1 Thursday, 7 June 2007

2 [Open session]

3 [The accused entered court]

4 [The witness entered court]

5 --- Upon commencing at 9.05 a.m.

6 JUDGE PARKER: Good morning. Judge Thelin is not able to sit

7 today, and I think that will be the case tomorrow as well. But in the

8 expectation that at least by Monday he will able to resume and continue

9 sitting, the Chamber is taking -- has taken the view that this is a case

10 in which it should continue today and tomorrow pursuant to Rule 15 bis.

11 Good morning, sir.

12 THE WITNESS: Good morning.

13 JUDGE PARKER: Would you please stand, and would you read the

14 affirmation on the card that is offered to you.

15 THE WITNESS: Certainly. I solemnly declare that I will speak the

16 truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

17 JUDGE PARKER: Thank you. Please sit down, and Mr. Saxon will

18 take over at this point.

19 MR. SAXON: Your Honours, before I begin with the witness, it is

20 the Prosecution's sad duty to inform the Chamber that last night

21 Mr. Mettraux was correct and the Prosecution was wrong regarding the

22 paragraph 08 in the consolidated witness statement.

23 JUDGE PARKER: I don't think that you need be sad that

24 Mr. Mettraux is right. No doubt he is feeling satisfied, but these sorts

25 of oversights can occur without the need for sadness, just a need for

1 frank acceptance.

2 MR. SAXON: Absolutely, Your Honour. And the Prosecution will

3 keep its upper lip stiff and move on.

4 The Prosecution's suggest, and I believe Mr. Mettraux will agree,

5 is that if the Trial Chamber determines that the consolidated witness

6 statement of this witness should be admitted, that the record be noted

7 that paragraph 08 should not form part of the record.

8 JUDGE PARKER: That is the necessary consequence given the present

9 procedural orders; and as I think was indicated last evening, it will be

10 for the -- your own decision whether in any oral questioning of the

11 witness you wish to pursue that subject matter or not.

12 So you better move on to identify the statement or move formally,

13 or is that what you feel you have now done.

14 MR. SAXON: No, Your Honour. I have some questions of the

15 witness.

16 JUDGE PARKER: Exactly, yes.

17 WITNESS: HENRY BOLTON

18 Examination by Mr. Saxon:

19 Q. Sir, your name is Henry Bolton?

20 A. Yes.

21 Q. And are you are a citizen of the United Kingdom?

22 A. I am.

23 Q. And in 2001 and 2002, you were employed by the international

24 organisation known as the OSCE?

25 A. That's correct.

1 Q. And, specifically, you were working in Macedonia at that time,

2 right?

3 A. Yes.

4 Q. And do you recall that in August of 2003 and the first part of

5 2006, you gave witness statements to representatives of the Office of the

6 Prosecutor?

7 A. I recall that, yes.

8 Q. And do you recall more recently, just last month, those two

9 witness statements were effectively consolidated, and you signed the

10 so-called consolidated witness statement pursuant to Rule 92 ter?

11 A. Yes, I recall that.

12 Q. And when did you that, after you did that, did you also make some

13 addendums or additions or corrections to your consolidated witness

14 statement?

15 A. I did.

16 Q. And were those additions or corrections recorded in another

17 document dated the 18th of May, 2007?

18 A. Yes. I don't recall the exact date, but, yes, in May, mid-May.

19 Q. And when read together, would these two statements -- and did you

20 the opportunity to review what you were signing in your own language,

21 before you signed them?

22 A. Yes, I did.

23 Q. And together would this consolidated witness statement and the

24 addendum form what you would say before this Court this morning if you

25 were to testify orally?

1 A. They would provide an accurate account of the events, as I know

2 them to be, yes.

3 MR. SAXON: And, Your Honour, at this time, I would move for the

4 admission under Rule 92 ter of Mr. Bolton's consolidated witness statement

5 and the addendum thereto. We have copies.

6 JUDGE PARKER: With the deletion of one paragraph.

7 MR. SAXON: With the deletion of paragraph 08 in the consolidated

8 witness statement.

9 JUDGE PARKER: It will be admitted.

10 THE REGISTRAR: The statement will become Exhibit 236.1, and the

11 addendum will become Exhibit P236.2.

12 JUDGE PARKER: Thank you.

13 MR. SAXON: Your Honours, Witness Henry Bolton is a British

14 citizen who served as head of the OSCE field office in Radishani,

15 Macedonia in 2001. The area of responsibility of this field office

16 included the village of Ljuboten. Mr. Bolton's current occupation is

17 senior border issues advisor with the OSCE secretariat in Vienna.

18 On the 10th of August, 2001, the witness heard an explosion from

19 the direction of Ljuboten. Mr. Bolton attempted to enter Ljuboten to

20 investigate, but was prevented from doing so. On 11 August 2001, the

21 witness heard small arms fire, mortar fire, and explosions in the areas of

22 Ljubotenski Bacila and Ljubanka Reka. On the 12th of August, 2001, the

23 witness observed extensive small arms fire and mortar and grenade

24 detonations in Ljuboten.

25 The witness was unable to gain access to Ljuboten until 14 August

1 2001. On that day, the witness saw five bodies in Ljuboten, three of

2 which were in a field to the north of the village. The bodies were

3 dressed in civilian clothes and had numerous gunshot wounds. The witness

4 observed damage to and destruction of property, including homes, farm

5 machinery, and livestock.

6 The witness speaks of the possible cause and manner of death of

7 the dead persons and evidence of weaponry used during the attack. The

8 witness states that he found no evidence of prepared physical defences in

9 the village of Ljuboten or evidence of exchanges of fire in the areas

10 where the bodies were found.

11 The witness's evidence also addresses the following topics: The

12 centralisation of authority and chain of command within the Macedonian

13 Ministry of Interior; the Croatian operation and chain of command of

14 special units of the Macedonian Ministry of Interior; police operations

15 during the year 2001; and case management within the Ministry of Interior.

16 Could we please show the witness what is -- before we do that,

17 Your Honour, we have several binders containing copies of the documents

18 which we will use with the witness this morning, if I could ask the

19 usher's assistance to distribute them to you.

20 And if I could ask the court officer's assistance to show the

21 witness what is tab 1 in the Judge's binder. It's Rule 65 ter numbers

22 691.1 and 691.2. It has the ERN range in English N001-5590 through 5601.

23 We can start with this page; that's all right.

24 Q. Mr. Bolton, if you can perhaps help us, please, just for a moment,

25 while you were working with the OSCE in the summer of 2001, did you become

1 familiar with an organisation or agency known as the Crisis Management

2 Centre?

3 A. Yes, I did.

4 Q. And what was the Crisis Management Centre?

5 A. The Crisis Management Centre Organised was a body, I believe, that

6 was run or organised by the Ministry of Defence of Macedonia and provided

7 for an interagency coordination and response to the crisis and provided

8 for an interface between the Macedonian authorities involved with the

9 crisis and the international community.

10 Q. And in the course of your duties, as a member of the OSCE, did you

11 have occasion to receive reports that were produced by the Crisis Centre?

12 A. I did.

13 MR. SAXON: Can we move to what is probably two pages further on

14 in this range, N001-5590, please. It's a little bit -- the problem is the

15 diagram on the right-hand side. We're losing -- we're missing a bit of

16 the right side of the diagram, but let's start with this for now.

17 Q. We see in the centre, this particular diagram is entitled

18 "Organisational Set-up of the Centre." We see the president at the top,

19 the Security Council below that, principle coordination committee below

20 that, and then we see the Crisis Management Centre. Do you see what I'm

21 speaking about on the screen in front of you?

22 A. I do, yeah.

23 Q. To the right, do you notice there is a box, and it says "Minister

24 of Interior." Do you see that?

25 A. It's not very clear, but, yes, I do.

1 Q. And below that there are three letters, CGS, and then arrows

2 pointing to the Crisis Management Centre. Do you know what the acronym

3 "CGS" stood for?

4 A. In this particular case, I'm not certain, but I understand

5 generally that that acronym stands for Chief of General Staff.

6 Q. Before the line that says "Crisis Management Centre," there's the

7 word "Plans," and then below that, we see two acronyms. One says "MOI,"

8 and the other says "MOD." At that time, what did the letters MOI stand

9 for, to your knowledge?

10 A. Ministry of Interior.

11 Q. And the letters MOD?

12 A. Ministry of Defence.

13 Q. And if we look a bit over on the right-hand side of the diagram,

14 there is a word in black that says "Coordination," and below that the

15 letters "IC" with a slash "Allies." Do you see that?

16 A. I do.

17 Q. Below that we see several abbreviations: EUMM; we see OSCE; K4;

18 NCCC; et cetera. Can you explain why these organisations were listed

19 here?

20 A. There was a coordination mechanism between the international

21 agencies present in Macedonia at that time, and this is list of those

22 organisations and bodies, including it goes on to bilateral; that is,

23 interested bilateral diplomatic missions.

24 Q. And was information regularly shared during the crisis between

25 organisations such as the OSCE and the Crisis Management Centre?

1 A. It was.

2 MR. SAXON: If we could move to the next page of this ERN range,

3 please.

4 Q. This appears to be a cover letter coming from the Republic of

5 Macedonia Crisis Management Centre. It's dated Skopje, July 27, 2001,

6 and the subject is "Summary of the events in the crisis areas in the

7 Republic of Macedonia since the establishment of cease-fire, July 5th,

8 2001." Do you see that?

9 A. I do.

10 Q. Do you personally recall this particular document?

11 A. As I see it there, that was a standard cover document for a report

12 that was written on a daily basis. But that particular one, as it stands

13 there, is the same as all the others that we produced.

14 Q. All right.

15 MR. SAXON: If we can move to the next page, please, 5592. It is

16 another document. Well, that appears to be an error. No, but this is

17 part of the same document, actually. It's all -- it's why it is part of

18 the same ERN range.

19 Q. If you could take a look at the document, the page that is in

20 front of you right now, again, it's from the Crisis Management Centre,

21 situation in the crisis areas after the cease-fire of July 5, 2001.

22 Can you tell us what was the cease-fire that was enacted on the

23 5th of July, generally?

24 A. Yeah. This was the agreement brokered by the international

25 community to seize hostilities between what we were referring to as ethnic

1 Albanian armed groups and the Macedonian security forces.

2 Q. You used the term "ethnic Albanian armed groups." Who were you

3 actually referring to when you use this term?

4 A. It's safe to say that we were talking about the NLA, the National

5 Liberation Army.

6 Q. And tis term "ethnic Albanian armed groups," why did you and your

7 organisation decide to use this term?

8 A. This was a decision that was, I think, made by the internationally

9 community generally, and was a generic term to cover all Albanian armed

10 groups.

11 Q. And was there a particular problem perhaps of referring to the NLA

12 in your reports, a particular problem with their acronym?

13 A. There was a problem in that the translation into Macedonian

14 actually became the same as the acronym for the Kosovo Liberation Army.

15 Q. I see. And so was the term "ethnic Albanian armed groups" a

16 method of avoiding confusing these two groups?

17 A. Yes, it was.

18 Q. You see below there is a line there, it says, "Inhabited places in

19 which the terrorists exercised control on the day of the cease-fire." Do

20 you see that?

21 A. I do.

22 Q. And then there is a list of villages below that. Do you see that?

23 A. Yes.

24 MR. SAXON: If we could go to the next page, please.

25 Q. And, again, we see a line saying, "Inhabited places besides the

1 aforementioned in which the terrorists exercised control after the

2 cease-fire," and then we see a number of place names below that. Further

3 on down the page, there is a heading. It says, "Definition of Terms." Do

4 you see that?

5 A. I do.

6 Q. And it says: "Exercising control means establishing alternative

7 structures of authority by the terrorists through restraining freedom of

8 movement and maltreatment of citizens by establishing check-points,

9 establishing authority bodies in the so-called liberated territories."

10 Mr. Bolton, help us with this. While you were working with the

11 OSCE in 2001, did the OSCE ever calculate the number of villages that were

12 controlled, so to speak, by the NLA?

13 A. Yes, we did. Not only the OSCE, this was done in conjunction with

14 other international organisations as well, and the Macedonian authorities.

15 And we came to a figure which I believe was 138. It was somewhere between

16 135 and 140.

17 Q. And that number refers to different villages?

18 A. Different villages, and we applied the principle that the police

19 did not have access or were able to carry out their duties in those areas.

20 Q. And when you say you "applied that principle," was that was the

21 definition that you and other members of the international community used

22 in terms of defining where the NLA exercised control?

23 A. Yes.

24 Q. Below that paragraph, we see a line saying "General features of

25 the conditions after this are as follows," and then a number of subjects

1 are mentioned, and talking about sporadic shooting, attacks against the

2 security forces of Macedonia, free redeployment of the armed groups from

3 one location to another, reinforcement of the defence positions by

4 strengthening the fortifications, et cetera.

5 MR. SAXON: And if we can turn to the next page, move to the next

6 page, please.

7 Q. And if you look at subheading 2 at the top of the next page, I'll

8 wait for the Macedonian version to come up on the screen. There it is.

9 Subheading 2 there lists "Exercising control by establishing

10 alternative authority structures by the terrorists," and below that we

11 see: "Restraining treatment of movement, maltreatment of citizens by

12 establishes check-points, establishing authority bodies in the so-called

13 liberated areas, improved self-confidence of the terrorists, which

14 suggests the wish to establish alternative mechanisms of law an order."

15 While you were working in Macedonia, during the crisis in 2001,

16 did you observe these different dynamics that are listed here?

17 A. I did.

18 MR. SAXON: If we could turn to the next page, please.

19 Q. This is a chart produced by the Crisis Centre, titled,

20 "Non-compliance with the cease-fire in the crisis areas." There's a

21 total at the bottom, a total of 788 separate violations.

22 MR. SAXON: And if we could then move to what is ERN 5599, three or

23 four pages further along, and if we could perhaps focus on the bottom of

24 this page, please. Part of the same report.

25 Q. You see there there's a subheading titled "Tetovo Crisis Area."

1 Why was Tetovo considered part of the crisis area? What was going on

2 there?

3 A. Tetovo had been a centre of difficulties, exchanges of fire,

4 abductions, and so on. It was one of the most intense areas of the

5 overall crisis area at that time.

6 Q. Were there parts of Tetovo that were effectively controlled, to

7 use the definition of your organisation, by the NLA?

8 A. If I can divide it slightly. There is the town ever Tetovo itself

9 which, was mostly controlled by the Macedonians; but the outlying areas,

10 particularly to the south, the west, and the north of Tetovo, were

11 controlled by the NLA.

12 MR. SAXON: Can we move, please, to N001-5601, which is two pages

13 further.

14 Q. And here on this page -- I'm waiting for the Macedonian version to

15 arrive.

16 MR. SAXON: Your Honours, I have been advised that for some reason

17 the Macedonian original version of this page is not available. The

18 Defence counsel have hard copies of both the English and Macedonian

19 version, I believe, but I may stand to be corrected. I do not.

20 MR. METTRAUX: We only have the English version, Your Honour.

21 MR. SAXON: Will the Chamber allow me to proceed, Your Honour,

22 with a couple of questions about this page.

23 JUDGE PARKER: Yes, but I trust that you will remedy the

24 deficiency, ensuring that is available to the Defence in the other

25 language.

1 MR. SAXON:

2 Q. On this page heading 2, it says, "Skopje Crisis Area," and why was

3 Skopje considered a crisis area?

4 A. Skopje was included in the overall crisis areas because it was an

5 area in which there were also a number of incidents, at that time, less

6 than Tetovo, but it was still an area in which the NLA were active. And

7 if I may add, the same applies, that it was the more rural areas in which

8 the NLA were more active, rather than, if you like, the city of Skopje

9 itself.

10 Q. And below that it refers to the "Kumanovo Crisis Area." Why was

11 Kumanovo considered to be a crisis area?

12 A. For the same reason.

13 Q. For the same reason.

14 A. I might add that the division, in this sense, reflects the

15 structure of the Macedonian security forces at the time.

