(Compilation Date 24/01/2003 by Desaster Area)
IMPORTANT! Please read the DISCLAIMER!
Content
/ Colormap
• Page 9940 •
• Page 9950 •
• Page 9960 •
• Page 9970 •
• Page 9980 •
• Page 9990 •
• Page 10000 •
• Page 10010 •
• Page 10020 •
• Page 10030 •
• Page 9935 • {1/98}
(1)Wednesday, 27 June 2001
[Prosecution Closing Statement]
[Open session]
--- Upon commencing at 9.25 a.m.
(5)
[The accused entered court]
JUDGE RODRIGUES:
[Int.] Good morning, ladies and
gentlemen. Good morning to the technical booth, the interpreters, the
Registry staff, members of the Prosecution team and the Defence team, and
General Krstic.
(10)We will be continuing today with the closing statement of the
Prosecution. Are you ready to continue, Mr. Harmon?
MR. HARMON: Good morning, Mr. President. Yes, I am. And good
morning to my colleagues from the Defence.
Yesterday, when I concluded my remarks, we concluded with remarks
(15)about when General Krstic had become the commander of the Drina Corps.
Today I would like to discuss the killing operation itself, the role of
the VRS in it, and particularly the role of General Krstic in that
genocidal operation.
Now, Your Honours know that with Krivaja 95, which was the attack
(20)plan on the Srebrenica enclave, the initial goal was to constrict the
enclave, to reduce it to its urban areas. But the attack on the enclave
was far more successful than originally envisioned, and on the 9th of
July, the plan to take over the enclave occurred. That was on the 9th
when President Karadzic directed General Mladic and the VRS to take the
(25)enclave completely. By the 11th of July, that goal had been achieved, and
• Page 9936 • {2/98}
(1)by then the VRS was fully aware that in and around the enclave,
particularly in and around Potocari, there were tens of thousands of
people. From their vantage point in the hills that they had conquered,
they were able to look down, they were able to see, and they were able to
(5)determine that there were men amongst those thousands of refugees.
As a result, new plans had to be developed. It was then, on the
11th, that the genocidal plan was created. It was a military operation.
It was planned, it was organised, and it was implemented. And it was
planned, as I say, at the highest levels.
(10)Now, in my opening statement, I asked Your Honours to consider
what was required to conduct this massive killing operation, and I cited
some of the elements that I asked you to consider: Issuing and
transmitting orders to all of the units that participated or assisted in
the movement, the killing, and the burial of the victims; assembling a
(15)sufficient number of buses and trucks to transport the thousands of Muslim
victims first out of the enclave and then to the killing sites and to the
detention centres in the Zvornik area; obtaining sufficient fuel for these
many, many, many vehicles that were used to transport the victims, bearing
in mind, of course, that fuel, because of the embargo that had been
(20)imposed, was quite precious; providing guards for each of these vehicles
ladened with prisoners that had to be escorted north to Zvornik; providing
guards for the prisoners who were taken from the detention sites to the
execution fields; identifying the various detention facilities that were
used to house thousands of prisoners in the Zvornik area; providing secure
(25)routes for these prisoner convoys; obtaining a sufficient number of
• Page 9937 • {3/98}
(1)blindfolds and ligatures so that these helpless victims could be bound
before they were executed; providing sufficient security at the detention
centres to guard these thousands of prisoners; organising killing squads;
requisitioning and transporting heavy equipment that was necessary to dig
(5)the large mass graves; burying thousands of victims that had been executed
in diverse areas throughout the Zvornik area; and preparing and
coordinating propaganda both at the Drina Corps level and at the RS
government level to rebut the well-founded claims that were coming out of
the enclave, suggesting that these massacres were in progress or had taken
(10)place.
Now, these factors were considered certainly by the Prosecutor's
military expert, General Francis Richard Dannatt, and he agreed that this
killing operation was a large-scale military operation that required
planning and perfect execution.
