Page 15566
1 Wednesday, 18 September 2002
2 [Open session]
3 [The accused entered court]
4 [The witness entered court]
5 --- Upon commencing at 2.17 p.m.
6 JUDGE LIU: Call the case, please, Madam Registrar.
7 THE REGISTRAR: Good afternoon, Your Honours. This is case number
8 IT-98-34-T, the Prosecutor versus Naletilic and Martinovic.
9 JUDGE LIU: Thank you very much. Mr. Seric, thank you very much
10 for providing us with the translation of the D2/72 and D2/73.
11 MR. SERIC: [Interpretation] Good afternoon, Your Honours. Your
12 gratitude should be conveyed to the interpreters who managed to do it and
13 provide it, with the help of Madam Registrar.
14 JUDGE LIU: Witness, did you have a good rest yesterday?
15 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Well, yes.
16 JUDGE LIU: Are you ready to start this afternoon?
17 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] I am, yes.
18 JUDGE LIU: Yes. Mr. Scott. Cross-examination, please.
19 MR. SCOTT: Thank you, Mr. President
20 WITNESS: DAVOR MARIJAN [Resumed]
21 [Witness answered through interpreter]
22 Cross-examined by Mr. Scott:
23 Q. Good afternoon, sir. I note from your background as it's been
24 explained to us that you studied history and archaeology at the philosophy
25 faculty at the University of Zagreb from 1987 to 1994; is that correct?
Page 15567
1 A. It is.
2 Q. And was this a period of continuous study, that is from 1987 to
3 1994?
4 A. No. I had two breaks in between.
5 Q. And when were those breaks and what was the nature of those
6 breaks, please?
7 A. They were between April 1992 until September 1992. That was the
8 first time. And the second time was between July 1993 and May 1994.
9 During that time, I was involved in the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
10 Q. Only on the second occasion or on both occasions that you just
11 gave us?
12 A. On both occasions.
13 Q. All right. We'll come back to that, then. As a result of your
14 studies, did you obtain any degrees?
15 A. Yes. I am a graduate historian and archaeologist.
16 Q. When you say graduate and I understand educational systems
17 sometimes vary between country to country and institution to institution,
18 but when you say you graduated, does that mean you completed a three or
19 four-year course of study as we might call in some places an undergraduate
20 degree?
21 A. That was the end of a four-year study.
22 Q. And do you have any degrees after that, that is after the end of
23 your four years? Did you continue and obtain any other degrees?
24 A. Currently I'm doing post-graduate studies.
25 Q. All right. So we can understand, then, that at least at the
Page 15568
1 present time, you have what we might consider an undergraduate degree in
2 what, history?
3 A. That's right.
4 Q. And what do you consider your actual expertise, sir?
5 A. You mean what you consider the field of my research?
6 Q. Yes, sir.
7 A. The war of -- history of war, warfare including theory, and more
8 specifically, my narrow specialisation is World War II and the Patriotic
9 War.
10 Q. And when you say the Patriotic War, which war are you talking
11 about?
12 A. I'm talking about the war in Croatia, and may I add, the war in
13 Bosnia-Herzegovina during the same period of time.
14 Q. All right. Now, in terms of your expertise, then, let me follow
15 up on that for a moment. Do you consider yourself primarily an historian
16 then; is that correct?
17 A. Yes. Yes. I do not do archaeology any more.
18 Q. And do you consider yourself a military analyst?
19 A. Yes.
20 Q. Do you consider yourself a political -- what some might call a
21 political scientist, an expert on government and politics?
22 A. In the first place, I address military aspect of a period, and I
23 analyse political issues only to the extent needed to explain the time or,
24 rather, to present it.
25 Q. Do you consider yourself an intelligence expert?
Page 15569
1 A. I think -- I believe I'm quite familiar with the intelligence
2 service of the Yugoslav People's Army.
3 Q. Now, you've told us that during two periods of time, if I heard
4 you well, that you were a participant in some fashion in the war in the
5 former Yugoslavia; is that correct?
6 A. It is.
7 Q. During the first time period that you gave us a few moments ago,
8 can you tell the Judges, please, how it was that you were involved in
9 that -- in those conflicts, if you had a unit assignment, what unit you
10 were in, and what location in the former Yugoslavia were you assigned to?
11 A. I was a member of students platoon of the Livno Brigade called
12 Petar Kresimir IV on both occasions. During the first interval, I was at
13 the front around Livno, and the second time I was around Livno and
14 Uskoplje.
15 Q. And we might -- some of us might known Uskoplje better as Gornji
16 Vakuf; is that correct?
17 A. It is. It's a new term.
18 Q. And what were your duties? Can you give us a bit more help,
19 please, on the exact time that you were engaged, excuse me, around Gornji
20 Vakuf?
21 A. Three times. Ten days each. Ten days on every occasion. And I
22 was assigned to the defence.
23 Q. Well, I understand ten days on each occasion, but can you help us
24 in general? Are we talking about the summer of 1993 --
25 A. Yes, three times and ten days on every occasion.
Page 15570
1 Q. And I'm asking you, sir, about the period of time when that
2 occurred. Was this in the summer of 1993, the fall of 1993? When were
3 you assigned at Gornji Vakuf?
4 A. November 1993, December 1993, and now I'm not quite sure whether
5 it was March or April 1994.
6 Q. And who was your commanding officer during that time?
7 A. What level do you have in mind?
8 Q. Well, what was the name of your unit again?
9 A. The brigade -- well, I was in a platoon, and this platoon made
10 part of the Petar Kresimir IV Livno Brigade.
11 Q. Who was the brigade commander?
12 A. Colonel Stjepan Sucic, I believe.
13 Q. And was this an HVO unit or an HV unit?
14 A. It was an HVO unit, reserve brigade.
15 Q. And how about command office your Mr. Susic, if I heard you
16 correctly? Was he an HV officer or had he been an HV officer before
17 taking command of that brigade?
18 A. I believe so. I believe he was an HVO officer. He was -- he came
19 from Vukovar, but I believe he was born in Livno.
20 Q. My question to you, sir, was whether he was an HV officer and you
21 said yes, but then you described him as HVO. Had he been an HV officer?
22 A. I think so.
23 Q. And at what point had he joined the HVO or at least engaged in
24 service with the HVO?
25 A. At that time, I was a member of the brigade and specifically the
Page 15571
1 platoon commander. It wasn't mine to ask questions like that. I mean, we
2 didn't talk in that way. I never saw him in the papers referring to that
3 period.
4 Q. Well, sir, we'll get into this perhaps -- in much more detail
5 later, but you knew during your time of military service, probably on both
6 occasions, didn't you, that a substantial number, majority of the senior
7 HVO officers either were at the time or had been HV officers; correct?
8 A. What does the word "substantial" mean to you?
9 Q. More than a few.
10 A. More than a few? Yes.
11 Q. And had you engaged in any military service since ending that
12 second term that you again described to us some minutes ago?
13 A. Yes. I was a professional soldier in the Guards Brigade.
14 Q. And when and where was that?
15 A. September 1994, August 1995, the 1st Guards Brigade of the HVO.
16 Q. Who was the commander of the 1st Guards Brigade of the HVO?
17 A. Zeljko Vlasanovic [As interpreted].
18 Q. Now, again, sir, moving forward with your background, you tell us
19 that spent some time at the central military archives. What is the
20 central military archives?
21 A. It is the central archives of the Ministry of Defence of the
22 Republic of Croatia.
23 Q. And where are those archives located, please?
24 A. It is in the Ministry of Defence on Kralja Zvonimir street. In
25 Zagreb, of course.
Page 15572
1 Q. And is this archive, if I can describe it this way, is it
2 primarily a repository of documents, someplace, a collection perhaps of
3 shelves and filing cabinets, or is it an active archives in the terms that
4 the Ministry of Defence uses it on an active basis?
5 A. Well, the latter.
6 Q. And is this an open or public archive? Can members of the public
7 come off the street and look through this archive?
8 A. Well, in Croatia there is an Archive Act. For 30 years, nothing
9 is accessible, until 30 years expires. The same thing applies to this
10 archive.
11 Q. Well, except, sir, the fact that you've worked there. I assume
12 you've had access to this material; correct?
13 A. Yes. I had the authorisation of the Defence Minister.
14 Q. And for what purposes did you have this authorisation?
15 A. Scientific work.
16 Q. Were you employed by the Ministry of Defence at that time?
17 A. Well, yes, in part. And in November or, rather, in October 2001,
18 I quit the Ministry of Defence, that is, the Croatian Army. But the
19 authorisation was still valid because of the project that had been
20 launched by the government of the Republic of Croatia.
21 Q. So what you've told the Chamber, then, is this is an archive of
22 the Ministry of Defence, the Republic of Croatia, which is not generally
23 open to the public or outsiders but that you have had access to this
24 archive; is that right?
25 A. Yes.
Page 15573
1 Q. Do you still have access to it now?
2 A. Unless the new lady Minister has not withdrawn the authorisation
3 of the previous Minister, then I do. But I'm not aware that she's done
4 it.
5 Q. Well, who is the director or person in charge of this archive at
6 the present time?
7 A. Colonel Branko Mihaljevic.
8 Q. Now, you've also mentioned something called the military museum of
9 the Ministry of Defence. I take it this is something different than the
10 central military archive; is that correct?
11 A. It is.
12 Q. Where is that located, please?
13 A. On Vlaska street in Zagreb.
14 Q. And who owns or operates this museum?
15 A. Captain Dinko Cutura.
16 Q. This is the individual person. Should we understand that it's
17 owned and operated by the Ministry of Defence?
18 A. Yes. It is a museum of the Ministry of Defence.
19 Q. And what is there? Museums, I suppose, can be all sorts of
20 things. Is it a tourist museum or is it again a collection of documents
21 or what is there?
22 A. No. They -- it displays exhibits from the patriotic -- from the
23 homeland war. And by and large, one needs to announce himself previously
24 and then he's allowed in. I mean, the museum is provisional. I mean, it
25 is only its temporary location.
Page 15574
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Page 15575
1 Q. You've also been associated with something called the Croatian
2 Institute of History. What is that?
3 A. It is the Central Croatian Historical Institution.
4 Q. And who owns or operates the Croatian Institute of History?
5 A. Dr. Mirko Valentic.
6 Q. And is it again a creature, if you will, of the government of the
7 Republic of Croatia?
8 A. In what sense do you mean?
9 Q. Who owns it and funds it, sir?
10 A. The institute was established in the 1960s. It was set up by the
11 League of Communists of Croatia.
12 Q. Who owns --
13 A. It is financed by the Ministry of Science of the Republic of
14 Croatia.
15 Q. So is it correct, sir, to try to move forward here a bit, that
16 apart from your academic experience, all or virtually all of your
17 vocational life and work since the early 1990s or even the late 1980s has
18 been either in the military, of either Croatia or the HVO, or in
19 association with some agency or project of the Croatian government? Is
20 that correct?
21 A. Well, I was quite clear about how long I was with the HVO.
22 Between November -- that is, October last year, that is for the past year
23 I've been engaged in a project. And from the beginning of 2000, I was
24 also involved in some projects of the government of the Republic of
25 Croatia or the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Croatia.
Page 15576
1 Q. So, sir, I won't belabour this too much, but it's correct, then,
2 that apart from your education you have been -- and apart from your time
3 in the HVO, you have been continuously employed by or associated with the
4 government of Croatia; correct?
5 A. The institution -- yes. Mostly, yes. But the institution that I
6 am with now is independent of the daily politics.
7 Q. I think you mentioned already something called the Croatian
8 Information Service or HIS, we may have heard before, H-I-S. What were
9 your duties in association with HIS?
10 A. Following the order of the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of
11 Croatia from April 1999 to early June 2000, I was an archives officer at
12 the HIS, H-I-S.
13 Q. And so the record is clear, HIS is what many of us would call an
14 intelligence service of the Republic of Croatia; correct?
15 A. One of the intelligence services of the Republic of Croatia to be
16 exact.
17 Q. And during this period of assignment to HIS, who was your
18 superior? Who did you report to in connection with this project?
19 A. I never submitted any report on my work to anyone. Formally
20 speaking, I think my superior was the head of the HIS.
21 Q. And who was that?
22 A. Well, three persons held that job during that time. The first
23 one, to be quite frank, I can't remember the name of that one. The second
24 one was Miroslav Tudjman, and the third one was Ozren Zunec.
25 Q. The man Miroslav Tudjman was the son of the late President Franjo
Page 15577
1 Tudjman; correct?
2 A. Well, yes.
3 Q. And Mr. Zunec would be the head of HIS who was appointed after the
4 change of governments when Stipe Mesic become president; correct?
5 A. Yes.
6 Q. And it was after Stipe Mesic became president that documents in
7 the Republic of Croatia in these archives and at the Ministry of Defence
8 first began to become available to this Tribunal; correct?
9 JUDGE LIU: Yes, Mr. Seric.
10 MR. SERIC: [Interpretation] Thank you very much, Mr. President. I
11 allowed this set of questions and answers, but I object to any further
12 examination in this direction, because I do not know whether my learned
13 friend is trying to conduct a new investigation with the help of this
14 expert witness or is it -- or whatever he's trying to establish, that is
15 not going to discredit this witness.
16 JUDGE LIU: Well, I think the question asked by the Prosecutor has
17 some merits in it, and we also want to know the answer of that question.
18 On the other hand, Mr. Scott, you really spend too much time on those
19 questions. I hope you could get over this part of the cross-examination
20 and move on.