16 Q. I'm not sure if I understand that last comment.

17 A. The division into three areas of this sort, Tetovo, Skopje and

18 Kumanovo, reflected the regional police headquarters covering those areas.

19 These were geographical areas of responsibility.

20 Q. Okay. I see.

21 MR. SAXON: Your Honour, at this time, I would tender what is the

22 ERN range N001-5588 through N001-5601.

23 JUDGE PARKER: Mr. Mettraux.

24 MR. METTRAUX: Thank you, Your Honour. Just two short things. In

25 relation to the first document, Your Honour, that is the chart of the

1 Security Council, coordination committee. I was wondering whether my

2 colleague from the Prosecution will explore with the witness whether he

3 can give any evidence about the authenticity and the origin of the

4 document, because we have no information about this.

5 And the second matter, Your Honour, about the second document with

6 which the Prosecution has used. We do understand that the Prosecution

7 does not wish to tender that document for the truth of its content. It

8 hasn't actually put the proposition from the document to Mr. Bolton. Mr.

9 Bolton has given very clear evidence about the matter, as he could give

10 evidence about, and I am just evidence wondering what the purpose is for

11 the Prosecution to give seek the document, whether it is simply to

12 corroborate the evidence of Mr. Bolton, or whether it is to rely on the

13 content of the document.

14 JUDGE PARKER: Mr. Saxon.

15 MR. SAXON: The Prosecution does seek to rely on the contents of

16 the document. That is the first point. And the Prosecution believes that

17 the responses of Mr. Bolton have not only explained but also verified the

18 accuracy of several portions of this document. This document was received

19 by -- from the Prosecution, from the OSCE which was the institution where

20 Mr. Bolton worked. I can ask, if it would be helpful, one more question,

21 perhaps.

22 JUDGE PARKER: I think it would be helpful both to the Chamber and

23 to the Defence, Mr. Bolton.

24 MR. SAXON:

25 Q. Mr. Bolton, how often would the Crisis Management Centre produce

1 reports?

2 A. Initially, as I arrived, it was slightly intermittent, as I

3 recall. Later on, it became a daily event. About this time, it was a

4 daily event; and then later on, as the crisis subsided, the reports became

5 less frequent, as did the meetings between the international community and

6 the Crisis Management Centre staff.

7 Q. And while you were working in Macedonia, during the summer of

8 2001, did you receive copies of materials produced by the Crisis

9 Management Centre, like this?

10 A. I did. More often than not, they were controlled and I had

11 visibility of them, but not necessarily received them.

12 Q. All right. And does this document that we have reviewed this

13 morning, does this resemble the materials that you received -- that you

14 viewed at that time as coming from the Crisis Management Centre?

15 A. It does.

16 Q. Is there anything about it that looks like it was not produced by

17 the Crisis Management Centre.

18 A. No, not at all.

19 JUDGE PARKER: The first document, I'm not sure whether the

20 answers were meant to relate to that or not, the chart.

21 MR. SAXON:

22 Q. If you can turn to what is tab 1 in front of you?

23 A. Mm-hm.

24 Q. Would these kind of charts, would you see -- would you see or

25 receive charts such as this in your capacity as an employee of the OSCE at

1 the time?

2 A. Yes. I cannot state that this particular chart is one that I saw,

3 but it is -- it is extremely familiar to me.

4 Q. All right.

5 JUDGE PARKER: Anything further, Mr. Mettraux.

6 MR. METTRAUX: Nothing further. We would persist and I think if

7 the Prosecution seeks to rely on the accuracy of the truth of the document

8 contained in particular in relation to the chart, I think, at least, a

9 question could be put, in fairness to Mr. Bolton, whether he agrees with

10 the presentation and the structure in the document.

11 JUDGE PARKER: Just to speed things up, Mr. Bolton, does the

12 content of the chart agree with your understanding of the functioning of

13 the structure that is set out there?

14 THE WITNESS: It does.

15 JUDGE PARKER: It does. Thank you.

16 [Trial Chamber and registrar confer]

17 JUDGE PARKER: I'm told, Mr. Saxon, that this document, in the

18 form you're tendering it, has not been made available in e-court. You

19 are, in fact, quoting pages from three distinct documents, but not the

20 complete part of the those three distinct documents. I think that is

21 simply a matter of coordination between your technical support and the

22 e-court people, but it would be more simple if this document could be

23 provided in appropriate form, and what I propose to do is to hold the

24 formal admission of the document, as you tender it, in the hope that you

25 will be able to help with the technical problem being presented at the

1 moment.

2 The motion will be granted if and when we can get some resolution

3 of those technical issues, so that could be done during the break or at

4 some convenient time.

5 MR. SAXON: Perhaps it just might assist Your Honour. It was the

6 Prosecution's understanding that these materials, this ERN range that we

7 have reviewed with Mr. Bolton, were uploaded in e-court as 691.1 and

8 691.2, and that was simply our understanding. Am I misspeaking?

9 JUDGE PARKER: The indication I am being given is that that is not

10 a correct understanding.

11 MR. SAXON: Then we will do our best to clarify the situation

12 soon.

13 JUDGE PARKER: Thank you, Mr. Saxon.

14 Proceed on the basis that the documents, as in the tab, will be

15 received as exhibits.

16 MR. SAXON: Thank you, Your Honour.

17 If we could turn to the second tab in Your Honours' binder, and

18 this is actually what the Prosecution believes is in e-court as 691.4, and

19 it is a document bearing ERN N001-5670 to --

20 May I have the Court's indulgence for a moment, please.

21 [Prosecution counsel confer]

22 MR. SAXON: Yes. This would be document beginning with N001-5670,

23 please. The description in Your Honours -- the description for this tab,

24 I note, is incorrect. The description should say, "An OSCE report dated

25 the 15th of July, 2001, drafted by Henry Bolton."

1 In the Macedonian version, can we go back to 5670, please.

2 Your Honour, again, I'm told that there is a page not available on

3 e-court in the Macedonian version, which the Prosecution will remedy as

4 soon as it possibly can.

5 Q. Mr. Bolton, can you please look at the English page that is in

6 front of you. It has the number 70 up at the top, and you see it has your

7 name on it?

8 A. I see that, yes.

9 Q. And this fax is addressed to the "Crisis Management Centre, Major

10 Jone Ivanovski," and it is a cease-fire monitoring report from the 14th of

11 July to the 15th of July. And down below we see a signature over your

12 name. Is that your signature?

13 A. It is my signature, yes.

14 Q. Did you know this gentleman, Major Ivanovski, who is mentioned

15 here?

16 A. I know that I spoke to him on the telephone on a number of

17 occasions. I can't recall whether I ever met him.

18 Q. And do you know what institution he worked for?

19 A. I don't recall.

20 Q. All right. Can you briefly describe what were your duties when

21 you first arrived in Macedonia, please?

22 A. When I was first arrived, I was allocated to Team Centre, which

23 was the Skopje team; however, for a brief period of time, I did work in

24 the -- the OSCE coordination cell.

25 Q. And what was the OSCE coordination centre?

1 A. This was, you might call it, the operations room for the mission,

2 which we ran jointly with the European Monitoring Mission. It was the

3 point to which the reports from the field of cease-fire violations came

4 in.

5 Q. And when reports from the field came in, what was done with that

6 information in the coordination centre?

7 A. They were collated at the end of each reporting period, each 24

8 hours, into a consolidated list of incidents and events, which resulted in

9 a report.

10 Q. And why would you send such reports to the Crisis Management

11 Centre?

12 A. Because we had a presence in the field, and we got an agreement

13 that we would share our reporting with the Crisis Management Centre. We

14 were also the point of contact in the mission for the Crisis Management

15 Centre, when there was an incident, that they might report to us.

16 Q. And when you say "we had an agreement," who is we?

17 A. We, the international community. I was not present in Macedonia

18 at the time that the agreement was set up, but I understood that this

19 mechanism was in place by the agreement of, if you like, the both sides;

20 the Macedonian authorities and ourselves.

21 Q. All right.

22 MR. SAXON: If we could turn to the next page, please, which is

23 has the title, "Cease-fire Monitoring Log," 14th of July to 15th of July.

24 Q. If you can recall, is this how your reports were produced?

25 A. It is.

1 MR. SAXON: Can we look at the next page, please.

2 Q. And you see in the second item -- I'll wait for the Macedonian

3 version. Here it is.

4 The second item contains information from the OSCE team A-2.

5 Information was sent at 1725, and it's about a check-point being

6 established, and the information says this: "The ethnic Albanian armed

7 group established openly a check-point in Trnovace; 15 uniformed men armed

8 with Kalashnikov type weapons and one grenade launcher; a large sign

9 'UCK stop' had been erected; the situation was reported as team A-2 as

10 tense and unfriendly." Do you see that?

11 A. I do.

12 Q. My question is this, if you're following me?

13 A. I am, yes.

14 Q. The establishment of such check-points, how common was in that in

15 the summer of 2001?

16 A. That was common.

17 Q. And did you have personal experience, for example, either seeing

18 or trying to move through --

19 A. I did.

20 Q. -- such check-points?

21 A. I did.

22 MR. SAXON: If we can, Your Honour, at this point, I would tender

23 this document.

24 JUDGE PARKER: It will be received.

25 THE REGISTRAR: As Exhibit P237, Your Honours.

1 MR. SAXON: And if Your Honours would turn to what is tab 3 in

2 your binder, and what I'd like to discuss with the witness now are some

3 excerpts from an exhibit already admitted, P0045. It's a long document

4 called "The White Book, Terrorism of the So-called NLA." And if we can

5 first see ERN N005-7608, please.

6 Q. Mr. Bolton, this is the cover page of this publication, published

7 by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Macedonia.

8 MR. SAXON: If we could turn to the next page, please, 7610, or

9 perhaps two pages further.

10 Q. We see it's given the date at the bottom, Skopje 2001.

11 MR. SAXON: And if we could now move, please, to ERN N005-7651,

12 which is page 46 of this document. I'm just waiting for the Macedonian

13 page to come up.

14 THE REGISTRAR: Without a reference number in the Macedonian, we

15 are unable to find it, to find the exact page.

16 MR. SAXON: Reference number in Macedonian.

17 Can we move to page 46 of the Macedonian version, please, and can

18 we move back, please. In other words, can we move -- is it possible to

19 move back page by page, until we see the subheading "8669, 15 March 2000"?

20 Your Honours, I will move on. I will move on at this time. I

21 don't want to take more time of the Court. I will just ask a question of

22 the witness.

23 Q. Witness, when you were working in Macedonia in 2001, what was the

24 proportion of ethnic Albanians in the Macedonian police forces that you

25 observed?

1 A. I can't say precisely, but it was low.

2 Q. Okay. When you say "low," can you give your own estimate of a

3 ratio?

4 A. Probably somewhere in around 1 in 80 or so.

5 Q. One police officer out of 80 might be an ethnic Albanian?

6 A. Mm-hm, yes.

7 Q. All right. Are you able to recall an incident on the 10th of --

8 on the 8th of August, 2001, involving an ambush on a Macedonian army

9 convoy?

10 A. Yes.

11 Q. Did that happen on the highway between Skopje and Tetovo?

12 A. Yes, it did.

13 Q. And can you tell us please how you first heard about this

14 incident?

15 A. I had a report. I was contacted, I can't honestly remember how,

16 but I would expect it have been through our -- our coordination centre,

17 that there had been shooting on the highway.

18 Q. And what did you do then?

19 A. I went -- I was on the western side of Skopje anyway, and I moved

20 towards the start of the highway where there is a police check-point. I

21 was initially stopped at that check-point.

22 Q. And, eventually, were you allowed to pass through the check-point?

23 A. I was.

24 Q. And then what happened?

25 A. I proceeded down the highway until such a point as I came across

1 the back of an army convoy.

2 Q. And what did you see?

3 A. In terms of the convoy, I saw a number of vehicles, both armoured

4 vehicles, but predominantly soft-skinned trucks, static, nosed-tail. And

5 in front much them, there was a burning soft-skinned truck. There were a

6 number of bodies across the road and unexploded ordnance across the road.

7 Q. And by "bodies," you mean dead bodies?

8 A. At that time, I presumed they were dead and, in fact, they were.

9 Q. And what happened after that?

10 A. An officer came jogging up to me and said that the convoy had to

11 move on, jumped back in a vehicle, and, indeed, military vehicles present

12 did move on in the direction of Tetovo.

13 Q. And what did you do at that time?

14 A. I stayed there to assess what the situation was.

15 Q. Can I stop you there.

16 A. Yes.

17 Q. Do you have a military background?

18 A. I do.

19 Q. Can you briefly describe it for us, please?

20 A. For 11 years, I was in the regular army, subsequently in the

21 territorial army or reserve army. I held the rank of acting major. I

22 served, operationally, in a number of parts of the world. I saw active

23 service in Central America.

24 Q. Did you, during those 11 years, become familiar with different

25 types of weapons, ordnance, munitions, et cetera?

1 A. I did. In fact, I am more familiar than, that is often the case,

2 as a qualified range manager and instructor in infantry weapons of all

3 sorts.

4 Q. So after the members of this convoy, who had survived, drove off,

5 what did you do?

6 A. Well, my responsibility at the time was to report on incidents,

7 so I wanted to record details of the scene. I also had to report back to

8 our coordination centre and the Crisis Management Centre as to what the

9 situation was. Due to difficulties in communication, I was instructed to

10 report directly to the Crisis Management Centre by our coordination

11 centre, the OSCE coordination centre, and this I did. And that was my

12 initial -- do you want me to go on?

13 Q. Did other persons arrive along that highway?

14 A. They did.

15 Q. Who arrived?

16 A. As we were doing this, first of all, a large truck came down the

17 highway. At that point, I should say the highway is -- now has a central

18 reservation. At that time, the highway was still partially under

19 construction, and only the southern highway was open.

20 Q. Mm-hm.

21 A. A large truck came from the direction of Tetovo towards the

22 incident --

23 Q. Mm-hm.

24 A. -- and towards the unexploded ordnance, which included mortar

25 bombs lying on the road. I stopped that truck, and behind that truck were

1 large number of other civilian vehicles; Cars, buses, and so on, and

2 other trucks.

3 Q. And were those other vehicles also stopped?

4 A. They were.

5 Q. They were. And what happened after these vehicles travelling

6 along the road stopped?

7 A. Initially, everything was calm; but after a few minutes, 15

8 minutes or so, they started to realise, I think, that they were in a

9 potentially danger situation and wanted to move on, something that I

10 understand. I was reluctant to let them do so, however, driving over an

11 unexploded ordnance and bodies.

12 There was a lot of shouting and emotion going on. I moved to the

13 side of the road where there is a concrete revetment, to sort of clear my

14 head and think about what to do next. As I looked down, I saw two

15 electrical wires coming down from the area that I had assumed to be the

16 firing position of the ambush that had taken place.

17 I walked along the revetment, looking at these wires and saw they

18 went into a culvert, a drainage tunnel, if you look, under the road,

19 directly underneath the civilian traffic. With my military background and

20 our experiences in Northern Ireland, which although I haven't been to

21 Northern Ireland I'm very well aware of the types of techniques there, I

22 immediately suspected, what we call, a culvert bomb, a bomb in such a

23 drainage tunnel that is placed to cause maximum damage.

24 Q. A bomb placed underneath a road?

25 A. Yes.

1 Q. Okay.

2 A. Suspecting this, and with the knowledge of explosives and tactics

3 used in such cases, I could not guarantee that that bomb would not go off.

4 Q. Can I stop you there?

5 A. Yeah.

6 Q. Did you find explosives?

7 A. Yeah. Yes.

8 Q. More or less how much?

9 A. At the time, I didn't actually crawl into the -- in the tunnel

10 itself, and couldn't tell you how much from my direct observation; but I

11 understand later, from contacts within the Ministry of Interior of

12 Macedonia, that it was around 300 to 350 kilograms.

13 Q. So when you saw these explosives that were placed underneath the

14 road, what did you do then?

15 A. I immediately understood the danger to the civilian traffic,

16 removed some of the ordnance, and moved the -- or directed the traffic

17 across the highway to the still under construction part, the part that was

18 still being built and was not open to traffic normally, but where there

19 were also some bodies, one of which we had to move slightly to allow the

20 traffic through. That -- so the objective being to get civilian traffic

21 out of the area as quickly as possible to avoid any casualties.

