121204ED

Page 5656

1 transcript.

2 MR. GROOME: Your Honour, I will investigate that report before

3 the end of the day.

4 JUDGE ORIE: Thank you. As far as D59 is concerned, a new

5 translation has been made available, I do understand, but perhaps we

6 first pay attention to the presence of the witness. Could the Defence

7 already look at D59. I do understand that the revised translation has

8 been uploaded. If that's confirmed, we'll further deal with the matter.

9 [The witness takes the stand]

10 JUDGE ORIE: Good afternoon, Mr. Sokolar. Before --

11 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Good day.

12 JUDGE ORIE: Before we resume, I would like to remind you that

13 you're still bound by the solemn declaration you've given at the

14 beginning of your testimony, and Mr. Lukic will now continue his

15 cross-examination.

16 WITNESS: REFIK SOKOLAR [Resumed]

17 [Witness answered through interpreter]

18 Cross-examination by Mr. Lukic: [Continued]

19 Q. [Interpretation] Good day, Mr. Sokolar.

20 A. Good day.

21 Q. Did you ever have the opportunity of seeing that the artillery

22 fired from the centre of town or mortars or the tanks of the ABiH?

23 A. I never witnessed that because I was in Dobrinja, and I don't

24 know what was happening in the centre of the town, in other parts of

25 town.

Page 5657

1 Q. Can we agree that you never considered the possibility of fire

2 being opened from weapons that were in the possession of the ABiH?

3 A. Do you mean heavy weapons, mortars, tanks, sniper fire? There

4 were such weapons used in Dobrinja otherwise how would one have defended

5 themselves but we didn't have tanks in Dobrinja or any heavy artillery.

6 THE INTERPRETER: The witness is kindly asked to approach the

7 microphone as it is hard to hear him.

8 JUDGE ORIE: Mr. Sokolar, could you come a bit closer to the

9 microphone. The interpreters have difficulties hearing you. Perhaps

10 move it up. Yes.

11 Mr. Lukic, may I take it that the context in which you did put

12 this question is about the investigations the witness performed?

13 MR. LUKIC: Yes, Your Honour.

14 JUDGE ORIE: Or is it -- yes. That was not clear in your

15 question.

16 MR. LUKIC: I will clarify. Thank you.

17 Q. [Interpretation] When you performed your duties, did you ever

18 take into consideration the possibility that Dobrinja was fired on from

19 weapons or artillery from the positions under the control of the ABiH

20 from the centre of the town or from outside the town?

21 A. I apologise. I haven't fully understood your question.

22 Q. When you carried out your investigations, did you ever verify

23 whether it was possible that a shell that had wounded someone or a bullet

24 that had wounded someone had been fired from positions outside of

25 Dobrinja, positions that were under the control of the ABiH?

Page 5658

1 A. In the course of my work, I never had the opportunity to work on

2 such cases to determine whether fire had been opened from the territory

3 of the ABiH. I would like to add something else. I'm not a forensic

4 expert, a criminal expert. I only go to carry out an on-site

5 investigation as a member of a team. So my work doesn't involve

6 determining where a shell was fired from.

7 Q. Thank you. In 1992, policemen, both reserve duty and active-duty

8 policemen, from April to September 1992, at least until that time, in

9 fact went to the combat lines; isn't that correct?

10 A. Correct.

11 Q. In the course of your duties, did you ever -- or, although you

12 said that you never got involved in blood crimes, did you ever find out

13 that Serbian civilians would be killed and detained in Dobrinja in the

14 course of the war?

15 A. In the course of the war people were reported as missing, but I

16 never investigated any cases of murder or cases in which citizens of

17 Serbian ethnicity were eliminated.

18 Q. Apart from the unit headed by Juka Prazina, did you notice the

19 presence in Dobrinja of a group headed by Caco?

20 A. Caco was the commander of a brigade in the other part of town, in

21 the area of the Stari Grad or the Old Town, and there were individuals or

22 groups that -- as to whether there were individuals or group who came to

23 Dobrinja who -- who were members of Caco's group, well, I don't know

24 about that.

25 Q. I'd like to ask you about two other groups. One is

Page 5659

1 Dr. Loncarevic's group and the other group is a group that was under the

2 command of Dado. Were you aware of their presence in Dobrinja?

3 A. I haven't heard of Dado but I have heard of Loncarevic. He was

4 commander of military police detachment, I think, or, rather, military

5 police squad.

