Page 42384
1 Thursday, 1 August 2013
2 [Open session]
3 [The accused entered court]
4 [The witness takes the stand]
5 --- Upon commencing at 9.03 a.m.
6 JUDGE KWON: Good morning, everyone.
7 Yes, Mr. Robinson.
8 MR. ROBINSON: Yes, good morning, Mr. President. I'd like to
9 introduce David Taylor of Manchester, United Kingdom, who is working as
10 an intern for us this year.
11 JUDGE KWON: Thank you.
12 Mr. Mitchell, please continue.
13 MR. MITCHELL: Thank you, Mr. President. I understand I have
14 about an hour left. I'll do my best to conclude in that time, but I may
15 need a little extra. I'll let you know where I'm at when the hour is up.
16 WITNESS: FRANC KOS [Resumed]
17 [Witness answered through interpreter]
18 Cross-examination by Mr. Mitchell: [Continued]
19 Q. Now, Mr. Kos, yesterday we left off and I was asking you some
20 questions about your interview with the Slovenian investigator.
21 MR. MITCHELL: If we can have that in e-court again,
22 65 ter 25487, page 2 in the English and 3 in the Slovenian.
23 Q. Now, if you just focus on that paragraph at the top in your
24 language where it says:
25 "According to his estimation, approximately 1.000 Muslims were
Page 42385
1 killed ..."
2 Now, yesterday I asked you whether this was accurate, what you
3 had told the Slovenian investigator. And you said, this is a quote from
4 page 110 of yesterday's transcript, line 1, you said:
5 "Yes, but I referred to Erdemovic's statement there."
6 Now, you can see in that sentence where it says:
7 "According to his estimation, approximately 1.000 Muslims were
8 killed ..."
9 There's no reference to Drazen Erdemovic there. That's your
10 estimation, isn't it?
11 A. That estimation - let me explain - always referred to
12 Drazen Erdemovic's statement and that's what we all thought based on his
13 statement.
14 Q. So you agreed with Drazen Erdemovic's estimate that approximately
15 1.000 Muslims were killed at Branjevo Farm on 16 July?
16 A. We have to make a distinction here. At Branjevo Farm, people
17 were killed. Two things are being confused here: How many were killed
18 and how many were buried. If a thousand had been killed at Branjevo and
19 we are charged with an extra 500, where were these people buried then?
20 There is a distinction being made here between those who were killed at
21 Branjevo Farm and those who were subsequently buried at Branjevo Farm.
22 It is a well-known fact from my trial that people kept on being brought
23 in lorries to Branjevo Farm. I even said in my interview with
24 Tomasz Blaszczyk that people must have been executed elsewhere because
25 those people who arrived after the buses, once we stopped killing, looked
Page 42386
1 as if they had been executed elsewhere.
2 Q. Well, Mr. Kos, the evidence in our case - this is Exhibit P4772,
3 Dusan Janc's report - is that there's 1.735 individuals have been
4 identified by DNA matching out of the Branjevo Farm grave and its
5 associated secondary graves. It's our case that approximately 500 of
6 those 1700 were killed at the Pilica Dom, which leaves approximately 1200
7 individuals who were executed at Branjevo Farm; right?
8 A. Let me explain in this way. We're running in circles here.
9 You're insisting on one figure and I am persistently saying that I based
10 my statement on Drazen Erdemovic's statement. I always adhere by my
11 words. At Branjevo Farm the 10th Sabotage Unit did not execute more than
12 six buses, a total of seven to seven and a half of people -- buses
13 arrived, and this is what I've always claimed and I always will. At my
14 trial the witnesses stated, and it was proven by the size of the grave
15 that was found at Branjevo, and nobody ever wanted to prove what its
16 dimensions were, and you have its dimensions in my first-instance
17 judgement. That's where they are given, the exact dimensions are given
18 there.
19 In our order to make up for 1200 or to 1800 Muslims, which were
20 the two figures mention during my trial, in one part of the
21 first-instance judgement, the Trial Chamber wrote that there were several
22 graveyards or graves found at Branjevo Farm. In a paragraph before that
23 it says that there was just one grave at Branjevo Farm and its exact
24 dimensions are mentioned. The only thing that is not mentioned is the
25 name of the person who opened it, William Haglund. His name was
Page 42387
1 deliberately omitted during my trial so that he did not have to be
2 brought as a witness.
3 Q. Okay. Well, yesterday you agreed that it wasn't in your interest
4 to inflate or exaggerate in any way the number of Muslims who were killed
5 at Branjevo Farm. So regardless of whether this figure that you told the
6 Slovenian investigator is your estimation or Drazen Erdemovic's
7 estimation, there's absolutely no reason whatsoever for you to have
8 mentioned a figure of 1.000 if you actually thought that some 350 to 370
9 people were killed at Branjevo Farm that day; right? That doesn't make
10 any sense whatsoever, does it?
11 A. I keep on telling you, that was in 2004. As far as I can
12 remember, the Slovenian investigator took the interview in Bijeljina --
13 or actually, that's where he wrote his wrote, in a restaurant in
14 Bijeljina from memory, from what I had stated. I provided the statement
15 and he memorised it. As far as I can remember, my words were not
16 recorded. He did not record my words, and I keep on claiming that I said
17 in 2004, when the trial started, that so many people had been killed.
18 That's what I thought at the time. I hadn't given it a second thought.
19 But now I claim with full responsibility, I don't intend to insult the
20 victims, that the 10th Sabotage Unit did not execute more than six buses
21 and the overall number of people who were executed at Branjevo Farm was
22 not more than eight busloads. It doesn't make any difference to me.
23 Even if I reduce the figure, the things are the same for me. Even if we
24 killed one innocent civilian, which is terrible, or 300 because we had
25 been ordered to execute those prisoners of war, it still would have been
Page 42388
1 a big crime. But we couldn't do anything there and we have been held
2 responsible even more than some local individuals who were behind that.
3 We didn't have a clue what we would be doing at Branjevo when we first
4 arrived there.
5 Q. Well, let me just remind you of something you said yesterday.
6 This is at transcript page 103 of yesterday's provisional transcript.
7 You said:
8 "I can't tell you how many buses there were. I was not in the
9 Kula school, I was not in Pilica -- actually, it's one and the same. How
10 many buses there were and what make they were, I really can't remember as
11 I sit here today, nor can I answer your question."
12 Do you stand by that?
13 A. I can't tell you how many buses there were in front of the Kula
14 school. I was never in front of the Kula school. To this very day, I've
15 never been there. I don't know where that school is. Whatever you told
16 me yesterday, those are the statements provided by a survivor who was
17 there. I believe that that's what you said. During my trial a statement
18 was provided before the BH court by the bus driver who had brought those
19 prisoners of war from Bratunac to the Kula school.
20 Q. Well, we'll get to -- we'll get to what was said in your trial
21 about this. Let me go first to your interview with Mr. Blaszczyk on the
22 8th of May, 2010, this is 65 ter 25482, page 143 in English and 96 in the
23 B/C/S.
24 And again, we can agree that it's not in your interest to
25 exaggerate the number of Muslims who were killed at the farm, is it, to
Page 42389
1 give a higher number than actually were killed by your unit?
2 A. No, I wouldn't benefit from that at all.
3 Q. Okay. Well, Mr. Blaszczyk asked you:
4 "... how many people were killed that day? Your estimation?"
5 Not Drazen Erdemovic's estimation. Your estimation.
6 And you said:
7 "On Branjevo the assessment is 650-700 ..."
8 So that is twice the number that you told Mr. Karadzic's Defence
9 lawyer earlier this year, isn't it?