22 Q. And when you saw you "moved some of the ordnance," your referring

23 to ordnance that was littering the surface of the road?

24 A. Yes.

25 Q. And after that, was that event ever discussed on Macedonian

1 television?

2 A. It was. The public prosecutor later thanked the OSCE team for

3 saving life.

4 MR. SAXON: If we could turn to what is tab 4 in Your Honours's

5 binder. This Rule 65 ter number 267. It begins with N000-0002.

6 Q. And, Mr. Bolton, if you take a look at the English version here,

7 you see this is an OSCE report, and it says, "From Henry Bolton, Team

8 Centre; to Ambassador Carlo Ungaro. " And who was Ambassador Ungaro?

9 A. He was the OSCE head of mission.

10 Q. And this is in the summer of 2001?

11 A. Yes.

12 Q. This is dated 15th of August, 2001, and it is cc'd to persons:

13 Robin Seward, Morris Kanavan, Andrew Venis, and Eileen Simpson. "Subject:

14 The five bodies observed in the village of Ljuboten." Do you recall

15 writing this report?

16 A. I do.

17 Q. And when did you go to the village of Ljuboten, after the events

18 of the 12th of August?

19 A. When did I go?

20 Q. Yeah.

21 A. On the 14th of August.

22 Q. And, very briefly, what did you do there?

23 A. Firstly, made contact with villagers to find out what -- the

24 initial account of what had been occurring in the village in the days

25 preceding our visit there, preceding the 14th; and then having understood

1 from them that there were bodies in the village, went to investigate that

2 scene or to look at that scene.

3 Q. Mr. Bolton, do you also have a police background?

4 A. I do.

5 Q. Can you describe that for us, please?

6 A. Yeah. Following leaving the regular army in 1990, I joined the

7 British police. I undertook a number of roles within the British police.

8 Q. What kind of training do you have, training and/or experience, in

9 crime scene investigation forensics, things like that?

10 A. All British police are trained in crime scene preservation and in

11 gathering of evidence, both physical material evidence and witness

12 evidence. In terms of specialist forensics training, I have none;

13 although, I have worked closely with scenes of crime officers whilst they

14 have been collecting evidence in cases that I have been involved with.

15 Q. When you say you "have worked close with scenes of crimes

16 officers," on investigations, where would you have done that, what

17 countries?

18 A. That was in the UK.

19 Q. And have you also worked on investigations of crime, violent crime

20 in parts of the Balkans?

21 A. Yes, I have. I would say that my role has been predominantly

22 monitoring events. I worked alongside the Serbian police very closely in

23 1998 and 1999 in Kosovo, and was also involved in investigating an

24 incident that happened in the village of Rogovo, on behalf of

25 international authorities.

1 Q. Where in Kosovo where you working?

2 A. In the south, I was based in Prizren.

3 Q. And in the Prizren area, were you often called out to examine

4 scenes of violent crime?

5 A. Regularly.

6 Q. Regularly?

7 A. Often.

8 Q. Did you view a lot of gunshot wounds?

9 A. I did.

10 Q. If we can take a look at the second page of your report, please,

11 the next page. If we can focus on the third full paragraph which, again,

12 with the words: "Along the length of the road."

13 Do you see that paragraph, Mr. Bolton?

14 A. I do.

15 Q. In the beginning of paragraph, you explain or you wrote that

16 "There was a large quantity (hundreds) of spent 7.62 short and long

17 bullet cases, as well as numerous cardboard ammunition cartons," and then

18 it says, "Other items observed were three M-80 64-millimetre RBR launcher

19 tubes," and you explain that an RBR is a Russian manufactured

20 shoulder-launched light anti-tank rocket that cannot be reloaded. Were

21 you familiar with these kinds of weapons in your experience?

22 A. Yes, I was. When I say RBR is a Russian manufactured weapon, it

23 is -- it's fundamentally a Russian design. I am familiar that weapon,

24 yes.

25 Q. And then in the following paragraph, you refer to the body of

1 Sulejman Bajrami, and then nearby, you refer to the body of Muharem

2 Ramadani; and then you refer to bodies in a field, the bodies of Kadri

3 Jashari, Bajram Jashari, and then someone who was only referred to as

4 Bajrami. Why was one person only referred to by one name in your report?

5 A. Because that was the only name that I was given by local

6 villagers.

7 Q. All right.

8 MR. SAXON: Could we move to the next page, please. There is a

9 paragraph.

10 Q. It's the second paragraph. It says: "At the time of observation,

11 all five bodies appeared to be wearing the same clothes that they had been

12 wearing at the time of death."

13 Do you see that, Mr. Bolton?

14 A. I do.

15 Q. "The reason for this belief is the fact that the clothes were

16 stained with what appeared to be blood and damage to the clothing

17 corresponded with damage to the bodies."

18 A. Correct.

19 Q. And this was your assessment at the time?

20 A. Yes.

21 Q. And it says: "In all five cases, the clothing worn by the bodies

22 was of a civilian nature. No camouflage or uniformed items were observed,

23 and no insignia or military equipment was seen."

24 Two bullet points below that, there is a line and it says this:

25 "There were no defensive positions observed in the village."

1 Can you help us, please. What did you mean by "defensive

2 positions"?

3 A. I mean, any sort of position that was -- that appeared to be

4 prepared, to provide a secure point from which to fire at anyone. A

5 prepared position for military purposes.

6 Q. And, for example, at that time, during the crisis time in 2001 in

7 Macedonia, what kind of defensive positions, prepared positions might you

8 see in a particular conflicted area?

9 A. You might see basements, which commonly in that area have small

10 windows at ground level. You might see those blocked with sandbags. You

11 might see rough walls to provide cover between buildings. You might see

12 trenches built. These are all things that occurred elsewhere in

13 Macedonia.

14 Q. You didn't see any of this in the village of Ljuboten on the 14th

15 of August?

16 A. No.

17 Q. Below, at the end of the report, we see a sentence: "There was no

18 evidence of the ethnic Albanian armed group having used weapons fired from

19 within the village."

20 What kind of evidence might have indicated that the NLA had fired

21 weapons within the village? What were you looking for?

22 A. Discarded, used cases, the brass case that holds the explosive

23 that products the bullet from the weapon, when it is ejected from the

24 weapon, it falls on the ground. You would expect, in such a case, if

25 there was fire, you would expect to see those cases, and you expect to see

1 them in positions that provided cover for the firer, generally, in a --

2 certainly in an extended fire-fight. People would take cover, and you see

3 these behind the point of cover.

4 Q. But you did say you found some spent ammunition cases?

5 A. Yes, many hundreds. These were -- from looking at the overall

6 scene, there was discarded ammunition and cardboard ammunition cartons, as

7 I say. These were, although scattered over a wide area, predominantly

8 behind points or at points that would provide the firer from cover from

9 potential fire from the -- from the east, at which indicated to me that

10 the firers had progressed up the road from the west.

11 Q. Mm-hm.

12 A. There were no empty cases on the eastern side of cover --

13 Q. I see.

14 A. -- which is what I would expect if there had been an exchange of

15 fire.

16 Q. All right.

17 MR. SAXON: Your Honour, I would tender this document, please,

18 into evidence.

19 JUDGE PARKER: It will be received.

20 THE REGISTRAR: As Exhibit P238, Your Honours.

21 MR. SAXON: I'm going to try to finish up in the next ten minutes.

22 If we can take a look at what is tab 5 in Your Honours's

23 materials, and this is a photo from 65 ter 201, photo number 95 or the

24 95th photo. It has ERN N000-2184.

25 Q. While we're waiting, Mr. Bolton, did you take photographs in

1 Ljuboten on the 14th of August?

2 A. I did.

3 Q. And why did you do that?

4 A. To record the scene.

5 Q. If you can look, please, at the photograph in front of you, did

6 you take this photograph?

7 A. Yes.

8 Q. What does it depicts?

9 A. It depicts the body of a male on the right-hand side of the road,

10 as you look at, it lying face down. It depicts what I believe to be blood

11 on the asphalt surface of the road.

12 Q. Was this the first body that you encountered when you were in

13 Ljuboten?

14 A. It was, yes.

15 MR. SAXON: Your Honour, I would seek to tender this photograph.

16 JUDGE PARKER: It will be received.

17 THE REGISTRAR: As Exhibit P239, Your Honours.

18 MR. SAXON: If we can look at photograph with ERN number

19 N000-2490, also from 65 ter 201, the sixth photograph. We're looking for

20 N000-2094, one photograph before this, please.

21 Q. Mr. Bolton, did you take this photograph?

22 A. I did.

23 Q. And what does it depict?

24 A. It depicts the same body of a male as in the previous photograph.

25 Q. And what did you notice or what did you observe about this body?

1 A. That it had a number of injuries. The injuries on the right

2 forearm are obvious in the photograph. In addition, there was an injury

3 to the back of the neck or back of the head. The front of the head, which

4 you can't see clearly in this photograph, was blown out. There were also

5 injuries to the back.

6 Q. Did you form an opinion as to what had caused these injuries?

7 A. A gunshot wounds, in my opinion.

8 MR. SAXON: Your Honour, I seek to tender this photograph.

9 JUDGE PARKER: It will be received.

10 THE REGISTRAR: As Exhibit P240, Your Honours.

11 MR. SAXON: If we could move to what is tab 7, another photograph

12 from 65 ter 2001. It is the 47th photograph, N000-2316.

13 Q. Mr. Bolton, did you take this photograph?

14 A. I did.

15 Q. And in this photograph, we see that the shirt on this body has

16 been pulled up along the back. Did you do that?

17 A. I did.

18 Q. And why did you do that?

19 A. To photograph the injuries to the back more, more clearly.

20 MR. SAXON: Your Honour, I would seek to tender this photograph,

21 please.

22 JUDGE PARKER: It will be received.

23 THE REGISTRAR: As Exhibit P241, Your Honours.

24 MR. SAXON: If we could look briefly at Exhibit P185, please.

25 Q. Mr. Bolton, did you take this photograph on the 14th of August?

1 A. I did.

2 Q. And what were you trying to show in this photograph?

3 A. I was trying to show two things: One is the fact that the front

4 of the head had been -- had suffered extreme injury, and the second was

5 the correlation to that to the injury on the back of the head.

6 Q. All right.

7 MR. SAXON: And if we could now turn to exhibit number P186,

8 please.

9 Q. Mr. Bolton, did you take this photograph?

10 A. I did.

11 Q. And was this the second body that you observed on the 14th of

12 August?

13 A. It was.

14 Q. And what kind of injuries did you observe on this body?

15 A. The injury to the chest that is -- that's shown in this

16 photograph.

17 Q. Did you form an opinion as to what caused the injury?

18 A. Yes. I believe that that is the exit wound of a high velocity

19 bullet. There were two, what I believe to be, entry wounds in the back.

20 MR. SAXON: If we could turn now, please, to what is tab 10, and

21 it is another photograph from 65 ter 201, the 22nd photograph. It has ERN

22 number N000-2111.

23 Q. Mr. Bolton, did you take this photograph?

24 A. I did.

25 Q. And we also see on the photograph it appears to have been

1 annotated. We see a rectangular with the letters BJ, one with BY, one

2 with KJ. Do you see that?

3 A. I do.

4 Q. Who put those letters there?

5 A. I did.

6 Q. And why did you did know that?

7 A. For my own notes, if you like, as to which body was in which

8 position. Those circles above the rectangles represent the positions of

9 three bodies.

10 Q. And there is one rectangle that has the initials BY. Can you tell

11 us why the initials BY were placed there?

12 A. I can. Because that is the body that relates to the person we

13 mentioned earlier, Bajrami, and that is the only name I had for that

14 person. BY, in English, represents "by," which leads me to Bajrami. The

15 other way of spelling it would be "BJ," which we already had a BJ, and I

16 wasn't the to avoid confusion. It was just a way for me to differentiate

17 between the three, or those two.

18 Q. I see. We see a house to the left of the areas where the bodies

19 were.

20 A. Mm-hm.

21 Q. Do you recall anything in particular about the condition of that

22 house at the time?

23 A. Yeah. That house had been you severely damaged by fire.

24 MR. SAXON: Your Honour, I would seek to tender this photograph.

25 JUDGE PARKER: It will be received.

1 THE REGISTRAR: As Exhibit P242, Your Honours.

2 JUDGE PARKER: Could I mention that the transcript records at line

3 25 of 36 an extended answer of the witness, but attributed to Judge

4 Van den Wyngaert.

5 MR. SAXON: Well, with all due respect to Your Honour Judge Van

6 den Wyngaert, I believe the record should be corrected to reflect that it

7 came from Mr. Bolton.

8 If we could turn to what is the photograph in tab 11, which comes

9 from 65 ter 201, the 17th photograph. It has As ERN N000-2106.

10 Q. Mr. Bolton, did you take this photograph?

11 A. I did.

12 Q. Does the body depicted in this photograph correspond to the

13 rectangular with the letters BJ that we saw in the earlier photograph?

14 A. BY, I believe.

15 Q. Uh-huh. Well, can we see the -- yeah. Okay. And what does this

16 photograph depict then?

17 A. It shows the body of another male face down in the field.

18 MR. SAXON: If this photograph could be -- before I tender this

19 photograph, could we go back to the previous exhibit, which was tab 10.

20 Q. The photograph that you saw a minute ago, is it still your

21 understanding that body was lying at the position where you marked BY?

22 A. Yes.

23 Q. Okay. Thank you.

24 MR. SAXON: If we could go back to the photo of the body.

25 Your Honours, I would seek to tender this photograph.

1 JUDGE PARKER: It will be received.

2 THE REGISTRAR: As Exhibit P243, Your Honours.

3 MR. SAXON: And I have just three more.

4 If we could see what is tab 12, a photograph from 65 ter number

5 201, the 21st photograph. ERN number N001-2110.

6 Q. Mr. Bolton, did you take this photograph on the 14th of August?

7 A. Yes, I did.

8 Q. And what does it depict?

9 A. It depicts the body of another male, this time actually lying on

10 his back.

11 MR. SAXON: Your Honour, I would seek to tender this photograph.

12 JUDGE PARKER: It will be received.

13 THE REGISTRAR: As Exhibit P244, Your Honours.

14 MR. SAXON: If we could briefly look at tab 13, which is a

15 photograph from 65 ter number 201, the 12th photograph in that series. It

16 has ERN N000-2101.

17 Q. Mr. Bolton, did you take this photograph?

18 A. I did.

19 Q. What does it depict?

20 A. A third male, or a fifth one in these photographs, lying on his

21 back, in the field further up from the body in the previous photograph.

22 Q. What kind of wounds did you observe on this body?

23 A. Numerous, what I believe, to be gunshot exit wounds, on the front

24 of the body, as you see there.

25 MR. SAXON: Your Honour, I would seek to tender this photograph,

1 please.

2 JUDGE PARKER: It will be received.

3 THE REGISTRAR: As Exhibit P245, Your Honours.

4 MR. SAXON: And, finally, Your Honours, if we could look at the

5 photograph in tab 613 -- excuse me, tab 14 from 65 ter 613.

6 Q. Mr. Bolton, did you take this photograph?

7 A. I did.

8 Q. What does it depict?

9 A. On the left-hand side, it depicts a building that was burning at

10 the time; and, in fact, not shown in this photograph, there are flames

11 inside the building still. It was still burning, and on the asphalt

12 road -- the photograph was taken deliberately to place these two things

13 within the frame of it. On the right-hand side of the road, you see sort

14 of a zigzag line. That is what I believe to be probably diesel oil fuel.

15 The coincidence of placing them together seemed a little bit interesting

16 at the time.

17 MR. SAXON: Your Honour, I would seek to tender this photograph,

18 please.

19 JUDGE PARKER: It will be received.

20 THE REGISTRAR: As Exhibit P246, Your Honours.

21 MR. SAXON: And my apologies for going over time, at this time I

22 have no further questions.