21 MR. SCOTT: I will do that, Your Honour. I can only represent to
22 the Chamber that I believe it would be tied up in later questioning.
23 Q. But in any event, sir, let me repeat the question. It was after
24 Stipe Mesic became president that the documents in the Republic of Croatia
25 in these archives and at the Ministry of Defence first began to become
Page 15578
1 available to this Tribunal; correct?
2 A. I don't know. Partly, yes. I don't know what the cooperation
3 before that was like.
4 Q. Well, isn't it true, sir, that a substantial number of HVO
5 documents had in fact been moved out of Bosnia-Herzegovina for the express
6 purpose of keeping them from this Tribunal, hiding them in Croatia until
7 the change of governments? And you know that, don't you?
8 JUDGE LIU: Yes, Mr. Scott -- sorry. Mr. Seric.
9 MR. SERIC: [Interpretation] Mr. President, I object to this
10 question. It has nothing to do with the substance of this examination.
11 If we're going to be telling the truth, then the constitutional law on the
12 cooperation with this Tribunal was signed by the HDZ government headed by
13 the late President Tudjman.
14 JUDGE LIU: Mr. Krsnik.
15 MR. KRSNIK: [Interpretation] Your Honour, very many times we have
16 been warned that politics do not have a place in this court despite the
17 political indictment and the political appearance of the Prosecutor at
18 every moment. These are deliberate allegations by the Prosecutor, and
19 this is just political propaganda on behalf of his witness, Mr. Mesic, who
20 is available to this Prosecution whenever they want him to be available.
21 I believe this is propaganda because he's now President Mesic called as a
22 witness in the Milosevic case. I think this has nothing to do with the
23 expert witness. Let's examine this witness on the things for which he has
24 been called. He is not a fact witness. He is an expert witness. And
25 Mr. Prosecutor has been doing things for a year that now I believe have
Page 15579
1 become clear to all of us after all.
2 JUDGE LIU: Well, this topic has appeared many, many times during
3 our proceedings, and this witness worked for a considerable time in that
4 institution. And we also believe that the witness has the right to answer
5 that question by yes or no.
6 Yes?
7 MR. KRSNIK: [Interpretation] Your Honour, I agree, but let's do
8 that in the Prosecutor's office. The knowledge about the archives or
9 whatever other knowledge that this witness has may be discussed in the
10 Prosecutor's office, because what we are dealing with here is the
11 indictment, and the indictment is something completely different. We are
12 wasting time on something that Mr. Prosecutor can discuss with this
13 witness after the hearing. We know what the indictment is. We know why
14 this witness has been called. And if there is anything else that my
15 learned friend wants to cause with him, why don't they discuss it after in
16 the Prosecutor's office.
17 JUDGE LIU: I have already said that this topic has been mentioned
18 many, many times during our proceedings. We want to know how this witness
19 knows about this matter.
20 Witness, you may answer that question.
21 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Can you please repeat the question,
22 sir?
23 MR. SCOTT:
24 Q. Sir, isn't it correct that a substantial number of the documents
25 that are now at the HVO archive were in fact moved out of
Page 15580
1 Bosnia-Herzegovina by representatives of the Republic of Croatia for the
2 express purpose of keeping that evidence from this Tribunal?
3 A. I cannot remember having participated in any such activities.
4 Q. Sir, I didn't ask you whether you participated. I asked you what
5 you know. You worked with this archive extensively. You worked with the
6 head of one of the main Croatian intelligence agencies for some
7 substantial period of time. Isn't it true, sir, that documents were
8 concealed, spirited out of Bosnia-Herzegovina and concealed from this
9 Tribunal?
10 JUDGE LIU: Yes, Mr. Seric?
11 MR. SERIC: [Interpretation] I object to this question, to the way
12 it has been asked. The Prosecutor is giving testimony instead of asking
13 questions. Why can't my learned friend ask a concrete question without
14 himself giving testimony?
15 JUDGE LIU: Well, the witness has answered that question, and I
16 think the Prosecutor has the right to ask a follow-up question, because we
17 are not quite clear about the meaning of the answer of this witness.
18 MR. SCOTT:
19 Q. Let me state it again, sir. You did said that you did not
20 participate in these activities and I did not ask you whether you
21 participated in it, but you know of it, don't you?
22 A. It is not correct.
23 Q. Yesterday, concerning Exhibit D2/59, when asked questions about
24 that document, you said that it came from the counter-intelligence agency
25 of the Republic of Croatia. So which of the intelligence agencies did you
Page 15581
1 obtain that document from? If it assists you, perhaps if necessary --
2 A. I told you yesterday. I don't need the document. I was very
3 clear yesterday. I told you exactly what the name of that service was,
4 and you repeated it, didn't you.
5 Q. That's the correct name of the agency is -- the
6 Counter-intelligence Agency of the Republic of Croatia?
7 A. I believe I was clear yesterday. The Counter-intelligence Service
8 of the Republic of Croatia. It is the former service for the protection
9 of the constitutional order.
10 Q. I won't, of course, be able to say it in Croatian, but formerly
11 known as the HDZ SUP; correct?
12 A. That is the former abbreviation. Now it is POA.
13 Q. Now, sir, you used the term yesterday historiography, and can you
14 tell the Chamber what that means or at least how you used that phrase?
15 A. Let's put it this way: It is a very unclear term in the circles,
16 in the circles that I belong to.
17 Q. Well, sir, you used the term, unless I misheard you. What does
18 that term mean to you?
19 A. Critical analysis of history, i.e. documents or, to be more
20 precise, sources.
21 Q. And is it correct, sir, again that you testified yesterday that
22 you've looked at this history of Bosnia-Herzegovina, in your words, from
23 the Croatian point of view? Is that correct?
24 A. I believe that what I said was that I studied some segments of the
25 war in Bosnia-Herzegovina as well.
Page 15582
1 Q. From the Croatian point of view.
2 A. Which involved Croatians. I believe that I said that it had to do
3 with the share of Croats in that war.
4 Q. Now, the report that you did and which has been provided to the
5 Chamber, have you been paid or compensated by anyone to prepare that
6 report?
7 A. No.
8 Q. And did you prepare that report, sir, in your private capacity as
9 a private individual or have you submitted this in some fashion
10 representing some political group or some part of the Croatian
11 government?
12 A. I prepared the study at the request of Mr. Seric and Mr. Par with
13 the verbal approval of the head of my institute.
14 Q. And you did it nobly, perhaps. You did this work for free. You
15 weren't compensated for your time or the effort that you went in to
16 preparing this some 22 pages of text and another 20 pages of footnotes.
17 Is that what you're telling us, sir?
18 A. It was not my free time. It was during my working hours.
19 Q. So this work was supported, then, to answer my question about
20 whether it was in your private capacity or some other capacity, you did
21 this report while being employed by and on the time off of the Croatian
22 Institute of History, which is an entity of the Republic of Croatia;
23 correct?
24 A. The Institute for Croatian History is an institution, not an
25 entity. I told you yesterday that I work on the project of the homeland
Page 15583
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Page 15584
1 war and the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
2 Q. Who funds the Croatian Institute of History? Who provides the
3 operating funds, pays the electric bills?
4 A. The institute pays.
5 Q. The institute obtains its funds from where?
6 A. I believe I answered that question 15 minutes ago.
7 Q. Sir, you've described the war in Bosnia yesterday as a war about
8 territory; is that correct?
9 A. Yes.
10 Q. And if I heard you well yesterday, you said that this process of
11 disintegration of Bosnia-Herzegovina is in fact not yet complete; is that
12 right?
13 A. That is right.
14 Q. And, sir, you've made it clear in both your report and in your
15 testimony yesterday that, in fact, you consider that the war in
16 Bosnia-Herzegovina is not over, is it?
17 A. Correct.
18 Q. You said on page 1 of your report, for instance, that the
19 conflicts between the three main groups continues and was not solved by
20 Dayton now, was this reflected in the fact by Mr. Ante Jelavic, for
21 instance, who had been the Bosnian-Croat member of the presidency of
22 Bosnia-Herzegovina, was removed by the office of the High Representative
23 for advocating and taking steps to create a separate Croat entity in
24 Bosnia and Herzegovina.
25 A. I believe that I told you yesterday that I do not study Bosnia and
Page 15585
1 Herzegovina after the Dayton Accords.
2 Q. Well, sir, you've told us that the war is going on. In fact, you
3 said yesterday that the protectorate of the international community
4 prevents Bosnia and Herzegovina's disappearance and most probably a new
5 war; correct?
6 A. I don't think I said that.
7 Q. All right.
8 A. Obviously you only hear things that you want to hear.
9 Q. Well, in fact, sir, I read the transcript last night, and I think
10 at 9.54 yesterday, that's what you said, and it can certainly be checked.
11 So I'm wondering, sir, you've worked in this institute, you've
12 worked since the 1980s for, or in association, with the Croatian
13 government. If the war is not over, sir, which side are you on?
14 A. I was very clear when I said that the Dayton Accords interrupted
15 the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, that Bosnia and Herzegovina has been
16 divided. That is now a protectorate of the international community, and
17 that in -- bearing in mind the previous phenomena, the previous
18 occurrences, it will not be a theatre of war for as long as members of the
19 armed forces of the international community are present there.
20 Q. Sir, I repeat my question to you. If the war is not over, which
21 you say it is not, which side are you on?
22 A. I said that the war was interrupted. There is a difference
23 between something being interrupted and something being over, isn't
24 there?
25 Q. Well, sir, we have your report and we'll go forward.
Page 15586
1 Now, in response to questions by Mr. Krsnik yesterday, you seem to
2 indicate, again if I heard you, that there is no government of
3 Bosnia-Herzegovina. Is that your position?
4 A. Can I please hear the recording of that?
5 Q. I don't -- that's up to the President, of course, Witness. I'm in
6 the President's hands. It it's not up to me to answer that,
7 Mr. President?
8 JUDGE LIU: Perhaps Mr. Krsnik, you could ask your question
9 again.
10 MR. KRSNIK: [Interpretation] Your Honours, I remember it very
11 clearly, but I'm also familiar with the method of the cross-examination by
12 my learned friend to the question whether there is a Bosnia and
13 Herzegovinian government. The witness replied very clearly that he
14 doesn't study Bosnia and Herzegovina after the Dayton and that he cannot
15 answer that question. I believe I remember that very well, and you,
16 Mr. President, I believe you listened very carefully to both my answer and
17 the witness's -- both my question and the witness's answer and that you
18 will remember that.
19 But my learned friend uses his well-known rhetorics in his
20 cross-examination, and I'm sure we will hear all sorts of questions coming
21 from him today.
22 JUDGE LIU: Well, it is a very, very simple question. We don't
23 need the expertise of this witness to answer this question.
24 Maybe, Mr. Scott, you can ask this question again to see how this
25 witness will answer that question.
Page 15587
1 MR. SCOTT: Thank you, Mr. President, I will not engage in
2 colloquy with the counsel at this point.
3 Q. Was it not -- were not the questions put to you yesterday
4 afternoon -- morning I suppose it was, questions about whether there were
5 in fact anything to be considered a government of Bosnia-Herzegovina? Do
6 you remember that series of questions from Mr. Krsnik? Do you remember
7 saying essentially "no"?
8 A. What do you have in mind specifically? Yesterday we mentioned the
9 government in several different frameworks.
10 Q. Sir, I just -- one question, and we could ask several, but there
11 are international embassies, agencies and organisations in
12 Bosnia-Herzegovina even as we speak today that deal every day with
13 government agencies representing Bosnia and Herzegovina; correct?
14 A. I believe that there is a huge presence of representatives of
15 various international organisations in Bosnia. They are so numerous that
16 one cannot fail to see them.
17 Q. And they deal every day, sir, don't they, with agencies and
18 departments and representatives of the Government of Bosnia and
19 Herzegovina?
20 A. I do not work in the Government of Bosnia and Herzegovina. This
21 is what you say. It may be true.
22 Q. Sir, let me put my case to you very plainly. As an historian,
23 sir, you appear to have antipathy towards Bosnia-Herzegovina and the
24 Muslims or Bosniaks. Your report suggests that the Bosnia-Herzegovina has
25 never been a "real country." The Muslims have near really been a "real
Page 15588
1 nation" in the sense that you understand or use that word; correct?
2 JUDGE LIU: Yes, Mr. Seric.
3 MR. SERIC: [Interpretation] Mr. President, I do not only object, I
4 protest. This is an insult to my witness's address.
5 JUDGE LIU: Well, I think the Prosecutor just quoted his own
6 report, and the witness has the free will to say yes or no, whether he
7 mentioned in his report that Bosnia-Herzegovina has never been a real
8 country. These are facts that everybody can look to in that report.
9 MR. SERIC: [Interpretation] I apologise, Mr. President. My
10 learned friend said that the witness appears to have antipathy towards
11 Bosnia and Herzegovina. Why doesn't he ask very clear, very correct
12 questions if he wants to continue this cross-examination?
13 MR. SCOTT: Mr. President, I put the Prosecution case to the
14 witness, and I think it's proper, and I think we should have his answer.
15 JUDGE LIU: Well, I think there is some sense, you know, in the
16 objections from Mr. Seric. You shouldn't use that antipathy towards
17 Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Muslims or Bosniaks. Just ask your
18 question.