6 Q. You didn't have the opportunity to investigate what sort of

7 duties the military police performed?

8 A. Yesterday I said I had no responsibility, no authority over the

9 military police, the members of the military, and for a certain period of

10 time we even have problems when it came to co-operation.

11 Q. As a policeman, you are a member of the armed forces.

12 A. In terms of establishment, yes.

13 Q. However you considered yourself to be a civilian; isn't that

14 correct?

15 A. Even before the war I was a civilian, and in the course of the

16 war I worked as a civilian, as an inspector for crime prevention, but for

17 a certain period of time in 1994 and 1995, I don't know when exactly,

18 when everyone was given a camouflage uniform, we, too, were provided with

19 camouflage uniforms.

20 Q. Did you also consider that soldiers in Dobrinja who were not at

21 the front line were civilians?

22 A. No, we didn't consider such persons to be civilians. They were

23 members of the military, and when they were on leave, when they were

24 moving around Dobrinja, they were citizens like everyone else, and the

25 fact that they were members of the ABiH, well --

Page 5660

1 Q. Well, that's what I'm asking you about, when such a person wasn't

2 at the positions but was moving around Dobrinja, but when such a person

3 was a member of the ABiH, in such cases would you consider such a person

4 to be a civilian?

5 A. If the person was wounded when queueing up for water, for

6 example, or in some other place where there were other citizens, well, I

7 think in the list of all those who were wounded or killed you would have

8 the name of that member of the army who was in the area on leave at the

9 time.

10 JUDGE ORIE: Could you slow down a bit so that the interpreters

11 are better able to follow.

12 Mr. Lukic, you are asking questions which are -- of which the

13 context is not very clear and which asks for a judgement, isn't it? I

14 mean, the issue of who is a civilian, who is considered to be a civilian,

15 depends on what standards you apply.

16 MR. LUKIC: I want to connect these questions with the next one,

17 and I think only --

18 JUDGE ORIE: Okay, I'll wait.

19 MR. LUKIC: Only this witness can answer that one, the last one.

20 JUDGE ORIE: Okay. We'll wait and see what your next question

21 is. Please proceed.

22 MR. LUKIC: [Interpretation]

23 Q. Mr. Sokolar, you have just mentioned something yourself, but I'll

24 ask you this question again. In your reports the reports that you

25 drafted, you say with regard to the soldiers who were wounded when they

Page 5661

1 were on leave, you say with regard to policemen -- well, in fact did you

2 consider them all to be civilians? Is that how you portrayed them in

3 your reports?

4 A. I don't think we distinguished between civilians and ABiH

5 members. For example, if I was wounded, I'd be listed amongst all the

6 civilians who were wounded, but I was a member of the police.

7 Q. With regard to your official notes, you don't have the official

8 notes -- the official notes that you drafted in your possession; is that

9 correct?

10 A. No, I don't.

11 Q. You have partially answered this question today, but I will ask

12 you about it briefly now. In the course of the criminal investigation,

13 you only collected information about the wounded. You determined the

14 position of the building, and you tried to determine the position of the

15 victim; is that correct? Or is there anything else you did? If so,

16 please tell us what -- but first of all, did you do these duties?

17 A. As far as shelling is concerned, as a member of the team I would

18 be present at the on-site investigation. I would help them to gather

19 information on those who had been wounded. And since I know Dobrinja

20 well, I provided them with other instructions, but with regard to sniper

21 activity, with regard to persons who were wounded, then I followed the

22 procedure I mentioned. I'd go to the hospital, to the site. I'd go as

23 far as it was possible to go, and on the basis of those parameters, I

24 would draft my own note and draw the conclusions I could draw on the

25 site.

Page 5662

1 Q. Is it correct that you determine the position of the victim on

2 the basis of what the victim would say?

3 A. Yes. The victim would say that he or she was moving in such and

4 such a direction and was hit from the left or right, and it was on that

5 basis that I determine the direction from which the victim was hit.

6 Q. You didn't draw any sketches, you didn't take any photographs of

7 the site when you went to perform your duties there; is that correct?

8 A. I don't want to go into all the details. The working conditions

9 were difficult. I didn't always have the possibilities to send my

10 reports, my dispatches. There was no electricity. The communication

11 lines were down. I would just write things down on paper. I didn't have

12 a camera to take photographs with. I didn't even draw sketches. A

13 forensic expert does that at the site.

14 Q. I understand the conditions under which you worked, but I still

15 have to ask you about certain issues that may seem illogical to people

16 outside of your profession. Thank you anyway.