23 JUDGE PARKER: Thank you, Mr. Saxon. We must now have our first

24 morning break, and we resume at five minutes past 11.00

25 --- Recess taken at 10.35 a.m

1 --- On resuming at 11.09 a.m.

2 JUDGE PARKER: Mr. Mettraux.

3 MR. METTRAUX: Thank you, Your Honours. Good afternoon.

4 Cross-examination by Mr. Mettraux.

5 Q. Good afternoon, Mr. Bolton. My name is Guenael Mettraux, and I

6 appear, together with Edina Residovic, as counsel for Mr. Boskoski.

7 Before we start, I would kindly ask you if you can pause after my

8 questions before answering, and I will try to do the same after you have

9 answered, so that we give a bit of time to the interpreters to catch up

10 with us.

11 I would like to take you immediately to the 10th of August, if I

12 may, and I will summarize in a few lines some of the statement you have

13 made in your first statement given to the Prosecution.

14 I understand that on the 10th of August, that's Friday, around

15 8.00 or 8.30, you heard a loud explosion; is that right?

16 A. That is correct.

17 Q. And you understood, from your military background and your

18 familiarity with weapons and guns, that this sounded like a anti-tank

19 mine; is that correct?

20 A. That's correct.

21 Q. And could you tell me what time approximately you went or sought

22 to go to Ljuboten after hearing that explosion?

23 A. I do not recall the time.

24 Q. Well, perhaps I can assist you there.

25 MR. METTRAUX: If the registry could bring up document 1D-112 with

1 the ERN number of 1D00-1530.

2 Your Honour, we also have court binders for Your Honours and for

3 Mr. Bolton, which may be of an assistance, as there is a quite a great

4 deal of documents which we'd like to deal with Mr. Bolton. So with the

5 Court's assistance, we will distribute those.

6 JUDGE PARKER: Thank you.

7 MR. METTRAUX:

8 Q. Mr. Bolton, when this document appears on your screen, you will

9 get a data copy as well, which may be handier for you use, but those are

10 the investigator's notes taken by Mr. Tucker of an interview which he had

11 with you on the 25th of April 2002. Do you recall that event?

12 A. I remember meeting Mr. Tucker, yes.

13 Q. Well, perhaps I'll ask that you focus on the first page of that

14 document.

15 MR. METTRAUX: And for Your Honours's benefit, this would be under

16 tab 1 of the court binder.

17 Q. As you will see, Mr. Bolton, the notes are being taken in the

18 third form, with the "he" referring to you.

19 Can I ask you to focus, first, on the third or fourth paragraph of

20 that document, which starts with the word, "He stated that on Friday, 10th

21 of August, 2001, he was working as a monitor for the OSCE." Can you see

22 that paragraph, sir?

23 A. Yes, I can.

24 Q. And the next paragraph read as follows: "During the early

25 afternoon of the 10th, exact time uncertain, he was with VC, Vladimir,

1 Rogac, at the their accommodation in the village of Radisani." Can you

2 see that?

3 A. I can.

4 Q. And would you think that the time which is indicated could be

5 accurate?

6 A. I really don't recall exactly. I don't recall exactly.

7 Q. Would you recall whether you sought go to Ljuboten in the

8 afternoon of that day?

9 A. I sincerely cannot remember that.

10 Q. You went to the village of Ljuboten from Radisani, is that

11 correct, later that day?

12 A. We tried to access Ljuboten in the area of the -- where we believe

13 the explosion had come from.

14 Q. And were you able to reach the outskirts of the village of

15 Ljuboten?

16 A. I do not recall doing so.

17 Q. Did you see any check-points on the way, any police check-points

18 on the way from Radisani towards Ljuboten on that day?

19 A. I recall that we tried to approach Ljuboten via Ljubanci, or we

20 tried to approach Ljubanci, and we did not see any police check-points on

21 the road to Ljubanci.

22 Q. And is that correct, sir, that at the time there was no

23 check-points, police check-points within the village of Radisani itself?

24 A. I do not recall seeing any police check-points in Radisani that

25 day.

1 Q. And you have just indicated that, on that day, you did not enter

2 the village of Ljuboten; is that correct?

3 A. No. I do not recall entering the village on that day. I'm -- it

4 is simply a case of, now sitting here, which days we went in there and

5 which we didn't. From this document, I cannot recall precisely that.

6 Q. I may assist you.

7 MR. METTRAUX: Perhaps if I can ask the registry to turn to the

8 next page of that document. That would be 1531 and -- sorry.

9 Q. I would kindly ask you to focus on the first paragraph of that

10 document.

11 It reads as follows: "Henry Bolton and Vladimir Rogac," I think

12 it is a mistake; it should be VR, "attempted to obtain authorisation from

13 the chain of command to go to Ljuboten to assess situation. They were

14 refused permission to go to the village. The fire-fight eventually

15 stopped."

16 Would that be a correct record of what happened on that day?

17 A. Now I do not recall exactly, but I recall that we could not enter.

18 Q. But from the position which you have managed to reach, I do

19 understand that you were able to make a number of observation about what

20 appeared to be going on in the village or around the village of Ljuboten;

21 is that correct.

22 A. Yes.

23 Q. And I'm going to put a number of proposition, and I would kindly

24 ask you to say whether you can agree with those?

25 The first thing is you heard what you believe to be a heavy

1 exchange of gun-fire; is that correct?

2 A. Yes.

3 Q. And you understood, as well, that this exchange of fire was not

4 just a one-sided affair, but that there was, indeed, exchange between two

5 sides; is that correct?

6 A. Correct.

7 Q. And that was a position which was shared by your colleague,

8 Mr. Rogac; is that correct?

9 A. Yes.

10 Q. And could you tell us for how long, approximately, you heard this

11 fire going on?

12 A. As I recall it now, it was some time. It was some extended period

13 of time. It wasn't five minutes or so, it was a lot more than that, but I

14 can't recall now exactly how long.

15 Q. And can you recall until what time of day this activity continued?

16 A. No.

17 Q. Sir, there's another documents which I would like to show you at

18 this stage.

19 MR. METTRAUX: That is Rule 65 ter 223. The ERN number is

20 N001-5356, N001-5360.

21 Q. Sir, this is under the tab number 2 in your binder.

22 Sir, am I correct to understand that this document is a special

23 report issued by your organisation, the OSCE?

24 A. Yes.

25 Q. And is that correct that special reports of that sort or press

1 releases which were distributed outside of the organisation would be

2 vetted or would at least go through either the head of the mission or the

3 deputy head of the mission?

4 A. I would not want -- this is not a press release. But, yes,

5 special reports would be -- would be cleared through the reporting chain,

6 yes.

7 Q. And at the time, sir, I think you have indicated the head of

8 mission was Ambassador Ungaro?

9 A. Yes.

10 Q. And his deputy at the time was Robin Seward?

11 A. Correct.

12 Q. And I think you have indicated to the Prosecutor in your proofing

13 that your understanding was that Ms. Eileen Simpson might have been the

14 author of that report; is that correct?

15 A. That is correct. That is my understanding. That is what I

16 believe.

17 Q. And at the time, Ms. Simpson was an UN dimension officer for the

18 OSCE; is that correct?

19 A. Yes. Human dimension.

20 Q. And could you just explain to us what procedure is followed when a

21 special report of that sort is issued, in particular where it is being

22 sent to?

23 A. Well, the normal procedure is that the author, who would generally

24 be a manager, if you like, a head of a field station or a head of a

25 department or a person with particular responsibilities, when they drafted

1 the document, it would go to the next level of management for checking and

2 clearance before going to the next and so on. Ultimately, the document,

3 at the discretion of the head of mission, would be sent on to the OSCE

4 Secretariat in Vienna or relative OSCE institutions.

5 Q. And once its been sent to Vienna, what happens with those

6 documents? Are they then distributed to member states?

7 A. They can be, yes.

8 Q. And is that also correct that reports such as those one, when

9 particularly sensitive, may be kept confidential? They are not

10 distributed to the public?

11 A. That's correct.

12 Q. Going back to the 10th of August, sir, did you come to understand

13 later or that day or later in time what had been happening north of the

14 village of Ljuboten?

15 A. Are you referring to the explosion?

16 Q. Yes.

17 A. Yes, we did.

18 Q. And what information did you obtain about that?

19 A. We obtained the information that a military vehicle had hit a mine

20 or there had been a detonation that had damaged the vehicle and there had

21 been casualties.

22 Q. And did you also obtain information to the effect that when the

23 Macedonian forces sought to rescue the injured, the NLA or EAAG, as you

24 would call them, fired upon the rescuers; is that information you had in

25 your possession?

1 A. No, it is not.

2 MR. METTRAUX: Your Honour, perhaps I will at this stage ask that

3 the investigator's note be marked for identification. We don't intend to

4 tender those at this stage, but simply for facilitation purposes, I think

5 I will come back to them and it would be easier to refer to a number,

6 perhaps than to the complete ERN.

7 JUDGE PARKER: So you're looking at tab 1.

8 MR. METTRAUX: Tab 1, yes, Your Honour.

9 JUDGE PARKER: And that will be marked for identification.

10 MR. METTRAUX: Please, yes.

11 THE REGISTRAR: As exhibit 1D12, marked for identification.

12 [Trial Chamber and registrar confer]

13 MR. METTRAUX: Can I ask the assistance of the registry, I'd like

14 to show Rule 65 ter 230; ERN number N001-5304, N001-5306.

15 Q. And, Mr. Bolton, that's in your binder at tab number 3.

16 Sir, would you agree that this appears to be a so-called spot

17 report in relation to the 10th of August, 2001?

18 A. I would agree.

19 Q. And could you explain, perhaps very briefly, what spot reports

20 stand for in the OSCE language?

21 A. It is to differentiate between routine reports. The field

22 operations of the OSCE have a reporting responsibility to the Secretariat,

23 and this may, depending on the field operation, be on a daily basis or a

24 weekly basis normally. The more to report, the more regular these regular

25 reports would be.

1 A spot report would be a specific report relating to a specific

2 event that was of relevance to the operations of the -- of the field

3 operation concerned, so it would be in addition to the regular reporting

4 process.

5 Q. And can I ask you perhaps to focus on the second page of this

6 document under the subheading "central Area," and it says as follows:

7 "At and 840 hours, an army truck struck a mine which had apparently been

8 placed in the early hours of the morning."

9 Would you agree that this is the event that we have been talking

10 about?

11 A. It would certainly appear to be, yes.

12 Q. And if I go on to the next paragraph, it says this: "There ensued

13 an exchange of fire, and helicopters carried out missions in the area

14 while wounded and dead were recovered."

15 Can you see that?

16 A. Yes, I see that.

17 Q. And it goes on to say this: "From the time of the incident, and

18 throughout the day, the village of Ljuboten was the focal point by for

19 operation by security forces, using mortar and small arms." Can you see

20 that?

21 A. I can see that, yes.

22 Q. And would you agree that this is generally consistent with your

23 own observation of that day?

24 A. Generally, yes.

25 MR. METTRAUX: And, Your Honour, we will offer this document at

1 this stage.

2 JUDGE PARKER: It will be received.

3 THE REGISTRAR: As exhibit 1D13, Your Honours.

4 MR. METTRAUX:

5 Q. I'd like to ask you a few question, sir, if you can recall about

6 the reaction to these events that you have been giving evidence about.

7 Would you recall that this particular evidence was condemned by

8 the Macedonian government as a terrorist attack? Can you recall that?

9 A. I don't recall that, no.

10 MR. METTRAUX: Well, perhaps, I will ask the registry to bring up

11 what is now marked as P45.

12 Q. That is, again, the white book, sir, or an excerpt thereof.

13 MR. METTRAUX: And the exact page would be N005-7606, and it is

14 under -- 07, I'm sorry. I'm being corrected. So that would be N005-7606

15 to 00 -- no, 0067. We'll manage.

16 Q. Sir, again, that is an excerpt of the book which you were shown by

17 the Prosecution earlier on. Can you see that?

18 And this is, sir, a letter from the prime minister of Macedonia,

19 Mr. Gorgevski, to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. Kofi

20 Annan. It's under tab number 5. I'm sorry.

21 A. Thank you.

22 Q. And if I may draw your attention to the last paragraph but one, on

23 this page, there is a sentence which reads as follows: "The latest

24 terrorist attacks by the Albanian paramilitary army, in which 20

25 Macedonian soldiers were massacred." Can you find that?

1 A. Sorry, which paragraph?

2 Q. It is the last paragraph but one. It starts with the word, "I

3 will remind you once again."

4 A. Yes.

5 Q. And as you will see, there is a sentence which reads: "The latest

6 terrorist attacks by Albanian paramilitary army, in which 20 Macedonian

7 solders were massacred."

8 Sir, from the content of that document, would you agree that this

9 refers or this appears to refer to both attacks, in relation to which you

10 have given evidence it?

11 A. Would appear to do so, yes. The numbers add up.

12 Q. Thank you.

13 MR. METTRAUX: We'll also tender this document, Your Honour.

14 JUDGE PARKER: It will be received.

15 MR. METTRAUX: It's P45. So we understand that the entire

16 document has been received.

17 JUDGE PARKER: Then why do you want this separately?

18 MR. METTRAUX: We don't need it separately, Your Honour.

19 JUDGE PARKER: You may then proceed.

20 MR. METTRAUX:

21 Q. Is that correct, sir, that this attack or attacks were also

22 condemned by members of the international community?

23 A. I do believe that they were, yes, I recall that.

24 Q. Can you recall these attacks being condemned by a representative

25 of the United States of America, sir?

1 A. I do not recall that.

2 MR. METTRAUX: Could the registry please assist by bring up

3 document 1D-114. It is 1D00-1887.

4 Q. And, sir, that is a document which is under tab 6 of your binder.

5 So this is a press article from the AP company, and it is dated

6 the 10th of August, 2001. "It reports an incident," it starts in those,

7 "At least eight Macedonian soldiers and six were killed and six were

8 injured after a truck hit a land-mine, Friday, close to Skopje,

9 threatening a tentative peace deal to avert all out war in Macedonia."

10 The Defence Ministry said that.

11 Can you say that?

12 A. I can see that, yes.

13 Q. And it is -- in the third paragraph, it says: "The explosion

14 occurred some ten, six miles north of the capital, near the village of

15 Ljubanci and Ljuboten, when a convoy of only trucks drove over a land-mine

16 that had been planted." A defence military official told the Associated

17 Press.

18 Can you see that?

19 A. Yes.

20 THE INTERPRETER: The court reporter asks to slow down. It is in

21 the transcript.

22 MR. METTRAUX: We will slow down.

23 Q. Sir, may I your attention to a particular paragraph further down

24 in this statement, which starts with the word, "No one supports." Can you

25 say that paragraph?

1 A. I can see that.

2 Q. And you will see from the previous paragraph that those words

3 which I read to you are attributed to Mr. James Pardue. Can you tell this

4 Chamber who Mr. Pardue is and was at the time?

5 A. Hi no dealings with Mr. Pardue, but I seem to recall that he was

6 the US representative in the negotiations that were ongoing at the time.

7 He was the representative of the US dealing with this particular issue.

8 Q. And what Mr. Pardue had to say about this incident is as follows:

9 "No one supports the Albanian extremists, certainly not the United States

10 nor any of our European allies. The use of force by the Albanian

11 extremists in Macedonia is unacceptable and totally rejected by the United

12 States."

13 Can you see that?

14 A. Yes.

15 MR. METTRAUX: Your Honour, we will seek to tender this document

16 as well.

17 JUDGE PARKER: It will be received.

18 THE REGISTRAR: As Exhibit 1D14, Your Honours.

19 MR. METTRAUX:

20 Q. Sir, can you recall at that time that the incident that you record

21 was also strongly condemned by the Security Council of the United Nations?

22 A. No, I can't. At the time, I was dealing with many issues on the

23 ground, and that was above my pay level.

24 Q. Well, I'd like to show you a document then, if that may assist.

25 MR. METTRAUX: It is 1D-115 and its ERN is 1D00-2009, and it's

1 under tab 7 in your binder.