19 MR. SCOTT: I will rephrase it, Your Honour, if it will assist.
20 Q. Sir, it is your view, as stated in your paper and the crux of your
21 testimony, or at least a part of it, that Bosnia-Herzegovina has never
22 been a "real country" and the Muslims have never been a "real nation," so
23 the positions that they took and the things that happened during the war
24 by either the Serbs on the one hand or the Croats on the other were
25 justified?
Page 15589
1 A. I believe that your interpretation is very liberal and that it
2 goes to the extent of insults. The question that you have asked me, I can
3 tell you that this is not what I said, firstly. Do you understand the
4 chronological depth of this issue, of this question? Bear in mind the
5 years, the time. I do not think you have to put it to me and tell me that
6 I said something that I didn't say.
7 Q. So if that's not your position, sir, is it your position that the
8 Muslim or Bosniak nation has the same or equal rights as the Croats, had
9 the same rights to organise and defend themselves, had the same rights to
10 take political action, had the same rights to negotiate with enemies such
11 as the Serbs, or were those rights that only the Croats had?
12 A. All the rights to defend themselves that belonged to Croats
13 belonged equally to Muslims during the war. However, there are usually no
14 rights in any war.
15 Q. What is a banovina, sir?
16 A. A banovina is an administrative unit which existed on the
17 territory of Croatia, of the medieval Croatia, the medieval Bosnia, and in
18 the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.
19 Q. At page 2 of your report, sir, you mention that the Croatian
20 banovina was established, at least on another occasion if not previously,
21 in 1939 [RealTime transcript read in error"1933"]; is that correct?
22 A. Yes. But it was the banovina of Croatia.
23 MR. SCOTT: If the witness can be shown two exhibits, please, 899
24 and 862. Mr. President, if we could finish with these exhibits, then
25 perhaps we could take the break.
Page 15590
1 If those could be placed on the ELMO, please, that would be
2 helpful. Perhaps we could start with Exhibit 899. It may be easier.
3 JUDGE LIU: Yes, Mr. Krsnik.
4 MR. KRSNIK: [Interpretation] Your Honour, for the record, this is
5 the line 22 -- [In English] Page 22, line 17. [Interpretation] The year
6 is 1933 and it should have been the year 1939. So can we correct that
7 in the transcript.
8 MR. SCOTT:
9 Q. If you'd look first of all, sir, at the coloured copy, do you see
10 there in what would be the boldest, kind of a reddish orange colour,
11 wrapping around what might be described as a pink area in the middle.
12 Does that show what would be called the Croatian banovina in 1939, I
13 believe so.
14 Q. And for the record, I simply provided 862 as well in the case that
15 one or the other might be more helpful. The smaller insert map on 862
16 perhaps shows it in that scale quite clearly as well.
17 Q. Now, you also say, sir -- I'm sorry. We can stop there,
18 Mr. President, if you like?
19 JUDGE LIU: Yes. It's time for a vehicle. We will resume at a
20 quarter to four.
21 --- Recess taken at 3.15 p.m.
22 --- On resuming at 3.45 p.m.
23 JUDGE LIU: Yes, Mr. Scott.
24 MR. SCOTT:
25 Q. Sir, before we continue on, it was -- someone pointed out to me
Page 15591
1 during the break that a name of a person you gave earlier, we may not have
2 gotten it correctly in the transcript or it's quite possible -- possible
3 that we did, but just in case. When you described or identified the
4 person who was the commander of the 1st HVO Guards Brigade, is that a man
5 named Zeljko Vlasnovic [As interpreted]?
6 A. You're asking me?
7 Q. Yes.
8 A. Yes. Zeljko Glasnovic, so once again it is misspelled.
9 Q. Just so we don't come back to it, can you spell the last name for
10 the record, please? If you can.
11 A. Well, it should be G rather than V in the last name. It is
12 G-L-A-S-N-O-V-I-C.
13 Q. All right. Now, we were talking before the break about the
14 banovina, the Croatian banovina. You say in your report at page 2 that
15 the Croatian banovina was expanded during World War II under the name of
16 something called the Independent State of Croatia or NDH; is that
17 correct?
18 A. Yes.
19 Q. And what was the NDH and how was that established?
20 A. The Independent State of Croatia is -- was a state which was
21 founded by Germany and Italy after breaking apart the Kingdom of
22 Yugoslavia in April 1941.
23 Q. All right. Now, if you still have or if the usher can assist us
24 if you don't, if you still have Exhibit 899 available to you. Could you
25 please use that map to show Their Honours, the Judges, the boundaries of
Page 15592
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12 Blank page inserted to ensure pagination corresponds between the French and
13 English transcripts.
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
Page 15593
1 the Independent State of Croatia during World War II.
2 A. Well, say the eastern border moved to the River Drina and another
3 part in the area of Dalmatia has shrunk in favour of Italy, and a part of
4 Medjimurje in favour of Hungary.
5 Q. All right. Well, so we can help make the record clear, can you
6 take, if you can, please, take the pointer, can you trace for the Judges
7 the Drina River that you say would have been the eastern -- approximately
8 the eastern border?
9 A. This is the Drina River.
10 Q. Forgive me, sir.
11 A. No, no, no. It's here. This is Bosnia.
12 Q. So at that time, the Independent State of Croatia included
13 essentially all the pink area in the middle of Exhibit 899 and additional
14 territory that would have been to the east; correct?
15 A. Yes. And a part of East Herzegovina down to the border with
16 Montenegro.
17 Q. And on page 2 of your report you also say that after World War II,
18 the borders of the Independent State of Croatia were then reduced again.
19 And were they reduced again to what we see in the orange red on the
20 exhibit or what were the borders of the Croatian banovina after World War
21 II?
22 A. I think you again are seeing something that nobody else does.
23 Where do you see that I -- where do you see the Independent State of
24 Croatia after World War II? Perhaps it wouldn't be bad if you read it.
25 Q. I've read your report, sir, I can assure you, several times. In
Page 15594
1 the first paragraph on the top of page 2, you say: "Upon the end of World
2 War II, the borders were drawn back with minor corrections to correspond
3 with the time of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy.
4 So can you show us on this map what were the borders of the
5 Croatian banovina after World War II?
6 A. Well, to tell you frankly, I am not much of a geographer.
7 Q. All right, sir. We'll move on. Another part of
8 Bosnia-Herzegovina that you mention in your report is called the
9 Posavina. Now, can the usher show you Exhibit P3.5. It's another map.
10 It may be loose. You can use mine. It should be in the first binder, the
11 overall exhibit binders, but in any event, if could you put that on the
12 ELMO, please.
13 Sir, is this an exhibit a map marked as Exhibit 3.5, the area that
14 is in green, as opposed to grey, does that correctly show what you've
15 described in your paper as the Bosnian Posavina?
16 A. Yes.
17 Q. And, sir, around the same time that the Croatian Community of
18 Herceg-Bosna was declared in 1991, was there not also another entity
19 declared called the Croatian Community of the Bosnian Posavina or Bosanska
20 Posavina?
21 A. I believe so.
22 Q. So isn't it correct, sir, that what was -- what was established as
23 the Croatian Community of Herceg-Bosna in many ways paralleled territory
24 claimed and that was one time part of the Croatian banovina and the part
25 claimed by the Croatian Community of the Bosanska Posavina was the green
Page 15595
1 part shown on this map 3.5; correct?
2 A. Pretty correct.
3 Q. Now, the first democratic multi-party elections we all know and
4 you say in your report were held on the 18th of November, 1990, and you
5 say that the nationalist parties won overwhelmingly. And just so we're
6 clear, sir, when you say nationalist parties, you include the HDZ;
7 correct?
8 A. I do, yes. The HDZ, SDA, and the SDS.
9 Q. And when you talk about the HDZ political party in
10 Bosnia-Herzegovina, this was really a branch of the HDZ party that had --
11 was first established in Croatia; correct?
12 A. Well, I'd put it in a different way. I'd say, rather, that their
13 political goals were similar.
14 Q. Sir, isn't it correct that the HDZ party in Bosnia-Herzegovina,
15 for all practical purposes, was an extension of the HDZ political party
16 founded by Franjo Tudjman and others in Croatia?
17 A. This claim is very widespread. But personally, I've seen too
18 little evidence to corroborate it.
19 Q. Well, sir, is it correct and do you recall testifying yesterday
20 that the Croatian -- the Croat Democratic Union as a Croat party advocated
21 views identical to the views of the Croat democratic party? Do you recall
22 that testimony yesterday?
23 A. Yes. They had the same view regarding the future of Yugoslavia.
24 Q. And further, sir, you talk about various organisations in the
25 course ever your cross-examination and in your report, for that matter,
Page 15596
1 you identify the HVO or the Croatian Defence Council as being essentially
2 part of the HDZ, in the same way that you equate the SDA with the ABiH; is
3 that correct? One being a political party and one being a military and/or
4 government organisation.
5 A. Yes.
6 Q. Now, you say, sir, that the war was instigated by the proponents
7 of Greater Serbia expansionism. What do you mean by "Greater Serbia"?
8 A. The expansion of the borders of the Republic of Serbia to border
9 areas of the Republic of Croatia where the Serbs were a majority
10 population, that is, to the Virovitica, Karlovac, Karlobag line.
11 Everything east of it was to become part of Greater Serbia, that is,
12 Serbia.
13 Q. You say at page 2 of your report that the Serb party, the
14 political party in Bosnia-Herzegovina, or the SDS, was nationalistic and
15 centrally connected to Belgrade, and the SDS wanted to merge with the
16 parent nation Serbia.
17 Now, how do you mean and in what ways was it centrally connected
18 to Belgrade?
19 A. To begin with, I did not say it was nationalistic, but that
20 doesn't matter. It was a link which linked Serbia and Croatia, that is,
21 Serb areas in Croatia.
22 Q. Well, let me restate. Perhaps I wasn't clear. And if I wasn't, I
23 apologise. I believe you say in your paper that the Serb political party
24 the SDS was centrally connected to Belgrade. I'd like for you to explain
25 for the Judges in what way you mean that that political party was
Page 15597
1 connected to Belgrade.
2 A. I wish to say here that I wrote "a connective tissue," as said.
3 That is not quite one and the same thing. I wanted to say, and it can be
4 proven, too, that those two parties in Serbia, in Bosnia and Herzegovina,
5 I mean Serb parties, and the Serb party in Croatia, were subordinated to
6 the policy laid down in Belgrade, something about that. I read something
7 about that in a text, about the role of the Yugoslav People's Army, of
8 course supported by evidence in the war against the Republic of Croatia.
9 Q. Sir, wasn't the HDZ political party in Bosnia-Herzegovina the
10 Bosnian Croat party, just in the same way centrally connected, or to use
11 your word, had connective tissues to the HDZ party in Zagreb?
12 A. I'm not sure that one can draw a mark of equality between the two,
13 because it was very, very clear. The Serbs were very clear about that,
14 what they did in Croatia between 1990/1992.
15 Q. Is it a matter of fact or is it a matter of clarity, sir? Are you
16 simply saying the Serbs were simply more overt about their programme and
17 plans than the Croats were?
18 A. I wouldn't really put it that way.
19 Q. You say in your paper that on the 24th of October, 1991, the
20 Bosnian-Herzegovnian Serbs started -- excuse me -- disintegration of
21 Bosnia and Herzegovina by founding the assembly of the Serb people in
22 Bosnia and Herzegovina. And further that on the 21st of December, 1991,
23 they issued the "Decision on constituting the Serb Republic of
24 Bosnia-Herzegovina." Is that correct?
25 A. Yes.
Page 15598
1 Q. Now, again in order to try to move forward a bit in time, that is
2 in the time we have in the courtroom, let me see if I understand your
3 position on another topic. Do you suggest or is it the position that you
4 take in your paper that because Bosnian Muslims, who happened to be or
5 were on active duty at the time in the JNA and fought then in the JNA
6 units against Croats in Croatia, and because JNA or Serb forces
7 attacked -- attacking Croatia operated from Bosnia and Herzegovina as
8 bases and because the Bosnian Muslims engaged in what you described as a
9 "pro-Yugoslavian neutrality," that it is your proposition or thesis that
10 Bosnia-Herzegovina engaged in a war against Croatia?
11 A. Yes. But you forgot the Territorial Defence of Bosnia and
12 Herzegovina.
13 Q. And by the Territorial Defence, are you talking about the
14 Territorial Defence at the time it was part of the JNA or after a new
15 Territorial Defence was established by Bosnia and Herzegovina in
16 approximately April 1992?
17 A. The Territorial Defence was never, in no way, belonged to the JNA.
18 Q. It existed, sir, under the military structure of the former
19 Yugoslavia; correct? It existed in the former Yugoslavia?
20 A. Yes. Yes. As a part of the armed forces of the Socialist Federal
21 Republic of Yugoslavia.
22 Q. And is it further correct, sir, as I read your paper at page 3,
23 that you contend that since Muslim TO forces were being paid by the budget
24 of another state, in this case you say Bosnia, that therefore in fighting
25 on the side of the Serbs, again it's your contention that this amounted to
Page 15599
1 Bosnia-Herzegovina engaging in war against Croatia; correct?
2 A. Well, I'd -- I'd like to give a slightly broader answer to your
3 question. We have already said that the territory, the area is used for
4 the attack, that a part of the armed forces of Bosnia-Herzegovina is
5 used. And I think that it suffices for the claim that Bosnia-Herzegovina
6 participated in the aggression against the Republic of Croatia.
7 Q. And is it your contention, sir, that in the way that you've
8 described to the Chamber in your report and just now, is it your
9 contention then that that made the Serb attacks on Croatia or the fighting
10 in Croatia an international armed conflict involving Bosnia?