(15)Now, let me remind Your Honours of what General Krstic has said in
respect of these killings. He testified under oath, and he was quite
emphatic, that he was not aware that any Muslims from Srebrenica, there
was a plan to kill any of these people, and he said he only became aware
of that in either late August or early September, well after the time
(20)these tragic events had occurred. He testified that he later learned that
General Mladic and Colonel Beara, from the Main Staff, and Lieutenant
Colonel Vujadin Popovic, his own subordinate, were responsible for
"everything that happened."
So when was it exactly that this genocidal plan was created? Now,
(25)Your Honours, we don't have a written document identifying the date when
• Page 9938 • {4/98}
(1)this plan was created. Criminals rarely write and memorialise their plans
in writing. So we have to infer from the facts that are available to us
when the plan was created. It's our submission and will be our submission
to you that this plan was created on the evening of the 11th of July and
(5)in the early morning hours of the 12th of July, and that it was planned by
General Mladic, General Krstic, and by representatives of their respective
staffs.
Now, we know that on the night of the 11th, Generals Mladic and
Krstic were together at the Hotel Fontana with Lieutenant
(10)Colonel Popovic; Lieutenant Colonel Svetozar Kosoric, who was the Drina
Corps Chief of Intelligence and, coincidentally, the defendant's
brother-in-law; and other Main Staff and Drina personnel who would be
required to plan such a massive operation.
The evidence that we have to support their presence together on
(15)the 11th includes film of the negotiations, and I've used that in quotes,
between the VRS, General Mladic, and General Krstic negotiating with Nesib
Mandic and the Dutch Battalion. We have presented to Your Honours hotel
receipts showing the presence of some of these critical participants
staying at the Hotel Fontana. And lastly, we have presented evidence to
(20)Your Honours of eyewitness testimony, people who saw General Krstic at the
Hotel Fontana on the evening of the 11th.
Now, it is our submission to Your Honours that such a complex
military operation involving the coordination of so many Drina Corps units
and Main Staff units could not have been planned and coordinated and
(25)executed without the input of General Krstic, who was General Mladic's
• Page 9939 • {5/98}
(1)main planner for the operation in Srebrenica and in Zepa, and who was
intimately familiar with the resources that were available in his area of
responsibility and familiar with the locations where these possible
executions could take place.
(5)Now, on a larger scale, we've presented evidence to Your Honours
showing that General Mladic and General Krstic were together almost
constantly from the 9th of July until the 13th -- evening of the 13th of
July. We have, for example, the testimony of Witness DB, who was a Drina
Corps officer, who observed General Mladic, General Zivanovic,
(10)General Krstic together at the forward command post in Pribicevac. We
have presented to Your Honours the film of the triumphant march in
Srebrenica that took place on the morning, early morning or late morning
of the 11th of July. We have presented film of General Krstic and
General Mladic together on the evening of the 11th of July with Nesib
(15)Mandic, the Muslim representative, and the DutchBat representatives, and
the following morning, the morning of the 12th of July, where
General Mladic and General Krstic were seated side by side during
negotiations - and I say that again, in commas -- in quotation marks -
negotiations with three Muslim representatives who had come to the Hotel
(20)Fontana at 10.00 in the morning on the 12th of July.
We have presented evidence that General Krstic was at the Bratunac
Brigade headquarters with General Mladic on the evening of the 12th of
July, that General Mladic and General Krstic were together at Viogor
addressing the troops who were about to depart for the Zepa theatre on the
(25)13th -- that was on the 13th of July. And we have presented evidence that
• Page 9940 • {6/98}
(1)General Mladic and General Krstic were together at the Vlasenica
headquarters on the evening of the 13th when the command changed from
General Zivanovic to General Krstic.
Now, our evidence clearly demonstrates that by the early afternoon
(5)of the 12th of July, the plan was in effect.