2 Q. As you will see from this document, sir, it is a statement which

3 is attributed to the president of the Security Council of the United

4 Nations, and it is dated 13th of August, 2001.

5 If you look at the second paragraph of that document, it welcomes

6 the signing of the framework agreement, thereby indicating that it was

7 adopted later on the 13th. It goes on to say this in the fourth

8 paragraph. It reiterates -- the Security Council reiterates: It is

9 called to all who have contact with extremist groups to make clear to them

10 that they have no support from any quarter in the international

11 community."

12 Can you see that?

13 A. I can see that.

14 Q. "The Council condemns the ongoing violence by extremists and calls

15 on all parties to respect the cease-fire. The Council rejects any attempt

16 to use violence, including the use of the land-mines to undermine the

17 framework agreement which has been negotiated by the democratically

18 elected political leadership of the former Yugoslav Republic of

19 Macedonia." Can you see that?

20 A. Yes.

21 MS. METTRAUX: [Interpretation] We tender that document as well.

22 JUDGE PARKER: It will be received.

23 THE REGISTRAR: As Exhibit 1D15, Your Honours.

24 MR. METTRAUX:

25 Q. Sir, you have explained earlier today the reasons why you were

1 using the expression EAAG when referring to the NLA. Is that correct that

2 you were also attempting to avoid using the term "terrorist," which was

3 perhaps loaded?

4 A. Yeah. The word"terrorist" in that environment at that time was

5 defined by different people in different ways; and to avoid that

6 confusion, again, the purpose of usage of the expression "ethnic Albanian

7 armed group" was to avoid confusion, yes.

8 Q. You would agree that the term "terrorist" was used regularly to

9 describe the NLA?

10 A. Not regularly by the international community.

11 Q. But would you agree that it was sometimes used even by the OSCE.

12 A. It may have been.

13 MR. METTRAUX: If may assist, I'll ask the court -- the Registry

14 to bring up document 1D-119 under the ERN 1D00-1587.

15 Q. And, sir, that is under the tab 11 of your court binder.

16 As you can see, it's the record of the Parliamentary Assembly

17 resolution adopted by the Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE in Paris on

18 the 6th and 10th of July, 2001. Can you recall that event?

19 A. No.

20 MR. METTRAUX: Well, I'll ask the Registry to assist by moving to

21 the fourth page of that document. That would be 1D00-1590.

22 Q. And, sir, I will ask you to focus on paragraph 32 of the

23 Assembly's resolution on South-east Europe?

24 Paragraph 32 reads as follows: "Believes conflict in the former

25 Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and southern Serbia has the potential to

1 destabilise the entire region." Can you see that?

2 A. Yes, I see that.

3 Q. And it goes on to say this at paragraph 33: "Apposes ethnic

4 Albanian groups in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo, and

5 southern Serbia, who have instigated violence this past year. Condemns

6 repeated acts of terrorism in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia."

7 Can you see this?

8 A. I can see that.

9 Q. And at paragraph 34, it reiterates its full attachment to the

10 territorial integrity and sovereignty of the former Yugoslav Republic of

11 Macedonia; is that correct?

12 A. That is correct.

13 Q. So what the assembly of parties of the OSCE was saying, in

14 essence, was that they regarded this attack as terrorist attacks; isn't

15 it?

16 A. I'm not in a position to say that they linked the two.

17 Q. Well, what the text says that they condemned "repeated acts of

18 terrorism," and you will understand that to refer to the incidents such as

19 the laying the land-mines or other similar activities; wouldn't you?

20 MR. SAXON: Your Honour, if I may, the witness has said he is

21 unable to link what is in this paragraph to acts of terrorism and what he

22 saw in Macedonia. I am wondering what we would accomplish by going

23 further with this?

24 MR. METTRAUX: I can clarify this, Your Honour.

25 JUDGE PARKER: You can proceed, Mr. Mettraux.

1 MR. METTRAUX: Thank you.

2 Q. Sir, so that is clear, my question may have been badly phrased,

3 but I'm not suggesting that this would refer specifically to the incident

4 that you witnessed. But would it be fair to suggest that this expression

5 "repeated acts of terrorism" would or could refer to incidents such as

6 the one that you have personally witnessed it?

7 A. It could and I believe does refer to incidents of a nature not

8 defined in this paragraph that occurred in Macedonia, yes.

9 Q. Thank you. And, sir, just for our information, at that stage, how

10 many state parties were members of the OSCE, if you can recall,

11 approximately?

12 A. At that time, I believe it was 55 participating states of the

13 OSCE.

14 Q. Yes, yes. So this would, essentially, be the view, I mean the

15 common view, of those 55 states. Would that be correct?

16 A. Of the Parliamentary Assembly of the those 55 state, yes.

17 Q. Thank you. And I think you have referred earlier to your

18 experience or your knowledge of the conflict in Northern Ireland. Can you

19 remember that? Not your personal experience, but your knowledge of

20 activities in Northern Ireland. Is that correct?

21 A. That is correct.

22 Q. And what you understood, sir, from this knowledge -- well, I mean,

23 let me rephrase that.

24 You understood that at that time the IRA, Irish Republican Army,

25 was using similar devices; is that correct?

1 A. Could you be more specific?

2 Q. Well, was that -- the point of your comment earlier about your

3 familiarity was it to underline the fact that the IRA was also using

4 explosive of this sort that you saw under the road?

5 A. I was referring to the tactic of using explosives in -- in

6 drainage tunnels, culverts under roads as a means of attacking the

7 security forces, yes.

8 Q. And is that correct, sir, that the IRA, the Irish Republican Army,

9 was commonly regarded as a terrorist group; is that correct?

10 A. Yes, but not because of the use of that tactic.

11 Q. And you have indicated, also, that you were a member of the

12 British Army for 11 years, I believe, and I hope you will be able to

13 confirm that the British government and the British Army never regarded

14 what are refer to as the troubles, I think, as an armed convict; is that

15 correct?

16 A. It was referred to as "The Conflict" in Northern Ireland.

17 Q. But the government never regarded the situation as being an armed

18 conflict; is that correct?

19 A. I believe that is correct, yes.

20 Q. Sir, is it correct that in your activity, yours or of that your

21 colleague, you had the opportunity to record a number of crimes committed

22 by the NLA?

23 THE INTERPRETER: Interpreters comment: Could Mr. Mettraux speak

24 slower, please. The interpreters are not able to follow thoroughly.

25 THE WITNESS: I understood the question.

1 I recorded incidents and events, and attended the scenes of number

2 of those events, yes.

3 MR. METTRAUX:

4 Q. Is that correct that some other colleagues of yours recorded

5 similar events of crimes being committed by the members of the NLA during

6 this crisis period?

7 A. Again, they had the same role as I did. Many people in the

8 organisation, many of our monitors attended events and scenes of incidents

9 and reported on them, yes.

10 MR. METTRAUX: Can I ask the Registry, perhaps, to bring up

11 document 1D-121, and it's at ERN 1D00-1596 to 1598.

12 Q. And, sir, that is under tab 13, 1-3, of your binder.

13 Sir, would you agree that this would appear to be an internal OSCE

14 e-mail, dated 10th of July, 2001?

15 A. Yes.

16 Q. And it is being sent from the OSCE Spillover Monitor Mission to

17 Skopje; is that right?

18 A. Yes.

19 Q. And it is addressed to Ambassador Stoudmann. Can you recall who

20 he was at the time.

21 A. No, I am sorry. I can't.

22 Q. Now, if we go down this page, sir, there is a paragraph which

23 starts in those words: "I'm working on a supplemental report that will

24 address recent developments. The allegations with regard to alleged the

25 human rights violation by EAAG have increased and now include..." Can you

1 see that?

2 A. Yes, I can see that.

3 Q. And they include, under number one,"Illegal detentions of

4 civilians." Is that right?

5 A. Yes.

6 Q. "Forced labour," under number 2?

7 A. Yes.

8 Q. "Forced conscription," under number 3?

9 A. Yes.

10 Q. Under number four, "The use of juveniles in military operation or

11 within an area of engagement." Is that right?

12 A. Yes.

13 Q. Under number five, "Physical abuse and intimidation of assistants

14 at NLA check-points."

15 A. Yes.

16 Q. Under number six, it refers to "Ethnic cleansing."

17 A. Yes.

18 Q. Under number 7, "Looting."

19 A. Yes.

20 Q. Number 8, "Wanton destruction of property."

21 A. Yes.

22 Q. Under number 9, it refers to the use of mine and goes on to say

23 that the "EAAG is the only warring party known to have used mines." Is

24 that correct?

25 A. Is that correct to what as to what it says or what the situation

1 was?

2 Q. Yes. Is that what it says?

3 A. That's what it says.

4 Q. And under number 10, it refers to "Initiating hostilities in area

5 known to be inhabited by civilian, including children." Is that right?

6 A. Yes.

7 Q. And then it goes on to say this: "A videotape of the armed

8 activities in Tetovo, immediately prior to the cease-fire, shows children

9 playing in a field immediately adjacent to an area, from which the EAAG

10 initiated automatic weapons fire, and running away in terror as the

11 shooting continues."

12 Is that what it says?

13 A. That's what it says.

14 Q. And under 11, sir, it also refers to murder of an unarmed

15 civilian; is that correct?

16 A. That is correct.

17 MR. METTRAUX: Your Honour, I would like to tender this document

18 at this stage.

19 JUDGE PARKER: It will be received.

20 THE REGISTRAR: As Exhibit 1D16, Your Honours.

21 JUDGE PARKER: Mr. Mettraux, I assume you have deliberately

22 omitted tendering certain documents that you put to the witness and got

23 answers on; is that correct.

24 MR. METTRAUX: Well, partly, Your Honour. I think one of them I

25 have simply forgotten and will do that now, and that will be the document

1 under tab 11. That is 1D-119, 1D00-1587, and that is the Paris

2 Declaration of the OSCE. As for the report of the 16th of August, Your

3 Honour, I will come back to it with this witness, and I will seek to

4 tender it once I have asked questions from Mr. Bolton.

5 JUDGE PARKER: Thank you. The Paris Declaration will be received.

6 THE REGISTRAR: As Exhibit 1D17, Your Honours.

7 MR. METTRAUX: May I ask the Registry to bring up document 1D-122,

8 and that is ERN 1D00-1599.

9 Q. Sir, that is document 14, 1-4. Would you agree, sir, that this is

10 a special report prepared by your organisation concerning human rights

11 related complaints related to the EAAG in the Tetovo area?

12 A. It appears to be, yes.

13 Q. And if I may draw your attention to the first paragraph of that

14 document, where it say this: "The allegations under investigation are

15 related not only to the groups treatment of ethnic Macedonians in the

16 Tetovo area, but also towards persons in the ethnic Albanian community who

17 objected to the EAAG's activity." I'm afraid I can't read the last three

18 words.

19 But would you agree that that is what this document says?

20 A. Yes, I would.

21 Q. You will recall, I hope, that you have been asked by my colleague

22 about villages that were under the control of the NLA. Do you recall

23 that?

24 A. I recall that.

25 Q. May I ask you to turn your attention to the second paragraph of

1 that document then. It says this: "The mission specialists confirmed

2 reports from the OSCE's Tetovo area monitors that, even during the

3 cease-fire, the ethnic Macedonian civilian population north of Tetovo is

4 under heavy pressure from EAAG to leave."

5 Can you see that?

6 A. Yes.

7 Q. It goes on to say this: "These pressures take the form of

8 kidnappings, temporary detentions, and serious, persistent forms of

9 intimidation and restrictions on the movement of civilians attempting to

10 engage in ordinary activities such as agriculture, shopping, and going to

11 work."

12 Can you see that?

13 A. I can see that.

14 Q. And it goes to say this: "The conduct of the EAAG is consistent

15 with an attempt to ethnically cleanse that area."

16 Can you see that?

17 A. I can see that.

18 Q. You have also been asked by Mr. Saxon about what, I think, was

19 called authority bodies and check-points set up by the NLA.

20 Can you recall that?

21 A. Yes.

22 Q. If i may ask you to move on, then, to the third paragraph of that

23 document, which starts with the word, "furthermore." And in the middle of

24 this paragraph, it says this: "The EAAG is currently engaging in action

25 associated the with civilian admission of the area under their control;

1 for instance, regulating traffic, conducting 'police patrols,' closing

2 brothels."

3 Can you see that?

4 A. Yes.

5 Q. It goes on to say this: "Unfortunately, their treatment of ethnic

6 Macedonian civilians in the course of this activities actively discourages

7 a perception that said community would be safe, let alone fairly treated,

8 should the EAAG remain in control of their current area of influence in

9 this region."

10 Can you see that?

11 A. Yes.

12 Q. And it concludes thus: "To the extent the EAAG is engaged in

13 behaviour that creates intolerable conditions for ethnic Macedonians

14 during the cease-fire, it is both destabilising the cease-fire and

15 discouraging the political settlement."

16 Can you see that?

17 A. Yes.

18 Q. Then I will ask to you move on to the next page, the first

19 paragraph, sir.

20 MR. METTRAUX: For the Registry, that would be 1D00-1600.

21 Q. You were asked also, I believe, about check-points that were set

22 up by the NLA. Can you recall that?

23 A. Yes.

24 Q. And that's what the OSCE reports says about check-points in

25 Tetovo: "The mission has received numerous allegations of kidnappings

1 beatings, robberies, and intimidation of ethnic Macedonians at EAAG

2 check-points."

3 Can you see that?

4 A. Yes.

5 Q. And IT goes to say that: "Check-points are themselves a violation

6 of the cease-fire agreement." Is that what it says?

7 A. Yes.

8 Q. Then, sir, you were also asked about the proportion of ethnic

9 Albanians in the police forces. Can you recall that?

10 A. Yes.

11 Q. And I think you gave an estimate of one to 80; is that right?

12 A. Yes.

13 Q. Is that to say that it is a general estimate on your part and that

14 you didn't see figures in that regard?

15 A. That's correct.

16 Q. Well, if I may draw your attention, perhaps, to the third

17 paragraph of that document, which starts with the words, "The mission is

18 most likely..." Can you see that paragraph?

19 A. Yes.

20 Q. I would like to read the sentence in the middle of there, says as

21 follows: "As of 23rd of July, the mission has received credible

22 allegations that 25 persons have disappeared are allegedly detained by the

23 EAAG operating in Tetovo area."

24 Can you see that?

25 A. Yes.

1 Q. It goes on to say: "This number includes ethnic Macedonian

2 civilians and ethnic Albanians who were serving in the Ministry of

3 Interior as regular officers or as reservists at the time of their

4 disappearance."

5 Can you read that?

6 A. Yes.

7 Q. And would you agree, sir, that such kidnapping could very well be

8 a [indiscernible] disincentive to joining the Ministry?

9 A. Yes.

10 Q. And I will then ask you to go on to the last paragraph on that

11 page, which starts with the words "Human rights," and it say this: "Human

12 rights related complaints specific to the alleged conduct of the EAAG in

13 the Tetovo area now include: Illegal detention of civilians; beatings and

14 other physical abuse; forced labour; detained person report having been

15 forced to dig ditches; some ethnic Albanians report they were similarly

16 forced to assist the EAAG; forced conscription; use of juveniles in areas

17 of engagement; intimidation of ethnic Macedonian civilians, including

18 women, children, and elderly at check-points; looting and wanton

19 destruction of property; robbery."

20 And if you turn the page over, it will say: "Ethnic cleansing."

21 A. I have a page missing.

22 Q. It should be under the number 1D00-1602.

23 A. Uh-huh.

24 Q. Do you have it?

25 A. An extra page, yes.

1 Q. And it goes on to say this: "And engaging in a fire-fight with

2 automatic weapons without warning in an area immediately adjacent to

3 civilian dwellings and where children were at play."

4 Is that correct?

5 A. That's what it says.

6 MR. METTRAUX: Your Honour, I will tender this document as well.

7 JUDGE PARKER: It will be received.

8 THE REGISTRAR: As Exhibit 1D18, Your Honours.

9 MR. METTRAUX:

10 Q. Sir, are you also aware of the fact that the NLA would sometimes

11 intentionally target religion and historic sites?