11 A. Well, once again it depends on how you treat the dissolution of
12 Yugoslavia. I think -- well, perhaps I won't be quite accurate here. The
13 thesis of the French lawyer Badinter is accepted, that Yugoslavia fell
14 apart in June 1991, and that, I guess, meant that we were dealing with an
15 international conflict there.
16 Q. And, sir, on page 3, the end of the next to last paragraph on page
17 3 of your report, at the last sentence of that paragraph, did you not
18 say: "Is it not consistent then to state that BiH committed aggression
19 against the Republic of Croatia?" That's the position stated in your
20 paper. Now, are you changing your position today?
21 A. No.
22 Q. You're not changing your position.
23 A. I'm not.
24 Q. You say that in the -- in an earlier period of the conflict, of
25 these events, the Croatians unsuccessfully were -- excuse me -- were
Page 15600
1 unsuccessfully trying to reach an agreement with Serbs on the ceasefire
2 and demarcation, and then you go on to say that there were several
3 meetings of the leaders of Bosnian Serbs and Croats outside
4 Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1992, which achieved no concrete results.
5 Can you tell us some of the meetings between the Bosnian Serbs and
6 Croats that you had in mind when you wrote that?
7 A. I mean the visit of Nikola Koljevic in Zagreb, I believe sometime
8 in February 1992, and the meeting in Graz in May 1992, a meeting of Mate
9 Boban and Radovan Karadzic.
10 Q. All right. Well, that's helpful, sir, because to be perfectly
11 transparent, I was not clear from your report whether you agreed that the
12 meetings in Graz occurred or if you were denying that they had occurred.
13 So you agree that Radovan Karadzic and Mate Boban had talks about the
14 settlement of the war and the future of Bosnia-Herzegovina in Graz about
15 May of 1992; is that right?
16 A. They talked, and all the dailies carried a press release, and in
17 it one could see that they had failed to reach an understanding on a
18 demarcation line.
19 Q. Well, wouldn't it be fair to say, sir, that they agreed on some
20 things but to use the phrase then "Agreed to disagree on other things"?
21 Is that an accurate statement?
22 A. I must say I wasn't there. I only know what I read in the
23 papers.
24 Q. All right. Well, in that regard, sir, can the usher please assist
25 us in showing the witness Exhibit 126.1, which should be in the first
Page 15601
1
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3
4
5
6
7
8
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10
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12 Blank page inserted to ensure pagination corresponds between the French and
13 English transcripts.
14
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22
23
24
25
Page 15602
1 bundle.
2 Mr. President, I should have explained at the beginning and I
3 apologise, with this witness, two bundles -- actually, three bundles have
4 been prepared. The first smaller bundle is a set of documents that will
5 be at this first -- that relates to the first part of this examination,
6 and I hope that they were pretty much in the order in which they would
7 come up in the examination and that is a first bundle would include
8 126.1. There is then a much thicker bundle, a second bundle, and then I'm
9 afraid, as testimony went yesterday, then there is a third bundle which
10 didn't get integrated into the two existing sets because they'd already
11 been -- were already substantially under preparation, but I'll try to
12 assist the Chamber as much as possible in directing you to the correct
13 documents.
14 But, sir, if you look at Exhibit P126.1, you said there was a
15 press release, and indeed do you recall seeing what's marked here or
16 hearing about -- you can certainly look at it for a moment, that this
17 being the gist, if you will, about what was reported about the meetings
18 between Mr. Boban and Mr. Karadzic in Graz in May 1992?
19 A. I must admit that my English is not very good. Can I have this in
20 the original language?
21 Q. My apologies, sir. It hasn't been provided to you, and if we
22 still have time before you finish, I'll try to see if I can provide it to
23 you.
24 JUDGE LIU: Well, Mr. Scott, to be fair to the witness, would you
25 please read the certain paragraph?
Page 15603
1 MR. SCOTT: Yes, Mr. President. That is what I was just looking
2 at. It's hard to pick out any one particular sentence, Mr. President. I
3 apologise. Without reading the entire document. But let me read --
4 starting at the beginning of the page of the document over the written
5 names of Radovan Karadzic and Mate Boban. It would be the second page of
6 the exhibit. It says this: "Our intention being to resolve peacefully by
7 agreement all outstanding issues including the borderline between our two
8 constituent units, the Croatian unit and the Serbian unit, in
9 Bosnia-Herzegovina. The representatives of the Croatian and the Serbian
10 national communities have established the existing -- existence of the
11 following specific differences as regards the working demarcation map:
12 Number 1, in the city of Mostar, the Serbian side considers the Neretva
13 River to be the borderline, while the Croatian side considers the entire
14 city of Mostar to be within the Croatian constituent unit.
15 Number 2, south of Mostar, the Croatian side considers the entire
16 area delineated in 1939, in other words, the borders of the Hrvatska
17 banovina to be in the Croatian constituent unit. The Serbian side
18 considers the Neretva River to be the borderline between the Croatian and
19 the Serbian constituent units."
20 Now, let me stop there.
21 Q. Is that what you -- as an historian and from what you heard at the
22 time, is that what you recall?
23 A. I haven't seen this document. Summaries, I've already told you,
24 appeared in the press, but can you please continue reading this document?
25 Let's see who the organisers of this meeting were.
Page 15604
1 Q. Well, I can refer, Mr. Marijan, without reading the entire
2 document, I think it's fair to say that the negotiations were to some
3 extent encouraged by the European Community, if that's what you're getting
4 at. Is that what you're trying to suggest, which I'm prepared to say that
5 that's correct, but is that what you're trying to get at?
6 A. Yes, Mr. Prosecutor. And if I may say another thing, I would like
7 to repeat what I said yesterday several times, and I've already said it
8 today, and that is something that you insisted upon at the beginning.
9 There is the influence of the international community everywhere. The
10 international community has always been designing maps. It has always
11 continuously divided Bosnia and Herzegovina, and eventually it has managed
12 to divide Bosnia-Herzegovina by the Dayton Accords.
13 Now, I'm not clear that I understand what you are trying to prove
14 talking about a failed -- the failed Croatian attempt.
15 Q. I don't think I said anything about a failed Croatian attempt, but
16 let's move on, sir, because as I said a few moments ago, I was not clear
17 from your report whether you in fact simply denied that Graz had occurred
18 at all. That appears to be not your position.
19 Moving forward, then, sir --
20 A. Can you please tell me -- I apologise. Can you please tell me
21 where it was that I denied it?
22 Q. Sir, I won't get into extensive discussions with you, but if I can
23 do it very quickly, I will tell you that.
24 A. Let me tell you where you may have found the place where you
25 thought that I denied it.
Page 15605
1 Q. Well, just so you --
2 A. Where I commented upon Mr. Izetbegovic's attitude.
3 Q. Well, sir, I think, and so the record's clear and so the Judges
4 can be advised if it's something they want to look at, it's page 21 of the
5 report. Perhaps it's a translation issue, sir, and I -- as I said several
6 times, I was not clear what your position was.
7 JUDGE LIU: Yes, Mr. Krsnik.
8 MR. KRSNIK: [Interpretation] Your Honours, I believe it would be
9 fair if such allegations are not given without giving the witness the
10 opportunity to explain, because this is not the witness's position. It is
11 something that is alleged by the Prosecutor.
12 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Unfortunately, at this moment I
13 cannot find this part. I commented upon the recollections of
14 Mr. Izetbegovic, who had placed this in April 1992, and that was clearly
15 an attempt to justify his policy. Mr. Izetbegovic is a very important
16 factor, because the other two leaders, one of them is dead and the other
17 one is hiding. He is on a run. And this is what I meant.
18 MR. SCOTT:
19 Q. Sir, in the third paragraph, the third paragraph starting on page
20 21, not quite halfway down through the paragraph is this sentence -- it
21 seems rather categorical: "It seems no evidence exists of the
22 Karadzic-Boban talks and both participants denied them."
23 So that is what caused me to think that you were denying that
24 these negotiations ever occurred. But apparently as was indicated, that's
25 not your position, and I appreciate the clarification.
Page 15606
1 A. No, it isn't.
2 Q. Now, isn't it true, sir, that after approximately June 1992, there
3 was no significant sustained fighting between the Croats and Serbs in what
4 might be described as the Prozor-Mostar-Stolac region for the remainder of
5 1992 and all of 1993?
6 A. The end of March 1992, the fighting started in Bosanska Posavina,
7 and this fighting ended by the fall of Bosanski Brod on the 6th of
8 October, 1992. The 101st Brigade of the HVO had some 400 dead during
9 the -- these fightings. To my mind, it is a lot. And it talks about the
10 extent of that fighting.
11 Q. I didn't want to interrupt you, but that was not my question. I
12 wasn't talking about Bosanski Brod. I was talking about the region as I
13 described it, the approximate zone running from Prozor, south to Mostar,
14 south to Stolac. In that region, sir, after approximately June 1992,
15 there was no significant fighting between Croats and Serbs, at least until
16 sometime in 1994; correct?
17 A. The Croatian forces entered Stolac in June 1992. In June, they
18 were the so-called "June Dawns" around Mostar. In July of the same year,
19 Serbs had a counter -- launched a counter-attack in the area of Mostar.
20 And in November, there was the Operation Bura at the foot of the mountain
21 Velez. In other words, there was some fighting going on.
22 Q. Sir, isn't it true and don't you state at page 9 of your report
23 that by the end of 1992 at least and with the fall of Jajce and the
24 Bosnian Posavina, the Bosnian Croats and Serbs had reached a stalemate;
25 correct?
Page 15607
1 A. It was not -- it was not a ceasefire but what we actually call a
2 stalemate. There was still gunfire, shelling. The daily report coming
3 from the operation zone of Northwest Herzegovina are available to you, and
4 you can read in those reports.
5 Q. Sir, any violence, of course, is too much, and there were
6 certainly skirmishes and artillery shells fired from time to time, but
7 isn't it true, sir, that in 1993 in the Prozor-Mostar-Stolac region
8 fighting between Serbs and Croats was not a significant factor in what was
9 happening there?
10 A. That is true.
11 MR. SCOTT: And I'd like the witness to please be shown Exhibit
12 126.11. 126.11, which is a map, multicoloured map, in the first bundle, I
13 hope. Or it's loose. I'm told it's in the loose set. Sorry. If it's
14 easier, you can use mine. Thank you. If that could just be put on the
15 ELMO, please.
16 Q. Sir, this is a map that's been prepared that -- giving in one --
17 in the blue colour the area that you described today when you said that
18 the Serbs started the war by declaring the Serb republic, a Republika
19 Srpska, and the area claimed then by -- to be Herceg-Bosna, and the area
20 with the blue and green vertical lines being the area of overlap.
21 Isn't it true, sir, that in reality the areas of contention
22 between the Serbs, on the one hand, and the Croats, on the other, were in
23 fact quite limited?
24 A. It is not correct, Mr. Prosecutor. I will illustrate that by my
25 own example.
Page 15608
1 On the 13th of April, 1992, I was a member of the HVO in
2 Koricina. That is a pass between Livno and Glamoc. On that day, the
3 Tactical Group number 1 of the Knin Corps tried to enter Livno. They lost
4 a tank and 20 men. A few kilometres further down west in the area called
5 Strumica. They repeated the attempt. Again they lost a tank and a few
6 men.
7 Ten days later, another attempt was made, and this time from the
8 direction of Bosansko Grahovo. They lost three tanks, an armoured
9 vehicle, some 30 men. You can read about that in greater detail in a
10 report written by General Slavko Lisica in his memoirs. Maybe it
11 wouldn't be a bad idea for you to read such literature.
12 Q. Well, I appreciate that, sir. I'm not suggesting that these lines
13 were ever exactly achieved and that there weren't areas of contention
14 otherwise but simply the areas claimed by the Serbs and the areas claimed
15 by the Bosnian Croats on the 18th of November, 1991, when they declared
16 the Croatian Community of Herceg-Bosna, that if each side got exactly what
17 they wanted, there wouldn't have been that much in contention; correct?
18 A. You are trying exactly what I just said. You have your own
19 picture. You are not interested in the facts. You are putting things out
20 of the context and in a certain way you've been insulting me, sir.
21 On the 13th of April, I almost lost my life, and I'm not in no way
22 in the mood for your very imaginative way of putting things to me.
23 Q. You say that the Croats were left out of the various negotiations
24 between the Bosnian Muslims and the Serbs, at page 8 of your report. And
25 you say that these negotiations between Muslims and Serbs ended in June of
Page 15609
1 1992 in failure.
2 A. Mr. Izetbegovic writes about that in his memoirs, and he does it
3 really very well.
4 Q. In your report, sir, you're critical -- one of the criticisms you
5 direct toward the Bosnian side is they engaged in negotiations with the
6 Serbs without the presence of the Croats. My question to you, sir, is
7 didn't the Croats do exactly the same thing including at Graz between Mate
8 Boban and Karadzic with no Muslims there?
9 A. What do you mean exactly when you say the Bosnian side?
10 Q. The central government you might call it. The BiH Presidency. I
11 think you know well, sir. You're an historian and you know which of the
12 three parties I'm referring to.
13 Why is it, sir, that it's your contention that the Croats were
14 entitled to have their separate meetings with the Serbs but you won't give
15 that same right to the Muslims?
