WELCOME TO IWPR'S TRIBUNAL UPDATE No. 464 Part 1, 18 August, 2006 COURTSIDES:
MARTIC TRIAL FOCUSES ON SERB FEARS Former Serb official speaks of Serb anxieties in the prelude to the Croatian war. By Merdijana Sadovic in Sarajevo WITNESS SAYS KOSOVO MASSACRE UNPLANNED Serb interior ministry and paramilitaries responsible for Meja deaths, says prosecution witness. By Caroline Tosh in The Hague BRIEFLY NOTED PROSECUTORS NOT READY FOR SIMATOVIC AND STANISIC TRIAL BOSKOSKI ACCUSES PROSECUTION OF DAMAGING HIS HEALTH INDICTED UGANDAN REBEL COMMANDER CONFIRMED DEAD KOSOVO SIX TRIAL RESUMES ****************** VISIT IWPR ON-LINE: www.iwpr.net *************** INTRODUCTION TO THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT Available at http://iwpr.net/?apc_state=henotri&s=o&o=tribunal_icc_00.html RSS: http://www.iwpr.net/en/tri/rss.xml FREE SUBSCRIPTION. Readers are urged to subscribe to IWPR's full range of electronic publications at: http://www.iwpr.net/index.php?apc_state=henh&s=s&m=p ****************** VISIT IWPR ON-LINE: www.iwpr.net *************** COURTSIDES MARTIC TRIAL FOCUSES ON SERB FEARS Former Serb official speaks of Serb anxieties in the prelude to the Croatian war. By Merdijana Sadovic in Sarajevo Judges hearing the trial of the former leader of the rebel Serb authorities in Croatia, Milan Martic, were told this week that Krajina Serbs "did nothing wrong" and were "only defending themselves" during their war with Croatian forces. The claims were made by defence witness Ratko Licina, who introduced himself as the information minister of the Serbian Autonomus District of Krajina, SAO Krajina, government in exile. Licina was a prominent member of Krajina's ruling Serb Democratic Party, SDS, and told the court that he fled Krajina during the Croatian army's Operation Storm in 1995 - aimed at regaining control over territory occupied by rebel Serbs - and has lived in Serbia ever since. He is the second witness the defence has brought to court since the opening of their case on July 11 this year. Martic lawyers are hoping to prove that it was the Croatian government who provoked the war with Krajina Serbs in 1991, not the other way around. The defendant - who was the president of SAO Krajina during the war - is charged with leading the local police force and other armed forces in the expulsion and murder of non-Serbs in Croatia between 1991 and 1995. He is also accused of deliberate destruction of homes and other public and private property, and unlawful attacks on Zagreb in 1995. Throughout his testimony this week, Licina tried to portray Krajina Serbs as innocent victims of anti-Serb propaganda. He said Serbs were terrified by an atmosphere charged with "Croatocentrism and Serbophobia" which he claims prevailed in Croatia after the Croatian Democratic Union, HDZ, led by the late Franjo Tudjman, took power in 1990. Croatian Serbs "who have strong memories of the Second World War" feared they would be stripped of all their constitutional rights in the new Croat state and possibly even killed, said Licina. The witness informed the court that there were 37 per cent of Serbs in Croatia before the Second World War, but "that number was cut down to 12 per cent through genocide committed by Croatia's fascist Ustasha regime" during that conflict. He insisted Serbs in Krajina didn't want history to repeat itself, and vowed never to become an easy target again. When prosecutor David Black in his cross examination of the witness suggested that the SDS heavily exploited Serbs' "bitter memories from the Second World War " in order to gain their support, Licina avoided a direct answer and said he could see "nothing wrong in that". "It is natural that we keep those memories alive, just as Jewish people keep reminding the world of what happened to them...," he said. Black then asked the witness about his impressions of Jovan Raskovic, one of the founders of SDS in Krajina. He said Raskovic was "a psychiatrist who healed Serb people" and was always moderate in his views and speeches. But Black then played in court a video recorded on August 17, 1990 in Krajina, which showed Raskovic delivering a speech to a crowd of angry Serbs cheering, "We'll kill Ustashas! We'll kill Tudjman!" Raskovic was then seen saying, "Don't ask weapons from me - if you need them, I'm sure we'll find someone who will give them to you." In another video played in court, apparently recorded a year later, Raskovic was heard saying that "Serbs will never march to the execution sites again - they will resist genocide this time". Black's suggestion that it's obvious "Raskovic is inviting Serbs to put up an aggressive resistance to the Croatian