent that it challenges the Trial Chamber's

 6     findings under Article 4(2)(c) of the Statute for the infliction of

 7     conditions calculated to destroy the protected group and reverses

 8     Tolimir's conviction for genocide under Article 4(2)(c) of the Statute.

 9             Mr. Tolimir further challenges the Trial Chamber's conclusion

10     that the Bosnian Serb forces killed the three Zepa leaders with the

11     intent of destroying the Muslim population of Eastern Bosnia and

12     Herzegovina as such.

13             The Appeals Chamber agrees with the Trial Chamber that the

14     selective targeting of leading figures of a community may amount to

15     genocide and may be indicative of genocidal intent.  For a finding of

16     genocide, it suffices that the leaders were selected for the impact that

17     their disappearance would have on the survival of the group as such.  The

18     Trial Chamber found that all three Zepa leaders were arrested and

19     detained shortly after the completion of the forcible removal operation

20     in Zepa at the end of July 1995 and that Hajric and Imamovic were killed

21     sometime in late August 1995, while Palic was killed in early September

22     1995.

23             It is clear from these findings that the killings did not proceed

24     or occur simultaneously with but followed the forcible transfer of the

25     Zepa population.


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 1             The Appeals Chamber recalls that the character of the attack on

 2     the leadership must be viewed in the context of the fate or what happened

 3     to the rest of the group at the same time or in the wake of that attack.

 4             The Trial Judgement contains no findings or reference to evidence

 5     as to the impact of the disappearance of the three Zepa leaders on the

 6     survival of the Bosnian Muslim population from Zepa.  The Trial Chamber

 7     failed to explain how their detention and killings, committed weeks after

 8     the entire Zepa population had been forcibly transferred from the

 9     enclave, had any impact "on the survival of the group as such" in light

10     of the fact that the forcible transfer operation of Zepa's

11     Bosnian Muslims had been completed before the three Zepa leaders were

12     detained and killed and in the absence of any findings as to whether or

13     how the loss of these three prominent figures affected the ability of the

14     Bosnian Muslims from Zepa to survive in the post-transfer period, the

15     inference of genocidal intent was not the only reasonable inference that

16     could be drawn from the record.

17             The Appeals Chamber, therefore, finds that the Trial Chamber

18     erred in holding that the three Zepa leaders were killed by the

19     Bosnian Serb forces with the specific intent of destroying part of the

20     Bosnian Muslim population as such and grants Mr. Tolimir's Ground of

21     Appeal Twelve.

22             In Grounds of Appeal Five and Fourteen through Twenty,

23     Mr. Tolimir contests the Trial Chamber's legal and factual findings

24     concerning his responsibility for participation in the two joint criminal

25     enterprises; the joint criminal enterprise to murder, and the joint


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 1     criminal enterprise to forcibly remove.  Mr. Tolimir first challenges

 2     under Ground of Appeal Five the Trial Chamber's finding that JCE is a

 3     mode of liability under customary international law.  For reasons set out

 4     in the Judgement, the Appeals Chamber, Judge Antonetti dissenting, finds

 5     no merit in Mr. Tolimir's submissions and dismisses his Ground of Appeal

 6     Five.  The Appeals Chamber, Judge Antonetti dissenting, also finds no

 7     merit in Mr. Tolimir's submissions that the Trial Chamber erred in law

 8     and fact in making findings on the relevant VRS military principles and

 9     on his position as assistant commander and chief of the sector for

10     intelligence and security affairs.

11             The Trial Chamber reasonably found that pursuant to the regular

12     military chain of command, the security organs were directly subordinated

13     to the commander of those brigades or units for their day-to-day work and

14     that the chief of the sector for intelligence and security affairs

15     directed, coordinated, and supervised the work of subordinate security

16     and intelligence organs with respect to matters associated with security

17     or intelligence.  The Appeals Chamber further confirms the

18     Trial Chamber's findings in relation to Mr. Tolimir's powers and the

19     information available to him.  Therefore, the Appeals Chamber,

20     Judge Antonetti dissenting, dismisses Mr. Tolimir's Ground of Appeal

21     Fourteen.

22             Under his Ground of Appeal Fifteen, Mr. Tolimir challenges the

23     Trial Chamber's conclusion that a JCE to forcibly remove existed and its

24     conclusions about his participation in it.  Specifically, he argues that

25     the Trial Chamber erred in:  One, finding that the RS leadership adopted


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 1     objectives in May 1992 which evidenced a policy to get rid of Muslim

 2     population of Eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina, misinterpreting Directive 7

 3     and its relationship with Directive 7/1 and consequent VRS military

 4     orders; two, finding that the VRS participated in the restrictions of

 5     UNPROFOR and humanitarian aid convoys; three, taking into consideration

 6     an attack on the Srebrenica enclave through a tunnel in the night of 23

 7     to 24 June 1995; and four, finding that the enclaves' status as safe

 8     areas was inviolable under international law even though they were not

 9     fully demilitarised.  For reasons set out in the Judgement, the

10     Appeals Chamber, Judge Antonetti dissenting, finds no merit in

11     Mr. Tolimir's submissions.  Similarly, the Appeals Chamber,

12     Judge Antonetti dissenting, finds no support for Mr. Tolimir's argument

13     that the Trial Chamber erred in fact and in law in finding that he

14     significantly contributed to the JCE to forcibly remove.