16 JUDGE LIU: Yes, Mr. Krsnik.
17 MR. KRSNIK: [Interpretation] Your Honours, can we please allow
18 after the question of the witness, when the -- when the witness says the
19 Bosnian side and asks what does the Prosecutor mean by that, can we allow
20 the witness to answer that, what he means by the Bosnian side?
21 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] The country that we see in front of
22 us on the screen is not Bosnia. It is not its name. Its name is Bosnia
23 and Herzegovina. Please, Mr. Prosecutor, bear that in mind.
24 MR. SCOTT:
25 Q. Sir, throughout your 22-page report you repeatedly use the word"
Page 15610
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6
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8
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13 English transcripts.
14
15
16
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18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
Page 15611
1 "Muslim" and in a few instances "Bosniak." Now, you know exactly which
2 group I'm referring to; don't you?
3 A. I'm not a mind reader. But I would like to answer your previous
4 question.
5 Q. Please do.
6 A. I cannot recall that Mr. Izetbegovic negotiated under the
7 patronage of the international community with the staff of the Supreme
8 Command of the socialist federative Republic of Yugoslavia. The meeting
9 of -- in Graz was organised by the international community, and you seem
10 to be forgetting that all the time. It was the gentlemen from Europe who
11 invited them. And the story started in Portugal, in Lisbon. And it
12 ended, as I've already said, by the Dayton Accords, by the division of
13 this country that I see in front of me on the screen, the country that was
14 divided by the international community.
15 Q. All right. Sir, I think we understand from your testimony
16 yesterday and today that you blame the international community, in part,
17 for the war. We understand that. Needless --
18 A. It is the key culprit, to my mind. Even bigger than the Serbs
19 themselves.
20 Q. All right.
21 A. It allowed the Serbian war machine to go on a rampage.
22 Q. Needless to say --
23 A. And it's still recognised this area that has been ethnically
24 cleansed, Mr. Prosecutor.
25 Q. Be that as it may, sir, you're not willing to extend the same
Page 15612
1 right to the Muslims to negotiate and have discussions with one or the
2 other warring parties to the same extent that the Croats claimed that
3 right for themselves; correct?
4 A. That is your conclusion, and it is not correct, Mr. Prosecutor.
5 Q. All right.
6 A. I said already who the organisers of Graz were.
7 Q. Sir, we can't stay on this longer. Your report's in evidence and
8 certainly can be quoted later.
9 You say that the big problem in Bosnia and Herzegovina was the
10 parallel political and military structures between the Bosnian Croats, or
11 HVO, on the one side and the Muslims, or ABiH, on the other side, at page
12 13. Is that correct?
13 A. Yes.
14 Q. And what parallel structures exactly do you have in mind when you
15 make this -- when you state this thesis?
16 A. The Croatian and the Muslim, which from 1994 has been the
17 Bosniak.
18 Q. Well, in terms of parallel political and military structures, to
19 use your terms, you're talking about the HVO government on the one side
20 and the BiH Presidency on the other side; is that correct?
21 A. Yes. We are talking about the HVO government. That is the HDZ
22 government, to be more precise and more honest, and the SDA government in
23 Sarajevo.
24 Q. So let me understand. Between these two parallel structures, as
25 you say, do you recall that the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina was
Page 15613
1 recognised as a sovereign state by the European Community on the 6th of
2 April, 1992? Can you please tell the Judges on what date the Croatian
3 Community of Herceg-Bosna was recognised as a state by the European
4 Community?
5 A. On the -- at the moment when it was involved in the negotiations
6 about the future of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
7 Q. It's your position that the European Community at some point
8 recognised that the Croatian Community of Herceg-Bosna was a state?
9 A. Not as a state but as an equal participant and an equal
10 negotiator.
11 Q. Sir, they were one of the warring parties. Wasn't it essential
12 that the international negotiators had to negotiate with all three sides
13 whether they recognised any of them as being legitimate or not; correct?
14 A. It would be correct. However, we across -- we are talking at
15 cross-purposes. You don't want to seem to understand me. It would be so
16 if the representatives of the international community had not created
17 Republika Srpska.
18 Q. And in terms of the parallel structure, sir, the Republic of
19 Bosnia-Herzegovina was admitted as a member state of the United Nations on
20 the 22nd of May, 1992. Can you tell the Judges, please, when the Croatian
21 Community of Herceg-Bosna was admitted as a member state of the United
22 Nations?
23 A. You are claiming that Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina was admitted
24 in the United Nations. What's the name of that state today? I think it's
25 called Bosnia-Herzegovina, period.
Page 15614
1 Q. Sir, I'm not going to argue with you. My question to you was
2 quite clear. I asked you to tell the Judges if you think -- if it's
3 your -- if you believe that these were equally legitimate parallel
4 structures, please tell the Chamber when the Croatian Community of
5 Herceg-Bosna, the HZ HB some might call it, was admitted as a member state
6 of the United Nations?
7 JUDGE LIU: Yes, Mr. Seric.
8 MR. SERIC: [Interpretation] I object to the manner in which the
9 question is phrased because we are talking about notorious things, about
10 common knowledge. So the Prosecutor, by asking this question, is merely
11 pulling the leg of this witness.
12 MR. KRSNIK: [Interpretation] Your Honours, I must join -- thank
13 you, Your Honours. I think that the Prosecutor is doing something that is
14 even worse than that. He has his political beliefs which he is defending,
15 and we are quite clear about it. Whose policy he's defending, whose
16 political views he is defending. This is not cross-examination, this is
17 defence of his political views. And he's trying to provoke a discussion
18 with the witness. This is not cross-examination.
19 I will certainly not be allowed to conduct my cross-examination in
20 this way, Your Honours. I'm quite sure about that. You would have
21 interrupted me a long time ago. Thank you.
22 MR. SCOTT: Mr. President --
23 JUDGE LIU: Well, Mr. Scott, I think Mr. Seric has said it's
24 common knowledge. Are we going to pursue this --
25 MR. SCOTT: No, Mr. President. I can rephrase the question, of
Page 15615
1 course, and I agree with that. I do have respond ever see briefly to
2 comments by Mr. Krsnik. I don't submit with respect to the Chamber in the
3 past 12 months I don't believe I've stated a personal political view in
4 this courtroom. I object to that very much. To make the record very,
5 very clear, I was -- I am appointed by the Secretary-General of the United
6 Nations to represent the international community in the investigation and
7 Prosecution of war crimes in the former Yugoslavia, and I do that without
8 bias or prejudice to any party to those conflicts, and I object to these
9 attacks.
10 Q. Sir, you know, and it's true, isn't it, that contrary to the
11 Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Herceg-Bosna was never recognised as a
12 state by the European Community or by the United Nations? True?
13 A. That is true, Mr. Prosecutor, but you have already said that you
14 are obviously a representative of one of the parties to the war in
15 Bosnia-Herzegovina.
16 Q. Well, as you define it, sir, yes. I represent the international
17 community. And your position is clear --
18 A. Unfortunately --
19 Q. Sir, your position is clear, and I think the Judges understand it,
20 you blame the international community for the war. And you're correct, I
21 represent the international community. But let's please move on.
22 Now, the --
23 A. Well, everybody will be called to account for the sins he
24 committed.
25 Q. Thank you, sir. The Territorial Defence -- this goes back to the
Page 15616
1 point we were talking about some minutes ago. The Territorial Defence
2 that existed under the former Yugoslavia as a whole, as part of the
3 overall military structure of that state, was abolished by President
4 Izetbegovic on the 8th of April, 1992, and the Territorial Defence of the
5 Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina was established in its place; correct?
6 A. Well, I wouldn't really say it was correct.
7 Q. All right. Well, can the usher please assist us in showing the
8 witness Exhibit P122.1.
9 A. I'd like to add --
10 Q. I'm told that it's --
11 A. -- regarding the Territorial Defence --
12 JUDGE LIU: Well, witness, if you want to add something, you're
13 allowed to do that.
14 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Regarding the Territorial Defence.
15 You have a very nice testimony by two officers of the BH Army, Stjepan
16 Siber and Hasan Efendic, who both describe how the Territorial Defence was
17 renamed and how the republican staff of the army -- of the Republic of
18 Bosnia-Herzegovina became the staff of the Territorial Defence of Bosnia
19 and Herzegovina. That is one and the same institution, in the same place
20 with only its name changed, and the chief individual who escaped.
21 MR. SCOTT:
22 Q. Sir, if you can ask you to look at Exhibit 122.1, since you're an
23 historian. Do you have any reason to disagree that this is a true copy of
24 the regulation issued by President Izetbegovic on the 8th of April, 1992
25 in Sarajevo, establishing the Territorial Defence of the Republic of
Page 15617
1 Bosnia and Herzegovina?
2 A. Yes.
3 Q. Now, isn't it true, sir, that it was only about two days after
4 this that it was Mate Boban, on behalf of the so-called Croatian Community
5 of Herceg-Bosna that declared in fact that he did not recognise the
6 Territorial Defence than the only legal military forces on the territory
7 claimed by Herceg-Bosna was the HVO?
8 MR. SCOTT: And I'll ask the usher to move us along. I'll ask the
9 usher to put before you Exhibit P123.
10 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] I don't understand why you use the
11 expression "so-called." And I also think that it was on that same day
12 that Mate Boban issued his communication.
13 MR. SCOTT:
14 Q. Directing your attention, sir, to Exhibit P123, to the third
15 paragraph starting on the first page. Mr. Boban says -- goes on to say:
16 "The Croatian people formed their own defence forces. The Presidency of
17 the Croatian Community of Herceg-Bosna has decided that the Croatian
18 Defence Council will have exclusive Supreme Command of these forces. This
19 body is the only legal one, and its name is the only official one."
20 And skipping a paragraph and going to the bottom or the last
21 paragraph: "Did not Mr. Boban say all military formations on the
22 territory of the HZ of Herceg-Bosna are either illegal or enemy
23 formations?"
24 A. Yes, that is what Mr. Boban says. The communication is authentic.
25 Q. So he refused and Herceg-Bosna refused to recognise the legality
Page 15618
1 of the armed forces of the state declared to exist by -- or recognised to
2 exist by the European Community and the United Nations; correct?
3 A. Yes, it is.
4 Q. At page 13 of your report, sir, you claim that an order issued by
5 Bozo Rajic in January 1993, if I read your report correctly, was an effort
6 to solve the parallel structure's problem? Is that your position?
7 A. It is.
8 MR. SCOTT: And if the witness could be -- perhaps it would be
9 easier if I can -- put the next four -- P214, P215, and P223.2.
10 Q. Sir, directing your attention first of all to Exhibit P214. Is
11 this an order or -- decision, excuse me, issued by the president of the
12 HVO, Jadranko Prlic on the 15th of January, 1993, to declare or execute
13 this issue -- excuse me, the solution to the parallel structure's problem,
14 as you describe it? Is that what you're referring to?
15 A. Well, basically the text is the same. I mentioned -- I quoted the
16 text of the 16th of January, but I quoted it quite clearly, and basically
17 they are the same.
18 Q. And Exhibit P215, if you will, working down the chain of command
19 from the HVO president to the HVO Minister of Defence, this was a similar
20 order issued by Bruno Stojic, the Minister of Defence; correct?
21 A. Yes.
22 Q. Now, again, sir, this is a part of your report that wasn't
23 completely clear to me. Were you attempting to suggest that this was an
24 agreed situation, that both the Bosnian Croat side and the Muslim or, to
25 use your term if it assists you, the Presidency side agreed to this
Page 15619
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5
6
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8
9
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13 English transcripts.
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15
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17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
Page 15620
1 situation?
2 A. I don't think there was an agreement or that they agreed with this
3 solution.
4 Q. Sir, the truth of the matter is, is it not, this was a unilateral
5 declaration by the HVO side, which in fact was not agreed to and never
6 agreed to by the Muslim side; correct?
7 A. They did not reach an agreement as far as I know.
8 Q. We seem to have agreement on that, but so the record is clear, if
9 you would please look at Exhibit 223.2. Did not President Izetbegovic on
10 the 19th of January, 1993, make it very clear that that proposition was
11 rejected?
12 A. Yes, although I must admit this is the first time that I see
13 this. Mr. Izetbegovic, who, as far as I know, was not supposed to be the
14 president of the Presidency at the time, signed this order, that is, this
15 decision. You know that his term of office expired sometime before this.
16 MR. SCOTT: Mr. President, I'm going to change topics a bit, and I
17 noticed at the last break and I apologise, I think we stopped at an hour
18 instead of an hour and is a minutes. For some reason I had 2.00 stuck in
19 my head, and when I counted off an hour and 15, it brought us to 3.15.
20 I'm sorry, my mistake. I don't know what are pleasure is at this stage.
21 JUDGE LIU: Yes. We'll make a break right now. We will resume at
22 5.30.
23 --- Recess taken at 5.00 p.m.
24 --- On resuming at 5.30 p.m.
25 JUDGE LIU: Well, Mr. Scott. At 7.00, some of the Judges will
Page 15621
1 have some meetings, so we will make an earlier recess, about 15 minutes
2 earlier.
3 MR. SCOTT: Very well.
4 JUDGE LIU: Yes. You may proceed.
5 MR. SCOTT: Thank you.
6 Q. Sir, before moving to another topic, just one final point. You
7 said at page 12 of your report that attempts at cooperation, and you were
8 making reference to the Croats on the one side and the Muslims or Bosniaks
9 on the other side, and you said at page 12: "Attempts at cooperation
10 were insincere on both sides"; correct?
11 A. Just a moment. I need to find the sentence. Could you tell me --
12 could you give me some indication, perhaps a footnote after it?