17 When you drafted official notes, you didn't make any

18 measurements; is that right?

19 A. No, I didn't.

20 Q. Similarly, you were never an eyewitness to any of the incidents

21 that you drafted official notes about; is that right?

22 A. No. I was never an eyewitness.

23 Q. Now a more general question. Is it correct that the

24 neighbourhoods -- the town neighbourhoods on both sides of the separation

25 line were destroyed?

Page 5663

1 A. Can you please repeat your question?

2 Q. Is it correct that on both sides of the line of engagement town

3 areas were destroyed?

4 A. Yes. In fact, I was able to see that for myself after the war

5 when I could cross to the other line. I could see the Dobrinja area, and

6 I could also tell that the area that was under the control of the ABiH

7 was more destroyed than was the area under the control of the

8 Serbian Army, though admittedly there was destruction everywhere.

9 JUDGE ORIE: Is there dispute about considerable damage to

10 buildings up to the level of destruction on both sides of the

11 confrontation line?

12 MR. LUKIC: Not on our side. I don't know whether Prosecution.

13 JUDGE ORIE: Well -- Mr. Weber.

14 MR. WEBER: The existence of destruction, no. There's no

15 dispute.

16 JUDGE ORIE: No. That was typically a matter which seems not

17 necessary to ask questions about. Please proceed.

18 MR. LUKIC: [Interpretation]

19 Q. In your part of town, Dobrinja, clashes between the warring

20 parties were frequent, were they not?

21 A. Yes.

22 Q. The line didn't shift, perhaps by a metre here or there, but it

23 mostly remained the same throughout the war, did it not?

24 A. The lines facing Dobrinja 1 and Dobrinja 4 didn't shift at all

25 because there were housing blocks there. Perhaps in the area of

Page 5664

1 Nedzarici facing Dobrinja 5 there may have been some changes in the

2 position of the line, but negligible.

3 Q. Now that you mention Nedzarici, is it true that before the Serbs

4 took control of that part of town there was fierce fighting for control

5 there?

6 A. The neighbourhood of Nedzarici lies between Vojnicko Polje and

7 Dobrinja 5. It stretches all the way to the barracks, and the student

8 dorms. The neighbourhood of Nedzarici isn't well defined, and I can say

9 that both the side of Vojnicko Polje and the side of Dobrinja 5 saw a

10 great deal of fighting, and you could tell by the level of destruction on

11 the houses that were close to the separation line.

12 Q. Going back to Dobrinja again, is it true that there were platoons

13 and companies in each of these Dobrinja neighbourhoods, 1 through 5? So

14 they had companies and platoons of the army.

15 A. On the side of the Bosnian Army, I did explain yesterday that

16 there was a unit per every neighbourhood. Now, what the strength was,

17 whether it was a company or a platoon, is another matter. But on the

18 edge, skirting every single neighbourhood there would always be a unit.

19 Q. I will now read out a portion of your statement. A moment,

20 please.

21 MR. LUKIC: Can we call up in e-court 1D448. This is the

22 transcript from the Galic case.

23 Q. I'll read out a portion of it and see if you agree what it says.

24 It's in English, so you'll wait for it to be interpreted to you.

25 MR. LUKIC: [Interpretation] We need page 62 in e-court. It's

Page 5665

1 3629, the page of the transcript.

2 Q. From line 13 to 18, I will read it in English so that the witness

3 can get a proper interpretation:

4 "[In English] Q. Thank you. That's very well. Now, in that

5 hospital, in the infirmary was there any kind of sign to denote that this

6 was a hospital?

7 "A. I believe that there was a sign -- there was no -- anything

8 written, but I cannot remember whether there was a Red Cross or any other

9 sign like that. I knew it was a hospital. I went past there every day,

10 but I never really noticed it. Not that it would be visible."

11 [Interpretation] Yesterday, you said that the infirmary was

12 housed on the ground floor of a building; right?

13 A. Yes. The infirmary became the war hospital of Dobrinja. It

14 covered the ground floor and the basement. The building is on

15 Omladinskih Radnih Brigada Street. The building is four or five stories

16 high, I believe. Let me just add that I cannot claim with any certainty

17 that there was a flag hoisted on the building because I never -- I don't

18 recall seeing it and especially not now 20 years later.

19 Q. Thank you. Let me ask you something about paragraph 5 of your

20 statement, the one from 1995. That's P567.