15             With respect to his liability, pursuant to the JCE to murder,

16     Tolimir first contends that the Trial Chamber erred in fact and law in

17     finding that two killing incidents; namely, the killings at Kravica

18     warehouse of 600 to 1.000 Bosnian Muslims on 13 and 14 July 1995; and the

19     killings of six Bosnian Muslims from Srebrenica by the Skorpions unit at

20     a site near Trnovo were executed to achieve the common purpose of the JCE

21     to murder.

22             For reasons set out in the Judgement, the Appeals Chamber,

23     Judge Antonetti dissenting, finds no error in the Trial Chamber's

24     findings that the killings at Kravica warehouse were part of the common

25     part to murder and dismisses Mr. Tolimir's Ground of Appeal Nineteen.


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 1             With respect to Mr. Tolimir's challenges to the Trial Chamber's

 2     conclusions regarding the killings of six Bosnian Muslims near Trnovo,

 3     the Appeals Chamber notes that the Trial Chamber did not explicitly find

 4     that there existed a link between the members of the Skorpions unit who

 5     committed the Trnovo killings and a member of the JCE and that therefore

 6     the killings form part of the JCE to murder.  The Trial Chamber only

 7     alluded to such a finding by concluding on the basis of the "evidence in

 8     its totality" including evidence of the Trnovo killings, that a common

 9     plan to murder the Bosnian Muslim males from Srebrenica existed.

10             The Appeals Chamber finds that the Trial Chamber's failure to

11     further elaborate on the required link between the perpetrators and a JCE

12     members amounts to a failure to provide a reasoned opinion.  In view of

13     the Trial Chamber's error of law, the Appeals Chamber will consider

14     whether the factual findings in the Trial Judgement on a whole would

15     allow a reasonable trier of fact to establish a link between the

16     Skorpions unit and a member of the JCE to murder.

17             The Appeals Chamber notes that even though the Trial Chamber

18     found that the Skorpions unit was acting at the relevant time under the

19     direction of the Bosnian Serb forces, it failed to identify under whose

20     direction or pursuant to whose orders they acted.  The Appeals Chamber

21     recalls that the Trial Chamber did not find that all the members of the

22     Bosnian Serb forces were also members of the JCE to murder.  While the

23     evidence upon which the Trial Chamber relied suggests that the six men

24     were transported from the Srebrenica area to Trnovo by members of the

25     Skorpions unit where they were subsequently killed, the Appeals Chamber


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 1     is not convinced that it was reasonable for the Trial Chamber to infer

 2     from these facts that the Skorpions unit perpetrated the six killings in

 3     Trnovo in furtherance of the common plan of the JCE to murder.  The

 4     Appeals Chamber therefore grants Mr. Tolimir's Ground of Appeal Twenty.

 5             Under his Ground of Appeal Sixteen, Mr. Tolimir challenges the

 6     Trial Chamber's conclusions that he was aware of and intended the common

 7     plan to murder the able-bodied Bosnian Muslim men from the Srebrenica

 8     enclave.  He also challenges the Trial Chamber's findings that he

 9     significantly contributed to this common plan.  For reasons set out in

10     detail in the Judgement, the Appeals Chamber, Judge Antonetti dissenting,

11     rejects Mr. Tolimir's arguments that the Trial Chamber's conclusions

12     regarding his knowledge and contribution to the JCE was primarily based

13     on his position as assistant commander and that the Trial Chamber

14     incorrectly interpreted Prosecution and Defence exhibits relevant to his

15     participation in the JCE to murder.  The Appeals Chamber, Judge Antonetti

16     dissenting, dismisses Mr. Tolimir's Ground of Appeal Sixteen.

17             Under Grounds Seventeen and Eighteen of his appeal, Mr. Tolimir

18     challenges the Trial Chamber's findings on his responsibility pursuant to

19     JCE II for persecutory acts, including opportunistic killings, as a

20     natural and foreseeable consequence of JCE to forcibly remove and JCE to

21     murder, Ground Seventeen; and for the killings of the three Zepa leaders

22     as a natural and foreseeable consequence of the JCE to forcibly remove,

23     Ground Eighteen.  For reasons set out in the Judgement, the

24     Appeals Chamber, Judge Antonetti dissenting, finds no merit in

25     Mr. Tolimir's arguments and dismisses his Grounds of Appeal Seventeen and


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 1     Eighteen.