The first evidence that the plan was in effect was the process of
separating the men from the boys -- and the boys from the thousands and
thousands of refugees who were in Potocari. This process, as Your Honours
are aware, happened as soon as the buses arrived in Potocari. It was a
(10)process that was -- we have on film, and I will show Your Honours a brief
snippet of film that was taken by a Bosnian Serb journalist, and this film
shows, and you will see, a line of men walking expectantly toward the
buses that they believed would take them to safety, and at the last moment
in this film, they're directed by a Bosnian Muslim soldier away from those
(15)buses. So if we could play that film.
[Videotape played]
MR. HARMON: Now, at the beginning of that film, you could see the
men were being directed away from the buses.
Now, Your Honours also have evidence before them from the Rule 61
(20)hearing, from the testimony of a Bosnian government police official,
Pasaga Mesic, who in that first part of the image where the men are
walking along the buses, beside the buses, identified 27 of those men by
name. That film had been shown to relatives, survivors, and 27 of those
men were identified. None of those men survived.
(25)Now, according to General Mladic and other VRS officers, the
• Page 9941 • {7/98}
(1)separation process that we just saw was done to identify potential war
criminals. This clearly was not the real purpose for this separation.
Survivors who have testified before Your Honours, as well as Dutch
Battalion soldiers who served in the enclave, testified that they were
(5)present there when the separations took place, and upon the men being
separated from the other members of their family, they were taken to the
white house and they were immediately forced to abandon their
identifications, their personal effects, their backpacks.
According to Captain van Duijn who testified - he was a Dutch
(10)officer - and who was present at the white house, the front of the white
house was, "... covered totally with personal effects, with pictures,
holiday snapshots, as well as passports and other identity papers."
This next film that I'm going to show is a video of what the front
of the white house looked like after all of the men who had been separated
(15)and who had been deported from the enclave looked like.
[Videotape played]
MR. HARMON: Captain van Duijn asked one of the ranking Bosnian
Serbs, a man named Mane, who was near the white house, why, if the VRS was
interested in wanting to distinguish war criminals, why the people who had
(20)been separated couldn't take their identifications with them, and Mane
replied, quote:
"Well, they didn't need that stuff that's there. They didn't
need it any more. Then I asked him how he could explain the fact that if
they wanted to know who was a war criminal and who was not, they could do
(25)that without identity papers, because if they gave a false name, it
• Page 9942 • {8/98}
(1)wouldn't be on the list of war criminals, and if the person -- and the
person would go free and join the rest of the convoy to Tuzla. Then he
more or less laughed at me and said, 'Well, don't make such a fuss out of
it. They just don't need their passports any more.' I realised that the
(5)story he had told me before was not true or hadn't been true at all, and
at that moment, I realised something bad was going to happen to the men."
That is Captain van Duijn's testimony at pages 1769 and 70.
So outside of Potocari as well, evidence of the plan was also in
existence. We know that on the 13th of July, Witness P, who was a
(10)survivor of the massacre at the Dam, was initially detained at the
football stadium in Nova Kasaba with thousands and thousands of other men
and boys. They, too, were forced to abandon their personal affects and
their identifications before they entered into the football field.
While they were at that football field, you may recall, General
(15)Mladic appeared; he addressed the detainees. One of the detainees was
murdered in the presence of General Mladic. Following General Mladic's
speech, Witness P and other detainees were ordered to board trucks that
would eventually take them to the executions. Witness P testified as
follows: "My group of men, the group that was moving with me, when we
(20)were going through the gates, someone said that we should pick up our
bags. One of the group of Serb soldiers said to us, 'You won't need that
any longer.'" So on the 13th of July, even the most common and lowest
ranking Bosnian Serb soldier knew that these men were going to their
deaths; that there was a plan to execute them.
(25)Now, these abandoned items of identification at Potocari, along
• Page 9943 • {9/98}
(1)the side of the road, at the Nova Kasaba field, were burned, leaving no
traces of the identities of these victims. This image that is on the
monitor is Prosecutor's Exhibit 62, which is a photograph that was taken
by one of the Dutch soldiers showing the burning of these personal affects
(5)in front of the white house. This is a scene that was repeated all along
and through the region where the Muslims had been taken prisoner.
