WELCOME TO IWPRÕS ICTY TRIBUNAL UPDATE No. 643, April 27, 2010 KARADZIC SAYS WITNESS "NOT A VICTIM" Judge rebukes former Bosnian Serb leader for "appalling" statements. Rachel Irwin
SLJIVANCANIN APPEAL HEARING SETS PRECEDENT In a first for the tribunal, appeal judges to hold session on judgement review request. Rachel Irwin, Simon Jennings WITNESS SPEAKS OF KRAJINA VILLAGE DEATHS He says there were no Croatian military operations in Grubori on day Serb residents said to have been killed. Velma Saric GANIC EXTRADITION HEARING DATE In separate abuse of process hearing defence arguing that Serbia's extradition request not made in good faith. Rachel Irwin LJOBOTEN APPEAL JUDGEMENT Judges to issue decision in only tribunal case related to the Macedonian conflict. 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Rachel Irwin Former Bosnian Serb president Radovan Karadzic this week told a survivor of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre that he was "not a victim" and accused him of not having been present at the execution site at all. The witness, who told prosecutors at the Hague tribunal that he survived the mass killing by lying underneath another body and pretending to be dead, responded to Karadzic's comment by raising his voice in anger. "When you are saying that, as if that is the truth, may you look at your own children dead, [just like Bosniak] mothers did when their children [were killed]," the witness exclaimed. The exchange came after Karadzic earlier questioned the witness about why he sought protective measures from the tribunal, which included a pseudonym and digital image distortion while he testified. "There are people who share your beliefs and want to get rid of me," responded the witness, who previously testified in several other trials at the tribunal, including that of former Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic. "Do you know of any witnesses who my supporters executed?" Karadzic asked. "I don't know," the witness answered. "I'm not interested in others, I'm speaking of myself." Karadzic expressed concern that protective measures were being given to witnesses who are "not victims". "This witness is not a victim, he was a fighter in the [Bosnian] army," Karadzic told the court. "Who's not a victim?" the witness interjected loudly. "Do you know my case at all, sir?" Presiding Judge O-Gon Kwon told Karadzic that it was "totally unacceptable" for him to question protective measures in such a manner and called his statements to the witness "appalling". Karadzic, the president of Bosnia's Republika Srpska from 1992 to 1996, is accused of planning and overseeing the massacre of some 8,000 Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) men and boys at Srebrenica in 1995, as well as the 44-month siege of Sarajevo that left nearly 12,000 people dead. The indictment - which lists 11 counts in total - alleges that he was responsible for crimes of genocide, persecution, extermination, murder and forcible transfer which "contributed to achieving the objective of the permanent removal of Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Croats from Bosnian Serb-claimed territory". Karadzic was arrested in Belgrade in July 2008 after 13 years on the run. Because the witness had testified in several other trials, the prosecution offered a short summary of his previous evidence and asked very few additional questions. The cross examination, on the other hand, lasted nearly two days and was marked by tension between the witness and the accused. Karadzic contended that the witness was not driven from village in the Zvornik area in 1993 by Bosnian Serb forces. Rather, Karadzic said, the witness and his family had been evacuated by the Bosnian army. "No, certainly not," the witness said. "The [Bosnian Serb] army moved in upon us, set fire to our houses, destroyed our mosques and we all moved out." The witness added that Karadzic himself cut off electricity in his village. "How exactly did I do that?" Karadzic retorted. "You were the number one person," the witness answered. "You go to the head to ask, not the feet." "If you say I was the one who ordered that, you have to be more specific," Karadzic said. "How and when did I make that order?" "Let's move on," Judge Kwon interjected. Karadzic then questioned the witness about Bosniak military resistance and read from several related documents. "What if I put it to you that secret Muslim paramilitaries started in 1991 with a whole network of units for a number of municipalities?" Karadzic asked, "What you are saying is a notorious untruth, [and] we didn't have [Serbian leader Slobodan] Milosevic behind us to send in.tanks," the witness responded. The witness did not deny that he was part of the Bosnian army prior to the time he fled from his village in 1993. He said that by the time he arrived in Srebrenica in spring of that year, he was no longer a soldier. The Srebrenica enclave was officially demilitarised and declared a "safe area" by the United Nations in April 1993. Karadzic continued to read from several military-related documents, which the witness said he had little knowledge of. He became so frustrated at one point that he told Karadzic not to "go on about stupid things". "Tell this court, do you acknowledge that Serbs were responsible for anything?" the witness asked, again raising his voice. "It's only others that are to blame according to you! Let's stop these stupidities." When Judge Kwon encouraged the witness to answer the questions, the witness reiterated that he could not answer "stupid questions". "I experienced everything·.If you don't like what I am saying, tell me