21 MR. LUKIC: [Interpretation] Can we call it up so the witness can

22 have it in front of him. Can we have it in B/C/S for the witness. Yes,

23 I see it now. Thank you.

24 Q. Here you speak of Ms. Vahida Saric, and you say that she was

25 wounded in her kitchen by a bullet in the shoulder:

Page 5666

1 "I attended the site, and I could see the place where the victim

2 was standing and the position of the window. On the basis of this and

3 the hole in the window, I could conclude what the angle of the bullet

4 was. The bullet came from Miroslava Krleza Street --" I'm sorry,

5 "Miroslava Krnda Street, from the Dobrinja neighbourhood." Sorry, yes.

6 It is Krleza. "... in Dobrinja 1, which is held by the

7 Bosnian Serb Army, was held. There is no doubt at all that the bullet

8 came from that place. I think she was hit by fragmentations of the

9 bullet, because she was wounded in different places."

10 It was the neighbours who told you what the position of the

11 victim was, right, because you didn't speak to her?

12 A. I can't at this time -- it must have been the neighbours who told

13 me where she was, that she was by the dining table in the kitchen.

14 Q. And you yourself ascertained the trajectory of the bullet, did

15 you not?

16 A. Since the kitchen faced the south-east, the window -- the

17 position of the window and the kitchen itself, and of course it was this

18 window that the bullet came through, allowed me to establish that the

19 direction of fire was south-east and that it came from Dobrinja.

20 Q. You established this fact yourself, did you not?

21 A. Yes.

22 Q. Regardless of the fact that she was, as you yourself put it, hit

23 by bullet fragments?

24 A. That was the note that I made in my record that there -- that she

25 was hit by bullet fragments of that same bullet that had first gone

Page 5667

1 through the windowpane and then had hit her.

2 MR. LUKIC: [Interpretation] We now need paragraph 11 of the same

3 statement.

4 Q. Here you speak of another case which happened on the

5 16th of June, 1994, when an elderly man was shot in the right arm. You

6 say that he was crossing the street.

7 Here, too, it was you who determined the direction of fire and

8 the origin of fire; right?

9 A. Yes.

10 Q. Since you provide a summary conclusion here saying many people in

11 the area had been hit from Mojmilo and that because fire was opened from

12 that direction, there were a great many victims there. In the other

13 cases that you mention here, was it also the case that you yourself

14 determined the direction and origin of fire?

15 A. The spot where this elderly man was injured is close to the war

16 hospital in Dobrinja, in a green area that could have been hit from

17 Mojmilo. At a later date it could only have been hit from the direction

18 of the Aerodrom neighbourhood.

19 Q. The mount of Mojmilo didn't shift, did it? In other words, fire

20 could be opened from Mojmilo at all times.

21 A. Yes, but I don't know how the positions shifted and which army

22 was present where.

23 Q. Later on Mount Mojmilo was under the control of the

24 Army of Bosnia-Herzegovina; right?

25 A. That's exactly why I said that for a while it was exposed to fire

Page 5668

1 from that end, but at a later stage it was sheltered by buildings or

2 obstructed by buildings. And as for this man who was wounded, that would

3 have come from the other end of the Nedzarici neighbourhood.

4 Q. But let me go back to Mojmilo. You say later on it wasn't

5 possible to -- to fire from Mojmilo. What you actually mean is that at a

6 later date the Serbs were unable to open fire from Mojmilo, whereas

7 Mojmilo was still there and anyone could open fire from it.

8 THE INTERPRETER: Can the witness please repeat his answer.

9 JUDGE ORIE: Could you please repeat your answer, and could you

10 make a small pause between question and answer. So the last part of the

11 question was, "... whereas Mojmilo Hill was still there and anyone could

12 hope fire from it." Could you please answer. Whether you agree with

13 that.

14 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Initially one could open fire from

15 Mount Mojmilo and hit the area where this man was wounded. Later on,

16 probably because the lines between the warring parties shifted, there

17 weren't any injured people at -- at that -- who actually were injured

18 from that direction, but there were people who were injured from a

19 different direction.

20 JUDGE ORIE: I think Mr. Mladic seeks the attention of counsel.

21 MR. LUKIC: [Interpretation] Can we make a short break?

22 JUDGE ORIE: Would you like to make a short break, or should we

23 take the break? We are ten minutes away from where we usually take the

24 break.

