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(1)Wednesday, 11 April 2001
[Exhibit Motion Hearing]
[Open session]
--- Upon commencing at 4.02 p.m.
(5)
[The accused entered court]
JUDGE RODRIGUES:
[Int.] Good afternoon, ladies and
gentlemen. Good afternoon to the technical booth, the interpreters. I
hear the same voices. Good afternoon also to the registry staff, the
counsel for the Prosecution and for the Defence. Good afternoon, General
(10)Krstic.
We are having this hearing to discuss and analyse certain exhibits
which are still the object of discussion between us and require a ruling
by the Chamber. To start the ball rolling, I give the floor to
Mr. Harmon, and we will see what Mr. Visnjic has to contribute.
(15)You have the floor, Mr. Harmon.
MR. HARMON: Good afternoon, Mr. President. Good afternoon Your
Honours. Good afternoon, Mr. Visnjic.
Mr. President, I think the first thing we need to do to put these
matters at issue is for the Prosecutor to introduce or move to introduce
(20)the exhibits which I will now do by number, and it will take me just a
matter of about five minutes to read each of the exhibits. And for Your
Honours' and counsel's ability to follow what I'm doing, I'm going to be
referring to a document that has been provided to Your Honours and to
counsel and a document that has been prepared by the Office of the
(25)Prosecutor.
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(1)So if I could just start by moving the following exhibits into
evidence: Prosecutor's Exhibit 747, which we are offering under seal;
748, we are moving that exhibit into evidence under seal; 786/a and b,
with 786 being under seal; 787/a and b; 788/a and b, 789; 789/a and b;
(5)835; 835/a and b; 859.
Then moving to page 3, Prosecutor's Exhibit 842/a and b and
Prosecutor's Exhibit 843 under seal.
Moving to the next page of the document, page 4, Prosecutor's
Exhibit 844 under seal, 850/a and b, 851/a and b, 852/a and b, 853/a and
(10)b, 854, 854/a and b, 855/a and b, 856/a and b, 857/a and b, 860, 860/a.
Then 861/1 which we are offering under seal. 889.
Prosecutor's Exhibit 845, 846, 862/a, 862/b. 864, which we are
offering under seal. 865/a, which we are offering under seal. 865/b
under seal, 866/a under seal, 866/b under seal, 867/a under seal, 867/b
(15)under seal, 868/a under seal, 868/b under seal, 869. 870/a under seal,
870/b under seal, 871/a under seal, 871/a under seal, 872/a under seal,
873/a under seal, 874. 875/a under seal, 875/b under seal. 877/a and b,
878/a and b, 879, 883 and 883/b. 885 under seal, 885/a under seal, 885/b
under seal, 886 under seal. 886/a under seal, 886/b under seal, 887/a
(20)under seal, 887/b under seal, 887/c under seal.
The remaining exhibits, Mr. President, have been admitted pursuant
to a ruling, an oral ruling from the bench by the Trial Chamber but have
never been tendered as physical copies of the exhibits, and we would now
tender those exhibits. They are Prosecutor's 893/a, which is a report
(25)from Jose Baraybar, which is 893/a and b. 894/a and b which is a report
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(1)prepared by Dr. John Clark. 895/a and b, which is a report prepared by
Professor Richard Wright. 896/a and b, a report prepared by Fredy
Peccerelli and 897/a and b, a report prepared by Dean Manning.
Those are the exhibits that we would now tender into evidence, and
(5)the latter exhibits which have already been admitted, we are going to be
presenting those to Your Honours in physical form for the record. Thank
you.
JUDGE RODRIGUES:
[Int.] Mr. Visnjic?
MR. VISNJIC:
[Int.] Your Honours, the Defence has
(10)several times objected to the introduction of these exhibits for various
reasons. However, I would like to say that on this list, we don't have
the Exhibit 889, which was also tendered. But it's not there in the final
list from the Prosecution. So before we get into the details regarding
these exhibits, it would perhaps be good to clear up the situation
(15)regarding Exhibit 889. It's a video which was tendered during the
testimony of Witness EE.
JUDGE RODRIGUES:
[Int.] Mr. Visnjic, I see it on page 6,
I think, of the Prosecutor's document, 889. It comes under category 4.
MR. VISNJIC:
[Int.] Yes, that's right, Your Honours, but
(20)I think that Mr. Harmon did not read that into the transcript, and that's
why I'm mentioning it.
JUDGE RODRIGUES:
[Int.] Perhaps. Mr. Harmon?
MR. HARMON: Let me please thank you, Mr. Visnjic, for bringing
that to my attention. If I haven't read it into the record, I intended to
(25)do so, and therefore we would move to introduce into evidence Prosecutor's
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(1)861/1 under seal and Prosecutor's Exhibit 889.
JUDGE RODRIGUES:
[Int.] So Mr. Visnjic, you may continue
now.
MR. VISNJIC:
[Int.] Thank you, Mr. President.
(5)Mr. President, the Defence objects, as I said, to the introduction of
these exhibits for various reasons. This group of exhibits, we have
separated it according to the type of our objection so we have classified
them into several categories.
What we have done has been submitted in written form to the
(10)Chamber on the 11th of April of 2000 and it has also been submitted as a
special diagram, a chart, so I don't know -- in view of the expediency of
the proceedings, I don't know if I should read out the exhibits that we
were discussing in that chart, or would the Prosecution perhaps agree with
the list from the motion of 11th of April, which lists the Defence's
(15)objections to the exhibits.
JUDGE RODRIGUES:
[Int.] The question, I see here,
Mr. Visnjic, is the list that you sent to us has not been marked, so I
don't know whether it needs to be marked or not. In any event, I think we
can apply the same methodology as Mr. Harmon did for the record. He is
(20)requesting the admission. You object. And then we will discuss it.
Mr. Harmon, do you have a different suggestion?
MR. HARMON: No, Mr. President, I do not.