10 A. Hold on, hold on. I apologise. You'll have to repeat that
11 question, I'm afraid.
12 Q. Can you see in line 4 in your language --
13 A. I see that.
14 Q. -- your words:
15 "On Branjevo the assessment is 650-700 people."
16 All I'm asking is that number that you gave in 2010 is twice the
17 number that you told Mr. Karadzic's Defence lawyer earlier this year,
18 isn't it?
19 A. Yes, it says 650-700 people here. I repeat once again, I'm
20 referring to Drazen Erdemovic's statement here. I did not exaggerate the
21 number of those who were killed; however, I also referred to the
22 statements given by some people who said later on that that's how many
23 had been killed. One of the witnesses --
24 Q. Let me stop you --
25 A. -- said --
Page 42390
1 Q. Let me stop you there. Mr. Blaszczyk's question was your
2 estimation. He asked you for your estimation and you said:
3 " ... the assessment is 650-700 people."
4 There's no mention of Drazen Erdemovic, no mention of anyone
5 else, this is your estimation in 2010; right?
6 A. Yes, that's my estimation. This is what it says here, this is
7 what I stated. But I repeat, based on your people's statements as well
8 as the facts that were established here before this Court.
9 Q. Okay.
10 MR. MITCHELL: Can we have 65 ter number 25481 in e-court.
11 Q. This is your interview with the state court prosecutor in August
12 2010. And you'll remember at the start of that interview the prosecutor
13 said to you had the right to put forward your own defence, you had the
14 right to remain silent, and you were also told that anything you said
15 could be used in evidence in your trial against you. Do you remember
16 that?
17 A. Are you referring to Tomasz Blaszczyk or to the prosecutor before
18 the BiH court?
19 Q. We're now talking about the BiH prosecutor interview. This is a
20 different one now.
21 A. Yes.
22 Q. Okay. So you remember the prosecutor telling you you could put
23 forward your defence, you could stay silent, but that if you did say
24 anything that could be used as evidence against you. You remember that?
25 A. Yes.
Page 42391
1 MR. MITCHELL: Can we go to page 33 in both languages.
2 Q. And you will see here -- so, in this interview where you were
3 putting forward your own Defence you say:
4 "... I don't think more than about 600 people ..."
5 So again, not Drazen Erdemovic, not anyone else, this is your
6 estimate in this interview, 600; right? Can you see in line 6 your
7 words?
8 A. Yes, these are my words.
9 Q. Okay. Now let's go to the testimony in your own case in 2011.
10 And you remember at the start of your testimony the judge warned you that
11 it was your duty to tell the truth because perjury is crime; right?
12 A. Yes.
13 Q. Okay. And in your own trial, of all places, where your own
14 freedom is at stake, it's in your very best interest not to exaggerate
15 the number of people who were killed at Branjevo Farm, is it?
16 A. No.
17 Q. Okay. Well, in your testimony, unfortunately we don't have a
18 transcript of it in your language, but it's 65 ter 25480, page 95 in the
19 English, you give two estimates. First of all you say 300 and then under
20 cross-examination at page 137 you say "probably 600." And then in the
21 judgement in your case, which I'll bring up and let you have a look at,
22 65 ter 25492, page 103 in the B/C/S, if you look at paragraph 575 it
23 says:
24 [As read] "The accused - Franc Kos - also participated in the
25 executions. Over the course of his testimony, Kos kept changing the
Page 42392
1 number of buses and prisoners killed, stating at the end ... that a total
2 of almost 8 buses of prisoners were killed at Branjevo, the last of which
3 having been half full ..."
4 So even in your own case where your own freedom was at stake,
5 you're testifying under penalty perjury, even then you couldn't keep your
6 story straight, could you, about how many buses and how many people were
7 killed that day?
8 A. When I testified on my own behalf, as I already told you
9 yesterday, explained how the executions were carried out. I know what
10 happened with each of the buses. That's why I came up with the number of
11 eight buses in total.
12 Q. Okay. But as you're sitting here today, 18 years later, we've
13 seen you've gone from telling the Slovenian investigator ten years ago an
14 estimate of 1.000; then you told Mr. Blaszczyk 650 to 700; then you told
15 the state court prosecutor 600; then in your own trial you went between
16 300 and 600. As you sit here today, you can't say with any certainty how
17 many prisoners were killed at Branjevo Farm that day, can you?
18 A. I'm telling you again and again how many were killed, but I don't
19 know how many dead bodies were dragged into the place subsequently. I
20 keep on telling you how many were executed while we were there at
21 Branjevo Farm, how many were killed by the 10th Sabotage Unit and that
22 other group.
23 Q. Okay. Let me ask you again. 2004, you've gone from giving the
24 investigator an estimate of a thousand, now you're down to 300; and in
25 between you've given a range of estimates, 650 to 700, 600. As you sit
Page 42393
1 here today, you can't say with any certainty whether it's 300, 600, 650,
2 700, or a thousand, can you? With a hundred per cent certainty, you
3 can't say what the number is, can you?
4 A. I think that nobody can say that with any certainty. Nobody can
5 say how many were executed at Branjevo Farm, how many exactly were killed
6 and how many were buried there. There's just one man who can say how
7 many were buried.
8 Q. Okay. Let's move to something completely different. May or June
9 1995 you and the other members of your unit went through a mine tunnel
10 near Srebrenica and you conducted an operation against the town, didn't
11 you?
12 A. Which town?
13 Q. Against the town of Srebrenica. You went through the mine tunnel
14 and then you fired some weapons into the town of Srebrenica?
15 A. Yes.
16 Q. Okay. Now, you haven't been to Srebrenica before and you weren't
17 familiar with the layout of the town and it was the middle of the night;
18 right?
19 A. Yes, that was the first operation for which we were brought. In
20 the evening we went through the tunnel and we came back. That was the
21 first time. Until then, I had never been in Srebrenica.
22 Q. Okay.
23 A. Just a moment. Then, when we entered, I did not know the exact
24 purpose of this operation. It was only when we got out that we found out
25 what the purpose of that operation was.
Page 42394
1 Q. Okay. And after you'd come out of the mine tunnel, your unit
2 fired a 60-millimetre mortar, some Zoljas, and some Osa missiles into the
3 town; right?
4 A. I don't know what they were being fired at because I don't know
5 the exact location where we were. I know that we were on a hill above
6 Srebrenica. Below there were white roofs that we could see at night.
7 Now, whether these were some factories were something, I cannot say, so I
8 cannot say what we fired these projectiles at.
9 Q. Okay. But the aim was basically to just fire as many projectiles
10 as possible as quickly as you could and get out of there; right?
11 A. Yes. But I have to say something there. All these projectiles
12 that we fired were Zoljas, Osas. None of that reached an inhabited area.
13 All these projectiles, when fired at a certain range, self-destruct. So
14 a Zolja, M60, self-destructs at a range of 450 to 500 metres I think.
15 And an Osa at 650 to 700 metres, it self destructs unless it hits a
16 target. My estimate is that we must have been at a distance of at least
17 1.500 metres from that inhabited area when we were up on the hill.
18 Q. Okay. You told Mr. Blaszczyk in your interview with him that it
19 was your view that the purpose of this mission was to create chaos in
20 Srebrenica; is that right? By firing these weapons towards Srebrenica,
21 the purpose was to create chaos?
22 A. That is what we were told when we got out. The operation had
23 been carried out to show sort of that there is chaos in Srebrenica and
24 that soldiers, Muslims, started fighting amongst themselves, quarrelling
25 amongst themselves, and to create some kind of chaos amongst the
Page 42395
1 population and a lack of safety and security. That's what we were told
2 when we got out, when the operation was over.