25 MR. LUKIC: Let's take a break.

Page 5669

1 JUDGE ORIE: Okay, then could the witness first be escorted out

2 of the courtroom. We take a break of 20 minutes, Mr. Sokolar.

3 [The witness stands down]

4 JUDGE ORIE: We take a break, and we'll resume at 25 minutes past

5 3.00.

6 --- Recess taken at 3.06 p.m.

7 --- On resuming at 3.26 p.m.

8 JUDGE ORIE: Could the witness please be escorted into the

9 courtroom.

10 Then I'll now finalise D59. As I said, it was MFI'd because

11 there were irregularities in the translation, and the Registry has now

12 received a revised translation, is hereby instructed to make the

13 necessary replacements in e-court, and D59 is admitted into evidence.

14 Mr. Lukic, when we left yesterday the statements of Mr. Sokolar

15 MFI'd because we didn't want to decide without having known your position

16 on the matter. I don't know what it is --

17 MR. LUKIC: We don't have objections, Your Honour.

18 JUDGE ORIE: Which means P567, P568, and P569 are admitted into

19 evidence.

20 MR. WEBER: Yes, Your Honour. And the Prosecution has resolved

21 the matter with P570 if you'd like to take care of that now.

22 JUDGE ORIE: Yes, please.

23 MR. WEBER: This photograph originated from 65 ter 26177. The

24 Prosecution has now uploaded the individual photograph under 26177A, and

25 we tender that as an exhibit. I believe it's already been marked for --

Page 5670

1 or reserved a number, P570.

2 JUDGE ORIE: A number was reserved for it because it was to be

3 taken out of a series, but no decision had been taken yet on the

4 admission. You tender it now?

5 MR. WEBER: Yes, Your Honour.

6 JUDGE ORIE: Any observations?

7 MR. LUKIC: No objections, Your Honour.

8 JUDGE ORIE: Then P570 - the number was already assigned to the

9 photograph - is admitted into evidence.

10 Please proceed, Mr. Lukic.

11 [The witness takes the stand]

12 MR. LUKIC: Thank you, Your Honour.

13 Q. [Interpretation] Mr. Sokolar, in the course of the break I spoke

14 to my colleague from the Prosecution, and I was told that I had perhaps

15 confused you, because I asked you specifically about this elderly man, a

16 certain elderly man, and then I moved on to general issues in relation to

17 Mojmilo. So I do apologise if this gave rise to some confusion, but I

18 would now like to return to that issue.

19 Part of Dobrinja under your forces, on the one side there was the

20 part of Dobrinja under the VRS, and then we have Mojmilo, Nedzarici, and

21 the third side and the fourth side it's the Aerodromsko settlement, the

22 Aerodrom neighbourhood or the airport neighbourhood; is that correct?

23 A. Yes, the airport or Aerodrom or airport neighbourhood.

24 Q. The Aerodrom settlement, is it correct that part of that

25 neighbourhood was under the control of the forces of the ABiH?

Page 5671

1 A. Yes. Two or three or four of the peripheral buildings were in

2 the hands of the ABiH.

3 Q. How far were the positions held by the ABiH from the Mojmilo Hill

4 if one goes down the route towards the Novi Grad?

5 A. I didn't understand your question.

6 Q. If we're talking about the Mojmilo Hill, on that side there is a

7 road that connects Dobrinja and Novi Grad; isn't that correct?

8 A. Yes.

9 Q. And that road goes over Mojmilo or under Mojmilo?

10 A. The road passes by the foot of the Mojmilo Hill, in the direction

11 of Lukavica, Novi Grad.

12 Q. So obviously that part of Mojmilo was under the control of the

13 forces of the ABiH; isn't that correct? And I'm asking you, how far were

14 the positions from the Mojmilo Hill that were under the control of the

15 ABiH?

16 A. I can't remember where the lines were above the houses, the

17 Trapara houses in the direction of Mojmilo Hill. I don't know where the

18 demarcation line was because it is an open space. There were no

19 residential buildings there. It was a hill dominating the settlement.

20 As to where the trenches were, which routes they took, where the bridge,

21 I don't know.

22 Q. If you don't know, just say so. That's fine. Thank you.

23 Nedzarici under the control of the Serbian forces. Was Nedzarici

24 surrounded in a certain sense, and in Sarajevo and around Sarajevo was

25 everyone in a certain sense surrounded, encircled?

Page 5672

1 A. Nedzarici wasn't surrounded as the Aerodrom neighbourhood which

2 was under the control of the VRS. In -- Nedzarici was more open in the

3 direction of the territory under the control of the VRS.