JUDGE RODRIGUES:
[Int.] In that case, please proceed,
Mr. Visnjic.
(25)
MR. VISNJIC:
[Int.] Thank you, Mr. President. The
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(1)Defence objects to the Exhibits 747, 748, 786/a, 786/b, 787/a, 787/b, 789,
789/a, 789/b, 835, 835/a, 835/b. 859, 864, 864/a, 865/b, 866/a, 866/b,
867/a, 867/b, 868/a, 868/b, 869, 870/a, 870/b, 871/a, 871/b, 872/a, 872/b,
873/a, 874, 875/a, 875/b. Also 844, 845, 846, 850/a, 850/b, 851/a, 851/b,
(5)852/a, 852/b, 853/a, 853/b, 854, 854/a, 854/b, 855/a, 855/b, 856/a, 856/b,
857/a, 857/b, 860, 860/b, 862/a, 862/b, then 855 -- excuse me, 885, 885/a,
885/b, 886, 886/a, 886/b, 887/a, 887/b, and 887/c. Then 861/1 and 889.
Then 877/a, 877/b, 878/a, 878/b, and 879, also Exhibits 883 and 883/b.
I think that this is everything, Mr. President.
(10)
JUDGE RODRIGUES:
[Int.] Mr. Visnjic, what about exhibits
marked as 893 and the following ones until 897? That is pages 12 and 13
of the Prosecution document. You didn't mention them.
MR. VISNJIC:
[Int.] Mr. President, these exhibits are
subject to a response by the Defence, a pending response from the Defence
(15)since, in our -- we don't object to tendering these exhibits but we
reserve our right to respond to them in accordance to the ruling by the
Chamber.
JUDGE RODRIGUES:
[Int.] Yes. Mr. Harmon, do you wish to
take the floor? I don't know. Mr. Visnjic has made his objections but he
(20)hasn't given us the reasons. They are probably known. I don't know how
you would like to have this debate. Mr. Visnjic, you object to all these
exhibits but perhaps we have certain categories of documents here that are
the subject of a particular topic. And I don't know, maybe the
methodology to apply would be to take one group of exhibits related to a
(25)particular topic because I think last time Mr. Harmon said that he wished
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(1)to have entered in the record the reasons. Maybe some new reasons, some
new grounds. Perhaps you could respond. And after that, we'll see what
Mr. Harmon will say. What are the reasons, the grounds for your
objections?
(5)
MR. VISNJIC:
[Int.] Mr. President, the grounds for our
objections have been presented several times already during the
proceedings for each individual exhibit, and they're also to be found in
the document which we have submitted to the Trial Chamber today.
As far as I understood, Mr. Harmon wanted an opportunity to
(10)respond to those objections and those grounds. I am quite ready to
present them again, but as they're contained in three written submissions,
coupled with what we said at the oral hearings, this may take a lot of
time. So perhaps it would be best to hear the response of Mr. Harmon, and
then perhaps I can respond again.
(15)
JUDGE RODRIGUES:
[Int.] So we have a general objection
on your part, and Mr. Harmon is aware of the reasons for each of the
exhibits. And regarding particular topics, I think that you have
something to add, so please respond. You have the floor to respond.
MR. HARMON: I agree with Mr. Visnjic, Mr. President, that many of
(20)these issues have been the subject of briefing, so there's no reason to
reiterate for Your Honours the positions taken by the Prosecutor's Office
or the Defence.
I would like to add, however, add some clarifications. And the
first clarification I'd like to add is that the issue found in our
(25)category number 1 which relate to the, what I'll refer to as the "kill
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(1)them all" conversations, I merely point out that there are two tapes at
issue. One is the tape that is known as Q2, and for the record, that tape
was received by the Office of the Prosecutor prior to the Prosecutor's
closing her case in chief. The second conversation, which was the more
(5)audible conversation of the voice of General Krstic, was not received by
the Office of the Prosecutor until after we had concluded our case in
chief. So I'd just like to insert that into the record. That is also
found in our written reply to the Defence objection to the admission of
those tapes and intercepts in footnote 6 of our reply.
(10)Now, in respect of the second category, I'd just like to -- in our
second category, which consists of Prosecutor's Exhibit 842/a and b and
843, these exhibits are transcripts from notebook 232. Now, the substance
of that conversation has been admitted on three separate occasions in the
course of these proceedings. It is OTP Exhibit 364/volume 1/13 July/tab
(15)16, and then OTP Exhibit 404/tab 341, and finally, OTP Exhibit 529. The
notebook from which these conversations, 842 and 843 and the notebook
itself, those were recovered by the Office of the Prosecutor on the 13th
of December, 2000, after the Prosecutor had concluded her case in chief.
Now, if we turn to the third category identified by the
(20)Prosecutor, the exhibits are identified on pages 4, 5 -- 4 and 5, it is
our position that first of all, these conversations are conversations that
directly rebut the testimony of General Krstic. And I will refer Your
Honours, and there is a reference to a transcript page in there, but
specifically I'll read the portion of the testimony given by General
(25)Krstic. I have to go into private session for this for just a minute
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(1)because this is a private session testimony.
JUDGE RODRIGUES:
[Int.] Yes, let us go into private
session.
[Private session]
(5)
[redacted]
[redacted]
[redacted]
[redacted]
[redacted]
(10)
[redacted]
[redacted]
[redacted]
[redacted]
[redacted]
(15)
[redacted]
[redacted]
[redacted]
[redacted]
[redacted]
(20)
[redacted]
[redacted]
[redacted]
[redacted]
[redacted]
(25)
[redacted]
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(1)
[Open session]
JUDGE RODRIGUES:
[Int.] We are in public session.
Continue, please.
MR. HARMON: Now, the exhibits that are identified on pages 4 and
(5)5 of our submission, Mr. President, are conversations that either, first
of all, directly rebut the testimony of General Krstic, or, put those
conversations into context.