state" enraged the witness. "What were we supposed to do - maybe let ourselves be killed?" he said, visibly irritated. Throughout his testimony, Licina maintained that all blame for the 1991-95 bloodshed in Croatia should be placed on the Croats. He told the court that even Tudjman said in one of his speeches that "there wouldn't have been a war in Croatia if we hadn't wanted it". Licina's testimony contradicted that given by prosecution witness Milan Babic in February, who said Martic, a leader of the Serb rebellion from 1990, had been the first to use armed force to provoke Croats, and had drawn the Yugoslav People's Army, JNA, into the conflict to aid the Serb side. Babic, former Martic's rival and president of SAO Krajina before being replaced by Martic in January 1994, committed suicide in the Hague tribunal's detention center in spring this year. In order to further support the prosecution argument that the war in Croatia was not merely a Serb response to Croat provocations, Black showed Licina an interview with Raskovic published in Serbian and Croatian newspapers in 1992. In that interview, Raskovic apparently said he felt "responsible" because he "made preparations for this war, even though they were not military preparations". "If I hadn't created this emotional strain in the Serbian people, nothing would have happened," he is quoted as saying. "My party and I lit the fuse of Serbian nationalism not only in Croatia, but in Bosnia as well." But Licina appeared to be unmoved by these words - whose authenticity he didn't deny - and said it was important to note that Raskovic had given this interview shortly before his death. "It is possible he was disillusioned with something," he said calmly. The Martic trial continues next week. WITNESS SAYS KOSOVO MASSACRE UNPLANNED Serb interior ministry and paramilitaries responsible for Meja deaths, says prosecution witness. By Caroline Tosh in The Hague A prosecution witness told the trial of six Serbian and military officials charged with war crimes in Kosovo that the Yugoslav military did not intend to kill hundreds of people during their 1999 operation in the village of Meja. Meja features in the indictment against former Serbian president Milan Milutinovic, former deputy prime minister of Yugoslavia Nikola Sainovic, former chief of staff Dragoljub Ojdanic, and police and army generals Sreten Lukic, Nebojsa Pavkovic and Vladimir Lazarevic. They are all charged in connection with crimes allegedly committed in Kosovo in 1999 by forces under their command. Among other allegations, the indictment says that Kosovo Albanian men from Meja were separated from a mass of fleeing villagers and summarily executed. Survivors are said to have been forced to join convoys crossing into Albania. Prosecution witness Nik Peraj, a former Yugoslav army,VJ, captain said Operation Meja was run by territorial and civil defence troops and paramilitaries acting together with Serbian interior ministry, MUP, forces. But he insists the April 27 operation went wrong and the deaths of more than 300 ethnic Albanians were unplanned. "I don't think it was the army's purpose for so many people to be killed," said Peraj. "The army was misused by the MUP and paramilitary forces [during the campaign in the Djakovica municipality]," he added. However, the lawyer for Sreten Lukic, the head of the MUP at the time, denied claims by Peraj that the interior ministry was behind the massacre. "The territorial defence, the civil defence and the paramilitaries are not part of the ministry of the interior, and the ministry of the interior of Serbia cannot control in any way any one of these organisations," said Branko Lukic. Peraj testified it was the paramilitary groups that "committed the worst crimes in Djakovica" including burning houses, looting and rape. He denied these groups were acting under the control of the Yugoslav army. "Rape was not a policy or part of any kind of plan," he said. Peraj, a captain in the Djakovica artillery and rocket brigade of the VJ at the time of the attack, said that he thought the aim of the operation was the expulsion of the population. "If they hadn't have burnt down houses, I would have thought that the population was being expelled on a temporary basis," he said. Tomislav Visnjic, Ojdanic's lawyer, said the operation was launched as part of a broader campaign to defend the border from an attack by the Kosovo Liberation Army, KLA. Ojdanic was chief of the general staff of the VJ at the time. Peraj, who also testified in 2002 at the trial of late Slobodan Milosevic, this week directly implicated General Vladimir Lazarevic, saying he was in command of Operation