3 Q. Let's go now to the 11th of July, so the day when your unit
4 entered the town of Srebrenica. Now, as you were approaching the town
5 that day and as you were entering the town, you were talking to the other
6 members of your unit on the Motorola -- on the Motorola radios, weren't
7 you?
8 A. Yes, we had radio communication with the other groups.
9 Q. Okay. And at one point you heard General Krstic over the radio,
10 the commander of the Srebrenica operation, and you heard him say the
11 words: "Push and burn down"; correct?
12 A. I don't see the point of this push and burn down. What --
13 Q. I'm not asking you to -- the point. I'm saying you heard
14 General Krstic say that over the radio, over the Motorola; right?
15 A. Yes. Because when we started entering Srebrenica, first of all,
16 in the morning we had not left immediately so we had to get down into
17 Srebrenica in haste. As for this thing, push and burn down, that means
18 that one should advance and that in -- along the way something should be
19 torched, a haystack or whatever, but in that way people would know how
20 far our unit had advanced, our people would know for the sake of security
21 how far we had advanced down there.
22 Q. Well, let me remind you of what you told Mr. Blaszczyk in your
23 interview in 2010.
24 MR. MITCHELL: If we can have 65 ter 25482 in e-court, that's
25 English page 41, B/C/S page 28.
Page 42396
1 Q. And you'll see when this comes up you said:
2 "We heard him," that's General Krstic, "saying, 'Push and burn
3 down,' but we did not want to set fire to houses because we understood
4 that he meant that houses should be put on fire."
5 So that's what you understood General Krstic to be saying, isn't
6 it? He was ordering you to set houses on fire as you came into
7 Srebrenica. Can you see the paragraph in the middle of the page? You
8 say:
9 " ... we understood that he meant houses should be put on fire,"
10 and then you go on to explain that you didn't want to set houses on fire.
11 So let me ask you again: When General Krstic said "Push and burn
12 down," you understood that to be an order to set fire to houses, right?
13 A. Well, we thought that that's the way it was; however, we did not
14 torch houses. We torched hay. That was our opinion. He did not issue
15 that kind of order. I expressed my own opinion.
16 Q. Okay. So it's your opinion that General Krstic was telling you
17 to burn houses, but your unit didn't actually burn any houses. Do I
18 understand you correctly?
19 A. Yes, that was my opinion. As far as I can remember, not a single
20 house was torched as we were going down there.
21 Q. Okay. Now, you stayed in Srebrenica on the night of the 11th and
22 then all day on the 12th. And Lieutenant Pelemis authorised your unit to
23 go into some of the houses and take some of the items, like kitchen
24 appliances, that kind of thing, didn't he?
25 A. Yes.
Page 42397
1 Q. Okay. And you ended up taking a truck and a trailer full of
2 items out of Srebrenica?
3 A. Yes.
4 Q. Now, on 11 and 12th July, most of the Muslim population was just
5 up the road in Potocari, weren't they, up near the UN base?
6 A. I cannot confirm that because I did not go to Potocari. I went
7 to the centre of Srebrenica on the 11th and I went back and I never came
8 back there. I can confirm that. As far as Potocari is concerned, I
9 don't know anything about that. As for what you said, civilians, there
10 were civilians in Srebrenica when we entered, but we provided security
11 for them. As for Potocari, I cannot say anything about that because I
12 wasn't there and I didn't see.
13 Q. Well, you didn't provide security for all of them, did you?
14 Zoran Obrenovic slit the throat of one of them, didn't he, when he
15 surrendered to your unit?
16 A. That man, when I got down there into town, he was already dead.
17 As for Zoran Obrenovic slitting his throat, I heard about that from other
18 people. I did not see that with my own eyes, that he had slit his
19 throat.
20 Q. Right. But you saw his dead body lying on the sidewalk in town,
21 didn't you?
22 A. Yes, I saw his body.
23 Q. Okay. Well, on the 11th and 12th of July when General Krstic is
24 ordering that some things be burned and your unit is removing things from
25 the Muslim houses, it must have been very obvious to you then that those
Page 42398
1 Muslims weren't coming back to Srebrenica; right?
2 A. I was a nobody over there. I was not supposed to think about
3 that.
4 Q. I understand that, but you wouldn't -- your unit wouldn't have
5 been taking things from the homes of those Muslim people if they were
6 coming back, would you?
7 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Objection.
8 JUDGE KWON: Yes.
9 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] How do we know that these were only
10 Muslim houses?
11 JUDGE KWON: It's for the witness to answer. Witness could be
12 able to answer the question.
13 MR. MITCHELL:
14 Q. Let me ask my question again, Mr. Kos. Your unit wouldn't have
15 been taking things from Muslim homes in Srebrenica if those Muslim people
16 were coming back to their homes, would you?
17 A. These were houses. They were not apartments. Whose houses they
18 were, I don't know. Now, whether people were supposed to come back, that
19 I don't know. Who planned to do what further on with these people, I
20 don't know, and I don't see the point of these questions. To me as a
21 soldier who just came there, carried out an order, and everything I say
22 here about this is just my opinion. I can just express my own opinion.
23 Q. Okay. One last question on this. Lieutenant Pelemis gave you
24 the green light, he gave you permission to go in and take things from
25 those apartments or from those houses, didn't he? I'm not accusing you
Page 42399
1 of anything. I'm just saying Lieutenant Pelemis said you could go and do
2 that?
3 A. He didn't say that to me personally. Who he said that to, I
4 don't know. I just help people with the loading, and now whether he said
5 that to someone you will have to ask Milorad Pelemis personally.
6 Q. Okay. Let's go to Kravica on 13 July. Now, in your statement or
7 your interview with Mr. Karadzic's lawyer, you said that around 6.00 p.m.
8 on the 13th of July you, Marko Boskic, and Lieutenant Pelemis went to the
9 command post in Vlasenica; correct?
10 A. Whose command post?
11 Q. The Drina Corps command post in Vlasenica.
12 A. Yes, yes, the Drina Corps in Vlasenica. I'm asking because our
13 command was in Vlasenica as well, in a village by Vlasenica, that's why
14 I'm asking whose command, because we went from our command in Dragosevci
15 in the corps to the command in Vlasenica.
16 Q. Thank you. I'll be more precise. Now, Lieutenant Pelemis went
17 inside the Drina Corps command post and he spoke with General Krstic,
18 didn't he?
19 A. Yes, he entered the command of the Drina Corps. Now, who he
20 talked to, I have no way of knowing. Officers were inside. Now, which
21 officers he talked to I cannot say because they talked behind closed
22 doors. I and Boskic stood in front, in a big hall.
23 Q. Okay. Let's go back to 65 ter 25482. This is your ICTY
24 interview again. It's page 50 in the English, page 34 in the B/C/S. And
25 you say here:
Page 42400
1 "Pelemis talked to some people I didn't know. Later I've seen
2 those people on some other locations -- in some other locations where I
3 have seen General Krstic. I learned then that it was General Krstic."
4 So you might not have known right at the time, but later on you
5 learned it was General Krstic who was talking to Pelemis at the
6 Drina Corps command; right?
7 A. Well, I explained that to you a moment ago. Who he talked to and
8 what he talked about, I have no way of knowing. He can talk to any man
9 who is at the command at the time and also to the general because they
10 know each other personally, and some colonel and some officer who's a
11 neighbour of his -- now, what they talk about, I don't know. They were
12 present.