to go back where I came from," the witness exclaimed. At that point, Judge Melville Baird intervened and told the witness that the judges "fully appreciate" how he must feel, but that Karadzic was entitled to conduct a cross-examination. "I have my rights, too," the witness said. "We won't allow your rights to be trampled upon," Judge Baird said. "But we need to make sure both sets of rights are respected." Karadzic asked relatively few questions about what happened in Srebrenica in July 1995, and told judges that because the prosecution had said that the Sarajevo element of the case would come first - and that Srebrenica would come last - he was only prepared to ask questions on events that occurred before 1993. Judge Kwon said he was "disappointed" that the prosecution had not kept to an "earlier representation that Sarajevo could come first". He said that Karadzic should ask questions relating to 1995, but could later submit an application to recall the witness if he deemed it necessary. Late this week, a fourth witness, Herbert Okun, began his testimony. Okun was special advisor and deputy to the personal envoy of the United Nations secretary-general in the former Yugoslavia from 1991-1997. He has previously testified in four other trials at the tribunal. He told prosecutor Alan Tieger that he personally met Karadzic on about 50 or 60 occasions throughout the war, and kept a detailed diary with notes from each meeting. Tieger asked if Okun had been able to identify the Bosnian Serb war aims from these meetings. "Yes," Okun responded. He said that the Bosnian Serbs had six main goals, which he briefly summarized. He said they wanted to establish a separate state inside of Bosnia called Republika Srpska that would be "continuous territory" and have "geographical continuity with Serbia". In addition, Okun said, the territory was to be as "ethnically homogenous as it could be" and Republika Srpska would have a "special relationship" with Serbia that might even include absorption. Furthermore, he said, the Bosnian Serbs would have veto capabilities over any leftover power in the centralised Bosnian government, and the final goal was to divide Sarajevo between Bosniaks and Bosnian Serbs. "These objectives were not a secret," Okun said. "They were quite open and honest with us about these goals." Okun also said that Karadzic was concerned about the Bosniak birth rate outpacing that of the Serbs and eventually leading to a Bosniak majority. "He was concerned this would disadvantage the Bosnian Serb community," Okun said. Karadzic also "constantly" referred to the genocide against Serbs during World War Two, Okun said. "I recall early on being somewhat shocked by these constant references," Okun said. In one early diary entry that was produced for the court, Okun wrote that Karadzic "[was] more dishevelled and melodramatic, but did not use the word genocide until about three minutes into the conversation". Karadzic's cross-examination of Okun is expected to last into next week. Rachel Irwin is an IWPR reporter in The Hague. SLJIVANCANIN APPEAL HEARING SETS PRECEDENT In a first for the tribunal, appeal judges to hold session on judgement review request. Rachel Irwin, Simon Jennings Appeals judges have decided to hold a hearing on June 3 to help determine if their judgement in the case of Yugoslav Army, JNA, officer Veselin Sljivancanin should be reviewed, a move that is unprecedented in the Hague tribunal's history. All 11 previous requests to review appeals judgements since the tribunal opened its doors have been dismissed, said spokeswoman Nerma Jelacic. This is the first time that a hearing will be convened in relation to a review request. On January 28 this year, Sljivancanin's lawyers asked appeals judges to review their judgement on the grounds that new facts had come to light after it was rendered last May 5. Sljivancanin was originally sentenced to five years imprisonment on September 27, 2007 for aiding and abetting the torture of Croat and other non-Serb prisoners held at a farm in Ovcara following the fall of the Croatian town of Vukovar to Serb forces in November 1991. On May 5 last year, appeals judges not only upheld that conviction but also overturned his acquittal for aiding and abetting the murder of the prisoners and more than tripled his prison term to 17 years. In this week's scheduling order, appeals judges wrote that in this "exceptional context it is in the interests of justice to convene an oral hearing". During the hearing, they will hear the testimony of Miodrag Panic, the former chief of staff of Sljivancanin's unit, to determine its "evidentiary value" and whether it constitutes a "new fact". Judge Fausto Pocar dissented from the majority opinion, stating that the appeals chamber should first decide whether the new fact exists before holding a hearing. Judge Pocar also said that the majority decision may lead to a "flood of unjustified requests for review aimed at conducting a Îfishing expeditionâ to try to find new facts". Last May, appeals judges ruled that Sljivancanin had been informed by his commander and co-defendant, Mile Mrksic, that military protection for the prisoners at Ovcara had been withdrawn and that Sljivancanin was consequently aware of the risk that local Serb forces were likely to kill the prisoners. Mrksic, a former JNA colonel, was convicted of responsibility for the prisonersâ murder, as well as their torture and cruel treatment. A third accused, Miroslav Radic, was acquitted of all charges after judges found there was no evidence he was aware of the killings taking place at Ovcara. According to the appeals chamber's judgement, its