13 Q. Sure. I'll try. It would be -- of course we're not referring to
14 the footnote except as a marker, but if you find your footnote 89, the
15 next sentence I believe it says: "The attempts at cooperation were
16 insincere on both sides."
17 And can we correctly understand that to mean that you contend not
18 only that it was the efforts on the Muslim side were insincere but the
19 efforts or the attempts on the HVO side were equally insincere?
20 A. I think that the Bosniak Muslim side was much more insincere, as
21 one can see, among other things, from the fact that they sent Colonel
22 Jaganjac and the fact -- and the fact that Mr. Izetbegovic, in his
23 memoirs, does not remember this. But while you're at it, it is
24 interesting to analyse the case of General Praljak here.
25 Q. Well, sir, my question to you, and if you want to change your
Page 15622
1 report or state a different conclusion to the Chamber you can do so, I
2 suppose, and the Judges will decide, but are you changing your statement?
3 You're saying now that you withdraw the conclusion that these attempts
4 were insincere on both sides?
5 A. Could you tell me once again where that is, because I can't find
6 it.
7 Q. After footnote 89, sir, in the text.
8 A. I cannot conclude that from my text. Oh, no. Sorry. I've found
9 it.
10 I did not say the amount of insincerity. I said that both sides
11 were insincere and then I proceed to explain why. In the best example of
12 reasons why I think that the Muslims are a little less sincere, that is, a
13 little more insincere, can be found in the text which is quoted above
14 footnote 102. That is throughout the summer of 1992, the BH Army was
15 trying to play the card of Croat armed forces, the HOS, of the Croat party
16 of rights. So I stand by the claim that the Muslims were more insincere.
17 Q. All right. Well, in fact you've taken us to the next topic, sir.
18 You talked about part of the attempts or however sincere or insincere at
19 Croat-Muslim cooperation at HOS or H-O-S. From your report again, if you
20 can assist us, please, are you saying in your report that HOS was not in
21 fact for an integrated multi-ethnic Bosnia-Herzegovina?
22 A. I believe I quoted very clearly the letter of the party's
23 president, Mr. Paraga, to Major Darko Kraljevic, later a member of the
24 HVO. If you want me to, I can read it out to you.
25 Q. No. In fact, that was once again exactly what I was going to
Page 15623
1 refer you to. Footnote 95 of your paper, on page 31, at least of the
2 English version, footnote 95, in reference to this statement by
3 Mr. Paraga, you say this: "We cannot let the wrong Boban's politics to
4 come back at us. We are absolutely for the unity of Croat people and its
5 common defence. We are likewise for the unity with Muslim people. We
6 shall not retreat from our policy of the integral Bosnia and Herzegovina,
7 in other words, Croatia to the Drina. Any other policy would mean a
8 division of Herceg-Bosna and creation of a new Serbian state this side of
9 Drina, which would be a disaster for both the Croat and the Muslim
10 people."
11 Now again, sir, I'm not sure from your paper. Are you saying that
12 that was not in fact said or are you saying that it was not in fact true?
13 What point are you trying to make about this statement?
14 A. I'm trying to say -- I'm trying to say under A that that is not
15 true, what you have just said; and B, that Mr. Paraga is trying to renew
16 the Independent State of Croatia, which one can see clearly from the
17 sentence which he wrote.
18 Q. So you're telling the Chamber that the statement we quoted from
19 your report and that I just read to you, that that was false and that was
20 not in fact the bona fide position of HOS? Is that what you're telling
21 us?
22 A. I can't know what Mr. Paraga had in mind.
23 Q. Sir, what I'm trying to understand --
24 A. What --
25 Q. What I'm trying to understand, sir, is the position of your paper
Page 15624
1 on this topic, and I do not know if you're drawing into question and
2 saying that this view of HOS is false or do you indeed agree that that was
3 the stated philosophy and programme, if you will, of Mr. Paraga and his
4 party?
5 A. Mr. Paraga probably really thought this. But I'm telling you that
6 here he means a concept which - how shall I put it? - which will be held
7 against the Croat people as long as there are any Croats living and which
8 damaged most the Croat people in World War II. This is a defeated policy,
9 a policy which was defeated with a large dose of crime, unfortunately.
10 And, sir, HOS, I'm sure you know what HOS looked like visually.
11 And HOS is to this day used to discredit Croatia in the press, especially
12 in Croatia. We always see the same photographs of the same people who had
13 a "U" on their caps. Unfortunately, the HOS wore this symbol of an ugly
14 part of the Croatian past.
15 It is not mine to agree with him or not. I'm saying what he said.
16 Q. Well, sir, didn't it true that it wasn't only the HOS members that
17 wore the letter "U" prominently on their caps or uniforms? Correct?
18 A. Well, from time to time, now and then I did see a member of the
19 HVO and the Croatian Army here and there who would be wear such -- this
20 emblem, but those were -- such instances were few and far between.
21 Q. The HOS commander, that you say in the same paragraph of your
22 report, that was killed, you're referring to Blaz Kraljevic who was
23 assassinated in August 1992; correct?
24 A. I mean Darko Kraljevic, subsequently the commander of the Knights
25 of Vitezovi, in Central Bosnia.
Page 15625
1 Q. I'm referring in your report to where you say in the area of
2 Mostar, HOS was on bad terms with the HVO and close to the BH Army until
3 the death of their commander. And when you're talking about the death of
4 the commander you're referring to the killing of Blaz Kraljevic; correct?
5 A. Yes. I'm referring to Blaz Kraljevic.
6 Q. And can you tell the Judges, sir, was he assassinated by forces or
7 persons associated with the HDZ and HVO because he and HOS were seen as a
8 pro-Muslim competitor or threat to the HDZ?
9 A. Well, look, I didn't see documents referring to this so that I'd
10 rather not say anything about it. Many guesses, many stories circulate
11 around about this.
12 Q. So in all your work as an historian that you've told us about, in
13 terms of some of the various key events in Bosnia-Herzegovina, you have no
14 views on this topic, the killing of Blaz Kraljevic as commander of the
15 HOS? Is that correct? If that's correct, we can move on.
16 JUDGE LIU: Yes, Mr. Seric.
17 MR. SERIC: [Interpretation] Mr. President, Your Honours, the
18 Prosecutor spent today, more than an hour, repeating questions from the
19 direct examination, which, too, the Chamber would not allow me to do.
20 When I merely tried to do something like that during my examination. He
21 spent the time in a suspicious attempt to discredit the witness, and he
22 got to the documentation after two hours. So I object and I protest,
23 because the Prosecution examination has taken longer than the direct
24 examination. If the Prosecutor is again allowed to do it, I will consider
25 it unfair to the Defence.
Page 15626
1 JUDGE LIU: Well, I think, you know, most of the cross-examination
2 is concentrated on the reports which is in our hand, and we Judges also
3 have some problems with the reading of these reports, I think partially
4 because of the translation matters, and partially we are not quite
5 familiar with the situations here. So I don't think there is any problem
6 to ask some questions on the reports.
7 Yes, Mr. Scott. You may proceed.
8 MR. SCOTT:
9 Q. Sir, you know your report, and in the interest of time, I'm not
10 going to read out the entire top third of page 13 of the English version,
11 but in terms of HOS being viewed as a threat or a competitor to the HDZ or
12 the HVO, you cite here, do you not, a report or a communication from
13 Milivoj Petkovic, and you give six, what some people call bullet items,
14 all to the effect, are they not, that Mr. Petkovic was concerned or
15 complaining that the Muslims seemed to be dealing and going to HOS instead
16 of the HVO? Isn't that a fair reading?
17 A. You can conclude from the report based on what General Petkovic
18 said, that the BH Army did not make any attempts to cooperate with the
19 HVO, which again I put it in one of my footnotes, which some faxes of some
20 documents that General Siber published in his book, in his war diary, that
21 is, dating from 1992.
22 Q. Sir, could it not be that the reason that the Muslims were going
23 to HOS and not the HVO is because they believed that HOS indeed was for a
24 multi-ethnic Bosnia and the HVO was not?
25 JUDGE LIU: Yes, Mr. Krsnik.
Page 15627
1 MR. KRSNIK: [Interpretation] Your Honours, thank you very much.
2 Let us allow the witness to finish his thought. Mr. Prosecutor, my
3 learned friend, is -- keeps interrupting him in the middle of his
4 sentences. He has done it again. I think it would be only fair to the
5 witness to give him an opportunity to finish his thought and to answer the
6 question completely.
7 JUDGE LIU: Well, from the transcript I thought the witness had
8 already finished his answer. But if you're not, please continue your
9 answer of that question.
10 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Thank you very much, Your Honour.
11 From the text of the report by Mr. Petkovic and from your contention --
12 actually, I should like to go back to your contention about the HOS as the
13 advocate of the multi-ethnic Bosnia and Herzegovina. I believe that this
14 could not be called that way. We can only talk about the HOS as the
15 advocate of a single state of Bosnia and Herzegovina on the principle of
16 the dual ethnicity or two ethnic principle. So in very simple terms, it
17 would be a multi-ethnic state. The HOS was not at all interested in
18 Serbs.
19 MR. SCOTT:
20 Q. Which all of you, the Muslims and the HVO, were fighting at that
21 time; correct? The Serbs. Correct?
22 A. That is correct. Although I could use this to remind you of some
23 of your allegations about the limited combat activities of the HVO against
24 Republika Srpska, that is, of its army.
25 Q. It's your position, sir, on page 8 of your report, if I understand
Page 15628
1 it correctly, that at least in their public pronouncements, the Muslims
2 spoke in favour of a multi-ethnic Bosnia-Herzegovina with the co-existence
3 of all peoples and joint action with the Croats, the Bosnian Croats,
4 against the Serbs. Page 8 of your report.
5 So do you agree that in fact among the three groups, the three
6 prior -- excuse me, principal groups, that the Muslims were more in favour
7 of multi-ethnic Bosnia than the other two?
8 A. Can you please draw my attention to the place where you found
9 this? Maybe you can give me another footnote as the indicator.
10 Q. Well, for example, right after your footnote 57. You say -- you
11 say -- excuse me, just so we're clear because you've asked me. You said:
12 "According to the directive, the main task was supposed to be the
13 protection of Muslim people, the protection of the territorial integrity
14 of Bosnia-Herzegovina in order to secure the future co-existence of all
15 the peoples and nationalities in the state territory of
16 Bosnia-Herzegovina."
17 A. Again I quote the commander of the Patriotic League, Mr. Sefer
18 Halilovic. And further on in the text, I comment upon that. I draw the
19 attention to some illogical points, and I also warn that Mr. Halilovic
20 does something that a professional historian does not find appropriate,
21 i.e. brings an incomplete document.
22 Q. All right. My question to you now is this, sir: Is it the
23 position -- is it your position, as stated in your report or not, that of
24 the three groups, the Muslims were the most pro-multi-ethnic Bosnia of the
25 three groups? If I misunderstand your report, sir, please correct me.
Page 15629
1 A. Are you referring to this concrete comment that I gave you a
2 little while ago? Then your interpretation is wrong.
3 Q. So you do not believe that that was their -- that was the Muslim
4 position. Is that what you're telling us, that perhaps it was stated but
5 not what they meant?
6 A. I already told you what this is. And somewhat earlier the same
7 person, Halilovic, talked about an extremist wing of the HDZ. Yesterday I
8 admitted that I was not very clear as to what he referred to, and I
9 believe that my work shows it very clearly.
10 One needs to make a distinction between a promotion, although this
11 is not what he does here, because these are combat reports, combat
12 documents. But I believe that you also know it only too well that the BH
13 Army in Sarajevo did not come out very glorious when it came to
14 multi-ethnicity. That started with the year 1992 and the stories about
15 Stup and then ended in 1993, and the activities of certain gentlemen, both
16 by the name of Celo and a third one called Musan Topalovic - Caco.
17 Q. Well, getting into a level of detail, sir, I don't want to get too
18 bogged down in. So the way you've corrected me then, is that you admit
19 these are the public statements of the Muslims, but your view is that they
20 were not genuine. Is that what you're trying to tell us?
21 A. Exactly. If I may, I would like to draw your attention to the
22 methods used in the work of a historian, which is the method that I have
23 used, and it is called the criticism of sources. Historians are very
24 often put into a situation in which they conclude that the proclaimed and
25 what is written in laws and what can be read on papers does not reflect
Page 15630
1 the real life, and that is what this method is all about.
2 Q. Sir, are you suggesting that governments or political parties or
3 organisations can take one position publicly and actually have a different
4 agenda in private?
5 A. History is full of such examples. It is more of a rule than an
6 exception.
7 Q. So, for instance, when the HDZ or HVO said that they were for a
8 sovereign multi-ethnic Bosnia, they didn't really mean an unitary,
9 ethnically mixed state based on one person, one vote, did they?
10 A. An unitarian Bosnia and Herzegovina is certainly not what they had
11 in mind, but one cannot deny the fact that the HVO, and here I mean the
12 military component of it, was the only warring party which at a certain
13 moment in time had members of another people amongst its ranks.
14 Q. You deny, sir, that there were a number of Croat -- relatively
15 senior Croat officers in the army of Bosnia-Herzegovina? Is that what
16 you're telling us?
17 A. I think that there were two, as far as I know. Stepan Siber was
18 one. And maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea for you to read his memoirs.