 2             In Grounds of Appeal Twenty-One through Twenty-Three, Mr. Tolimir

 3     challenges the Trial Chamber's findings regarding his responsibility in

 4     relation to genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide, and crimes against

 5     humanity.  For reasons given in the Judgement, the Appeals Chamber,

 6     Judge Antonetti dissenting, finds that the Trial Chamber did not err in

 7     finding that Mr. Tolimir possessed genocidal intent and that he possessed

 8     the mens rea required for crimes against humanity.  The Appeals Chamber,

 9     Judge Antonetti dissenting, also confirms the Trial Chamber's findings

10     that Mr. Tolimir was criminally responsible for conspiracy to commit

11     genocide on the basis of his significant contribution to the JCE to

12     murder.  The Appeals Chamber, Judge Antonetti dissenting, therefore,

13     dismisses Mr. Tolimir's Grounds of Appeal Twenty-One through

14     Twenty-Three.

15             Finally, in Ground of appeal Twenty-Four, Mr. Tolimir contests

16     the Trial Chamber's finds on his cumulative convictions and in Ground of

17     Appeal Twenty-Five its findings in relation to his sentence.  For reasons

18     set out in the Judgement, the Appeals Chamber finds that the Trial

19     Chamber did not err in law or in fact in applying the principles of

20     cumulative convictions and dismisses Mr. Tolimir's Ground of Appeal

21     Twenty-Four.

22             The Appeals Chamber, Judge Antonetti dissenting, also finds that

23     the Trial Chamber did not err in applying the principles of sentencing by

24     imposing a sentence that is manifestly excessive and disproportionate.

25             I now turn to the impact of the Appeals Chamber's findings on the


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 1     sentencing.  In this context, the Appeals Chamber recalls that it

 2     reversed some of the convictions of Mr. Tolimir.  The Appeals Chamber

 3     notes, however, that Mr. Tolimir's remaining convictions, in particular

 4     those for genocide committed through the killings of the men from

 5     Srebrenica and through the infliction of serious bodily or mental harm to

 6     the Bosnian Muslim population of Srebrenica are sustained.  In light of

 7     these genocide convictions alone, the Appeals Chamber considers that

 8     Tolimir's responsibility does not warrant a revision of his sentence.

 9             I will now read out the full text of the disposition of the

10     Appeals Chamber Judgement.

11             Mr. Tolimir, would you stand, please.

12             For the foregoing reasons, the Appeals Chamber, pursuant to

13     Article 25 of the Statute and Rules 117 and 118 of the Rules, noting the

14     respective written submissions of the parties and the arguments they

15     presented at the appeal hearing on 12 November 2014, sitting in open

16     session, grants in part:  Ground of Appeal Six and reverses Tolimir's

17     conviction for extermination as a crime against humanity to the extent

18     that it concerns the killings of the three Zepa leaders specified in

19     paragraph 23.1 of the indictment; grants in part, Judge Sekule and

20     Judge Guney dissenting, Ground of Appeal Ten and reverses Tolimir's

21     conviction for genocide committed through the ever causing serious mental

22     harm to Bosnian Muslim population of Eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina under

23     Article 4(2)(b) of the Statute to the extent that this conviction was

24     based on the forcible transfer of Bosnian Muslims from Zepa; grants in

25     part, Ground of Appeal Ten and reverses Tolimir's conviction for genocide


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 1     through inflicting conditions of life calculated to destroy the

 2     Bosnian Muslim population of Eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina under

 3     Article 4(2)(c) of the Statute; grants Ground of Appeal Twelve and

 4     reverses his conviction for genocide, Count 1, to the extent that it

 5     concerns the killings of the three Zepa leaders specified in

 6     paragraph 23.1 of the indictment; grants Ground of Appeal Twenty and

 7     reverses Tolimir's conviction for genocide, Count 1, extermination as a

 8     crime against humanity, Count 3, and murder as a violation of the laws or

 9     customs of war, Count 5, to the extent they concern the killings of six

10     Bosnian Muslim men near Trnovo specified in paragraph 21.16 of the

11     indictment; dismisses, Judge Antonetti dissenting, Grounds of Appeal 1,

12     3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23, and 25; dismisses

13     Tolimir's remaining Grounds of Appeal; affirms the remainder of Tolimir's

14     convictions under Counts 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, and 7; affirms Tolimir's sentence

15     of life imprisonment, subject to credit being given under Rule 101(C) of

16     the Rules for the period he has already spent in detention; rules that

17     this Judgement shall be enforced immediately pursuant to Rule 118 of the

18     Rules; orders that in accordance with Rule 103(C) and 107 of the Rules,

19     Tolimir is to remain in the custody of the Tribunal pending the

20     finalisation of arrangements for his transfer to the state where he will

21     serve his sentence.

22             Judge William H. Sekule appends a partly dissenting opinion.

23             Judge Mehmet Guney appends a partly dissenting opinion.

24             Judge Jean-Claude Antonetti appends a separate and partly

25     dissenting opinion.


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 1             The hearing of the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal

 2     Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia stands adjourned.

 3                                --- Whereupon the hearing adjourned

 4                                at 4.13 p.m.

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