finding that Sljivancanin was responsible for aiding and abetting the prisonersâ murder was based on the conclusion "that Mrksic must have told Sljivancanin that he had withdrawn the JNA protection from the prisoners of war held at Ovcara". "The only reasonable inference is that upon learning of the order to withdraw the troops, Mr Sljivancanin realised that the killing of the prisoners of war at Ovcara had become a likely occurrence," said Judge Theodor Meron when he delivered the appeals chamber's verdict. "Mr Sljivancanin must have also realised that, given his responsibility for the prisoners of war, if he failed to take action to ensure the continued protection of prisoners of war, he would be assisting the [Serb forces] and paramilitaries to carry out the murders." However, Sljivancanin's lawyers have called for the appeals chamber to review its judgement on the basis that "Mile Mrksic did not tell Sljivancanin about any order to withdraw the JNA protection for the prisoners of war at Ovcara". The new evidence consists of a statement from Panic about the conversation between Sljivancanin and Mrksic on the night of November 20, 1991 when Mrksic handed over command of the JNA military police - who were protecting the prisoners - to Sljivancanin. Sljivancanin's lawyers say that Panic is able to confirm that during that conversation Mrksic did not inform Sljivancanin about the withdrawal of the military police. "[The witness] will confirm that, during this conversation, Mile Mrksic neither told Sljivancanin about the withdrawal of the troops protecting the prisoners at Ovcara nor of any order in this regard," the lawyers wrote in their January request to judges. Trial judges already confirmed in their judgement that Panic was present during Mrksic's conversation with Sljivancanin when he handed over the command post on November 20, 1991. Panic came forward the day after the judgement with the information that Mrksic did not inform Sljivancanin of any order to withdraw the troops protecting the prisoners of war, the lawyers say. The June 3 hearing will assist the judges in their decision regarding the review request, but it does not mean they will ultimately decide to review their judgement, said spokeswoman Jelacic. Rachel Irwin and Simon Jennings are IWPR reporters in The Hague. WITNESS SPEAKS OF KRAJINA VILLAGE DEATHS He says there were no Croatian military operations in Grubori on day Serb residents said to have been killed. Velma Saric A former member of a Croatian special forces unit told the Hague tribunal last week that he saw no evidence of conflict in the Croatian village of Grubori on the day six elderly Serb inhabitants are alleged to have been murdered. He was giving evidence in the case of former Croatian special police forces commander Mladen Markac, who is accused, along with generals Ante Gotovina and Ivan Cermak, of participating in a joint criminal enterprise to drive the ethnic Serb population from the Krajina region of Croatia in 1995. During Operation Storm in August 1995, Croatian forces recaptured Krajina, which had been held by rebel Serbs since 1991. According to the indictment against the defendants, Gotovina was the overall operational commander of the offensive in the southern portion of the Krajina region, while Markac was in charge of special police units, and Cermak headed the Knin garrison. The witness, Branko Balunovic, a former officer of the special anti-terrorist unit of Croatian police, was invited to testify by Presiding Judge Alphons Orie and the trial chamber. According to the indictment, on August 25, 1995, Croatian forces from the Knin garrison murdered six elderly Serb civilians who had stayed in Grubori after Operation Storm. "At one moment, somebody from command informed me by radio that there were problems in the village, and as I was in the area, securing the area around the village, I stopped on site to take a look," Balunovic said. Balunovic said that when he visited Grubori on August 25, 1995, there were no military operations or confrontations in the village and its surroundings and he could hear only "sporadic shooting and explosions". He said this was "quite usual at the time". He said his group only found two elderly civilians in the village. "What weaponry did your group or unit use that day?" Judge Orie asked. "We had hand weapons, ie pistols and other personal weapons, and some unit members probably also had hand grenades. I am not sure but I believe that one of them may have had a hand-held rocket thrower known as 'zolja'," the witness answered. He stressed he did not notice anything unusual at the village or around it and did not see fire or smoke on the day elderly Serbs were alleged to have been murdered. Balunovic said that two days later on August 27, 1995, he and other officers of the special police force were ordered by their command to return to Grubori. "Were you told why you had to go to Grubori?" Judge Orie asked. "I can't recall if we were told why we had to go back but I remember we were told that there were some problems and that we had to go back because of that. I didn't know what this could be." He said that at Grubori, besides himself, were his superior officers Josip Celic and Zeljko Sacic, and the group had discovered dead people and animals and houses that had been burned. "I remember a number of dead animals, I think pigs and possibly cows, were in the village. I am not sure about the cows, but I remember the pigs," he said. "We were greeted by an older man, I think he was a local, and I recall someone saying something along the lines of 'poor pigs', whereupon he answered 'poor people, not