19 And as far as I know, there was also a Brigadier Ivan Brigic.
20 As regards Mr. Siber, I have come across his name in several
21 places, and those were from the period of the Yugoslav People's Army. The
22 said person is there referred to as "Stjepan." "Stjepan" is not a
23 Croatian name. He must have remembered only subsequently what his ethnic
24 background was.
25 I would also like to comment upon the case of the second
Page 15631
1 high-ranking officer of the BH Army. That is Mr. Divjak. I said that
2 yesterday, Mr. Izetbegovic, in his memoirs, published his dismissal notice
3 which -- that is, his resignation, which I quoted here. And this shows
4 the character of the multi-ethnicity of the command staff of the armed
5 forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was nothing but propaganda. I would
6 most heartily advise you to read that.
7 JUDGE LIU: Mr. Krsnik.
8 MR. KRSNIK: [Interpretation] Thank you, Your Honours. There has
9 been a misprint in the transcript which leads to a misunderstanding of the
10 witness's words. Page 59, line 16. The name should be spelled Stepan,
11 S-T-E-P-A-N, without a "J", because Stepan is the name which is not
12 Croatian, as the witness said. When the name is written like this, there
13 is a misunderstanding, because Stepan and Stjepan are two different names.
14 I know this may not mean much to you, but this is what the witness wanted
15 to explain to all of us and this is how the transcript should read. Thank
16 you very much.
17 JUDGE LIU: Well, Witness, do you agree with that statement?
18 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] This is exactly what I was trying to
19 say.
20 JUDGE LIU: Thank you.
21 MR. SCOTT:
22 Q. So again, just to finish on this point, sir, your position is that
23 in this particular regard that you talked about with Mr. Izetbegovic, that
24 these claims were nothing but propaganda; correct?
25 A. Correct. If you want me to read a part of this letter, a part of
Page 15632
1 this resignation, I will gladly do that.
2 Q. No. You've answered my question, sir. My next question to you
3 is: And wasn't it exactly the same type of propaganda when the HVO denied
4 having any plans to join what they considered the Bosnian Croat parts of
5 Bosnia to Croatia?
6 A. Which specific allegations and which time do you have in mind?
7 You seem to be confusing matters a little bit. You seem to be confusing
8 terms. We're now talking about the structure of the officer, personnel,
9 and now you're talking about high politics.
10 Q. What you said a few moments ago, and you said words to the effect
11 and the screen has passed but that history is full of examples where
12 various leaders, movements, political parties, said one thing and meant
13 something quite the other. And that can be equally said of the HVO;
14 correct?
15 A. Probably, yes, although one needs to insist on specific
16 allegations and on specific period of time. I was very specific a little
17 while ago when I gave you the example of the BH Army, unlike you.
18 Q. If I can -- well, sir, if we have time, we may get some additional
19 specific examples, I can assure you.
20 MR. SCOTT: If I can ask the witness to be shown Defence Exhibits
21 D/72 and D/73 which we did not have the translations of yesterday, and my
22 understanding is that those translations have been made available.
23 THE INTERPRETER: Could they be put on the ELMO, please, because
24 the interpreters do not have them.
25 MR. SCOTT:
Page 15633
1 Q. Now, if I can ask you, first of all, to look at D2/72. Perhaps we
2 can assist the translation?
3 A. Yes.
4 MR. SCOTT: I don't know if it would assist the translation if the
5 English was placed on the ELMO or not. The witness is looking at the
6 B/C/S version presumably.
7 THE INTERPRETER: Either language, as long as we can see the
8 text.
9 MR. SCOTT:
10 Q. Starting with D2/72. Again, sir, and not having had -- not being
11 able to read the document yesterday during your direct examination, for
12 which I apologise, I'm not sure the point that you're trying to make. Are
13 you saying that there are statements or matters in this document that are
14 false, are not accurate?
15 A. I absolutely do not follow you.
16 Q. Well, perhaps you can refresh our memory now that we have the
17 translation, the Judges and I and others have the translation of the
18 document. If you recall, maybe you don't recall, what point you were
19 trying to make by showing us this document.
20 JUDGE CLARK: Can I interrupt, please, for a moment? My note, and
21 I found the documents very interesting I must say when they were
22 translated, my note from yesterday is that this witness described them as
23 a core set of documents which caused the war between the Croats and the
24 Muslims.
25 MR. SCOTT: Judge Clark, that's what I heard as well, and that's
Page 15634
1 why I'm coming back to them, to make sure we understand them.
2 Q. Is that your contention, sir, D2/72 and 73 should be understood by
3 the Judges to provide a core explanation to how the war or why the war
4 started?
5 A. I still adhere to my yesterday's statement, only I didn't
6 understand you fully. You were talking about the HVO, so I thought that
7 maybe you would bring me an HVO document. I'm going to repeat now what I
8 said to you yesterday.
9 This document is important for two reasons. This document clearly
10 shows on the example of the 4th Corps of the BH Army that the BH Army was
11 continuing to get the supplies of armament and equipment which the HVO,
12 some of it takes, but most of it let's through. That's the first reason.
13 And I think I put it in my remarks.
14 The reason for that was that General Rasim Delic, in his memoirs,
15 claims that between November 1990 -- after November 1992, the flow of arms
16 stopped, whereas Mr. Izetbegovic, in his memoirs, says and mentions even
17 the quantity of weapons and other equipment that arrive in Sarajevo and
18 reach the BH Army.
19 Secondly, the commander of the 4th Corps, I believe that this
20 document was signed by the chief -- his Chief of Staff, asks for certain
21 measures to be put in place in the area of responsibility of his corps,
22 and these measures to be aimed against the HVO.
23 Seven days later, minutes were compiled which confirms that these
24 measures were indeed put in place.
25 Q. Sir, let me -- just to move us along because we have about a half
Page 15635
1 an hour left this evening. Perhaps we can take both documents then and
2 come back to them as a unit. Let me direct your attention for a moment to
3 the next exhibit then, D2/73. And I'm going to start by asking you the
4 same question that I asked you about the prior document. Is there
5 anything in this document, any assertions, the things that are being
6 reported, which you say are false or not accurately presented in the
7 document?
8 A. I suppose there are a number of accurate statements on the first
9 and second page.
10 Q. So my question to you, sir, having both of those documents now in
11 mind, and I asked you earlier today in my cross-examination, I said are
12 you prepared to give -- is it true that the Muslims had the same rights of
13 organisation and self-defence as the Croat people did, and you said yes.
14 So what do you find objectionable, please, to the Muslims reacting to
15 convoys being stopped, humanitarian aid being stopped, ABiH soldiers being
16 arrested, the issuance of Herceg-Bosna licence plates as an affront to the
17 central government, an HVO tax system put in place, the seizing of flats
18 and businesses? The Muslims had no basis to object to all that? Is that
19 your position?
20 A. Yes. The Muslims had the right to fight against it, except the
21 way in which they did it is somewhat questionable, Mr. Prosecutor. Just a
22 little too many people got killed. Just a little -- there was a little
23 too much fire or a little too much violence. Too many settlements got
24 burnt down. Questionable is also the way in which it was done, and
25 questionable is also -- and these -- and the -- the census is also
Page 15636
1 questionable.
2 Q. And your --
3 A. -- described it pretty accurately.
4 Q. I'm sorry, Your Honour. Sometimes the interpretation stops and I
5 think it's finished. I'm not trying to be impolite, Witness.
6 And when you say things were a little bit questionable, a little
7 bit too extreme, you're telling the Judges, are you, that none of that
8 extremism, none of those questionable things happened on the HVO side?
9 A. Look, it is always a question, it is always a matter of the
10 level. HVO outbursts are mostly of the technical nature, and this is the
11 strategic level. Two days later, this document was seized by the HVO.
12 This document was published in March or perhaps early April in a local
13 newspaper of the Konjic HVO. I believe the paper is called Aviza. That
14 is what I wanted to say.
15 Q. In that regard, in fact, sir, you say on page 9 of your report,
16 you say that: "the Serbs engaged in ethnic cleansing and concentration
17 camps." And so that we again can speak as much as possible, understanding
18 your terms, when you say ethnic cleansing, what do you mean?
19 A. By this I mean exactly the expulsion, killing of members of a
20 different ethnic origin.
21 Q. And when you say that the Serbs used concentration camps as a
22 means or a tool, as an instrument of ethnic cleansing, what do you mean in
23 saying that?
24 A. Just a moment until I find it. Well, all I said was that the
25 practice of ethnic cleansing had started and establishment of
Page 15637
1 concentration camps. You're interpreting my sentence rather liberally.
2 Q. All right. So you didn't mean to suggest that concentration camps
3 was one of the ways that ethic cleansing was carried out. Is that what
4 you're telling us?
5 A. Well, by "ethnic cleansing," I mean the expulsion of people. A
6 concentration camp is a detention and collection, and there is a different
7 between them. However, the effect is, to all intensive purposes, the
8 same.
9 Q. So it's your position, from your paper, that during the years, the
10 war years, from 1991 to 1995, the Serbs engaged in ethnic cleansing;
11 correct?
12 A. It is.
13 Q. And it's your position that during the war years, from 1991 to
14 1995, the Serbs used concentration camps as part of their programme;
15 correct?
16 A. Correct.
17 Q. Is it your position that Muslims engaged in ethnic cleansing
18 during this same time period?
19 A. My position is that Croats and Muslims and Serbs equally engaged
20 in ethnic cleansing during that time, that is, during the war in
21 individual areas. It all depended on the war in question and the
22 adversary, of course.
23 Q. On page 17, you say that concerning -- with a reference to 1993,
24 you say: "The treatment of the civilians," and if it's a problem with
25 translation I apologise but I won't paraphrase, I'll just read the
Page 15638
1 translation of your report as it was given to us. It says: "The
2 treatment of the civilians, such as until then, had been a characteristic
3 of the engagement of the Serb forces in Bosnia-Herzegovina, were quite
4 often, and those were to become a strong argument for the equalisation of
5 the Croats with the Serbs."
6 Are we to understand that statement that the Croats followed in
7 the footsteps of the Serbs, engaging in similar behaviour?
8 A. Could you tell me the footnote so that I can find the text,
9 please?
10 Q. The last sentence in the second to last paragraph starting on that
11 page. It's after footnote 148.
12 A. Yes. I'm saying here that in the latter half, sometime in May
13 1993, roughly, the -- the practice of ethnic cleansing begins to emerge
14 among Croats, and the concentration camps emerge, but only as of May 1993,
15 after the beginning of the war against the Muslims.
16 MR. SCOTT: Forgive me, Mr. President. I'm looking to see if
17 there are any topics -- I'm looking to see if there are any topics I can
18 complete in approximately 15 minutes. I'm not sure that there is, but
19 we'll just have to go as far as we can and then pick up.
20 Q. Sir, isn't it true, as stated in your paper again, and one
21 particular example is on page 20, that the Republic of Croatia's President
22 Tudjman's goal and obsession, and obsession is your word so I'm not
23 accused of I can hyperbolic. Tudjman's goal and obsession was the
24 division of Bosnia and Herzegovina and bringing parts of
25 Bosnia-Herzegovina into the Croatian state; correct?
Page 15639
1 A. Again, can you help me with the footnote number?
2 Q. Yes. It's not immediately following the footnote. It goes on --
3 it's between footnotes 159 and 160. In the English version it is the last
4 full paragraph on page 20.
5 A. Oh, 159.
6 Q. Between paragraph -- excuse me. I'm sorry. Between footnote 159
7 and footnote 160 in the text you say this: "The views of Franjo Tudjman
8 on Bosnia-Herzegovina were not a secret. He did not believe in its
9 viability, which can be documented by his statements and parenthetically
10 less probable by the claims various witnesses of the history." And
11 specifically when I said you used the word "obsession," you go on to say:
12 "It is not serious to reduce the policy of the Republic of Croatia
13 towards Bosnia-Herzegovina to Tudjman's obsession with a division of
14 Bosnia."
15 And my question to you: That's you position; correct? President
16 Franjo Tudjman was obsessed with the division of Bosnia and joining part
17 of it with Croatia?
18 A. Well, I really admire you, because you obviously keep finding
19 things that I did not write. I did not write that, so obviously the
20 translation is incorrect. All I said -- let's clarify it. That Franjo
21 Tudjman, and that is my opinion, that his point of departure was the idea
22 that Bosnia and Herzegovina could not be sustained, that it could not
23 survive. And I believe that the Dayton Bosnia confirms that view. I'm
24 not sure. At least I did not see. Any documents where he would be
25 speaking about the time and manner of separation of Herceg-Bosna and its
Page 15640
1 annexation to the Republic of Croatia. And that would not be serious.
2 That would be flippant in view -- that would be too facetious in view of
3 the situation in which the Republic of Croatia was in, bearing in mind the
4 existence of the Republic of Serb Krajina. That is what I wanted to say.
5 And this claim of yours I really, however hard I try, I cannot find it
6 here.
7 Q. So you did not say, and we can check the translation, we'll have
8 the B/C/S translators go back and look at your original language, you're
9 telling the Chamber that you did not write about Tudjman's obsession with
10 the division of Bosnia? You're denying that that was your -- those are
11 your words?
12 A. I will read it, sentence, out to you, and it reads: "It is not
13 serious to reduce -- to bring down the policy of the Republic of Croatia
14 towards BH to Tudjman's obsession with the division of Bosnia." And you're
15 obviously reading something else.
16 Q. I think the point is made, sir.
17 MR. SCOTT: If I can ask the witness to be shown comb PT/1. It
18 should be in the second bundle of documents.