4 Q. Now I'd like to deal with your statement from 2000, P568. What

5 I'm interested in is the first page. Could we just have a look at the

6 first page. At the bottom of the English version can you see your

7 signature?

8 A. Yes, that's my signature.

9 Q. I would like to have a look at paragraph 15 now. Page 3, I

10 believe. You say in this paragraph:

11 "Our duties included patrolling the area, responding to requests

12 from citizens and examining reports of hidden weapons."

13 Who report the fact that someone had hidden weapons to you?

14 A. This has to do with flats that had been abandoned by citizens of

15 Serbian ethnicity, and their neighbours then had small groups that were

16 at the entrances, and they would say that such and such a person had

17 lived in such and such a flat and had weapons. Sometimes even before we

18 arrived someone had broken into the flat. So in any event, they would

19 make these reports and say that there might be weapons in these flats.

20 Q. In the course of your work as a policeman -- well, as you

21 yourself said, some flats had been broken into. So in the course of your

22 work did you come across any information according to which

23 Juka Prazina's men went into flats and searched flats inhabited by Serbs

24 under the pretext that they were searching for weapons?

25 A. Yes, that's correct. When I arrived two months after the events

Page 5673

1 in Dobrinja, most of the flats had been broken into by various groups,

2 neighbours, and citizens.

3 Q. When these flats were searched, did you draft any reports?

4 A. It's because they needed a professional to search flats and to

5 compile reports and issue certificates on the elements found. It's for

6 those reasons that I went Dobrinja. It was so that I could send in

7 policemen to those locations and to perform those police duties.

8 Q. So the policemen, for the most part the reserve policemen, under

9 your control in Dobrinja carried out those searches of apartments or

10 flats in order to find weapons?

11 A. Yes.

12 Q. And now I'd like to move on to a different subject. Is it true

13 that at the time that you arrived in Dobrinja, most of the Serb civilians

14 had left that part of the town under the control of the ABiH or did this

15 process go on while you were there?

16 A. Most of the citizens of Serbian ethnicity at the very beginning

17 of the war, at the beginning of April, left Dobrinja. And when Dobrinja

18 was under blockade, as I said yesterday, many Serbs remained in the

19 neighbourhood. They couldn't leave, just as the other citizens couldn't

20 leave.

21 Q. As a policeman in Dobrinja, did you find out -- or what did you

22 find out about Serb civilians being taken to the front line in order to

23 dig trenches there?

24 A. As far as civilians, Serbian civilians, being taken to dig

25 trenches is concerned, I think that military security and the civilian

Page 5674

1 protection were involved in that, and it's true that most of those in the

2 civilian protection were Serbs, citizens of Serbian ethnicity, and they

3 performed those duties, did that work.

4 Q. Thank you. As a policeman in Sarajevo, did you find out -- or,

5 rather, first of all, do you know who Avdo Hebib is?

6 A. Avdo Hebib was a psychiatrist in the MUP clinic before the war,

7 and just before the war I think he was the assistant minister. He had

8 some sort of position. There were a lot of changes just before the war,

9 but he did have a position within the Ministry of the Interior.

10 Q. Did you find out that Juka Prazina killed his son? Did you have

11 that information?

12 A. I heard about that. Not about that. I heard about the fact that

13 his son was killed, but not by Juka Prazina. It was done by a group when

14 the accounts were settled with Caco's group. This was in the centre of

15 town when a lot of policemen and members of the military security came to

16 harm because they didn't want to be placed under the control of the army.

17 Q. That conflict was in fact a conflict between various factions

18 within the armed Muslim people. Is that how we could put it?

19 A. Yes, we could put it that way.

20 Q. You know and I know the following, but for the benefit of the

21 Chamber, we should perhaps say what Avdo Hebib's nationality or ethnicity

22 is. What is his ethnicity?

23 A. A Muslim.

24 Q. There was a tunnel under the airport tarmac in the vicinity of

25 Dobrinja. Did you have the opportunity of observing what would be taken

Page 5675

1 into town via that tunnel?

2 A. The tunnel was in the neighbourhood that I lived in, and the exit

3 is on the other side in Butmir. During the day civilians could cross

4 over from one side to the other, and on several occasions the ABiH army

5 had to go to the battle-field. As to what they brought in and took out,

6 I don't know. It was blocked on such occasions and you couldn't see what

7 they were taking into the tunnel and taking out of the tunnel. There was

8 no access to the tunnel on such occasions.