Now, in Potocari on the 12th and on the 13th, we know that many of
the principal planners and implementers of this genocidal plan were
personally present observing the refugees and the men at the white house
(10)who had been separated, including General Mladic, General Krstic,
Lieutenant Colonel Popovic, Lieutenant Colonel Kosoric, Captain Momir
Nikolic of the Bratunac Brigade. Indeed, according to Colonel Kingori,
the United Nations Military Observer, he saw General Krstic and General
Mladic next to the white house, and it appeared to Colonel Kingori that
(15)General Krstic was giving orders to his subordinates.
Also, quite interestingly, we know that the terrorisation of the
Muslim population in and around the enclave had started on the 12th; that
it was -- you've heard the testimony of Bego Ademovic and you've seen the
film of Corporal Groenewegen. Corporal Groenewegen's testimony at the
(20)Rule 61 hearing was quite interesting because he said that while he had
seen an execution on the 13th, he also could hear continuous firing in
close range, rifle fire, and the VRS officers he observed who were near
him and who were working, including the officers who were present, senior
officers, never flinched during this close-range rifle fire.
(25)Now, one would expect, if there was any danger or if there was a
• Page 9944 • {10/98}
(1)possibility that this was hostile fire, that close-range rifle fire would
cause officers to take protective measures, protective cover. And yet
when you look at what Corporal Groenewegen says, these men, these officers
who were walking amongst the refugees, hearing these shots, didn't react
(5)at all. They were extremely nonchalant. They knew what was happening.
Now, the other significant piece of evidence showing that the plan
was in effect was what the VRS did to the Dutch who attempted to escort
the convoys of refugees and the doomed men who were leaving the enclave.
Other than the initial escort that made it through to the area of
(10)Kladanj, I don't believe any other UN escort vehicles made it through.
You heard the testimony of, I think it was Major Franken who said that the
initial plan was to put a Dutch soldier onto each bus, but they lacked the
resources to do that. So what the Dutch did instead, in an effort to
ensure the safety of the refugees, was to put a UN vehicle, a small
(15)vehicle, a jeep or something like that, in the front of the convoy and at
the rear of the convoy, and that way they could determine whether these
convoys -- first of all, where they were going, and ensure that the people
in those buses reached safety and were safe.
Now, Your Honours have heard that the VRS systematically stopped
(20)these escort vehicles from leaving. As soon as a convoy would leave, the
escort vehicle would be stopped by armed VRS soldiers, who would point
rifles at these escort troops. They would rob them of their blue helmets,
their protective UN flak jackets; they would rob them of their weapons and
they would take their vehicles. No escort vehicle was permitted to follow
(25)the men who had left the white house. None, after the first or second
• Page 9945 • {11/98}
(1)convoy, were permitted to follow the women and children who were going
toward Kladanj.
Colonel Karremans, the commander of the Dutch Battalion, said the
VRS, the Bosnian Serb army, succeeded in removing the Dutch Battalion's
(5)eyes and ears. Dutch officers and soldiers who participated in those
attempted efforts to escort the victims said that it appeared to them
these blockages, these confiscations appeared to be systematic and
organised. Major Franken testified that in the very short time it took to
deport all of the refugees from the enclave, including the doomed men, the
(10)Dutch lost between 15 and 16 vehicles.
Now, when it became apparent that men who were in the column were
surrendering to the VRS along the road, the Milici-Bratunac road, they,
too, were included in the genocidal plan. I have already mentioned the
issue -- I've already mentioned to Your Honours the testimony of the
(15)witness who was held at the Nova Kasaba stadium, he too being forced to
abandon his belongings and identification.
By 5.30 on the 13th of July, according to an intercepted radio
communication, approximately 6.000 men and boys had been captured and had
surrendered along the road. If we could have the next ...