In our submission to Your Honours on page 4, I need to clarify the
second paragraph of the text that is above, directly above the numbered
(10)exhibits, and I will tell you why. When I read this shortly before coming
to court, it was somewhat confusing to me, and I need to clarify for the
record, because this set of documents deals with Prosecutor's Exhibit 860,
which is a -- found on page 5, and which is a printout version of the
Krstic/Mandzuka conversation on the 2nd of August.
(15)Now, the printout version of this conversation was received by the
Office of the Prosecutor on the 13th of December, 2000. The substance of
that conversation was identified -- I received it in B/C/S. It was read
to me the day before Witness FF testified, and I -- when I realised what
was said in that conversation, then I identified it as being a
(20)conversation that had some evidentiary value.
Then we looked at notebook 103. Now, notebook 103 isn't the
printout conversation; it's their hand-written, recorded intercept. That
was received by the Office of the Prosecutor in April of 1998, and we then
found the similar conversation that was contained in the printout in that
(25)notebook. So that is the clarification I'd like to bring to this
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(1)particular paragraph. It sets the timing, which timing seems to be
everything in this debate, it sets the timing correct.
Now, Mr. President, let me refer to these conversations in this
category, which is our category 3, and refer Your Honours to the motion
(5)filed by the Defence on the 11th of April, Defence objections to rebuttal
rejoinder exhibits. And let me refer Your Honours to paragraph 12 of that
filing in which the Defence contends that, "We," the Prosecutor, "was well
aware of Krstic's position concerning Popovic from its two-day interview
of him in February 2000 and cannot say the Defence evidence was not
(10)reasonably anticipated."
During that interview, General Krstic never said he didn't talk to
Popovic on August the 2nd. The first time we heard that General Krstic
hadn't talked to Lieutenant Colonel Popovic was when he testified under
oath to that effect, and therefore it's our position, Mr. President and
(15)Your Honours, that these exhibits that are found in our category 3 are
proper exhibits to rebut the false testimony of General Krstic.
Now, the Defence raises in its same pleading on paragraph 14 that
we should have made a motion to reopen the case under the rubric of fresh
evidence, and they're referring specifically to this conversation of
(20)Krstic/Mandzuka.
Again, Mr. President, this conversation and the significance of
this conversation did not become apparent to the Office of the Prosecutor
until General Krstic testified falsely about his conversations with
Lieutenant Colonel Popovic, or his lack of conversations with him, on the
(25)2nd of August. In that context, the Office of the Prosecutor then became
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(1)
Blank page inserted to ensure pagination corresponds between the French
and English transcripts.
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(1)aware of this Mandzuka conversation and the other Popovic/Krstic
conversations from the 2nd of August.
Now, if we turn, Mr. President, to category 4 of our submission,
that is, documents that relate to Witness II, I will need to go into
(5)private session once again.
JUDGE RODRIGUES:
[Int.] Yes, let us go into private
session.
MR. HARMON: For the record, it's perfectly clear on the timing --
JUDGE RODRIGUES:
[Int.] Yes, we are in private session.
(10)Please proceed.
[Private session]
[redacted]
[redacted]
[redacted]
(15)
[redacted]
[redacted]
[redacted]
[redacted]
[redacted]
(20)
[redacted]
[redacted]
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(25)
[redacted]
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(1)
Page 9648 redacted - private session
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(1)
[redacted]
[Open session]
JUDGE RODRIGUES:
[Int.] We are in public session.
MR. HARMON: The exhibits that are in our category 4.
(5)
JUDGE RODRIGUES:
[Int.] Excuse me, Mr. Harmon, just to
say that this part of the private session was not marked on the
transcript. It is page 13, line 6.
Please continue, though.
MR. HARMON: Further to the two exhibits that the Prosecutor seeks
(10)to admit under our category 4, 861/1 and 889, I draw your attentions --
Your Honours' attention to the fact that these are clips, video clips,
taken from previously admitted exhibits, Office of the Prosecutor Exhibit
58, 49 and 145 bis. There is nothing new or original in this material.
Now, category 5. In category 5, which are exhibits that were
(15)introduced by my colleague, or at least tendered by my colleague, Magda
Karagiannakis, the explanation that's in our submission on page 7 is
self-explanatory.
Now, if I could turn next to the next category, the next category
are exhibits that were tendered through Mr. Butler in our surrebuttal
(20)case. This issue also, Mr. President, has been fully briefed by the
Office of the Prosecutor and doesn't, I do not believe, bear additional
comment.
JUDGE WALD: I have one question on that, just on that category.
Previously, when we were talking about the Popovic conversations, you
(25)referred to the Defence submission and said that you did not agree with
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(1)it, that this should have been anticipated by reading the earlier
interview of General Krstic. You told us you didn't agree with that.
That's not my point. My point is here, do you happen to know whether or
not - and Mr. Visnjic, I invite you to respond to the same question -
(5)whether or not in that earlier interview with General Krstic, there was
anything in that interview that related to the issue involved here, which
as you know, was the answer to the question of whether General Krstic knew
that prisoners were being taken between the 12th and the 17th. The
Defence paper does not say that, but I just wondered whether you or
(10)Mr. Visnjic knows that.
MR. HARMON: I don't, I'm afraid.
JUDGE WALD: Okay.
MR. HARMON: Then -- now, if we turn to the next category, which
is category 7, Prosecutor's exhibits under that category are 883 and
(15)883/b. And under that category, what is significant to be inserted into
the record is 883 was first acquired by the Office of the Prosecutor in
1998, but a translated version of that didn't come to the attention of
Mr. Butler until January of 2001. I think it's important in this context
to understand that the Office of the Prosecutor has literally millions and
(20)millions of documents. Unfortunately, we don't get all of those documents
in a translated form in an usable form. There is a process, a slow
process, by which documents are translated. I don't know the details and
the circumstances of why or when this document was submitted for
translation. I just know that the translated version came to the
(25)attention of Mr. Butler in January of 2001. So that is the date, the
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(1)marker, when we as prosecutors had actual knowledge of it and its
contents.