9 Q. Today you said, or perhaps it was yesterday, that you handed over

10 troops to the military security, troops that had committed crimes. When

11 did you start handing over such soldiers to the military security?

12 A. I think in the summer 1992 the military security had several

13 responsibilities. So when I arrived there in July, the system was

14 already in place.

15 Q. But you never handed anyone over to the JNA. Prior to the

16 conflict did you hand anyone over to the JNA military security?

17 A. No.

18 Q. You only co-operated with the ABiH military security?

19 A. Yes.

20 Q. We need paragraph 28 of your statement. In this paragraph you

21 say that most of the shells that landed on Dobrinja arrived from the

22 Serb-controlled territory. You say most of the shells. And what about

23 the rest? Where did they come from?

24 A. I've just realised now how ridiculous this may seem. It may

25 appear as if shells were coming just from that part of town, whereas they

Page 5676

1 came from all over.

2 Q. You say that the calibre used was one of 60 and 80 millimetres.

3 Do you know which calibre was used to fire upon the Serb-controlled area

4 from Dobrinja?

5 A. No. I don't know what the situation was later in the war. I

6 know that we had very little weaponry there.

7 Q. In paragraph 29, you speak about the sniper fire which came from

8 four or five locations. You say:

9 "This I established based on the investigations I carried out on

10 those civilian persons that had been shot by snipers."

11 So the findings you speak about here were established by you;

12 right?

13 A. Well, after spending a year, two or three in Dobrinja, every

14 citizen was fully aware of where the fire could come from. You had

15 various screens, barricades protecting you from fire and enabling you to

16 move from building to building. In this instance I identified four cases

17 or four directions from which these individuals were injured.

18 Q. A brief question: You mentioned missing persons today when I

19 asked you about those killed. You said that you had people reported as

20 missing. Is it true that to this day a number of Serbs from Sarajevo is

21 listed as missing? Do you know anything about it?

22 A. Can you clarify your question?

23 Q. To this day the remains of a number of Serbs who went missing

24 from Sarajevo remain unestablished. Are you aware of that?

25 A. Well, I don't know about the numbers. I do know that there are

Page 5677

1 people who are still listed as missing and who went missing during the

2 war.

3 Q. Since you didn't deal with violent crimes, were you aware of the

4 fact that allegations were being investigated about Juka Prazina

5 having -- having, in fact, ground the dead Serbs through the meat

6 producing machinery of a factory?

7 A. I don't know about these allegations. I know that for a while we

8 weren't able to enter Alipasino Polje.

9 MR. WEBER: The Prosecution objects to the initial

10 characterisation. Since you didn't deal with violent crimes, it

11 misstates the witness's evidence. He said he dealt with a number of

12 different types of crimes before and after the commencement of the war.

13 I have no problem with the rest of the question as it stands.

14 JUDGE ORIE: Then the gist of the question is not objected to, so

15 let's proceed.

16 Could you please finish your answer. You said that you didn't

17 know about these allegations, but that you did know that for a while you

18 were not able to enter Alipasino Polje. Could you please finish your

19 answer.

20 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] It says "Konjevic Polje" here.

21 That's a mistake. I said on a number of occasions now that this

22 translation leads to confusion only.

23 Now, it is true that for a period of time the police forces

24 weren't able to reach the area of Alipasino Polje at all where

25 Juka Prazina was present together with his group. Let me give you an

Page 5678

1 example. They would steal a car off a citizen and then take the vehicle

2 to that part of town. We were unable to retrieve the vehicle and return

3 it to the citizen.

4 MR. LUKIC: [Interpretation] Mr. Sokolar, thank you for answering

5 my questions. I have no questions left.

6 Thank you, Your Honours.

7 JUDGE ORIE: Thank you, Mr. Lukic.

8 Mr. Weber, any need to re-examine the witness?

9 MR. WEBER: Yes, Your Honour.

10 JUDGE ORIE: Could you give us an estimate of the time you think

11 you would need?

12 MR. WEBER: It could be five to ten minutes.

13 JUDGE ORIE: Yes. Please proceed.

14 MR. WEBER: Maybe shorter depending on the knowledge of the

15 witness.