(20)This is an intercept from the 13th of July, and Your Honours can
see in the top of this intercept there's a discussion between two VRS
personnel, and it's a request for buses to be sent and to collect the
prisoners who had been captured.
In the second line, there's an estimate of how many people had
(25)been captured: 6.000 by 5.30 on the afternoon of the 13th. Further,
• Page 9946 • {12/98}
(1)
Blank page inserted to ensure pagination corresponds between the English
and French transcript.
• Page 9947 • {13/98}
(1)there's a discussion that these 6.000 were being held at three different
locations, approximately 2.000 each, and those locations are mentioned,
those locations being along the Bratunac-Milici road. There is a
discussion as well that they needed to be transported to the stadium.
(5)The stadium, as we see in the next image, is the stadium that is
at Nova Kasaba, and you can see in it -- this image is taken on the 13th
of July at about 2.00, and you can see in it the numerous prisoners that
are being held in two large groups.
Now, this is a road coincidentally we know that General Krstic
(10)travelled by on the 13th of July. Now, on the 13th of July as well, we
know that the first mass executions took place and that those mass
executions had significant evidence of planning and coordination
associated with them. I mentioned the Cerska massacre, where buses
carrying prisoners went up an isolated road, carried by -- followed by
(15)APCs with soldiers, followed by heavy earth-moving equipment. I've
mentioned the Kravica warehouse, where there was a massacre in the late
afternoon of the 13th, immediately followed by the arrival of heavy
equipment.
Let's hear what one of the victim's impressions was about whether
(20)these were organised. Witness O, who you may remember, was one of the two
survivors from the Dam. He was the remarkable young man who was
grievously wounded himself and who was saved by the only other survivor
from that massacre. According to him, and I quote, "From all of whatever
I have to said and what I saw, I could come to the conclusion that this
(25)was extremely well organised. It was systematic killing. And the
• Page 9948 • {14/98}
(1)organisers of that do not deserve to be at liberty."
And then in what I have to say were some of the most remarkable
words uttered in this trial, and perhaps at this Tribunal, Witness O went
on to say, "And if I had the right and the courage, in the names of all
(5)those innocents and all those victims, I would forgive the actual
perpetrators of the executions, because they were misled."
Thus, Your Honours, our evidence shows that this plan, this
genocidal plan was created on the 11th of July. We can see that in
summary by the initial separations, by the abandonment of the
(10)identifications of these people on the 11th, by the systematic blocking of
the convoys to prevent the DutchBat, to blind them from the events that
were about to take place, and by the clear evidence of planning at the
Kravica warehouse massacre and at the Cerska massacre.
Now, I'd like to change my focus a little bit, and that is direct
(15)Your Honours' attention to evidence of General Krstic's direct
participation in these killings and his awareness of them.
Our evidence showing his direct knowledge and involvement falls
really in three categories of evidence: Intercepted conversations with
the participants to the killings, including conversations with
(20)General Krstic; his lack of investigation into these crimes; and his
falsehoods to the Office of the Prosecutor and to Your Honours in respect
of these events.
Turning first to the intercepts. The first intercept that is of
interest -- if we could have that -- thank you very much, Ms. Keith.
(25)The first intercept of interest is an intercept from the 12th of
• Page 9949 • {15/98}
(1)July, and this is an intercept that -- this is an intercept of a
conversation between General Krstic and Slavko Ognjenovic. And
Mr. Ognjenovic appears as a member of the Corps Staff on the
organigramme. He is under the Operations section of the Drina Corps.
(5)And this is a conversation where General Krstic is essentially
monitoring the column's progress. He's asking Slavko Ognjenovic: "Are
they passing over there?" And he says to "collect as much data as you
can. Call the units on the lines. Have them investigate everything and
then we'll be in touch."