12 A. I am.

13 Q. And would you be familiar with the incident of the Leshok

14 Monastery?

15 A. Yes.

16 Q. And could you tell this Chamber what happened with this monastery

17 or can you simply confirm that the monastery was destroyed by the NLA?

18 A. I can confirm that there was extensive. I did not myself visit

19 that location. It was outside my area of responsibility, but I was well

20 aware of reporting coming from the monitors who were responsible for that

21 area, yes.

22 Q. And are you also aware, sir, that the fact that the NLA would use

23 religious or historical sites or buildings as military emplacement?

24 A. Yes.

25 Q. Including mosques; is that correct?

1 A. That is correct.

2 Q. May I, perhaps, show you a document which is dated -- which covers

3 the period 1 to the 15 of August, and that is under tab 15.

4 MR. METTRAUX: That would be 1D-123 under the ERN number -- well,

5 the Registry has it already.

6 Q. Sir, if I may ask you to turn to the last page of that document,

7 that would be 1606, and focus your attention on the second paragraph or

8 first full paragraph, and it says this: "Two further observations are

9 also important. There has been a clear tendency on the part of the Tetovo

10 NLA to use religious and historic site as military installation or bases

11 of operations."

12 Can you read that?

13 A. Yes.

14 Q. And does that conform with your own experience?

15 A. Yes.

16 Q. And it goes on to say this: "Military emplacements are also

17 located in positions where they are on fire, includes religious and

18 historic sites. There is particular concern for the painted mosque and

19 the Teks [phoen] Monastery. The misuse of religious sites as military

20 installation must be condemned. It should be noted in the case of the

21 Teks, it appears the NLA was attempting to force the Macedonian forces to

22 fire on the site for propaganda purposes."

23 Can you read that?

24 A. Yes.

25 Q. And can you confirm that this report is, again, an OSCE report

1 covering the period of 1 to 15 August, 2001?

2 A. It certainly appears to be, yes.

3 Q. Would you agree sir that one particular problem relating to your

4 monitoring, as you call it, or investigation of human rights violation

5 related to the fact that the NLA would sometime pressure or intimidate the

6 population with whom you had to deal with?

7 A. Yes. We were not tasked to investigate. We were tasked to report

8 what had occurred. But, yes, in essence, that is correct.

9 Q. And if I may draw your attention, again, on the same document,

10 sir, that is just under last paragraph but one, starting in those words:

11 "Finally, it should be noted that investigation of human rights related

12 incidents is complicated by the problem that the NLA is applying pressure

13 to its own people, and must be considered as a possible source of human

14 rights abuses to ethnic Albanians, including beatings and murders."

15 Can you see that?

16 A. Yes.

17 Q. And it goes on say that: "Whilst the NLA officially denies

18 engaging in human rights abuses of ethnic Macedonians, such actions are

19 privately acknowledged in conversations with many person who speak own

20 their behalf. Ethnic Albanian of some professional standing and stature

21 have in the same breath denied that the NLA has engaged in human rights

22 violation, while vigorously acknowledging that, of course, the NLA has

23 executed, beaten, and threatened 'collaborators' and also destroyed their

24 property."

25 Can you see that?

1 A. Yes.

2 MR. METTRAUX: Your Honour, we will also seek to tender this

3 document at this stage.

4 JUDGE PARKER: It will be received.

5 THE REGISTRAR: As Exhibit 1D19, Your Honours.

6 MR. METTRAUX:

7 Q. Sir, you will recall that during your visits on the -- well, let's

8 bring that back perhaps.

9 Going back to the 10th of August, were you aware at the time that

10 the NLA had a presence in the village of Ljuboten?

11 A. At that time, no.

12 Q. And were you aware of any information having been received by your

13 organisation to that effect at that time?

14 A. No.

15 MR. METTRAUX: Well, may I ask the Registry to bring up document

16 1D-124, under the ERN 1D00-1607.

17 Q. And it is the under tab 16, sir, of your binder.

18 As you will see from the cover, it says that it is a daily

19 bulletin of non-compliance with the cease-fire from 1800 hours on 9

20 August, 2001 to 1800 hours on 10 August 2001. Can you see that?

21 A. Yes.

22 Q. And if I ask you to simply focus on the bottom right-hand corner,

23 you will see that this document comes from the mission archives of the

24 OSCE; is that correct?

25 A. Yes.

1 Q. And if I may ask you to turn your attention to page 1618, that

2 will be page number 12 of this document, and ask to you focus on the

3 number 37 item on this list.

4 And it relates from the earliest record to the 10th of August, and

5 it says this: "At 1530, a patrol from the police station Mirkovci

6 reported that in the house of the family Zendelovski in the village

7 Ljuboten, three persons were dressed in black uniforms and armed with auto

8 weapons."

9 Can you see that?

10 A. I can see that, yes.

11 Q. Was that information which you had in your possession at the time?

12 A. No, I don't recall that.

13 Q. But have you no reason to believe that it was not in the

14 possession of the OSCE at the time, in view of the fact that --

15 A. That's correct.

16 MR. METTRAUX: Well, Your Honour, I will also tender this

17 document.

18 JUDGE PARKER: It will be received.

19 THE REGISTRAR: As Exhibit 1D20, Your Honours.

20 MR. METTRAUX:

21 Q. Sir, I would like to move on to the 11th of August, if I may. And

22 you will recall that on that day, again, you heard mortar and infantry

23 fire coming from above the hills above Ljuboten. And I think you have

24 indicated that you heard this -- the sound of mortar and infantry weapons

25 at around 7.30 in the morning, early in the morning; would that be

1 correct?

2 A. I seem to recall that it was early in the morning, yes.

3 Q. And the sound of fire was clearly audible from Radisani; is that

4 correct?

5 A. Very much so, yes.

6 Q. Were you able, at the time, to locate the origin of the fire?

7 A. Approximately. We were able to observe impact, as well.

8 Q. And the impact that you witnessed were on the ridge above the

9 village of Ljuboten; is that correct?

10 A. Above Ljubanci, yes.

11 Q. Hmm. And is that correct that you -- the first impression that

12 you form was that one side was trying, and I think you used the expression

13 "to clear the other." Is that correct?

14 A. I may have used that expression. I believe there was a clearance

15 operation in place, clearing the area. I can relate that in military

16 terms, yes.

17 Q. But you have indicated, also, that later on you heard heavy

18 gun-fire coming from the same general area; is that correct?

19 A. Yes.

20 Q. And is that also correct, sir, that you formed the view then that

21 the activity and fighting in the hills was between the NLA and security

22 forces of the Republic of Macedonia?

23 A. That was my belief, yes.

24 Q. And, again, that was a belief that was shared by your colleague,

25 Mr. Rogic?

1 A. Yes.

2 Q. On that day, sir -- I mean, I don't want to go through all your

3 evidence because the statement has been admitted. But on that day, you

4 left your headquarters in Radisani and, again, went towards the village of

5 Ljuboten; is that correct?

6 A. Yes.

7 Q. Were you able to reach the village on that day?

8 A. I don't recall. No, we weren't. I don't believe we were. I

9 don't recall accurately, no.

10 Q. I understand that you indicated that on that day you saw a great

11 crowd of angry civilians on the road from Radisani to Ljuboten. Can you

12 recall that?

13 A. Yes, I can.

14 Q. And you also recall having been advised by the police not to go to

15 Ljuboten for your own security; is that right?

16 A. That's correct, yes.

17 Q. You have indicated to the Prosecutor that you had an agreement

18 with, I think, between the OSCE and the government about your freedom to

19 travel around the country; is that correct?

20 A. That's correct.

21 Q. And on that day, sir, you were eventually allowed to go through

22 and towards the village of Ljuboten; is that correct?

23 A. Yes. I'm sitting here trying to recall exactly which day we went

24 in there. We attempted many times, and we did at some point get into the

25 village, yes.

1 Q. And, again, you didn't see any police check-points on your way

2 from Radisani up to Ljuboten up to Ljuboten, that is?

3 A. Yeah. There's -- there was police check-point which was

4 permanently there. It had a name and I can't remember what it was now,

5 but there was a semi-permanent police check-point on the route.

6 Q. In the proximity of Ljuboten?

7 A. On the road to Ljuboten, yes. On a ridge that we regularly

8 travelled along, whenever we did go to the village, yes.

9 Q. But you were not stopped on that day at that check-point?

10 A. We would have been stopped, but --

11 Q. You were allowed through?

12 A. Yes. We didn't bypass the police check-points in that way, no.

13 Q. Okay. Well, let's move on to the 12th of August, if I may.

14 You've indicated in your statement or on your notes, rather, that

15 early in the morning, between 8.00 and 8.05, you heard what you believe to

16 be a loud mortar round; is that correct?

17 A. That's correct.

18 Q. And shortly thereafter, you saw a large plumb of smoke coming from

19 a location from within the village; is that correct?

20 A. Yes.

21 Q. It was close to the Orthodox church?

22 A. Yes.

23 MR. METTRAUX: Could the Registry please bring up, I think it is

24 photo number 4. It is a panorama picture of the village of Ljuboten. It

25 has the ERN N005-7065.

1 Q. Sir, are you able to see on that picture the place where you saw

2 that smoke coming from? If you want the picture to be focussed on one

3 particular part of this panorama, we can certainly arrange for that.

4 A. Yeah. Can we enlarge the right-hand side, yeah, and go left.

5 Q. Are you able to see the location where you saw that smoke coming

6 from on that day?

7 A. Not precisely. It would help if there was a southern view of it,

8 which was the view that I had.

9 Q. Can you see the general area, perhaps, where the smoke could have

10 been coming from? Can you identify that?

11 A. I believe so, yes.

12 Q. Well, with the assistance of the usher, could you mark this

13 general location.

14 A. As I say, it is difficult to be precise from this view, but I

15 believe it was approximately this area. It may have been -- may have been

16 have been this area, but in that rough direction or that rough location.

17 MR. METTRAUX: We'll tender that picture, Your Honour, at this

18 stage. We'll attempt with also a southern version of this photograph.

19 At this stage, we will tender this one.

20 JUDGE PARKER: I wonder, Mr. Bolton, whether you could mark a

21 number 1 in the lower of the two areas you have circled.

22 THE WITNESS: Certainly.

23 JUDGE PARKER: Because that seemed from your evidence to be your

24 preferred memory of the location, and the second and alternative

25 possibility. Am I right?

1 THE WITNESS: Your Honour, it is very difficult. I wouldn't, at

2 this stage, wish to preference either.

3 JUDGE PARKER: Well, there's no need to mark the second, as long

4 as we know 1 is the one you first marked.

5 THE WITNESS: Mm-hm.

6 JUDGE PARKER: Thank you very much.

7 It will be received.

8 THE REGISTRAR: As Exhibit 1D21 Your Honour.

9 MR. METTRAUX:

10 Q. Sir, I will try to show you a picture form the southern

11 perspective to see whether it facilitate the identification of location.

12 MR. METTRAUX: And that will be N005-7603.

13 Q. And, again, sir, please feel free to direct the Registry to the

14 area which --

15 A. If we could zoom in on the left-hand side, please. A little

16 further. Can we go further?

17 Q. Are you able to locate the position from --

18 A. Yeah, I believe so. It was the -- in the area of this white wall

19 here.

20 MR. METTRAUX: We'll tender this as well, Your Honour.

21 JUDGE PARKER: It will be received.

22 THE REGISTRAR: As Exhibit 1D22, Your Honours.

23 MR. METTRAUX:

24 Q. And after this first loud explosion, sir, is it correct that you

25 heard two similar explosions shortly thereafter?

1 A. That's correct.

2 Q. And you also understood that that they landed in the general area

3 where you had seen the first round land; is that correct?

4 A. They were closer together, to each other, but separate, slightly

5 separate from the first impact or first detonation.

6 Q. And you understood or you heard, rather, a number of mortars being

7 fired in response to this origin of fire. Is that what you understood?

8 A. Following those original three detonations, yes.

9 Q. Is that correct that you understood the first three detonation to

10 have been come the NLA, sir?

11 A. That was my belief.

12 Q. And your belief was that those three mortars from the NLA were

13 directed at the police post, next to the church; is that correct?

14 A. There were potential targets in that area for the NLA, one of

15 which was a police location.

16 Q. And you understood the later fire, that is, after the first three

17 rounds, to have been the response of the army to this original fire; is

18 that correct?

19 A. I didn't know what they were in response to, but they followed,

20 yes.

21 Q. And you understood those to come from the army position.

22 A. Yes.

23 Q. I'd like to show you --

24 A. Can I --

25 Q. Yes, go ahead.

1 A. The security forces position, I wasn't in a position to say

2 whether it was army, police. I can't say that.

3 JUDGE PARKER: Could you assist me, if I could intrude,

4 Mr. Mettraux.

5 The responsive fire, were you able to see the fall of that fire?

6 THE WITNESS: At times, yes, Your Honour.

7 JUDGE PARKER: And where was that? Is it in the village or out of

8 the village?

9 THE WITNESS: It was further to the right of this photograph,

10 pretty much on the right-hand edge of this photograph, as it is shown now.

11 JUDGE PARKER: Within the village.

12 THE WITNESS: Within the village, yes, Your Honour. At times, we

13 could see the smoke of what we believed to be impact detonations, and

14 these were impact detonations that we believe came from mortar bombs that

15 were fired into that location. At times, that smoke was not -- we

16 couldn't see the impact, the explosion, but we could see the smoke rising

17 from those explosions or those detonations.

18 JUDGE PARKER: In one or two of his questions, Mr. Mettraux has

19 used the phrase "responsive fire. " I saw in that the possibility that

20 the responding fire was aimed at the source of the original firing. Is

21 that what you were meaning, or were you describing something differently?

22 THE WITNESS: If I can refer to my military background, the -- it

23 was unlikely, in n my view, that the firing position of the first three

24 detonations was within the village, because it is very close, for what I

25 believe to be a heavy mortar.

1 In that respect, the detonations, that we saw that corresponded

2 with the security forces position firing, were not landing in the area --

3 in an area that I would expect to find a firing position, if that

4 clarifies the situation.

5 JUDGE PARKER: Yes. And was the responsive fire apparently a

6 similar calibre mortar?

7 THE WITNESS: I believe it was a smaller one.

8 JUDGE PARKER: And in number?

9 THE WITNESS: To be specific, the first three detonations both I

10 and my colleague believed were probably 120-millimetre mortars.

11 Subsequent explosions were medium mortars, 81-, 82-millimetre mortars, and

12 we estimated somewhere in the region of 60 rounds fired.

13 JUDGE PARKER: Thank you.

14 I'm sorry, Mr. Mettraux, but there was an area there that I

15 thought we might as well explore and finish with.

16 MR. METTRAUX: I may perhaps assist further, Your Honour.

17 I will ask the Registry to bring up document 1D-125, and it is

18 under the ERN 1D00-1634.

19 Q. Sir, it is under tab 18 of your binder. I think that will be the

20 next one on your binder, and, again, that would be an OSCE spot report of

21 the 14th of August, 2001; is that correct?

22 A. Yes.

23 Q. If I may ask you to focus on point --

24 A. Sorry, I have 13th of August.

25 Q. Well, the document we have is dated 14th of August. I think this

1 is the this one, yes. Sorry, my mistake.

2 Yeah. If I may ask you to focus on the letter B, on the first

3 page, under the heading "Central Area." Can you see this?

4 A. Yes.

5 Q. It says that: "Ljuboten remains a focal point of interest, with

6 accusation in the media that there have been extrajudicial killings of

7 three people in the village, in addition to a further three women and four

8 men killed during the firing on Sunday."

9 Can you see that?

10 A. Yes.

11 Q. If I may ask to focus on the last paragraph but one, it says this:

12 "It now seems clear that the EAAG mortar fire brought to bear onto the

13 ethnic Macedonian part of the village originally sparked the fighting, and

14 at least a covert presence of EAAG did in fact exist in the village."

15 Can you see that?

16 A. I can see that, yes.

17 MR. METTRAUX: Well, Your Honour, we're going to tender this at

18 this point.