13 Q. Okay. So General Krstic was present there. You learned later
14 that the officer that Pelemis was talking to was General Krstic? I'm not
15 asking you what they were talking about. I'm just saying that
16 General Krstic was there; right?
17 A. Well, yes.
18 Q. Okay. So you leave the Drina Corps command and you start heading
19 towards Kravica. So you're driving towards Konjevic Polje. And
20 Lieutenant Pelemis says to you and Marko Boskic, this is what you said in
21 the state court in your own testimony:
22 "We have to go to Kravica. There has been an incident there. We
23 have some people there. There are dead prisoners also."
24 So that was your testimony in the state court. Do you stand by
25 that?
Page 42401
1 A. Yes. But I don't remember that I said "to Kravica." He said:
2 Let's go and take a ride to Konjevic Polje and further on. I'm not 100
3 per cent sure that he mentioned Kravica.
4 Q. Okay. But he did say:
5 "There's been an incident ... we have some people there. There
6 are dead prisoners also."
7 That's what you said in your testimony in the state court. Do
8 you stand by that?
9 A. Yes.
10 Q. Okay. So you drove to Konjevic Polje and then you turned right
11 and you went down the road to Kravica and you went past the warehouse and
12 parked your car about a hundred metres past the warehouse on the
13 right-hand side of the road. And Pelemis got out and he went and spoke
14 with five senior officers who were standing there with their jeeps. Is
15 that right?
16 A. Yes.
17 Q. Okay. And you actually saw these five officers in some other
18 actions and you thought that -- you didn't know exactly who they were,
19 but you thought that they were from the VRS Main Staff in Han Pijesak;
20 right?
21 A. Yes, that's what I thought then.
22 Q. Okay --
23 A. Because people were in jeeps, that is to say military jeeps. Who
24 was in the military jeep, I don't know, because they had such jeeps in
25 corps commands and in brigade commands, brigade commanders. That is just
Page 42402
1 my opinion. I cannot say that with 100 per cent certainty and I cannot
2 claim that these are people from the Main Staff either.
3 Q. Okay. But you knew that they were officers from the VRS, right,
4 because of their uniforms, their appearance, their attitude, you knew
5 that these were officers; right?
6 A. Yes.
7 Q. And you overheard one of these officers say something to Pelemis
8 like, this is a quote from your ICTY interview, 65 ter 25482, the officer
9 said to Pelemis:
10 "They made a big mess. We have to bury all this and hide it."
11 So you heard one of those officers say that to
12 Lieutenant Pelemis?
13 A. Yes.
14 Q. Okay. So you've marked about a hundred metres away. You then
15 walk up to the warehouse, and on the way you heard two explosions, two
16 grenade explosions, and four or five shots as you're walking towards the
17 warehouse; right?
18 A. Yes, that was near the warehouse. Now, whether it was in the
19 warehouse, I don't know because I did not see and there was still
20 fighting going on there, there was still shooting because nearby these
21 Muslim soldiers were passing by above that hangar. I heard two
22 explosions and bursts of gun-fire. Now, whether that was in the
23 warehouse or behind the warehouse, I cannot say.
24 Q. Now, when you arrive at the warehouse, you saw that the warehouse
25 had basically two main rooms, right, a big one on the left and a big one
Page 42403
1 on the right?
2 A. Yes.
3 Q. Okay. And you looked in the room on the left side of the
4 warehouse, so the end that's closest to Bratunac, and you saw that the
5 entire floor of that side of the warehouse was covered in dead bodies;
6 right?
7 A. Yes, I saw bodies from the bus to the entrance into the
8 warehouse. I did not see bodies in the warehouse then, when I got to the
9 warehouse. I saw them in front of the warehouse, bodies, not to go into
10 estimates again. Perhaps it would be about 20 human bodies.
11 MR. MITCHELL: Okay. Can I have 65 ter 25483 in e-court.
12 Q. This is a sketch of the Kravica warehouse that you drew during
13 your interview with Mr. Blaszczyk in 2010. Now, that's your signature on
14 the left, isn't it?
15 A. Yes.
16 Q. Okay. And we can see on the room on the left -- so you've drawn
17 the warehouse. On the room on the left you've written a number 8; right?
18 A. Yes.
19 Q. And on the room on the right you've written a number 9?
20 A. Yes.
21 Q. Okay. If we go now to 65 ter 25482, your interview, and we'll
22 see what you had to say what you saw in those two rooms marked number 8
23 and number 9.
24 MR. MITCHELL: So if we can go to page 61 in the English and 42
25 in the B/C/S.
Page 42404
1 Q. And we can see here the area you marked with an 8 is the area
2 where you saw the dead bodies. And you say:
3 "Yes.
4 "The entire area?
5 "Yes."
6 So you did look in the left-hand side that was marked with a
7 number 8 and the entire area was covered with bodies; right?
8 A. Just a moment. This has to do with the dead bodies outside,
9 because when the man said there are some inside then I approached the
10 warehouse and a wounded prisoner ran out of the warehouse. I spoke about
11 that there. Then I saw that there were bodies there, not before that.
12 Only when I got to the door. Before that, I didn't know that there were
13 dead people inside as well.
14 Q. But, Mr. Kos, that was your sketch. You put a number 8 on the
15 area where you --
16 JUDGE KWON: Why don't we go back and starting -- start from
17 where he explained the numbers and the location. I think it -- the
18 English page should go back by one page. Why don't you start from number
19 7.
20 MR. MITCHELL: We can start from number 7, Mr. President.
21 JUDGE KWON: Do you see it in B/C/S as well?
22 MR. MITCHELL: So perhaps we can go back to the image,
23 65 ter 25483 --
24 JUDGE KWON: Why don't we print it out and give the witness a
25 hard copy print-out. Also, we would like to have a -- I think the
Page 42405
1 Registrar could do that. 65 ter number 25483, and distribute it to the
2 witness and the Chamber. And --
3 MR. MITCHELL: Perhaps I can deal with something else --
4 JUDGE KWON: Yes.
5 MR. MITCHELL: -- briefly and come back to this, Mr. President.
6 Q. When you were leaving Kravica and you were heading back towards
7 your base at Dragasevac, you said to Pelemis, Lieutenant Pelemis:
8 "Boss, if it's possible, do not get us involved in this because
9 it is not a human thing to do. This is not a job for us."
10 Do you remember saying something like that to Lieutenant Pelemis
11 after you left Kravica and you were heading back to your base?
12 A. Yes, I said that to Pelemis.
13 Q. And Pelemis said to you:
14 "From this point on, whoever calls you by phone or summons you
15 asking you to go there, you shouldn't go anywhere until I get there.
16 Just tell them: I have my superior officer, he will give the orders."
17 So that's what -- you know, when you said to Pelemis: Don't let
18 us get involved in this, Pelemis said: Don't do anything unless I
19 approve it. Right?
20 A. He didn't say: Don't do anything unless I approve it. He said
21 that I mustn't budge from the base without his approval.
22 Q. Okay.
23 A. As for the job, the execution, we didn't talk about that. This
24 was after Kravica.
25 Q. Yes.
Page 42406
1 A. And it was clear that people were avenging themselves, having
2 their own personal vengeances. I saw that with my own eyes.
3 Q. Right. And you were asking Pelemis for your unit not to be
4 involved, and he said: Don't do anything unless I approve it. So don't
5 go anywhere without my permission; right?
6 A. It's not the execution that was meant by that. He wasn't to take
7 the unit to such places as Kravica. That's what I meant then. I didn't
8 have the execution in mind.
9 Q. Okay. Now, you just said it was clear that people were avenging
10 themselves, having their own personal vengeances. The special police
11 brigade who was at Kravica participating in those executions there
12 weren't carrying out personal vengeances, were they?