Meja. Peraj also claimed to have seen army major Zdravko Vinter compile a report after the massacre in Meja and Korenica, which he was to send to the VJ Pristina Corps. "I saw him explicitly writing that on April 27, in the region of Meja, 68 terrorists were liquidated, while in Korenica 74 terrorists were liquidated. This is what he wrote," said Peraj Lazarevic's lawyer Mihailo Bakrac asked Peraj why he had not said until this week that the general had been in command of this operation. Peraj replied at first that he had never been asked who was in command. He then changed his story and went on to claim that he previously mentioned it to an Office of The Prosecutor representative. The defence went on to argue that on April 27 and 28, Lazarevic was not in Djakovica, but in Pristina where he had been celebrating a national holiday. Bakrac tried to undermine Peraj's credibility by asking him about an incident in which he apparently leaked information to the KLA about a planned VJ ambush. Peraj confirmed that he passed on this information to the KLA through his brother in law. The trial continues next week. Caroline Tosh is an IWPR reporter in The Hague. BRIEFLY NOTED PROSECUTORS NOT READY FOR SIMATOVIC AND STANISIC TRIAL Tribunal prosecutors have demanded more time to prepare their case against two former members of the Serbian State Security Service, DB, Franko Simatovic and Jovica Stanisic. Proceedings were originally scheduled to start by the end of this year, but at a status conference held in The Hague on August 15, the prosecutors asked for at least six more months. They said the deaths of their two key witnesses forced them to reorganise their case. One was Milan Babic who committed suicide in the tribunal's detention centre in March; the identity of the other witness is protected. The prosecutors also stressed the complexity of the case - which overlaps with at least 14 of the tribunal's ongoing and pending trials - as another reason why more time is needed. They explained that only a relatively small number of staff have been allocated to work on the case, as it is "not seen as a priority". Overall the prosecution plans to call about 120 witnesses, 75 of whom have already testified at other trials in The Hague. The indictment charges Stanisic and Simatovic on the basis of individual criminal responsibility with the crimes they allegedly committed against Croats and Muslims during the 1991-1995 wars in Croatia and Bosnia. They are accused of participating in a joint criminal enterprise, whose objective was "the forcible and permanent removal of the majority of non-Serbs, principally Croats, Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Croats, from large areas of Croatia and Bosnia". Both accused were temporarily released from custody in December 2004, and are in Serbia awaiting the beginning of the trial. BOSKOSKI ACCUSES PROSECUTION OF DAMAGING HIS HEALTH Macedonia's former interior minister Ljube Boskoski claims his health is seriously suffering as a result of prosecution accusations that he is trying to avoid covering part of the costs of his own defence. At a status conference held on August 16, Boskoski said his health was "significantly endangered" by these allegations, claiming that all this pressure on him has made him "psychotic". On April 13 this year, the court's registry ruled that Boskoski should contribute over 575,000 US dollars towards his defence fees. But shortly after, he announced that he would mount his own defence. In a July 5 motion which irritated Boskoski, the prosecutors said "it would be highly unfair if this tribunal had to expend additional time, money and other resources as a result of the accused Boskoski's decision to represent himself". At this week's status conference, Boskoski said this "attack on his person came as a strong blow". "If such style of attacks continue, I don't know if I will live to see the start of the trial," he said. He added that forcing him to pay for the defence costs would jeopardise not only his wellbeing, but that of his children too. Boskoski is indicted along with his former bodyguard Johan Tarculoski for war crimes allegedly committed in the ethnic Albanian village of Ljuboten in Macedonia's brief civil war in 2001. The prosecutors have also decided to cut down substantially the amount of time they will need for presenting their case - from the previously announced eight months down to just seven weeks. The date for the trial has not been set yet. INDICTED UGANDAN REBEL COMMANDER CONFIRMED DEAD Uganda's rebel Lord's Resistance Army, LRA, has confirmed claims by the Ugandan army that Raska Lukwiya, one of five LRA commanders wanted