JUDGE RODRIGUES:
[Int.] Mr. Harmon, a question. Isn't
it true that it is not just any document. It is really a document that
(5)comes above all the others regarding the whole Prosecution case?
MR. HARMON: I think -- I'm not in a position to weigh the weight
of each of those documents.
JUDGE RODRIGUES:
[Int.] I apologise for making that
comment.
(10)
MR. HARMON: I know that unfortunately the reality is there are
sometimes documents that come to us at various stages, depending on the
ability to be submitted by the Office of the Prosecutor for translation
and the date when they are actually received. I'm not sure who submitted
this document to the translation section. All I know is that we became
(15)aware of it for the first time -- I'm corrected my by my colleague,
Mr. McCloskey, it came to the attention of Mr. Butler in January. It was
actually translated in December of 2000 but it came to Mr. Butler's
attention in 2001.
Now, if I turn to category 8, in our submission, the -- and I read
(20)the defence submission, starting at paragraph 15, the suggestion is -- at
least I read in paragraph 15, is that the Prosecutor clearly should have
presented this evidence in her case in chief. Mr. President and Your
Honours, the Prosecutor on the issue of when General Krstic became the
Commander, the Prosecutor's office submitted copious quantities of
(25)evidence relating to that particular issue. We presented intercepts. We
• Page 9652 • {17/39}
(1)presented the orders signed by General Krstic dated the 13th of July,
1995, where he signed it as Commander. We submitted an order signed by
General Krstic as the Commander dated the 17th of July, 1995. We
submitted, I believe, interim combat reports addressed to the Commander,
(5)General Krstic. We submitted the order signed by President Karadzic
appointing General Krstic as the Commander. And other forms of evidence
that identify clearly the time when General Krstic became the Commander of
the Drina Corps.
The issue of when we presented this particular witness -- I have
(10)said it in passing, I will say it again. This witness was hostile in fact
to the Office of the Prosecutor and hostile in the traditional sense, in
the legal meaning of a hostile witness, and we declined to present him in
our case in chief. It was after other evidence came to our attention,
which I will not mention in public session but we have touched upon
(15)previously in private session, that the Prosecutor's office then made a
decision to issue -- request the Trial Chamber to issue a summons or
subpoena to Mr. Golic to appear, and we were fully prepared and were
hopeful, as a matter of fact, that he would appear. He did not. But that
evidence that we have sought in respect of our category 8, we believe, is
(20)relevant evidence. We believe it is adequate rebuttal evidence as well to
the testimony of General Krstic, who has said that he was not the
Commander until a later date in time. And we believe it is admissible
evidence under the ruling that was issued by the Appeals Chamber, a
decision on the appeal regarding the statement of a deceased witness that
(25)was issued on the 21st of July, 2000.
• Page 9653 • {18/39}
(1)Those are my remarks, Mr. President, and Your Honours. Thank
you.
JUDGE RODRIGUES:
[Int.] Mr. Visnjic, perhaps there is
some new information that you wish to respond to, and more specifically,
(5)to this remark, that there are certain exhibits, specifically Exhibit 861
and 889, which are abstracts from exhibits that have already been admitted
into evidence. So we are awaiting your contribution and your comments.
MR. VISNJIC:
[Int.] Mr. President, perhaps it would be
better to start with your question right away. I might be a little bit
(10)confusing because the Prosecutor has a different categorisation from me
and I will try to respond in the same order that he talked in.
Regarding Exhibit 861/1 and 889, we would like, Mr. President, to
add the following: We objected. It's true that these two exhibits are
parts of earlier admitted exhibits, and the Defence regarding the
(15)authenticity and the other elements does not have any objections to these
two exhibits. However, these two exhibits are being tendered by the
Prosecutor through the testimony of a witness to whose testimony we have
objected as a whole, as evidence brought before this Court. The reasons
why we did this are as follows: The Prosecutor has explained to the Trial
(20)Chamber that the Prosecution, since July, 2000, at least that's how I
understood this, this part of his statement, so the Prosecution entered
into the procedure of taking statements from witnesses from July 2000 --
from this witness.
What I would like to say, Mr. President, is that the Prosecution
(25)took the notebook, the phone book, which contained information about this
• Page 9654 • {19/39}
(1)witness, in December, 1998, so it was in their possession since then. The
facts that this witness testified about relate mainly to the statement
that General Krstic gave during his interview on the 18th and 19th of
February, and the statement provided by a witness who was questioned by
(5)Mr. Kruszewski. So all of this happened at least several months before
July 2000. So in this sense, I believe that the Trial Chamber will
appreciate a certain dynamic in the conduct of the Prosecution regarding
their own exhibits.
Second, Mr. President, regarding also the testimony of this same
(10)witness is the fact that on the one hand, we can view his testimony in a
certain sense as new evidence by the Prosecution, which they came to after
their evidence in chief was concluded.
But in that sense, I would like to ask the following question:
Does this fresh evidence fulfil all the elements required in order to
(15)admit it, and on the other hand, whether, perhaps because of this
evidence, the Prosecution should have requested a reopening of the case.
Mr. President, regarding this point, I would like to state the
following regarding fresh evidence found by the Prosecution. The Defence
has been talking with the Prosecution since December 2000 regarding
(20)another group of fresh evidence, and these are the newly discovered
graves. In our conversations conducted in December 2000 and January 2001,
in view of the fact that we expressed a certain negative stance regarding
the introduction of these exhibits, the Prosecution stated that they would
seek a reopening of the case.
(25)So between the Prosecution and the Defence, there were never
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(1)unresolved questions regarding new evidence, but it is obvious that the
Prosecution made their own selection regarding how to tender new exhibits,
regardless of the fact that the Defence believes that this can only be
done in a certain way that is required by new exhibits. And also in view
(5)of the fact that a certain amount of time is required in order to prepare
for this evidence, the Prosecution decided to introduce this evidence in
the following way, in the way that they have done.