13 A. I don't know which special police brigade you mean. Which
14 brigade? Which platoon? Which company? Because I didn't see anyone
15 from a special police brigade there. There was some six to seven
16 soldiers wearing camouflage uniforms, older uniforms. And as far as I
17 was able to notice during my stay at Kravica by that warehouse, two or
18 three executions for personal reasons were carried out, and the reason
19 was some personal -- were some personal axes that they had to grind from
20 before the war --
21 Q. -- okay so --
22 A. -- they had an argument before the war and --
23 Q. There are two or three personal revenge killings at Kravica. The
24 rest are an organised execution; right?
25 A. I cannot confirm that. I know that there was an incident when
Page 42407
1 one of the prisoners grabbed a rifle and started shooting at the guards,
2 and I heard that one was killed and two wounded. And then shooting
3 started in front of the hangar. I don't know who killed the people
4 inside the hangar. I have no way of knowing --
5 Q. Okay --
6 A. -- I wasn't present.
7 Q. Okay. And your unit that went to Branjevo Farm on the 16th of
8 July didn't go there because of personal vengeance, did it? You went
9 there because you were ordered to go there; right?
10 A. We never received orders to go to the Branjevo Farm. Our order
11 was that we were supposed to secure prisoners. No one ever mentioned
12 Branjevo.
13 Q. Okay. The point was, though, you didn't kill prisoners at the
14 Branjevo Farm because of personal vengeance, did you? You did it because
15 you were ordered to do it?
16 A. No one member of the 10th Sabotage Detachment - and I'm speaking
17 about the 1st Platoon - had any personal reasons or ethnically based
18 reasons to go there. The 10th Sabotage Detachment did what it did
19 because they were ordered to do so.
20 Q. Okay. Let's go back to the picture of Kravica --
21 JUDGE KWON: Mr. Mitchell, I leave it to you whether to lead this
22 or not.
23 MR. MITCHELL: Thank you, Mr. President.
24 JUDGE KWON: But did we hear what he did in Kravica warehouse?
25 MR. MITCHELL: I'm just getting to that --
Page 42408
1 JUDGE KWON: Okay.
2 MR. MITCHELL: -- Mr. President.
3 JUDGE KWON: Thank you.
4 MR. MITCHELL:
5 Q. So if you look at the picture that's here, look at the big room
6 where you put an 8. And you can see just to the right of that there's a
7 pole that you've marked with a 7; right?
8 A. Yes.
9 Q. Okay. And just outside that room we can see a number 5, and the
10 number 5 is where you were standing when you looked into the room that's
11 marked with a number 8?
12 A. Yes. When I approached the place and watched the dead bodies --
13 MR. ZECEVIC: I'm sorry to interrupt, but could we have this --
14 JUDGE KWON: Mr. Zecevic.
15 MR. ZECEVIC: -- photo on the -- on the e-court, please? The
16 drawing.
17 JUDGE KWON: Very well. We could put it on the ELMO as well.
18 MR. MITCHELL: We can, Mr. President, but I do want to stay --
19 [overlapping speakers] --
20 JUDGE KWON: Yes, yes, we will stay. But was this print-out
21 provided to Mr. Zecevic as well? Yes. But shall we continue,
22 Mr. Mitchell.
23 MR. MITCHELL: Thank you, Mr. President.
24 Q. So you're standing at the point marked with a number 5, you're
25 looking into the room that you marked with a number 8, and you said to
Page 42409
1 Mr. Blaszczyk the entire floor of this room that you've marked with an 8
2 was covered in bodies. And again, I'm not accusing you of anything, I'm
3 just asking you: You looked in there and you saw this room, the floor of
4 this room covered with bodies? That's what you told Mr. Blaszczyk in
5 your interview in 2010.
6 A. I said that the floor was covered with bodies, but I thought that
7 they were sleeping. That's why I approached the door --
8 Q. Okay --
9 A. -- and I experienced what I did at the door.
10 Q. Okay. And you also looked into the room on the right-hand side
11 that's marked with a number 9.
12 MR. MITCHELL: If we can go to the next page in the English in
13 the interview.
14 Q. And you saw that the room on the right-hand side, so this is the
15 room closest to Konjevic Polje, it was also full of dead people; correct?
16 A. The room was full, but one could still hear a murmuring inside,
17 people speaking. That's why I thought that in the right warehouse they
18 were still alive.
19 Q. Okay. And the right room, the one marked with a number 9, that's
20 the one that -- where you heard people murmuring, that's the one that
21 Marko Boskic went and threw two grenades into, isn't it?
22 A. He didn't enter the room --
23 Q. He stood outside the room and threw the grenades inside?
24 A. Yes. When I returned to the room, he approached the warehouse
25 and threw two grenades inside. And most probably he had spoken to one of
Page 42410
1 the guards there about what had been happening during the day so that he
2 too ...
3 MR. MITCHELL: Mr. President, can I tender that sketch?
4 JUDGE KWON: Mr. Robinson.
5 MR. ROBINSON: No objection.
6 JUDGE KWON: What does "slika" mean?
7 MR. MITCHELL:
8 Q. Mr. Kos, perhaps you could explain. On the top left of your
9 sketch what does "slika" mean written on the top left?
10 A. "Portrait," "drawing." "Sketch," if you will.
11 JUDGE KWON: Yes, we'll admit this.
12 THE REGISTRAR: Exhibit P6473, Your Honours.
13 MR. MITCHELL:
14 Q. Let's go back very briefly to your interview -- or the notes of
15 your interview with the Slovenian investigator in 2004, 65 ter 25487, and
16 that's page 3 in both languages in the English and the Slovenian. And in
17 the third paragraph down in your language you'll see it says:
18 "From the conversation he had with other soldiers, he made out
19 that the number of persons killed at Pilica farm was inferior to the
20 number of persons killed some days ago on 11 to 12 July in Kravica near
21 Bratunac. This number was approximately 1300 killed Muslims."
22 And then you go on and say:
23 "According to Kos's words, special police units from Sehovici and
24 Janja were supposed to take part in the killings as well."
25 So you told the Slovenian investigator in 2004 that there were
Page 42411
1 1300, approximately 1300 killed Muslims at Kravica and the special police
2 from Sehovici and Janja were involved; correct?
3 A. Yes. That was already widely known and that's how the trial in
4 The Hague was conducted, and I knew it from speaking to the -- to -- from
5 hearing conversations between these people. But I didn't see the -- any
6 people killed elsewhere, so I couldn't say if there were more or less. I
7 only can speak about Branjevo and Kravica. These are things that I saw
8 myself. And how many there were at Kravica in the warehouse, I cannot
9 give you an exact number. It's only my estimate based on the size of the
10 warehouse, and I think -- I made an estimate of how many people the
11 warehouse could hold but it's merely my estimate.
12 Q. Right. So we can agree, your estimate isn't based on the number
13 of bodies that you saw; it's based on what you remember from 18 years ago
14 about the size of the warehouse; right?
15 A. Yes, because as you can see in the picture, as far as I remember
16 I told Investigator Blaszczyk that the left warehouse when I entered
17 wasn't full, but that in the front part on the right it was empty, that
18 there were no bodies or prisoners. That's about the left warehouse,
19 whereas the right one was full.
20 Q. Okay. Just one more thing on Kravica and then we'll move on.
21 The DNA evidence in this case, again this is Mr. Janc's report, P4772, is
22 the 1.374 individuals have been identified in the graves associated with
23 the Kravica warehouse. Now, not all of those bodies come from the
24 Kravica execution. There's around 1- to 200, we estimate, that come from
25 other places. But that leaves 11- to 1200 individuals who are associated
Page 42412
1 with the Kravica killings. Now, that's almost exactly the same number
2 that you told the Slovenian investigator almost ten years ago in 2004,
3 isn't it?