by the International Criminal Court, ICC, was shot dead on August 12 during fighting between soldiers and rebels in the northern district of Kitgum. It is alleged that Lukwiya operated in the inner circle of the militia in early 2004, when it was perpetrating its most deadly attacks on civilians. The ICC published Lukwiya's arrest warrant for crimes against humanity and war crimes in July 2005, but he had remained at large ever since, along with four co-accused, Joseph Kony, Vincent Otti, Okot Odhiambo and Dominic Ongwen. Together, the five alleged leaders of the LRA are accused of crimes including widespread and systematic murder, sexual enslavement, rape, and abducting and conscripting children under the age of 15 for combat. In a statement issued on August 14, the ICC's chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said the Ugandan government was in the process of confirming the identity of the body believed to be that of Raska Lukwiya, and emphasised that "the Office of the Prosecutor of the ICC will, if requested, lend support in this effort". The bloody conflict in northern Uganda has raged for two decades, since President Yoweri Museveni took power in the mid-Eighties. However, only crimes that took place after 2002 can be prosecuted by the ICC, which is when the court came into existence. KOSOVO SIX TRIAL RESUMES The trial of six senior Serbian and Yugoslav officials charged with responsibility for the ethnic cleansing of hundreds of thousands of ethnic Albanians from their homes in Kosovo in 1999 resumed this week after the tribunal's three-week summer break. The six defendants in the current case include three generals from the Serbian police and the Yugoslav army, VJ, who were indicted in 2003 - Sreten Lukic, Nebojsa Pavkovic and Vladimir Lazarevic. They are standing trial alongside three others who were charged in 2001 - the former chief of staff Dragoljub Ojdanic, the former Serbian president Milan Milutinovic and the former deputy prime minister of Yugoslavia Nikola Sainovic. They all face four counts of crimes against humanity and one count of violations of the laws and customs of war in connection with mass expulsions and massacres allegedly committed by forces under their control between January and June 1999. According to the indictment, as many as 800,000 Albanians were expelled from their homes during that period. The trial started in July, and the prosecutors are currently presenting their case. This week they brought to court a number of Kosovo Albanians, who spoke about crimes they had witnessed in the villages around the town of Djakovica. They refuted the defense claims that the Albanians had fled Kosovo because of NATO air strikes, and that the Albanian men who were killed had mostly been members of the Kosovo Libration Army, KLA. The witnesses insisted that "Albanians were expelled by Serbs, not NATO", and that the villagers were further humiliated by being forced to cheer "Serbia, Serbia", before being expelled from their homes. The trial is scheduled to continue next week. ****************** VISIT IWPR ON-LINE: www.iwpr.net **************** These weekly reports, produced since 1996, detail events and issues at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, ICTY, at The Hague. Tribunal Update, produced by IWPR's human rights and media training project, seeks to contribute to regional and international understanding of the war crimes prosecution process. The opinions expressed in Tribunal Update are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of the publication or of IWPR. Tribunal Update is supported by the European Commission, the Dutch Ministry for Development and Cooperation, the Swedish International Development and Cooperation Agency, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and other funders. IWPR also acknowledges general support from the Ford Foundation. The Institute for War & Peace Reporting is a London-based independent non-profit organisation supporting regional media and democratic change. 48 Gray's Inn Road, London WC1X 8LT, UK Tel: +44 (0)20 7831 1030 Fax: +44 (0)20 7831 1050 Editor-in-Chief: Anthony Borden; Managing Editor: Yigal Chazan; Senior Editor: John MacLeod; Hague Project Manager: Janet Anderson; Translation: Predrag Brebanovic, and others. IWPR Project Development and Support - Executive Director: Anthony Borden; Strategy & Assessment Director: Alan Davis; Managing Director: Tim Williams. For further information on this project and other reporting services and media programmes, visit IWPR's website: www.iwpr.net ISSN 1477-7940 Copyright © 2006 The Institute for War & Peace Reporting TRIBUNAL UPDATE No. 464 Part 1