In any case, the Defence believes that this evidence is not
satisfactory for rebuttal, and in that sense has provided its explanation
(10)and also in this motion from the 11th, Mr. President. And I have received
information today that it was distributed to the Court in two ways which
are required by the Court.
So this would be everything regarding this witness and regarding
his statement.
(15)Now I would like to talk about a group -- or perhaps,
Mr. President, you still have some questions. Perhaps then I can respond
to them, or should I continue to respond to the issues posed by
Mr. Harmon?
JUDGE RODRIGUES:
[Int.] As far as I'm concerned, you may
(20)continue.
MR. VISNJIC:
[Int.] Mr. President, regarding the first
group, the first category cited by the Prosecution as documents or
evidence regarding the telephone conversations of August 2nd, as well as
the accompanying documents, we had a slightly different categorisation, so
(25)in this group of exhibits, we are also including evidence regarding the
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(1)chain of custody of the accompanying documents. So in that sense, we do
have a general objection, and the objection relates to the following: The
Defence objects in principle to the manner in which the Prosecution used
these exhibits.
(5)According to the Defence, it's a fact, and this was confirmed by
certain Prosecution witnesses, first of all primarily Mr. Butler during
his testimony during rebuttal, that the Prosecution was in the possession
for a long period, or more precisely, from April 24th, 1998, in possession
of these conversations, and it decided to use this evidence in a tactical
(10)way. I do not want to get into chronology of the -- these exhibits and
when they were in possession of the Prosecution, but this is mentioned in
points 4 and 5 of our motion, 3, 4, and 5 from our motion of April 11th.
What I would like to say once again, Mr. President, is that these
conversations were not pointed out by the Defence. They were provoked by
(15)the Prosecution themselves, but through questions posed to General Krstic,
and then this was followed by a series of consequences, and all of this is
contained in our previous objections.
Having in mind the appeals ruling in the Delalic case, we believe
for all of the reasons which were cited in that decision, these exhibits,
(20)together with the group of exhibits that we listed in paragraph 3 of our
submission of April 11th, we believe that they should not be admitted.
Mr. President, regarding exhibits listed in category 2 of the
Prosecutor's submission, and these are Exhibits 842/a and 842/b and 843
for which the Prosecution has stated that they are exhibits which the
(25)Prosecution obtained on December 13th, 2000, Mr. President, we have the
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(1)following position on that group of exhibits. First, these are facts on
which General Krstic spoke about during his interview; second, regarding
which evidence was brought during the Prosecutor's evidence in-chief, so
this is not a new topic which emerged from the evidence by the Defence.
(5)If this were new evidence, as the Prosecution claims, we believe that
these exhibits could only be tendered by a reopening of the case, implying
all the consequences which would be valid for the Defence.
Regarding category 3 listed in the Prosecution's exhibits
regarding the conversations with Popovic and all the other conversations
(10)relating to that, it is true that in part, these conversations were
something that the Prosecution found out about in December of 2000, so
they should be treated in the same way as any other new evidence should be
treated.
General Krstic in his interview to the Prosecution on the 18th and
(15)19th of February, 2000, described in detail his relationship with Colonel
Popovic. Therefore, this is not something that came about from the
evidence by the Defence and which could eventually meet the Delalic
standard for evidence during rebuttal.
On the other hand, the majority of these conversations relate
(20)directly to conversations, the so-called "kill them all" conversations
which, according to the Defence, cannot be admitted in view of the manner
in which they were used by the Prosecution. So the Defence also places
the conversation between Krstic and Mandzuka in that group of separate
exhibits, and that is Exhibit 862 - just one moment, please - 862/a and
(25)862/b, in view of the fact that these conversations were in the same
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(1)notebook as the conversation "kill them all," and that they have been in
the possession of the Prosecution since 1998.
Furthermore, Mr. President, I must remind Your Honours that the
Prosecution has discussed at length the relationship between General
(5)Krstic and Lieutenant Colonel Popovic as it called a large number --
presented a large number of photographs, certain intercepts as well, so I
do not consider this issue to have been prompted by General Krstic's
response as to the question whether he had any conversations with Colonel
Popovic. On the contrary, I feel that the Prosecution itself has raised
(10)this topic on the one hand, and on the other, that it had discussed it
sufficiently during its case in chief.
Mr. President, that brings me to category 5, according to the
classification of the Prosecution, and it relates to the authenticity of
intercepts which the Prosecution had to prove in its rebuttal case.
(15)Mr. President, regarding the authenticity of intercepts, we denied
their authenticity up to a point during the Prosecution case itself, and
as far as I can recollect, all those intercepts were given to us just
before the first Prosecution witness, the first witness who intercepted
conversations was called to the witness box. So we asked for some
(20)additional time to react to them as we had received three large binders
with notebooks containing these intercepted conversations.
Mr. President, at that point in time, we did not realise the
significance of the intercepted conversations in the sense of the "kill
them all" intercepts. We did object regarding the authenticity and the
(25)understanding of the content and the significance of the intercepted
• Page 9660 • {25/39}
(1)conversations, but the objection regarding false conversations was made
for the first time during the cross-examination of Mr. Krstic, and again,
he was prompted by questions from the Prosecution. Therefore, it is the
Defence submission that all these exhibits in category 5 belong to the
(5)same group or the same category as the tapes because they came from them
and are linked to them.
I should now like to focus on category 6, and this category
contains exhibits from the Zvornik Brigade which have been tendered
through the testimony of Mr. Butler. Mr. President, Your Honours, the
(10)Defence is under the impression that through Mr. Butler's testimony, the
Prosecutor wanted to raise a number of topics which were not appropriately
raised in a rebuttal case, and then at one point, they changed their minds
and rested with these two documents. The first document has to do with
the reply given by General Krstic to Her Honour Judge Wald. I have to
(15)say, Mr. President, that General Krstic in his interview of the 18th and
19th had repeatedly -- specifying the dates, he had commented on the
destiny of prisoners of war within the triangle Milici-Konjevic
Polje-Bratunac. Therefore, it is my submission that that topic was raised
during the Prosecution case in chief, and that it was the duty of the
(20)Prosecution to present to Their Honours and the Defence all the evidence
that it had in their possession.