poor pigs', and took us from site to site where corpses of dead people were lying. "At one house, there was a dead man.. murdered, with a wound on his neck, an elderly woman was crying for him and showed us the place where he was slaughtered. ÒShe was pointing to his wound and then Mr Sacic determined that it did not come from a knife, but rather from a bullet which had entered him sideways. I remember someone took a photograph of it. "I saw the dead old man, then another corpse at a burnt house. The corpse was burnt too. In another house, there was another body lying. I didn't want to go into any more homes, but I saw from a certain distance, two more bodies in a meadow. Therefore, I saw a total of four bodies." The witness said he was directed by his superiors to report that the victims were killed during conflict. He said it was Celic who "gave him orders from Mr Sacic", who was the deputy commander to Markac, and told him to write a report on the action in Grubori. He said his report said that Croatian special units had fought Serb soldiers left behind in Grubori, which led to civilian casualties in cross-fire. The report also said that special forces had imprisoned two enemy soldiers and Balunovic testified this week that that was put in in order to make the story more credible. "I think Mr Celic added a part on how he briefed us, before we went to action, on how to treat civilians, ie he told us that we were obliged to respect international law." The accused, Gotovina, Cermak and Markac, all pleaded not guilty on December 5, 2006. The trial began on March 11, 2008. Velma Saric is an IWPR-trained reporter in Sarajevo. GANIC EXTRADITION HEARING DATE In separate abuse of process hearing defence arguing that Serbia's extradition request not made in good faith. Rachel Irwin The extradition hearing in the case of former Bosnian president member Ejup Ganic will begin on July 5 at Westminster Magistrates Court in London, it was decided this week. The hearing will last until July 10, Stephen Gentle, a solicitor representing Ganic, confirmed to IWPR. The defence is required to submit all the documentation associated with their case by May 18, and the prosecution has until June 15 to respond. An abuse of process hearing will also take place, and Gentle said that their team has until April 27 to decide if that will be held on June 11, or alongside the main hearing in July. The defence will argue that the "[extradition] request from Serbia was not made in good faith," Gentle said. Serbia is seeking to extradite Ganic to stand trial for charges related to a May 1992 incident in Sarajevo, known as the Dobrovoljacka (Volunteer's Street) incident. At the time, Ganic was a member of the Bosnian presidency, effectively serving as a deputy to then-president Alija Izetbegovic. A day before the incident, on May 2, 1992, Izetbegovic was kidnapped by the Yugoslav army, JNA, at Sarajevo airport when he returned from peace negotiations in Lisbon. On May 3, a deal was done in which Izetbegovic would be released and a JNA column would be allowed out of the besieged city by the Bosniaks but subsequently the column was fired upon. Belgrade says 42 soldiers were killed, and blames Ganic, who was effectively in charge while Izetbegovic was being detained. Ganic, now president of Sarajevo's School of Science and Technology, was arrested at Heathrow Airport on March 1 after attending a degree ceremony at the University of Buckingham, with which his school has links. He was released on bail on March 11 under several conditions, including a nightly curfew and a daily check-in at a police station. Rachel Irwin is an IWPR reporter in The Hague. LJOBOTEN APPEAL JUDGEMENT Judges to issue decision in only tribunal case related to the Macedonian conflict. Rachel Irwin The appeals judgement in the case of former Macedonian police officials Ljube Boskoski and Johan Tarculovski will be delivered at a public hearing on May 19, judges at the Hague tribunal announced last week. In July 2008, judges acquitted Boskoski, a former interior minister, of failing to investigate the murder and cruel treatment of ethnic Albanian civilians by Macedonian police and ensuring that those responsible were punished. However, they sentenced Tarculovski, a former police officer and bodyguard, to 12 years in prison for the murder and cruel treatment of the Albanians in the 2001 attack on the Macedonian village of Ljuboten. Judges found that between August 12 and 15, 2001, a police unit under TarculovskiÕs command entered the village and shot six unarmed Albanians and severely mistreated 13 other residents, one of whom later died. They said that Tarculovski had a direct role in Òordering, planning and instigating the crimes committed in LjubotenÓ. Tarculovski appealed against his conviction, while prosecutors appealed against BoskowskiÕs acquittal. In BoskowskiÕs case, judges had found that while evidence revealed Òa serious failure of the functioning of the police and the responsible Macedonian officials at the time, it has not been established that Boskoski failed to take the necessary and reasonable measures for the punishment of the policeÓ. This case is the only one related to the Macedonian conflict to have been heard by the Hague tribunal. Rachel Irwin is an IWPR reporter in The Hague. **** www.iwpr.net ******************************************************************** ICTY TRIBUNAL UPDATE, the publication arm of IWPR's International Justice Project, produced since 1996, details the events and issues at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, ICTY, at The Hague. 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