16 JUDGE ORIE: Please proceed.

17 Re-examination by Mr. Weber:

18 Q. Mr. Sokolar, yesterday at transcript page 5639, you were asked

19 the following question:

20 "You've heard about the Special Police Unit that was part of the

21 MUP, the Ministry of Interior; isn't that correct?"

22 You answered:

23 "If you have in mind the Special Police Unit, the special MUP

24 unit under Vikic's command, when the MUP was divided, it remained as a

25 special under in the MUP of the federation in Bosnia-Herzegovina."

Page 5679

1 My question, sir, is: When did this divide in the MUP occur?

2 A. I think that the MUP was divided on the 4th or the 5th of April

3 when what had up to that point been a special MUP unit in Krtelji was

4 divided. I think that it was on the 4th or the 5th of April that the

5 special unit was divided so that the Serb Specials went their way and the

6 Muslim Specials and members of other ethnicity stayed in town.

7 Q. Am I correct that this is in April of 1992?

8 A. Yes. I apologise. April 1992.

9 Q. Prior to this division of the special unit, did you know of

10 Dragan Vikic's deputy commander, Milenko Karisik, or another member of

11 this unit by the name of Miodrag Repija?

12 A. I heard of Milenko Karisik. I think I may have met him before

13 the war. As for the other one, I don't know his surname. I don't -- I

14 don't -- it's not familiar to me.

15 Q. When this divide of the special MUP unit occurred do you know

16 what happened to Milenko Karisik? Do you know where he went?

17 A. Well, if he wasn't in town with Dragan Vikic and the others, then

18 he must have gone on to the area under the control of the

19 Army of Republika Srpska.

20 MR. WEBER: Could the Prosecution please have 65 ter 16648 for

21 the witness.

22 Q. Sir, before you on the right side of the screen is an article

23 from "Oslobodjenje," dated 8 April 1992, entitled "People were defending

24 the city." I was wondering if you could please --

25 MR. WEBER: If you could scroll slightly in the B/C/S version to

Page 5680

1 the left. If you -- if we could go back to the right now, please.

2 Q. If you could please read the first three paragraphs of this

3 article.

4 MR. LUKIC: I'm sorry.

5 JUDGE ORIE: Mr. Lukic.

6 MR. LUKIC: I don't see this emerging from my cross-examination.

7 I didn't use this document.

8 JUDGE ORIE: Mr. Weber.

9 MR. WEBER: Your Honour, the subject matter directly arises from

10 the cross-examination. The witness was asked about Dragan Vikic's unit,

11 a special MUP unit. He commented that there was a divide in this unit.

12 This article relates directly to that divide.

13 JUDGE ORIE: Yes. Can you ask these questions without the

14 newspaper? Would you have that -- the usual way of putting questions is

15 to first ask the witness what he can tell us, and if there's any problem

16 with that, then to see whether a newspaper would refresh his memory or --

17 so before we -- you start the witness to ask read documents -- of course

18 I do not know what questions you'll have, so I cannot at this moment

19 already say whether it will be the best way of receiving the evidence or

20 not, but I see the witness is reading meanwhile, which I would encourage

21 him to stop doing.

22 Mr. Weber, could you please --

23 Witness, could you carefully listen to Mr. Weber's questions.

24 MR. WEBER:

25 Q. Mr. Sokolar, you've already commented about the divide that

Page 5681

1 occurred within this special MUP unit. On or about the

2 8th of April, 1992, were you aware of whether or not 30 members of the

3 special unit left and joined -- or tried to form a Serbian MUP forces in

4 the area of Sarajevo?

5 A. The division of what was up to that point the BH MUP saw most of

6 the Serb policemen leave and form the Republika Srpska MUP Special

7 Police. Those among them who stayed in town formed a special MUP -- a

8 special unit of the MUP which belonged to the

9 Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina.

10 Q. Do you recall any information or knowledge that you might have

11 had around the 8th of April, 1992, as to whether or not Dragan Vikic

12 tried to keep this special unit together, both the forces that continued

13 to be a part of the Bosnian federation and also the Serbs who were

14 previously part of that special unit?

15 A. The way the division came about, was it the result of

16 discussions? Were there discussions in favour of keeping the unit

17 together? I don't know. I only know that on the 4th and 5th there was

18 fighting. There was fire in Krtelji. This is a location -- this is the

19 location where weaponry was stored and where members of the special unit

20 were trained.

21 MR. WEBER: Your Honours, based on the knowledge of the witness,

22 I'm not going to proceed with this matter any further. There will be --

23 the Prosecution does intend to present further evidence related to those

24 individuals I've mentioned.

25 JUDGE ORIE: And we'll hear that evidence at a later stage.