This applies in particular, Your Honours, to the second document,
the daily combat report of the Zvornik Brigade in which the Prosecution
denies the claims of the Defence that the Drina Corps was not on the road
(25)of the Bratunac-Milici road. Allow me to remind you, Your Honours, of the
• Page 9661 • {26/39}
(1)lengthy discussion and questions that we put to Prosecution witnesses
including the expert witness of the Prosecution, Mr. Butler, as to which
units were present along the Bratunac-Konjevic Polje-Milici road. And the
end of the presentation of evidence, we discovered that the tank over
(5)which we had a dispute, whether it was blue or green, was a tank belonging
to MUP, and at the end, we identified the soldiers in the disputed clip
over which we had a dispute, and again we established that they belonged
to the MUP, and so on. The Defence really sees no reason whatsoever, if
the Prosecution really believes that some other members or elements,
(10)elements of the Drina Corps were present there, that the Prosecution
didn't present that evidence during its case in chief.
All this appears to us to be an omission on the part of the
Prosecution rather than something provoked by the Defence case.
Your Honours, in this connection, I should like to state the
(15)following. It is a fact that the Prosecutor has a large quantity of
documents in its possession but, at the same time, this also increases its
responsibility with respect to the use of those documents. The Prosecutor
cannot keep them up his sleeve and pull them out at will when that suits
his interests and when the Defence has already completed a great part of
(20)its case. And not only that, in this way, Mr. President, we are
prejudiced in an adequate preparation of the Defence, because, by applying
these tactics, the Prosecutor puts us in a position to constantly have to
re-examine from the beginning certain positions that the Defence has taken
and which we considered closed and established.
(25)On the other hand, we do not have the sufficient time or resources
• Page 9662 • {27/39}
(1)to react, and this brings me to the next topic, which is also linked to
this one, and that is, Your Honour, category 8, relating to the testimony
of Mr. Kruszewski and the statement that the Prosecutor has tendered into
evidence in the rebuttal case.
(5)First of all, it is my submission that we all agree that the
Prosecutor had available this evidence in its main -- in its case in
chief, during its case in chief. I think there is no justification in
this case for the Prosecutor to say that he was prompted to present this
evidence by the statement made by General Krstic in the courtroom, as the
(10)Prosecutor in one stage of the presentation of its case in chief compiled
an exhibit in which they presented the differences between General
Krstic's statement and what the Prosecution believes it has evidence to
prove. So the Prosecutor did study, in great detail, Mr. Krstic's
interview from the 18th and 19th of February, during its case in chief.
(15)On the other hand, General Krstic in that interview of the 18th
and 19th devoted a great segment of his statement to the date when he
became Corps Commander. Therefore, this was no new element for the
Prosecution, which emanated from General Krstic's statement during the
proceedings.
(20)One further point in connection with this exhibit, Mr. President,
and the statement of Witness II. In a sense, these two exhibits are
linked, but on the other hand, there are numerous differences between
them, and this will certainly be the subject of our analysis when
preparing our final brief. What I wish to say is that one of these two
(25)witnesses in his statement mentioned a number of persons who were present
• Page 9663 • {28/39}
(1)at the alleged meeting on the 13th in the afternoon. Mr. President, by
tendering evidence in this way, in the rebuttal case, and regarding this
fact, we have been deprived of the possibility of examining all those
persons and taking statements from them with regard to the details that
(5)both of the witnesses testified about.
On the other hand, Mr. President, and Your Honours, some of these
persons appeared on the list of witnesses called by the Prosecution. So
we don't know whether the Prosecution did talk to them; if he did, whether
he asked him questions about this; and whether those witnesses gave any
(10)answers about that. If the answers were negative, then for us, that is
exculpatory material. We haven't gained possession of that, but we do
have information from the media that the Prosecution did want to contact
them.
So not only do we consider these exhibits to be inappropriate for
(15)the rebuttal case, but we also submit that even if the case were to be
reopened, connected to this evidence, that the Defence would need
additional time to prepare for them.
And finally, with respect to Exhibit 883, and that is directive
number 4. The first point we wish to make, Mr. President, is that the
(20)Defence witness was not the first to study the strategic matters of the
VRS. Prosecution Witness Mr. Butler did so on page 4792 of the
transcript. Therefore, this is an issue that was to have been taken up
during the Prosecution case in chief.
A second point we wish to make is that the Prosecutor had a
(25)witness planned for these events, the events of 1992, and that he
• Page 9664 • {29/39}
(1)renounced using that witness for reasons unknown to us.
A third point we wish to make is that taking into consideration
when that exhibit was disclosed to us, or rather, when it was used here in
court, not when we received it but when it was used in court, that our
(5)ability to object to the authenticity of that evidence is limited because,
to be quite frank, during these proceedings, no one has gone into any
details regarding the year 1992, the tendering of such an important
exhibit, which we feel absolutely should have been tendered as a
Prosecution exhibit in their case in chief.
(10)In view of the significance and scope of the document before us,
it is our submission that by tendering it two days prior to the end of the
proceedings, the Defence was absolutely deprived of the right to a proper
and adequate response. Therefore, even if the Trial Chamber is
considering the possibility of admitting this exhibit, and we feel that we
(15)have provided very good grounds against its admission, we request a
certain amount of additional time that would give us the opportunity to
provide an adequate response to this exhibit.
The Prosecutor has tried, first, to tender the document the back
way through the testimony of Mr. Butler, and then through General
(20)Radinovic's testimony who, Mr. President, in another context mentioned the
word "Zepa." And if the very mention of that word is sufficient for this
exhibit to be admitted, then we object again that it should have been
tendered in the Prosecution's case in chief.