19 JUDGE LIU: Yes, Mr. Krsnik. I saw you are standing.
20 MR. KRSNIK: [Interpretation] Mr. President, my client is feeling
21 very bad. May he be allowed to leave the courtroom?
22 JUDGE LIU: Yes, he may.
23 [the accused Naletilic withdrew]
24 MR. SCOTT:
25 Q. Sir, I'm having placed in front of you and it's in the second
Page 15641
1 larger bundle of documents, Exhibit PT/1. It is a transcript of a meeting
2 in the offices of Franjo Tudjman on the 8th of June 1991, starting at
3 approximately 10.00. And I'm going to refer you specifically to, in the
4 B/C/S version I will try to give you the page --
5 MR. SCOTT: I'm sorry, Mr. President. When the copying was made,
6 I'm afraid I lost my markings, so I'm going to have to look at it myself
7 in a bit more detail.
8 MR. KRSNIK: [Interpretation] Your Honours, my colleague Mrs. Nika
9 Pinter warns me that the translation of the sentence that was quoted by
10 the expert witness is not recorded in the way in which the expert witness
11 read it in Croatian. So perhaps he could do it slower, perhaps once
12 again, so that our interpreters could have time to interpret it properly.
13 My colleagues warns me that this sentence makes no sense the way in which
14 it appears here in English.
15 JUDGE LIU: Well, we only have ten minutes left for today. So
16 perhaps the interpreters will check it during the night against the
17 transcript as well as the record, and tomorrow morning we'll come back to
18 that and to see how it is translated.
19 MR. SCOTT:
20 Q. Sir, if I can direct your attention in particular to -- if you can
21 find in the B/C/S version -- if you'll look in the upper-left corner, sir,
22 there is a series of numbers. I'm going to use those to try to assist
23 you. If you find 0150-9014. And not that page but perhaps the page in
24 front of it. And for the English readers, I'm referring to page of the
25 translation L0045880.
Page 15642
1 And if you can find this language, sir --
2 JUDGE LIU: Yes, Mr. Seric.
3 MR. SERIC: [Interpretation] Mr. President, this is if it is a
4 document. It is nonetheless an integral text, and I'd consider it
5 necessary, because this witness is not an ordinary witness, I think that
6 it would be necessary for this witness, for your expert witness, to
7 familiarise with him -- himself with the complete text rather than with
8 this fragment only, because if we are to be here for several days, then
9 let's do it for several days.
10 JUDGE LIU: Well, it all depends what kind of question the
11 Prosecutor is going to ask. I understand that this document is a very
12 long document.
13 MR. SCOTT:
14 Q. Well, if I could start, sir, again --
15 JUDGE LIU: Mr. Scott.
16 MR. SCOTT: Yes, sir.
17 JUDGE LIU: You can draw the attention to the first page of the
18 document and lay some background to the document and later on put the
19 question to the witness.
20 MR. SCOTT: Mr. President, this is a document that has been
21 admitted into evidence by the Chamber. The full document, of course, is
22 in the record. I tried to save at least one branch -- one small branch of
23 a tree by not copying the entire document yet again. Obviously the
24 Defence has the entire document, both the original B/C/S version and the
25 translation. I can certainly make it available, with the Court's
Page 15643
1 permission, this could make it available to -- that particular document
2 available to the witness.
3 JUDGE CLARK: Mr. Scott.
4 MR. SCOTT: Yes, of course.
5 JUDGE CLARK: I think that what the President is suggesting to you
6 and indeed what Mr. Seric is saying is that this witness doesn't know what
7 happened before. So in fairness to the witness, you should tell him what
8 the document is or what you say that it is.
9 MR. SCOTT: Yes, Judge Clark. I did not appreciate that was the
10 point, and I thank you for that clarification.
11 Q. Sir, so you know the document we're referring to, a number of
12 documents have come into evidence in this case that were provided by the
13 government of the Republic of Croatia, of records of meetings in the
14 offices of the president, President Tudjman, dating from, roughly
15 speaking, 1991 into 1993 and 1994, perhaps a few later. These are
16 transcripts made from recordings, and they have been used and shown to a
17 number of witnesses in the course of the trial.
18 So what I'm trying to show you now, put before you and ask you
19 questions about, are statements attributed to President Tudjman during a
20 meeting on the 8th of June, 1991.
21 JUDGE LIU: Yes, Mr. Krsnik.
22 MR. KRSNIK: [Interpretation] Your Honours, this is a free
23 interpretation of the Prosecutor concerning these documents. The Defence
24 says "allegedly." These are allegedly the presidential transcripts.
25 JUDGE LIU: Your statement is registered in the transcript.
Page 15644
1 You may proceed, Mr. Scott.
2 MR. SCOTT:
3 Q. Sir, I directed you a few moments ago to 0 -- in the B/C/S version
4 0150-9014. And if you can perhaps go back about ten or 15 lines before
5 you get to that page, this is the language, part of the language, I'd like
6 to direct your attention to, please. It's the language which says: "So
7 this is the reality that we cannot overlook. Also, gentlemen, if we opt
8 for Croatia's independence, either within an alliance or total
9 independence, Croatia's borders, such as they are today, are absurd. They
10 are impossible in the sense of administration and trade let alone as
11 regards any kind of protection of these borders of Croatia."
12 And if I could ask you then to go to -- if you can find page 01 --
13 I will ask a question, trying to do this as quickly as possible, at
14 0150-9047. And for the English -- the translation starts another page 1,
15 but translation page in the upper right corner is L0042599.
16 JUDGE LIU: Well, Mr. Seric.
17 MR. SERIC: [Interpretation] Mr. President, in this case, the
18 original is the Croatian text, not the English translation which Mr. Scott
19 has been reading to us.
20 MR. SCOTT: It's true, Mr. President.
21 MR. SERIC: [Interpretation] I'm not objecting to you,
22 interpreters, because you're interpreting or, rather, you are saying what
23 Mr. Scott was reading from the English translation and then saying in this
24 case I am saying this for reasons of procedure, because we're dealing
25 about the procedure, not interpretation. The original is the Croatian
Page 15645
1 text, and the -- and our expert witness has this original with him. So
2 the Prosecutor is making a mistake when he's reading the English version
3 as the original and giving us the transcript, which sounds like but not
4 exactly as what the Croatian original says. Since we have the expert
5 witness here, he knows English, let us have him read out what is in the
6 original. What Mr. Scott has said does not correspond with the Croatian
7 original. So we're talking about the Croatian original, not the English
8 original.
9 JUDGE LIU: I think this document has been admitted into evidence
10 already. If you have some problems with the translation, you may raise
11 it. It will help us, you know, to arrive at the correct conclusion.
12 Well, Mr. Scott, I really hope you could finish, you know, this
13 part of the cross-examination. So we may sit a little bit longer. You
14 may ask the witness to read the certain corresponding paragraph in his
15 language. Let's see the difference.
16 MR. SCOTT: Yes, Mr. President. I would be happy to. Of course
17 it's only too true that I can only read the document and put my questions
18 in English. I apologise for that. I directed the witness to, in the
19 B/C/S document, 0150-9047. And on that page, we contend, he can read it
20 and tell me if he thinks it's wrong, that on that page -- the middle of
21 the page is the word "president," which I think he can see, "predsednik,"
22 and in that paragraph, toward the end of the paragraph it says:
23 "Therefore, the solution lies in what is said there, in the partition of
24 Bosnia-Herzegovina. And if he achieve that, we can look for a basis of
25 alliance of sovereign republics and states."
Page 15646
1 And all this, sir, is simply to go, given your statement that it
2 was President Tudjman's obsession, the division of Bosnia, wouldn't
3 surprise you, would it, to see him make such statements?
4 A. I didn't say that his obsession was the division of Bosnia. And
5 please listen to what I'm saying. But what you are now saying, I can't
6 find it. I cannot find it. I don't know where you've --
7 MR. SCOTT: Perhaps if I can be shown the document --
8 A. -- taken that out.
9 MR. SCOTT: Perhaps if the Chamber gives me the document I can
10 point it out.
11 MR. KRSNIK: [Interpretation] Your Honours, we do not have those
12 numbers on the transcript. They have all been cut off. All we can see
13 is 0509. We cannot see 47. So I don't not have them and the witness does
14 not have them.
15 JUDGE LIU: Let's come back to the report. I think that paragraph
16 is after the footnotes 159.
17 MR. SCOTT: Yes, Mr. President. That's the part where we got into
18 this whole issue some time ago now about Tudjman's obsession, which the
19 witness then read to us and used -- well, he says -- at least as
20 translated exactly that word.
21 JUDGE LIU: Let's do it again. Let's do it again.
22 MR. SCOTT: All right.
23 Q. Sir, I'm referring to your reports. The sentence occurs between
24 footnote 159 and footnote 160 which there is some number of lines of text
25 between the two footnotes. On the English version, and I say that for the
Page 15647
1 benefit of the Judges and others, it's on the bottom of page 20. And you
2 say: "It is not serious to reduce the policy of the Republic of Croatia
3 towards BH to Tudjman's obsession with the division of Bosnia."
4 Now, did you write that or not?
5 JUDGE LIU: Well, Witness -- Witness -- Witness --
6 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Well, I wrote it.
7 JUDGE LIU: Did you find that sentence?
8 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Yes, yes, yes.
9 JUDGE LIU: Please read it in your own language.
10 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] "It is not serious to bring down the
11 policy of the Republic of Croatia towards BH or to restrict the Republic
12 of Croatia to BH to Tudjman's obsession with the division of Bosnia."
13 I'd like to comment. It seems my impression is that the
14 Prosecutor does not understand the sentence, or, rather, that he reads it
15 as he pleases.
16 I believe I've already said it somewhere, briefly commented. The
17 circles which without proper argument talk about this -- well, let me use
18 the Prosecutor's expression, obsession, Tudjman's obsession.
19 MR. SCOTT:
20 Q. Well, let me correct you, sir. You've now said it several times.
21 That's your word, not mine.
22 JUDGE LIU: Well, Mr. Krsnik.
23 MR. KRSNIK: [Interpretation] Your Honours, allow the witness to
24 explain to the end, because these are linguistic matters, and the witness
25 is right, the Prosecutor does not understand. What the Prosecutor is
Page 15648
1 saying is not what the witness is saying.
2 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] The Prosecutor --
3 JUDGE LIU: Well, it's not the Prosecutor's expression
4 "obsession." Let's pass this. You may continue, Witness. You may
5 continue, Witness. We don't have much time. We have to stop very soon.
6 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] May I explain this? I'm saying here
7 that it is not serious to name the policy of the Republic of Croatia as
8 "Tudjman's obsession with the division of Bosnia." The Prosecutor cuts
9 off the first part of the sentence, pulls it out of the context, and then
10 dangles it in front of my nose. I have never experienced anything like
11 that before. And perhaps it wouldn't be bad if he read the rest of the
12 sentence.
13 MR. SCOTT: Mr. President, I've read that statement now a number
14 of times. It's been translate add number of times. The point is made, I
15 submit, and the only question that was pending before all this started
16 again was:
17 Q. Based on what you see attributed, the statements you see in
18 Exhibit PT1 attributed to President Franjo Tudjman doesn't surprise you,
19 do they, given what you describe as Tudjman's obsession with the division
20 of Bosnia; correct?
21 A. Mr. Scott, I'm telling you nicely --
22 JUDGE LIU: Mr. Seric.
23 MR. SERIC: [Interpretation] My apologies, Mr. President, but let
24 us conclude that once and for all. The Prosecutor keeps insisting on
25 something that the witness did not say and did not write. He keeps
Page 15649
1 insisting on that.
2 JUDGE LIU: Well, we could not get the meaning of what the witness
3 said. Let the witness tell us what does it mean, the whole sentence.
4 Yes, Witness, you may tell us.
5 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Well, right. I'll try to explain
6 this sentence.
7 I mean that the policy of the Republic of Croatia is reduced or,
8 rather, that certain circles called the policy of the Republic of Croatia
9 towards Bosnia-Herzegovina "Tudjman's obsession with the division of
10 Bosnia," and I am saying clearly that this is a construct. I merely say
11 that that is what this policy is called. I'm not claiming that. I do not
12 understand how the Prosecutor can draw such conclusions, and I do not
13 understand how is it in these pages that have been shown to me from this
14 record I did not see those sentences. And I know the Croatian language.
15 JUDGE LIU: Well, it seems to me that we still get nowhere. Are
16 you going to pursue this issue?
17 MR. SCOTT: That particular line of questioning --
18 THE INTERPRETER: Microphone, Mr. Scott.
19 MR. SCOTT: My apology. Not specifically, Mr. President. I'm not
20 finished on the topic of in fact the Croatian state policy and what was
21 happening there, but on that particular set of evidence, I don't think
22 anything more productive can come of it.
23 JUDGE LIU: Yes. So could we stop here and resume tomorrow
24 afternoon.
25 MR. SCOTT: Of course.
Page 15650
1 JUDGE LIU: Well, Witness, you still remember what I told you
2 yesterday afternoon, that you are still under oath. So do not talk to
3 anybody and do not let anybody talk to you about your testimony.
4 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Yes, Your Honour.
5 JUDGE LIU: Thank you very much. Have a good rest and be prepared
6 for tomorrow.
7 We will rise until tomorrow afternoon.
8 --- Whereupon the hearing adjourned at
9 6.55 p.m., to be reconvened on Thursday,
10 the 19th day of September, 2002, at 2.15 p.m.
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