19 JUDGE PARKER: It will be received.

20 THE REGISTRAR: As Exhibit 1D23, Your Honours.

21 MR. METTRAUX: I'm grateful. And I will ask the Registry to bring

22 back the document.

23 Q. That is under tab 2 of your binder, sir.

24 MR. METTRAUX: That is under the ERN 1D00-1532, I would believe.

25 That would be incorrect, actually. It is N001-5356, and that would be the

1 third page of that document.

2 Q. Sir, if I may ask you to focus on the fourth paragraph on that

3 page, with the paragraph started "On 12th of August." Can you see this?

4 A. Yes.

5 Q. It says this: "On 12 of August, at 8.05 hours, the first mortar

6 round fell on the village. It landed in the vicinity of the Orthodox

7 church in the Macedonian section of the village."

8 Can you see that?

9 A. Yes.

10 Q. And is that consistent with your observations?

11 A. Yes.

12 Q. "Two more rounds followed, each closer to the church. All three

13 are believed to have been 120-millimetre mortars."

14 Again, is it consistent with your observations?

15 A. Yes.

16 Q. "These are more likely to have been EAAG rounds than government,

17 and were the first shots fired into the village. Thereafter, the army

18 fired on the Albanian side of the village with its smaller calibre

19 mortars."

20 Is that what it says?

21 A. That's a what it says.

22 Q. And is that consistent with your observations?

23 A. Yes.

24 Q. The next question that I have -- or the next point that I would

25 like to bring up with you is in the same document, sir, a bit further

1 down. That's the last paragraph but one, and that is the conclusion of

2 the author of that report about the exchange of fire. And it starts with

3 the word "In any event." Can you see that?

4 A. Yes.

5 Q. It says this: "It is clear that Macedonian fire on the village

6 was directed at the north edge of town, particularly near the fields, and

7 it appears that the security forces moved up through this area in an

8 action to clear it of any hostile forces that might be located there."

9 Can you see this?

10 A. Yes, I can.

11 Q. "It is also within the realm of possibility that the death of the

12 first two men occurred during that operation."

13 Is that what it says?

14 A. Yes.

15 MR. METTRAUX: Your Honour, I will tender it at this stage,

16 although I will use it again in the course of the cross-examination.

17 MR. SAXON: Your Honour, may I have a moment.

18 JUDGE PARKER: Yes, Mr. Saxon.

19 MR. SAXON: Your Honour, a fair reading of this document shows

20 that a number of portions are highly inconsistent, if I may say, with the

21 earlier report that was tendered during examination-in-chief that had been

22 authored by this witness. And so the Prosecution is concerned that really

23 the probative value and reliability of this document has not been

24 established. And to establish it, I think some additional questions need

25 to be asked of this witness regarding other portions of this document and

1 the person who authored it and how it was created.

2 Now, Mr. Mettraux could do that during cross-examination, or if

3 the Court prefers, the document could be marked for identification now and

4 the Prosecution could pursue this on redirect before any final decision is

5 made.

6 JUDGE PARKER: Is it not an OSCE report?

7 MR. SAXON: It is, Your Honour.

8 JUDGE PARKER: And we have been to date receiving OSCE reports,

9 including a number not directly authored by the witness. From my point of

10 view, the appropriate approach would be to receive the document because of

11 its apparent credibility due to its source, to leave it then for

12 re-examination, to explore further the reliability of its content, a

13 matter to be taken into account by the Chamber in its eventual weighing of

14 it.

15 You followed all that, Mr. Mettraux?

16 MR. METTRAUX: Absolutely, Your Honour. There might be a few

17 issues with which Mr. Bolton may want to take issue with the content of

18 that document. At this stage, he hasn't taken issue it; and as you

19 pointed out, if the Prosecution think there a discrepancies between the

20 two, it can deal with that in re-examination.

21 JUDGE PARKER: I think, in our experience, there are likely to be

22 some various ranges of qualities in a document like this. And individual

23 officers of an organisation like OSCE might well embrace parts of a

24 report, not necessarily others. But the overall document has a

25 credibility due to the nature of its source; and if there are particular

1 issues, I think they can be adequately explored in the process of your

2 cross-examination, perhaps Mr. Apostolski's, and Mr. Saxon's

3 re-examination.

4 So this document will be received.

5 MR. METTRAUX: Thank you, Your Honour.

6 THE REGISTRAR: As Exhibit 1D24, Your Honours.

7 MR. METTRAUX:

8 Q. Sir, there is another document I would like to ask you to look at.

9 MR. METTRAUX: That is document 1D-127, under the ERN 1D00-1640.

10 Q. That's under your tab 20 in the binder.

11 As you can see, sir, this is a report related to the military

12 activities on 12th of August, 2001. Do you have that in front of you?

13 A. I do.

14 Q. And it is records the fact that: "On the 12th of August, 2001, in

15 the morning, I was at the rest house performing my regular duties; and

16 about 8.00, we heard main long lasting repeated shots."

17 Can you see that?

18 A. I can see that.

19 Q. And if you can see from the signature, the "I" stands for Captain

20 Grozdanovski [phoen], a commander of a mortar battery. If you continue

21 through that document, you will see that: "Later, the commander of the

22 battalion called me and ordered me to visit the observation post at

23 check-point Smoke, and to prepare the battery for action."

24 Can you see that? It's the second sentence of the first paragraph

25 sir.

1 A. Yes.

2 Q. And if I may ask you now to turn to the second paragraph, it says

3 this: "From the observation towards the village, I realised that the

4 terrorists were firing from the area of the church, from an old house

5 about 100 metres under the mosque. Most probably, there was a sniper;

6 whereas, above the mosque, from the new houses, the second one, there was

7 a machine-gun firing towards us."

8 Can you see that?

9 A. I can see that.

10 Q. "Then I informed the commander about the situation, and he ordered

11 me to destroy those positions with several mortar shells from a

12 120-millimetre mortar."

13 Can you see that?

14 A. Yes.

15 Q. And it goes on to say this: "In the period of time between 9.00

16 and 10.00 hours, we fired several mortar shells as follows: Around the

17 church, we fired eight mortar shells; towards the sniper, we fired five

18 mortar shells; whereas, towards the machine-gun, we fired three mortar

19 shells; at the military activities in the area of Ljuboten village, we

20 fired altogether 16 120-millimetre mortar shells."

21 Can you see that?

22 A. Yes.

23 Q. And then it goes on to say: "The military activities continued,

24 even afterwards; but because the police had entered the village, I did not

25 engage anymore the battery after 10.00, towards Ljuboten village."

1 May I ask you, sir, whether that is consistent with your own

2 observations?

3 A. Can I just have a moment to read through it again?

4 Q. Certainly.

5 Perhaps to assist you, this identifies three firing positions from

6 the terrorists: One from the area of the church; the second one from an

7 old house, about 100 metre from the new houses; and then one from above

8 the mosque.

9 And then he goes to say that they fired eight mortars at the area

10 towards the church, five towards the second location where the sniper was,

11 and three towards the location where the machine-gun was.

12 A. Can you repeat your question to me? Sorry.

13 Q. The question was, essentially, whether some aspects - I'm not

14 suggesting that you might have observed all of these events - but does

15 this description of what happened in that part of the village coincide

16 with or at least consistent with your own observations or a part thereof.

17 A. A part thereof. It is my belief that there were more mortar

18 rounds fired in that area, or certainly that impacted in that area, than

19 this would account for.

20 Q. Well, we will come to that.

21 MR. METTRAUX: And I will ask the Registry -- well, first, I will

22 tender this document, Your Honour.

23 JUDGE PARKER: It will be received.

24 THE REGISTRAR: As Exhibit 1D25, Your Honours.

25 MR. METTRAUX:

1 Q. I will ask --

2 A. Can I add that I'm referring only to the mortar fire, and I did

3 not observe any small arms fire.

4 Q. I understand.

5 MR. METTRAUX: Well, if the Registry can now bring up document

6 1D-128, under the ERN 1D00-1642.

7 Q. That's, sir, another similar military report of the same day.

8 This one is signed by Lieutenant Braznjarkovski [phoen] Darko, and this

9 report suggests that at around 8.00 in the morning, an army position above

10 Ljuboten, again, "smoke was targeted by machine-gun and sniper fire."

11 Can you see that?

12 A. Mm-hm, yes.

13 Q. And, again, it goes on to say that an order was given to respond

14 to enemy fire and to shell the position from which fire was coming from

15 inside the village.

16 Can you see that?

17 A. Yes.

18 Q. And the report identifies three positions from which the fire was

19 coming from the village, and I will list them for you and you will tell me

20 whether that's the correct ones.

21 It says that: "The machine-gun position was located left from the

22 mosque; a sniper position from the house under the mosque."

23 A. Sorry. Can you -- oh, yes. Okay.

24 Q. "And, finally, a mortar position in the direction of the village

25 graveyard." Is that correct?

1 A. That's what it says, yes.

2 Q. And then it goes on to say that the army returned fire to all

3 three positions, with six mortars towards the first position, five towards

4 the second, and five in the general direction of the graveyard. Is that

5 correct?

6 A. That's what it says, yes.

7 Q. And, again, sir, would that be generally consistent with your

8 observations or a part thereof?

9 A. A part thereof. That would account for some more of the mortar

10 bombs that I believe landed in that area, yes.

11 MR. METTRAUX: Your Honour, I will seek to tender this document as

12 well.

13 JUDGE PARKER: It will be received.

14 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] As Exhibit 1D26.

15 JUDGE PARKER: I think we will have to interrupt you,

16 Mr. Mettraux. I'm sorry.

17 We will have the second break now, and resume at five minutes past

18 1.00.

19 --- Recess taken at 12.36 p.m.

20 --- On resuming at 1.09 p.m.

21 JUDGE PARKER: Mr. Mettraux.

22 MR. METTRAUX: Thank you, Your Honour.

23 Q. Mr. Bolton, I attempted to make a modest contribution to the

24 completion strategy of the Tribunal by speaking fast, and I have been

25 reminded by many interpreters that I should slow down and should pass on

1 the message to you. So if we can both try not no overlap with each other

2 and perhaps take a bit more time, I shall endeavor to do that.

3 Your Honour, I would also like to bring to your attention another

4 matter which the Registry tree kindly pointed out to us, and this relates

5 to one exhibit which we have tendered. We referred to it as Rule 65 ter

6 223, but in fact what we have tendered and what has been admitted are the

7 first five pages of that document, which consist of the report which I

8 have been discussing with Mr. Bolton. And for the record, the ERN range

9 of that document is N001-5356 to N001-53601. I'm grateful to the Registry

10 for that.

11 Q. Sir, we left off at 12th of August, and I would just like to ask

12 you a two or three more questions about that day.

13 The first one is: You would confirm that you did not enter the

14 village on that day; is that correct?

15 A. That's correct.

16 Q. And do I understand properly that the reason why you did not or

17 could not enter the village on that day was because of the animosity of

18 the civilians, or some civilians in any case, that were around the village

19 and the animosity which they showed to your team; is that correct?

20 A. There was -- when we tried to approach the village initially,

21 right at the beginning following the mine strike, there was animosity from

22 the villagers in Ljubanci. Subsequently, we did not meet with animosity

23 when trying to approach Ljuboten from the other direction, which was

24 further to the east avoiding Ljubanci.

25 Q. And was there any particular reason why you did not attempt to

1 enter the village on that day? Was it the same animosity?

2 A. There was no animosity, but there was --

3 Q. The potential?

4 A. -- a determination on, on one occasion, not to let us past, and

5 there was also occasions when we were stopped by the police.

6 Q. And did you ask to it go through or was it your own determination

7 that the risk was too great to get into the village on that day?

8 A. We had no intention to drive into the middle of an exchange of

9 fire. But nonetheless we were, on occasion, stopped by civilians and did

10 not want to provoke an incident and on other occasions stopped by police,

11 and, again, did not want to provoke an incident by pushing the matter

12 further, by driving through, for example.

13 Q. Is that when the police officer explained to you that they were

14 doing that for the purpose of your own security; is that correct?

15 A. Correct.

16 Q. There is another matter, sir, I would like to bring back these

17 notes taken by Mr. Tucker which have been marked as 1D12, and that would

18 be the third and last page of that document. It's the first tab of your

19 binder, sir. That would be the previous document, I believe.

20 If you --

21 A. Yeah.

22 Q. Yes. If you focus on the third paragraph on that page, it records

23 the following event, incident of fact in any case. It says, "he," that's

24 you, Mr. Bolton, "and Vladimir Rogac were trying to facilitate this

25 movement," that's the movement of the villagers," and were in contact the

1 HQ who in turn were in contact with the Crisis Management Committee. The

2 ICRC were also involved ..."

3 Can you remember trying to facilitate the evacuations of the

4 villagers on that day?

5 A. Yes.

6 Q. And can you also recall that the Crisis Management Centre was

7 notified of that fact and that a request for police assistance was made?

8 A. I am not privy to the conversations that took place between the --

9 our headquarters and the Crisis Management Centre. However, we reported

10 everything back to them, and all our requests were at that point

11 channelled through them.

12 Q. And are you aware that shortly thereafter the Crisis Management

13 Centre in fact sent a police unit or police group to assist with the

14 evacuation, or is that a fact that you are not aware of?

15 A. I'm not aware of that.

16 Q. Thank you. I'd like to move on now to the 14th, sir, the 14th of

17 August, when you entered the village at last. I won't go through your

18 evidence again, but I think you explained in your statement that you

19 considered that the best course of action was for you to contact the

20 police to ask an investigative judge to attend; is that correct?

21 A. That's correct.

22 Q. And can you recall,, sir, whom in the police you called at the

23 time to ask for the investigative judge to come?

24 A. We had a -- I believe, a number of conversations with the police

25 both directly and indirectly. I refer there to other organisations that

1 were involved in this also. There was ICRC and there was UNHCR. And we

2 were speaking both directly and indirectly there to the command element of

3 Skopje police.

4 Q. Can you remember the name of that person? Was it

5 Mr. Bliznakovski?

6 A. And -- there were two people, I think, that were on the Macedonian

7 police side involved in that conversation. Those communications which

8 Mr. Petro Stojnovski [phoen] and Mr. Bliznakovski, yes.

9 Q. And would you agree that there those were the people who had

10 negotiated your safe passage to the village; is that correct?

11 A. I specifically don't recall that particular incident, of them

12 facilitating our movement at that time. But certainly on other occasions

13 they did.

14 Q. And on that occasion, sir, the police allowed you through without

15 any problem to the village; is that correct?

16 A. Yes.

17 Q. And they also --

18 A. There was brief delay.

19 Q. Yes. And they also arranged for an investigative judge to come to

20 the Cair police; is that correct?

21 A. Now that I don't know. I don't know where that -- I don't know of

22 that.

23 Q. I'll come back to that. Now you explained, I think, in your

24 statement that you had a number of conversations with the police in Cair

25 thereafter. Is that correct? Through the police, to the investigative

1 judge. Is that correct?

2 A. I was not in Cair -- Cair myself, if you're referring to the

3 police station there. And I do not know the location of the police that

4 we were talking, because it was via telephone.

5 Q. Okay. Is that correct, sir, that, I mean, you were able to enter

6 the village without any difficulty and there was no interference on the

7 part of the police during your stay in the village?

8 A. That's correct.

9 Q. And you were left to do what you wanted at that time?

10 A. Yes.

11 Q. I'd like to ask you now a few questions about your observations in

12 the village and in particular your observations of the bodies of the five

13 deceased.

14 Is that correct, sir - and that may be an obvious question - that

15 you had no ballistic or forensic information at the time?

16 A. Regarding what?

17 Q. Regarding the circumstances or causes of death of these five

18 individuals.

19 A. No, that's correct. I had no forensic information relating to

20 those five bodies.

21 Q. And am I correct to understand then that the conclusions that you

22 drew were based solely on your discussions with some of the villagers and

23 your own observations?

24 A. And my own experience --

25 Q. And your own experience.

1 A. -- and knowledge of fire-arms and the effect of -- of bullets.

2 Q. And would you say, or am I correct in stating your position as

3 follows. That the -- your observations about the two -- the first two men

4 that you observed were particularly suspicious, if I can put that in those

5 terms?