JUDGE RODRIGUES:
[Int.] Mr. Harmon, is there anything
(25)new that you would wish to add?
• Page 9665 • {30/39}
(1)
MR. HARMON: There is, Mr. President. I was informed in respect
of this document which is directive 4, which is our category 7, I
mentioned to you that it came to the attention of Mr. Butler in January of
2001, I can inform Your Honours that this was a document that was
(5)submitted for translation in two other ongoing prosecutions, and it was
not brought to our attention until after it was translated by the teams
that were involved in those other prosecutions. It came to us on the
dates and the time that I've mentioned.
So that Your Honours know, the team that is involved in this
(10)prosecution, both the investigative team and the analyst and everyone else
associated with this separate investigation, was unaware of its
existence. It is only found through the result of other prosecutions and
investigations that are ongoing that then brought that to our attention
in -- as I say, it was translated in December of 2000 and brought to
(15)Mr. Butler's attention in 2001.
Now, in respect of this document, there are a couple of things
that I just need to point out. The first is, Mr. President, this document
was given to the Defence on the 13th of February, 2001, and it was given
to them pursuant to an agreement that we had with the Defence on an
(20)understanding that key military documents would be provided to the Defence
in advance of their being tendered in evidence. I refer Your Honours to
the pleading that we filed, the Prosecution's reply to the Defence motion
to exclude the testimony of rebuttal witness Mr. Richard Butler, I refer
Your Honours to two items, two annexes in that. The first, you will find
(25)the letter in which both -- there are three documents that were provided
• Page 9666 • {31/39}
(1)to the Defence that are the subject of today's debate. One is directive
4, and the other are the Zvornik Brigade reports dated the 12th of July.
All three of those documents, and only three, were given to them on the
13th of February, 2001, and this -- at the time it was given to them, the
(5)first part of this letter reads, "Please find enclosed the following
documents that are being disclosed in accordance with our agreement." The
agreement that I'm referring to, Mr. President, is found at page 5905 of
the transcript wherein I put on the record the actual agreement that we
had between the parties.
(10)Second of all, the substance of the document which deals with
essentially people leaving the -- being essentially forced out of the
enclave is consistent with the document that's already an exhibit and is
already in evidence. Prosecutor's Exhibit 746, which was a decision of --
on the strategic objectives of the Serbian people in Bosnia and
(15)Herzegovina, and those strategic objectives were, in the first instance,
establishing borders separating the Serbian people from the other two
ethnic communities. This is a document that's been in evidence, was in
evidence in the course of this -- submitted in the course of this trial.
Now, what I'm hearing in the course of this discussion, debate, is
(20)that rule of thumb, if the Prosecutor's Office had evidence that it didn't
introduce in its case in chief, then you can't introduce it in rebuttal.
Now, I want to try to bring some, some common sense to this
debate, and that's this: The Prosecutor's Office on one hand is told to
present their case in an expeditious fashion with sometimes restrictions
(25)on the amount of time that witnesses and the cases can be presented. If
• Page 9667 • {32/39}
(1)the Prosecutor is forced to anticipate everything and therefore put every
piece of evidence we have into evidence or run the risk of not getting it
into evidence later on through an objection that, one, we had it or, two,
we didn't anticipate properly, then these cases will run forever. And I
(5)know that goes against the proper and efficient running of these trials
and the management of these trials.
Unfortunately for the Defence, there are some things we can
present in rebuttal. An accused can't get up and testify falsely to the
Trial Chamber, and because we have documents in our possession, we can't
(10)use those in terms of showing and demonstrating the false testimony of an
accused or the false testimony of any witness.
There are documents and evidence that we do possess that are
proper for rebuttal, and unfortunately for the Defence, the attempts to
restrict the use of those kinds of documents on some rather technical and
(15)narrow reading of the Delalic decision, or the fresh evidence requirements
of the Delalic case, are too restrictive and essentially preclude the use
and the introduction of evidence into the case itself.
Now, Mr. Visnjic mentioned that the authentication documents which
are our category A -- category 5 are the same as the "kill them all."
(20)Well, that's not correct. Those documents are documents -- and the
Defence objected to the intercepts on the basis of their reliability, not
on the basis that they weren't authentic. They said they weren't
reliable. And Witness DB testified, as I recall, to -- he testified that
he was familiar with intercept procedures and he had some questions and
(25)doubts about the training that the ABiH intercept operators had had, and
• Page 9668 • {33/39}
(1)therefore they weren't reliable. He didn't testify -- and there was no
contest as to whether they were not authentic.
General Krstic put the issue of whether they were authentic at
issue when he said that the "kill them all" tape was a 100 per cent
(5)montage, a fabrication. That put not only the tape into question and the
authenticity of that tape and the notebooks, but every notebook of every
intercept that had been presented.
The Defence claims that on one hand -- first of all, the Defence
had every opportunity on cross-examination to examine, and they did
(10)examine, these witnesses who had these intercepts and brought the
intercepts forward. They cross-examined them on the content, the manner
in which they recorded these things.
They cross-examined them on all of their procedures, where they
went after they were recorded, how they were preserved, and that was all
(15)subject of cross-examination. But the issue of the authenticity of these
was an issue that was raised by General Krstic's testimony.
Next, the Defence itself started to raise the similar kind of --
presented similar kind of evidence in the surrebuttal case with this last
witness. As to the witness, the witness testified about where he had
(20)acquired certain documents and how he had acquired certain documents. So
when the Defence complains about these efforts by the Prosecutor to rebut
the testimony of General Krstic, and his claim that these are false and
montages and yet presents the same type of evidence in its surrebuttal
case, it is something at least that I have some difficulty in dealing
(25)with.
• Page 9669 • {34/39}
(1)Now, I think, Mr. President, that's all I have to say specifically
on these. I'm prepared to answer any questions Your Honours may have on
any of these categories or any of these specific pieces of evidence.