4 A. I only confirmed what people were saying about Kravica, and I
5 must say that in that warehouse I said how many people there were. If
6 there was another warehouse elsewhere, if -- whether there were people
7 killed elsewhere, I can't say because I never saw that. And the DNA
8 analyses performed have to do with the Kravica warehouse. But anyway, I
9 only saw the warehouse at Kravica. I was in front and I went inside.
10 MR. MITCHELL: Now, Mr. President, I think my time's up. There
11 are two short issues I'd like to deal with. It should be I think no more
12 than 15 minutes.
13 [Trial Chamber confers]
14 JUDGE KWON: There was some questions the Chamber
15 wondered whether you really had to put those questions, but what are the
16 areas?
17 MR. MITCHELL: Mr. President, one is related to the Pilica Dom
18 and Mr. Kos's trip there after the Branjevo Farm which isn't dealt with
19 at all in the Defence interview; and the second is very briefly the
20 issuance of the false identification papers in 1996.
21 JUDGE KWON: Given the scheduling of today, we'll allow you to
22 continue.
23 MR. MITCHELL: Thank you, Mr. President.
24 Q. Mr. Kos, once your unit had finished at Branjevo Farm, you went
25 to Pilica and sat in the cafe across the street from the Dom; correct?
Page 42413
1 A. Yes.
2 Q. And you went over to the Dom at one point and you looked inside,
3 didn't you?
4 A. Yes, I looked inside but I didn't enter, but I only approached
5 the door to a distance of about 5 metres because there was some seven or
6 eight bodies in front of the Dom.
7 Q. Okay. Well, when you looked inside you saw a lot of dead bodies,
8 some wounded people inside the Dom; right?
9 A. Yes, there were bodies inside the Dom.
10 Q. And outside the Dom you could see there was some VRS military
11 police, some civilian police, and some other soldiers standing around;
12 right?
13 A. The military police was present all day and the civilian police,
14 I don't know what they were doing there.
15 Q. And then after you'd gone and looked in the Dom, you came back to
16 the cafe and Colonel Beara stood up and gave a speech, didn't he?
17 A. I think that the colonel gave a speech before I went to the Dom.
18 I mean, if you can call that a speech, because he was drunk and he was
19 boasting.
20 Q. Right. Well --
21 THE ACCUSED: Transcript.
22 JUDGE KWON: Yes.
23 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] "Very drunk."
24 JUDGE KWON: Thank you.
25 MR. MITCHELL:
Page 42414
1 Q. Well, Mr. Kos, you've testified in your own trial about this
2 speech and you've also talked about it in your interview with the
3 state court prosecutor, and you talked about it to Mr. Blaszczyk as well.
4 And isn't it correct that Colonel Beara said the following words:
5 "Soldiers, you have done a great job and the state will be
6 grateful to you."
7 That was what Colonel Beara said, wasn't it?
8 A. Yes, all the soldiers present heard it.
9 Q. Okay. And when you heard Colonel Beara say those words, you told
10 Mr. Blaszczyk that that meant you knew that they were planning this all
11 along; right? So when you heard Colonel Beara's words, that was the
12 moment when you knew that these killings had all been planned; right?
13 A. That was my opinion; it wasn't the opinion of all the soldiers.
14 I understood then that somebody had planned something, but who and what I
15 don't know.
16 Q. Okay.
17 A. I only know that I had to do what we had done, but pursuant to
18 whose orders? Most probably Colonel Brano Gojkovic, once he's arrested,
19 will say because he talked to him personally.
20 Q. Okay. Four or five days later, so after Branjevo Farm, after the
21 Pilica Dom, you saw Lieutenant Pelemis in Bijeljina and you asked him
22 what had happened, didn't you?
23 A. Yes. I asked him when he came from Belgrade what had happened
24 and that's because I had asked him earlier not to send us to such places,
25 and he merely replied: Force majeure, don't ask me anything else. And
Page 42415
1 that's what I did, or rather didn't do.
2 Q. And you understood that comment, force majeure, to mean that
3 these killings were something that you shouldn't have done but the orders
4 came from on high and it was something that you had to do; right?
5 A. Yes, we had to do it. And as for force majeure, when he said
6 those words to me I understood -- our direct superior was Petar Salapura,
7 he was the one who always issued us orders. I thought at the time that
8 that Petar Salapura was that force majeure. I never saw him at such
9 places. That was my opinion. That's how I had understood his words.
10 That's why I never asked any more questions. I didn't have the top
11 echelons in mind, such as the government or the Main Staff and so on. I
12 thought that this force majeure was actually Petar Salapura.
13 Q. Right. Now, after Colonel Beara's speech where he said that the
14 state would be grateful to you, your unit wasn't investigated or
15 prosecuted by the VRS, the RS MUP, the RS civilian authorities, or any
16 other RS authorities, were they?
17 A. I've just told you that I was told never to ask any questions
18 about that again.
19 Q. Okay. Well, I'm asking you, you weren't investigated or
20 prosecuted by any organ of the RS state, were you, so not the VRS, not
21 the MUP, and not the civilian authorities?
22 A. Yes, that's true. Nobody ever asked me anything about the
23 incident that happened at Branjevo Farm, that is, not before 2004.
24 MR. MITCHELL: Okay. Can I have Exhibit P4491 in e-court.
25 Q. This is an order -- what you're about to see, Mr. Kos, is an
Page 42416
1 order dated 16 January 1996 and it's from Dragan Kijac who was the
2 minister of interior at the time to the head of the public security
3 administration. And you can see Minister Kijac has cut and pasted the
4 text of an order from -- or a request from Colonel Salapura which you can
5 read there. It says:
6 "Considering we have a group of members in the 10th Sabotage
7 Detachment who are foreign citizens or who are on a list of individuals
8 who have been indicted by the Hague Tribunal, we ask that you order the
9 Bijeljina MUP to issue personal IDs with Serbian first and last names to
10 these individuals or with different first and last names for Serbian
11 nationals. There are eight such individuals."
12 And over on the -- if we go to the next page we can see
13 Minister Kijac passes this on and says to the public security
14 administration:
15 "You are required to act on the request ..."
16 So eight false identifications for eight members of the
17 10th Sabotage Detachment. You received false identifications at around
18 this time in the name of Branimir Manojlovic; correct?
19 A. Yes.
20 Q. And that's a Serbian first name and a Serbian last name; right?
21 A. Yes.
22 Q. Okay. At the time you received your false --
23 A. Just a moment. The family name is Serbian, but the first name is
24 actually the name I was given at christening. My name is Branko, and
25 that family name is my partner's name. However, on that ID, that was
Page 42417
1 issued on the 8th of February, 1996. I entered my original
2 identification number which I was issued with in Slovenia. Somebody
3 didn't like that, so after a year I was given a different ID with a
4 Bosnian ID number. As for this ID card, I cancelled that through the
5 regular procedure at the Bijeljina SUP.
6 Q. Okay. At the time you received your false identification papers
7 in February 2006, were you aware that the minister of interior had
8 personally arranged for these false identification papers to be issued to
9 you?
10 A. No, we didn't know that the minister had organised that. We
11 arrived at the barracks where we were billeted in Bijeljina and - how
12 shall I put it? - the desk clerk told us that we had to fill out forms
13 for IDs pursuant to an order issued by Colonel Salapura.