6 A. I was concerned at the manner in which they appeared to have met

7 their death, yes.

8 MR. METTRAUX: Perhaps I will ask the registry once again to

9 bring 1D24.

10 Q. And that is again, sir, the report of the 16th of August and it is

11 at tab 2 of your document. That would be the second page of that

12 document.

13 And that would be the paragraph which starts with: "Two of the

14 dead were along ..."

15 Can you see that?

16 A. Yes.

17 Q. I will read the paragraph to you: "Two of the dead were along or

18 near the road where it passed through a residential area. Three others

19 were found in a field on a hillside immediately above the uppermost house

20 at the edge of town."

21 Can you see that?

22 A. I see that.

23 Q. And it says this: "Based on observations of the scene, including

24 the conditions of the bodies and the wounds they received, there is a

25 particular concern regarding the circumstances of the deaths of the two

1 men found within the town. Both of these individuals may have been shot

2 at close range, and there are numerous spent shell casings in the area of

3 the bodies."

4 Is that consistent with your own observations, sir?

5 A. Yes. With the -- the final sentence states: "Both of these

6 individuals may have been shot at close range." I would emphasise "may"

7 and that I wasn't the author of this report. There were certainly

8 numerous spent shell casings in the area of the bodies.

9 Q. And your insistence, sir, on the word "may" is that you would not

10 feel comfortable making any final determination on that point. Is that

11 how I should understand it?

12 A. My -- I'm confident that they were shot. I have no means to judge

13 the distance from which they were shot or from which the bullets that hit

14 them were fired.

15 Q. And would that be correct, sir, that some of the injuries which

16 you observed could also have been done post-mortem. Is that a

17 possibility?

18 A. Some, yes.

19 Q. I will just move on to the next paragraph of the same report, sir.

20 It starts with the word: "In the case of the first men, it was noted that

21 there were what appeared to be gouge marks in the centre of a blood-stain

22 on the pavement that were at least superficially consistent with the men

23 having been shot whilst lying on the ground -- on the road," I'm sorry.

24 Is that again at least consistent with your own observations?

25 A. Yes.

1 Q. Sir, if we turn to the next page of that document at page 3. And,

2 sir, that would be, again, the last paragraph but one, starting with the

3 word "in any event."

4 Is that correct, that the report goes on to sound a more cautious

5 note when it says this: "It appears that the security forces moved up in

6 this area in an action to clear it of any hostile forces that might be

7 located there."

8 And it says this: "It is also within the realm of possibility

9 that the death of the first two men occurred during that operation."

10 Would you agree, sir, that it would be a reasonable possibility,

11 as indicated by your colleague in the report?

12 A. I do not know what was in the mind of the author of this at the

13 time, but -- and it also depends on the definition of the operation, but,

14 yes, in effect.

15 Q. And I think you have indicated, sir, in your own reports, or

16 statement, I'm sorry, that did you not search any of the bodies; is that

17 right?

18 A. I did not search them, I did not go through the pockets, I did not

19 go -- did not search them for items on the body, no.

20 Q. I apologise, sir. If we turn now to the other three bodies that

21 you observed which were further up the hills north of the village.

22 If I may ask you to turn to the second page of this same document,

23 and it is a paragraph that starts with the word "in contrast to the

24 situation." That would be, I believe, the fourth paragraph. Can you see

25 that?

1 A. Yes.

2 Q. In middle of that paragraph, it says this: "There is a general

3 sense that their death," which is the three deceased, "are less suspicious

4 and possibly related to legitimate military actions."

5 Can you see that?

6 A. I can see that.

7 Q. And the report notes, in particular, that there were no shell

8 casings around the bodies, which is consistent with your observation,

9 isn't it?

10 A. Yes.

11 Q. There were also no superficial indications that they were shot at

12 close range. Is that again consistent with your observations?

13 A. Yes.

14 Q. And the report also notes that there were signs of fire on two --

15 to a nearby house; is that correct?

16 A. Yes.

17 Q. And the report goes on to conclude that the men -- it appeared the

18 men were shot from a distance while running uphill. Would that be again

19 be consistent with your observations?

20 A. Generally, yes. Yes.

21 Q. I would like to show you a picture, sir, which was taken by you on

22 that day, and that is 1D129 under the ERN 1D001645, and that's under the

23 tab number 23 in your binder.

24 Can you recognise this picture, sir?

25 A. I can, yes.

1 Q. And that would be the dead body of Mr. Xhelal Bajrami; is that

2 correct?

3 A. I believe so, yes.

4 Q. And you would agree that Mr. Bajrami appears to be wearing what we

5 could say are civilian clothes; is that right?

6 A. That's correct.

7 Q. And you did not see any indication around him of any weapons or

8 defensive position; is that right?

9 A. I did not, yeah, that is correct.

10 Q. And you understood this person to have been a civilian; is that

11 right?

12 A. There was nothing to indicate otherwise.

13 Q. That's right. And, again, that's not a person that you searched.

14 You have indicated that you didn't search any of the persons at the time.

15 A. Correct.

16 Q. I would like to ask you whether you were later informed by

17 Mr. Tucker or anyone else that 26 rounds of live ammunitions were found in

18 the pockets of that person, or is that information that was not shared

19 with you?

20 A. I certainly don't recall that information being shared with me.

21 Q. And such information, sir, you would agree, would have been

22 relevant to your assessment perhaps of the status of that person, had you

23 had that information?

24 A. Yes.

25 MR. METTRAUX: Your Honours, I don't see the -- oh, yes. I would

1 like to tender this document, Your Honour, this picture.

2 JUDGE PARKER: It will be received.

3 THE REGISTRAR: As Exhibit 1D27, Your Honours.

4 MR. METTRAUX:

5 Q. Sir, there's a few more pictures that I would like to show to you.

6 The first one is a picture of Mr. Kadri Jashari, and it is at 1D130 under

7 the ERN of 1D001646.

8 Sir, I understand the picture is a black-and-white picture, so my

9 question may be a bit unfair. But can you recall that this person was -

10 it is tab 24 in your binder - that this person was bearing black trousers

11 and a black jacket at the time of his death. Is that correct?

12 A. That is what I recall, yes.

13 Q. If you can turn to the next picture which is under 1D131. That's

14 a picture of Mr. Bajram Jashari, under 1D00-1647, and that's number 25, I

15 would think.

16 Well, sir, I should have used P41.

17 MR. METTRAUX: I apologise to the Registry. I think we have a

18 colour picture of this document, which is the same picture. P244, I am

19 told.

20 Q. There again, sir, you would agree that Mr. Jashari was wearing

21 black trousers and a black jacket; is that correct?

22 A. Certainly dark, yes. Very close to black, yes.

23 MR. METTRAUX: If we can go to the next picture, it would be

24 1D-132, 1D00-1648.

25 Q. That's under your tab 26, sir. That's a picture of Mr. Muharem

1 Ramadan.

2 MR. METTRAUX: And I understand it is also P186, although there

3 may not be any markings of the name of the person on the Prosecution

4 Exhibit.

5 Q. But, sir, would you agree that, again, Mr. Ramadani, at the time,

6 was wearing black trousers, a black shirt, and a black long coat?

7 A. Again, certainly dark, and I remember them as dark. Specifically

8 black, I can't tell you. But certainly very dark.

9 Q. Can you see, sir, on the chest of Mr. Ramadan, under the hole

10 which you have identified, I believe, as an exit wound, can you see a

11 black belt?

12 A. I can see something dark, yes.

13 Q. And did you observe that belt at the time?

14 A. I don't recall specifically. Certainly, my attention was not

15 drawn to it, no.

16 Q. Would you agree, sir, that at the time, one of the uniforms used

17 by the NLA or combination of uniform was a black outfit, top to bottom?

18 A. Yes, but not of this nature.

19 Q. You would agree at least with me that a person in that sort of

20 clothing could be mistaken then for a member of the NLA?

21 A. I cannot say that, no.

22 Q. Did you wonder, sir, why Mr. Ramadani was wearing a long, what

23 would appear to be, leather black coat in the middle of the summer? Is

24 that something that you asked yourself at the time?

25 A. No. It's common to come across Albanians in high temperatures,

1 wearing what I would myself believe to be excessive amounts of clothing.

2 Q. And, sir, in the middle of the situation in the village, with an

3 exchange of fire, would you agree with the possibility that that uniform

4 could have been mistaken for that of a NLA or not?

5 MR. SAXON: Objection.

6 JUDGE PARKER: Yes, Mr. Saxon.

7 MR. SAXON: I believe that, first of all, we've heard this

8 before. We've heard this question asked and answered before; and second

9 of all, the question as its formulated is really asking the witness to

10 speculate, and I don't see how this will assist the Court.

11 MR. METTRAUX: We'll proceed, Your Honour.

12 JUDGE PARKER: Thank you, Mr. Mettraux.

13 MR. METTRAUX:

14 Q. Sir, at the time, you were aware that the NLA would sometimes

15 would wear a mixture of civilian and military clothes, wouldn't you?

16 A. Correct.

17 Q. And you would also agree with me that, at times, NLAs wearing

18 uniforms would mingle with individuals wearing no uniforms; is that

19 correct?

20 A. I believe in every single case - and there were many that I had

21 dealings with the NLA - they always wore something that would indicate

22 that they were actually NLA.

23 MR. METTRAUX: Well, could the Registry please bring back document

24 1D-123.

25 Q. And, sir, I'll ask to you look at the documents under tab 15.

1 MR. METTRAUX: Again, that is 1D19 for the record.

2 Q. And I will ask to you turn to the second page, please.

3 And, again, this is, sir, the human rights developments report

4 dated August 1st to 15th 2001, and the first paragraph say this: "As

5 civilians and persons with little or no training become engaged in the

6 conflict, the overall level of discipline in both forces can be expected

7 to decline. Indeed, during the collapse of the cease-fire in Tetovo in

8 August, armed ethnic Albanians in civilian clothes were observed moving

9 through the city with groups of uniformed NLA."

10 Can you see that?

11 A. I can see that.

12 Q. So you would agree that the OSCE, perhaps not you permanently, but

13 some of your colleagues, have witnessed NLA in uniforms mingling around

14 with people in -- identified as armed ethnic Albanians in civilian

15 clothes; is that correct?

16 A. I cannot say that there were not such cases. I can refer to my

17 own experience, which is that I believe in every case, there was something

18 related to the dress of the individual that would indicate he was part of

19 the group.

20 The NLA often did -- they were part of community and they often

21 did mingle with what I might term as non-combatants, but the combatants,

22 those that considered themselves as combatants, invariably wore something

23 to indicate the fact.

24 Q. And, again, sir, that is your observation?

25 A. Correct, yes.

1 Q. Did you receive information at the time, however, that members of

2 the NLA in civilian clothes had been seen in the village at the time?

3 A. Civilian clothes, yes -- well, at which time?

4 Q. Well, during the weekend in question, sir.

5 A. I have -- I may have received some information which I do not

6 recall, but not from the monitors who were working with me, until we

7 entered the village on the 14th.

8 Q. Well, if we can go back, sir, to the second document in your

9 binder.

10 MR. METTRAUX: And, again, that is the special report of the 16th,

11 and that is 1D24.

12 Q. And I ask you to turn to the third page of that document.

13 And if we can go to the fourth paragraph which starts with the

14 words, "There are several." And I would like to read to you the last

15 sentence of your colleague who wrote the report, and he says this:

16 "Reports from other international observers in the area indicate that

17 there were EAAG in the village in civilian clothes and that there was an

18 exchange of fire from deer rifles within the village."

19 Am I right to understand that you personally did not possess that

20 information at the time?

21 A. No. I did not, nor was I aware of any other international

22 observers in the area.

23 Q. We're going to come back to that in a minute, sir.

24 Another matter which I would like ask you about: Were you made

25 aware at any stage of weapons being confiscated from within the village?

1 A. I do not recall of being informed of such a thing, no.

2 Q. You've indicated, I think - and correct me if I'm wrong - but you

3 have only visited or you have only gone inside one of the houses in the

4 village on the 14th; is that correct?

5 A. No, that's not correct. I went into, I think, three or possibly

6 four.

7 Q. There's one I'm particularly interested in, and it is the basement

8 in which you went and, I think, identified a gun and ammunition. Is that

9 correct?

10 A. That's correct.

11 Q. And you also understood at the time that this was the basement in

12 which the first two person, whom you saw dead in Ljuboten, had been hiding

13 earlier that day; is that correct?

14 A. That is what I had been informed, yes.

15 Q. So you understood that those persons at the time had access to

16 weapons.

17 A. Yes.

18 Q. Did you --

19 A. Whilst they were in the basement.

20 Q. Yes. Did you have information at the time that hunting rifles had

21 been used in the village during that incident, or did you only become

22 aware of that information later on in time? I'm referring, again, to what

23 I have just read to you.

24 A. No, I did not have that information.

25 Q. There's another matter, sir, which I would like to --

1 A. That weapon was not a hunting rifle.

2 Q. I understood that you indicated that this weapon was or could be

3 used for hunting birds; is that correct?

4 A. Correct. But it is not a rifle. It was a shotgun and the -- the

5 practical use of such a weapon compared to a rifle, which has a high

6 velocity bullet, is very different.

7 Q. I stand corrected on the type of weapon, sir. Thank you.

8 There is another part of this report which I would like to discuss

9 with you, and that is the next paragraph.

10 But before that, is that correct, sir, that were not able to

11 identify any of the persons who had killed any of the five persons whom

12 you saw dead in the village on that day. Is that correct?

13 A. Sorry, just to clarify, you're asking whether I could identify any

14 individual --

15 Q. Whether you had knowledge of the identity of any of the persons

16 who might have killed those people.

17 A. No. I did not have that.

18 Q. I would like to draw your attention in relation to this issue on

19 the next paragraph of the report of Ms. Simpson about this issue, and it

20 says this: "It is possible there were exchanges between Macedonian

21 villagers and Albanians villager, and also possible that there were

22 Albanian to Albanian exchanges. It would be important to examine bodies

23 to determine what kind of round caused their wounds.

24 "It is possible that these persons were killed by army or by

25 Macedonian villagers or by EAAG. The EAAG has recently lost two brigade

1 commanders and is vigorously eliminating suspected moles and collaborators

2 in the area under their control."

3 Would you agree, sir, that, as suggested by your colleague and

4 without a thorough examination of the bodies and a forensic examination,

5 it would indeed be very, very difficult or impossible to determine who

6 might have killed these people?

7 A. It's a judgement that I don't feel I'm able to make.

8 Q. But it was not an unreasonable judgement on her part to make.

9 A. I suppose not. I believe it is taken out of the context of the

10 situation.

11 Q. But, again, that is not an unreasonable conclusion to draw, the

12 suggestion that the determination on that point should await further

13 investigation, in particular, ballistic and forensic.

14 A. That I would agree with.

15 JUDGE PARKER: Mr. Mettraux, sorry to interrupt. Would this be a

16 convenient time.

17 MR. METTRAUX: Absolutely, your honour.

18 JUDGE PARKER: You were getting up steam again and getting up

19 speed again, so I think we will let you relax.

20 I'm sorry, Mr. Bolton, but we must adjourn to allow another

21 Chamber to use the courtroom. So we resume tomorrow at 9.00 a.m.

22 MR. METTRAUX: Your Honours, perhaps before we break, it has been

23 drawn to my attention that the answer of Mr. Bolton was not recorded, and

24 if Mr. Bolton could be kind enough to repeat his last answer for the

25 record.

1 My question was: It is not an unreasonable conclusion to draw the

2 suggestion that a determination at that point should await further

3 investigation, in particular forensic and ballistic? And I believe that

4 you had you agreed with that proposition.

5 A. Yes. I would agree that that would help determine the issue, yes.

6 Q. I'm grateful. Thank you.

7 JUDGE PARKER: We are adjourned until tomorrow morning at 9.00.

8 --- Whereupon the hearing adjourned at 1.47 p.m.,

9 to be reconvened on Friday, the 8th day of June,

10 2007, at 9.00 a.m.

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