JUDGE RODRIGUES:
[Int.] Mr. Visnjic, I think we have to
(5)try and finish this. Have you anything to add?
MR. VISNJIC:
[Int.] Mr. President, I was interrupted by
Mr. Harmon and I just wanted to finish and I will be very brief regarding
Exhibit 883.
This was given to us in February, but we were not given any
(10)indication that this exhibit will be used. I have to say that the Serbian
copy of that document is absolutely illegible if we are talking about
technical matters, and this is something that can be checked in your
copies as well. So the document really is useless for any kind of work.
Since we were not provided with indications that that document will be
(15)used, we didn't use it. That's point number one.
Point number two, the assessment of the Prosecution whether this
is document -- this was a document, that is, directive number 4, and
whether it's related to any other documents, we believe that these -- they
relate to two different time periods, and I don't see, in particular,
(20)which connection this document has with the testimony of General Krstic.
One is from 1992 and the other is from 1995. The fact that the Defence in
a certain way has played into the Prosecution's game and has posed
questions regarding the authenticity to witnesses who were here, simply in
view of the fact we did not have a ruling by the Trial Chamber, we were in
(25)a dilemma whether we should ask anything -- the witnesses anything or not.
• Page 9670 • {35/39}
(1)So in case these exhibits in a certain way are not accepted, everything
that we ask the witnesses in connection with these documents should be
deleted from the transcript, ignored.
There is one more point, Mr. President, regarding the problems
(5)that the Prosecution has with the documents that they have in their
possession. Almost at each meeting with the Prosecution we would ask for
documents in accordance with Rule 68, and we never specifically received
them. We received an explanation that there is no obligation on the side
of the Prosecution -- on the part of the Prosecution to do that. The
(10)documents that we received, we ourselves found certain conversations that
were not used by the Prosecution. I don't know whether there are other
such conversations or intercepts in the documents that the Prosecution has
in accordance with Rule 68, or just the fact that the Prosecution does
have such a vast number of documents to them means that they are the only
(15)ones who should use them and not the Defence as well. If the Prosecution
does have so many documents and they cannot find documents which would
accuse the accused, perhaps then there are other documents in accordance
with Rule 68 which could be -- which are exculpatory and which could be
revealed, and this has not been done.
(20)
JUDGE RODRIGUES:
[Int.] Mr. Harmon?
MR. HARMON: It's with great reluctance that I prolong this
debate, Mr. President, but the assertion by my colleague that he has never
received a Rule 68 document is false. He has received document -- I'm
going to quote him what is in the record here: "At each meeting with the
(25)Prosecution, we would ask for documents in accordance with Rule 68 and we
• Page 9671 • {36/39}
(1)-- and we never specifically received them."
Now, perhaps my colleague would like to refresh his recollection
on that statement and make a retraction of that statement. It's a new
issue, and it's one that, very frankly is one that is unnecessary at this
(5)stage of the pleadings -- of the proceedings, and it is one for which
there has never been a claim, and it's one which Mr. Visnjic well knows we
have given him documents in respect of Rule 68. Mr. McCloskey has sat
with Mr. Visnjic for many hours discussing issues that may be related to
Rule 68. Perhaps my colleague wishes to retract that statement so the
(10)record is perfectly clear in that regard.
In respect of the motion to continue, I was going to address that
separately. I should have done it perhaps at the time. But my colleagues
in their motion state that they were never put on notice that an effort
was necessary - I'm referring to paragraph 15 of their motion - that the
(15)Defence has never been put on notice that such an effort need be
undertaken.
The indictment specified in the time period from July to November
1995 is the relevant period of this case. Paragraph 1 of the indictment
refers to 1992. They were put on direct notice that 1992 was a matter
(20)that they should have investigated because there are allegations in that
paragraph. It was a paragraph they did not agree to in terms of agreed
matters of fact or law. And furthermore, it is a matter that has been at
issue in this case for a considerable period of time.
There have been documents relating to the period in question:
(25)Prosecutor's Exhibit 30, a UN report on Srebrenica; Exhibits 33 through
• Page 9672 • {37/39}
(1)37, which are numerous reports prepared by Tadeusz Mazowiecki from 1992
and 1993; Mr. Butler addressed the issue of the background of the war in
1992; paragraphs -- that's Prosecution Exhibit 403, paragraphs 1.0 to
1.4. Professor Radinovic in his report addressed 1992. The Trial Chamber
(5)has asked questions about the background of these events.
So when the Defence asserts that it needs more time to investigate
this because, quote, "It has never been on notice that such an effort need
be undertaken," I think the record speaks clearly for itself, as does the
indictment itself.
(10)Those are my only remarks, Mr. President. I have nothing further,
and thank you for your indulgence.
JUDGE RODRIGUES:
[Int.] To finish, please, Mr. Visnjic.
MR. VISNJIC:
[Int.] Mr. President, Mr. Harmon is right.
I will retract that part of my statement; namely, I did start talks with
(15)Mr. McCloskey directly and after our request for the delivery of certain
exculpatory material. And in that sense, I did make a mistake. But also,
just by mentioning and accepting the fact that 1992 is mentioned in the
indictment, the Prosecution has admitted that they should have used this
exhibit during the case in chief, if it is something that is of major
(20)importance. I, Mr. President, don't know what happens in the offices of
the Prosecution regarding evidence in the same way that they don't know
what happens in our offices regarding evidence, and I think that each
should bear their own responsibility in this regard.
JUDGE RODRIGUES:
[Int.] We are going to prepare a
(25)decision which will have to be published as soon as possible because we
• Page 9673 • {38/39}
(1)understand that you need this ruling from us to be able to continue your
work. Today, we are going to stop there, and so the hearing is adjourned.
--- Whereupon the Exhibit Motion Hearing adjourned
at 5.45 p.m.
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(25)
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