14 Q. Okay. So let's just summarise. You weren't investigated by any
15 RS state organs, you weren't prosecuted by any RS state organs, and the
16 minister of interior, the most senior law enforcement official in the RS,
17 personally arranged for fake IDs for eight members of the 10th Sabotage
18 Detachment. Now all of that, what I've just described, is consistent
19 with Colonel Beara's statement on the 16th of July, that the state would
20 be grateful to you for what you did at Branjevo Farm, isn't it?
21 JUDGE KWON: Before you answer, just a second.
22 [Trial Chamber confers]
23 JUDGE KWON: Yes, Mr. Karadzic.
24 MR. MITCHELL: Mr. President, if I could --
25 JUDGE KWON: He raised an objection.
Page 42418
1 MR. MITCHELL: If I could ask for the witness to take off his
2 headphones --
3 JUDGE KWON: Yes.
4 MR. MITCHELL: -- during this objection.
5 JUDGE KWON: Yes. Mr. Kos, could you kindly take off your
6 headphones.
7 MR. MITCHELL: And perhaps Mr. Karadzic could make the objection
8 in English.
9 THE ACCUSED: Yes, I'll do. It seems to me that it is rather for
10 the closing argument than to summarise and to repeat and to repeat and to
11 repeat. I -- this is not a jury court and those effects are moot and
12 senseless.
13 [Trial Chamber confers]
14 JUDGE KWON: In particular the -- whether it was arranged by the
15 minister personally was not confirmed by the witness.
16 MR. MITCHELL: Well, the reason I put that "personally,"
17 Mr. President, is because Colonel Salapura's request goes to the minister
18 personally. So the foundation for my question is the document itself,
19 not the witness's confirmation.
20 JUDGE KWON: While I tend to see a point of Mr. Karadzic's
21 objection, but there's no basis to stop you from asking that question.
22 But how much more do you need to conclude your cross-examination?
23 MR. MITCHELL: That's it, Mr. President. That's the last
24 question.
25 JUDGE KWON: Very well.
Page 42419
1 Yes, Mr. Kos. Do you remember the question, Mr. Kos?
2 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] You're asking me if I knew or
3 whether this document is accurate or what Beara said --
4 JUDGE KWON: No --
5 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] -- whether that was accurate, is
6 that it?
7 JUDGE KWON: Then I will ask Mr. Mitchell to repeat his last
8 question.
9 MR. MITCHELL:
10 Q. Mr. Kos, my last question was: You weren't investigated by the
11 RS state authorities, you weren't prosecuted by the RS state authorities,
12 and the minister of interior personally arranged for eight members of the
13 10th Sabotage Detachment, including you, to receive false identification
14 papers. And all of that, what I've just described, is consistent with
15 what Colonel Beara said in the cafe in Pilica on 16 July, that the state
16 would be grateful to you, isn't it?
17 A. What you are just asking me I can answer only in this way:
18 Judging by the document that I've been shown here, I can only conclude
19 that the colonel of the intelligence centre, Petar Salapura, is hereby
20 requesting the minister of the interior to issue IDs. This is
21 Colonel Salapura's request. Minister Kijac approved the issuing of IDs
22 as far as I know. This is not his request. This is Colonel Salapura's
23 request.
24 MR. MITCHELL: I'll leave it there, Mr. President.
25 JUDGE KWON: Thank you.
Page 42420
1 We'll have a break.
2 THE ACCUSED: I have only ten minutes, but if you think that the
3 break is --
4 JUDGE KWON: It depends upon the tape and -- yeah, we have to
5 have a break. We'll resume at ten past 11.00.
6 --- Recess taken at 10.41 a.m.
7 --- On resuming at 11.14 a.m.
8 JUDGE KWON: Yes, Mr. Robinson.
9 MR. ROBINSON: Yes, Mr. President. I'd like to introduce to you
10 and the Chamber Evangelia Miromidou, who is an intern working with us.
11 She's from Greece and Bulgaria. Thank you.
12 JUDGE KWON: Thank you.
13 Yes, Mr. Karadzic, please proceed.
14 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Thank you.
15 Re-examination by Mr. Karadzic:
16 Q. [Interpretation] Mr. Kos, let us please clarify certain matters
17 that were mentioned in cross-examination. Yesterday on page 90 of the
18 transcript you said that you saw that there were cases when persons were
19 being singled out. Some Serbs were looking for some particular Muslims
20 and they expressed their rage. Did they take any Muslim or were they
21 looking for a specific person whom they knew?
22 A. This is a question for two different things. I saw with my own
23 eyes that they knew each other in front of the warehouse in Kravica, so
24 they were looking for them by name, such and such a person. As for
25 taking things out on them, that was at the Branjevo Farm. They took them
Page 42421
1 out one after the other and mistreated them.
2 Q. Thank you. That's also what you said to the Slovenian
3 investigator on page 3, that is, 65 ter 25487. It says here:
4 "The greatest atrocities were committed by the Serbs who had been
5 expelled in the beginning of the war and who were forced to leave
6 Srebrenica, to flee from Srebrenica."
7 Do you stand by that today as well?
8 A. I stand by that now and I will always stand by that, that certain
9 local persons, I'm not saying all of them, certain persons who had been
10 mistreated by Muslims in the beginning of the war and who had lost some
11 of their nearest and dearest took revenge against those people.
12 Q. Thank you. On page 2 today you said that - when speaking about
13 the difference between the killed and the buried - you said that they
14 were brought in the next day. Do you mean they were brought in on the
15 next day and then killed or did you mean that bodies were brought in the
16 next day?
17 A. The next day. As far as I know through my own trial, they were
18 brought on trucks, two trucks - bodies were brought on two trucks, that's
19 what a witness said - that had been loaded at the Pilica Dom. So they
20 were brought there dead.
21 Q. Thank you. Did you hear that a guard told Erdemovic before the
22 executions that there had been burials there earlier, that he stated that
23 during his testimony?
24 A. As for that statement of Erdemovic's, I cannot confirm that
25 because I saw that guard only on one occasion. When we came to the
Page 42422
1 Branjevo Farm, he went to one of the rooms where -- well, I don't know.
2 I think it says "uprava," the administration, on the sketch. And it was
3 sort of like a stable -- no, a pigsty. I did not see that guard and I
4 did not hear that conversation between them.
5 Q. Thank you. On page 5 you started to say the driver who brought
6 from Bratunac and then you were interrupted. Do you remember now what it
7 was that you wanted to say? So could you please finish that now?
8 A. Yes, I can remember what I wanted to say. The bus driver who
9 came from Bratunac, this is what he said, and now all of this adds on to
10 the five buses, three buses, the question that was put here, the 16th but
11 it happened on the 15th, and the bus driver made a statement before a
12 court of law that they came from Bratunac with 12 buses and two trucks.
13 JUDGE KWON: Yes, Mr. Mitchell.
14 MR. MITCHELL: Mr. President, I would object. If Mr. Kos is
15 simply repeating evidence that he heard in his own trial rather than
16 something that he saw or heard at the time, I don't think that has any
17 probative value.
18 JUDGE KWON: I'm sorry, repeating evidence that he heard?
19 MR. MITCHELL: He's repeating evidence that he heard in the state
20 court during his own trial; he's not speaking from his own knowledge of
21 what he heard or saw at the time.
22 JUDGE KWON: Yes, Mr. Robinson.
23 MR. ROBINSON: Mr. President, the Prosecution is fond of asking
24 the witnesses about how they learned after the events about what had
25 happened in Srebrenica, including at trials or in coffee shops and other
Page 42423
1 places. So he's not limited to giving his evidence about what he heard
2 at the time. But the weight that the Chamber will give to that evidence
3 can relate to what the source of it was.
4 MR. MITCHELL: Well, Mr. President, I --
5 JUDGE KWON: Let's leave it. But relaying what he heard during
6 his trial is of no point.
7 Shall we continue, Mr. Karadzic?
8 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] All right. But I would like to
9 hear that. Actually, maybe we'll call the driver and he can tell us.
10 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] I can explain it in a different
11 way. Five buses, three buses, that was said here. For five buses and
12 three buses, it was said the 15th of July, and the Prosecution here
13 persistently said that they brought prisoners to the Branjevo Farm in
14 five buses which is not correct. All of this story about five buses,
15 three buses, has to do with the 15th of July, because they were brought
16 to the school and from the school in the evening, because there wasn't
17 enough room, two or three buses were taken to the Dom. So that's it.
18 Let us clarify this, five buses, three buses.
19 MR. KARADZIC: [Interpretation]
20 Q. Thank you.
21 THE ACCUSED: If the Chamber would allow me to ask whether there
22 were 12 buses and several trucks all together from Bratunac to the
23 region.
24 JUDGE KWON: Please go ahead.
25 MR. KARADZIC: [Interpretation]
Page 42424
1 Q. Can you tell us what did this bus driver say? Were they all
2 transferred from Bratunac on 12 buses and a few trucks? Was it only for
3 Branjevo? Or did this pertain to all of these locations?
4 JUDGE KWON: Just a second.
5 Yes, Mr. Mitchell.
6 MR. MITCHELL: Mr. President, I think he needs to rephrase the
7 question. He -- you just ruled that what the bus driver said in his
8 trial isn't relevant. He can ask him if he knows, if Mr. Kos knows, how
9 many buses and trucks came, but he shouldn't be leading a number and he
10 shouldn't be asking him to repeat what the bus driver said in his own
11 trial.
12 JUDGE KWON: Yes, I agree.
13 Yes, Mr. Karadzic.
14 MR. KARADZIC: [Interpretation]
15 Q. Mr. Kos, did you know or did you find out in how many vehicles
16 were all the prisoners transported from Bratunac to that zone?
17 A. I found out during the trial from a witness: Twelve buses, two
18 trucks stopped at the Vidikovac hotel, stopped at Rocevic, and further on
19 the school in Pilica called Kula, and then from Kula to the Pilica Dom.
20 That is the story about these 12 buses and two trucks, what I know from
21 the testimony, that they were brought to that zone. I don't know about
22 the rest. I cannot give any comment.
23 Q. Thank you. Mr. Kos, before the 16th of July, 1995, did you ever
24 receive such a task or similar one, you as the -- as an individual or as
25 a unit, did you ever receive orders to do something unlawful?
Page 42425
1 A. By who, the commander? The superior?
2 Q. Anyone. Did anyone order you as an individual or as a unit to do
3 something like that?
4 A. Something against civilians? Well, it's not that civilians had
5 to be liquidated ever, it was that civilians should be protected. That
6 was the order always by the commander.
7 Q. Thank you. You were in Kravica and at Branjevo Farm. Did you
8 find out the reason why these persons were killed at both locations?
9 A. I did not find out why they were killed. I can just say what was
10 conveyed to me then at the Branjevo Farm, that they were war criminals.
11 Q. Thank you. Before the event in Kravica, before the incident with
12 the grabbing of the weapon, did you ever find out about a plan to have
13 people killed in Kravica?
14 A. I never heard of any such plan and I did not know that people in
15 Kravica had been killed until I came to Kravica and found out that there
16 had been an incident.
17 Q. Thank you. Did you hear and see for yourself that anyone from
18 your detachment, your unit, or from among the people who communicated
19 with you had the intention of destroying the Bosnian Muslims as a
20 religious group as a whole or in part?
21 JUDGE KWON: Just a second.
22 MR. MITCHELL: He can't possibly answer that question,
23 Mr. President, speaking about other people's intentions and what's in
24 other people's minds.
25 MR. ROBINSON: But he can answer whether anyone gave any
Page 42426
1 indication as to whether that was the reason.
2 MR. MITCHELL: Well, that wasn't the question.
3 MR. ROBINSON: Perhaps he can rephrase it.
4 JUDGE KWON: Yes.
5 MR. KARADZIC: [Interpretation].
6 Q. I asked whether he had heard or seen, whether he had seen for
7 himself that there had been such intentions?
8 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Such intentions, I did not hear
9 that they existed. I can only speak about certain comments, hatred
10 between individuals, and - how do I put this? - this neighbour of mine
11 killed my brother and I'm going to kill him. I did hear that. If I
12 catch him, he's dead. That's how it was on one side and on the other
13 side. As for masses, I never heard of anything like that and I did not
14 hear of any such indications.
15 MR. KARADZIC: [Interpretation]
16 Q. Thank you, Mr. Kos. My last question: Did you hear anyone claim
17 that they were acting on my orders and instructions?
18 A. I never heard that anyone mentioned your name in terms of you
19 having ordered something in respect of the 10th Sabotage Detachment.
20 Q. Thank you, Mr. Kos.
21 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Your Excellencies, I have no
22 further questions.
23 JUDGE KWON: Well, that concludes your evidence, Mr. Kos. On
24 behalf of the Chamber, I would like to thank you for your coming to The
25 Hague to give it. You are free to go.
Page 42427
1 Now I also thank Mr. Zecevic for his assistance. Thank you.
2 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Thank you.
3 [The witness withdrew]
4 JUDGE KWON: I wonder whether there's anything to raise before
5 the recess?
6 MR. ROBINSON: Mr. President, I just had one thing I wanted to
7 raise with you and that is relating to the monograph that was discussed
8 yesterday with General Savcic which is Exhibit D42, marked as not
9 admitted. And I just wanted to tell the Chamber that we are taking the
10 allegations made by the Prosecution very seriously, and we're looking
11 into exactly how that document was altered and we are going to make a
12 report to the Chamber about that.
13 JUDGE KWON: The Chamber would appreciate it.
14 There's nothing to say about the pending motions, in particular,
15 suspension and the severance motion. The Chamber will issue -- try to
16 issue its decision as soon as it receives the Appeals Chamber's ruling on
17 the clarification motion.
18 MR. ROBINSON: Thank you, Mr. President. We also thought it
19 would be best to wait for that, so we appreciate that.
20 JUDGE KWON: Yes, Mr. Tieger.
21 MR. TIEGER: I'm not sure that we addressed that issue
22 specifically in our expedited response, but it's not entirely clear to me
23 that the motion -- the latter motion filed by the Defence implicates in
24 the same manner it may have previously the pending motion for
25 clarification. It seemed to me it was much more concerned with the
Page 42428
1 Trial Chamber's decision about what should be led in the interim, and
2 therefore in a sense may have sort of set aside the temporary
3 significance of the clarification decision that will follow. So that --
4 at least without putting further thought to it, we began to accelerate
5 and expedite our response as soon as we saw it because we considered
6 that, in fact, it seemed to be a position taken by the Defence
7 irrespective of the timing of the clarification decision. But I -- I
8 don't know the extent to which that -- I don't recall the extent to which
9 that may have been alluded to in our response, and I just note that for
10 the Court by way of consideration as it looks at the pleadings before it
11 right now.
12 JUDGE KWON: The Chamber is hopeful that it could issue the
13 decision by the end of this week, but I'll leave it at that.
14 Any other issues?
15 MR. TIEGER: I don't believe so, Mr. President. Thank you.
16 JUDGE KWON: Then I wish all the parties a restful recess. The
17 hearing is adjourned.
18 --- Whereupon the hearing adjourned at 11.33 a.m.,
19 to be reconvened on Tuesday, the 27th day of
20 August, 2013, at 9.00 a.m.
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