(10)He remained interested in the progress of the column and the
people in it, and that same night, he called Lieutenant Colonel Ljubisa
Borovcanin, who was the Deputy Commander of the Ministry of the Interior
Special Police Brigade. Now, as we know, Lieutenant Borovcanin's Special
Police were heavily involved in the interdiction of the Muslims and the
(15)capture of the Muslims who had surrendered.
This image that's on the screen next, you will see the gentleman
on the right not wearing a helmet is Lieutenant Colonel Borovcanin. This
image was taken on the 13th of July, and it is an image along the
interdiction line. And you will see on the left a Bosnian Serb soldier
(20)wearing a stolen UN helmet.
Now, these helmets, these UN vehicles, were used by the Bosnian
Serb soldiers to decoy the members of the column down, giving them false
assurances that they would be safe, assuring them that the UN was there to
guarantee their safety. This was a trick to get as many Bosnian Serb
(25)Muslims into the genocidal net as they could.
• Page 9950 • {16/98}
(1)Now, the next intercept, Your Honour, is an intercept of a
conversation on the 13th of July, and this is a conversation between
General Krstic and Lieutenant Colonel Borovcanin, and it is a conversation
at 2040 hours, which puts it at a time shortly after the pass over of
(5)command had taken place; puts it at a time when General Krstic was the
Commander of the Drina Corps. And you can see in this intercept that
General Krstic is conversing with Borovcanin, asking him how it's going,
and saying to him at the end, "We'll be in touch."
Now, I mentioned that the genocidal plan was not reduced to
(10)writing. These orders and discussions about them were undoubtedly oral.
Many of them were encrypted forms of communication. And we have heard
that from the security, from -- I'm sorry, from Witness DB, that there
were times when General Krstic would go into the encryption room alone and
spend time in that room. It wouldn't be prudent to communicate about a
(15)genocidal plan on open lines, but there were times when one couldn't be
near the encryption machine and there were times when there were unguarded
moments in communications that were unsecure that clearly demonstrate a
plan and the existence of it.
There was the use of code words, and the clearest example of code
(20)words that we have and an illustration of it is the next intercepted
communication, and you'll see that this is an intercepted communication
from the 13th of July. I'm sorry. The 14th of July.
Now, to put this intercepted communication into proper context,
recall that on the 14th of July, the mass executions at Orahovac and the
(25)Dam had taken place and that thousands of additional victims were being
• Page 9951 • {17/98}
(1)transported north to Zvornik for executions later.
This conversation is between Major Jokic, who was the Chief of
Engineering of the Zvornik Brigade, and Lieutenant Colonel Beara, who was
of the Main Staff and who General Krstic has said was one of the people
(5)who was responsible for everything. And in this conversation, you will
see that Colonel Beara is talking to Major Jokic, and what he says is
essentially -- Jokic says: "Hey, we have huge problems over here." And
Jokic then says: "There be big problems with the people -- I mean the
parcel." So that's a code word. "Parcel" means Muslims who were being
(10)killed or about to be killed.
Now, on the 15th of July, in other words, after the executions at
Orahovac had taken place and before the killings at Kozluk, the Branjevo
Military Farm and the Pilica cultural Dom had occurred, the nefarious
Colonel Beara spoke to the Commander of the Drina Corps, General Krstic.
(15)This is an intercepted communication -- this was a communication
that was intercepted from three separate locations. Your Honours have
seen all the variations of this communication. Your Honours have seen the
intercept operators as well.
Now, this is a request by Colonel Beara to the Commander of the
(20)Drina Corps for assistance. It's a complaint by Colonel Beara, and Beara
says: "General, Furtula didn't carry out the boss's order." Krstic says,
"Listen, he ordered him to lead out a tank, not a train." And Beara
says: "But I need 30 men just like it was ordered." And General Krstic
says: "Take them from Nastic or Blagojevic. I can't pull anybody out of
(25)here."
• Page 9952 • {18/98}
(1)Now, Nastic is Lieutenant Colonel Milomir Nastic, who is the
commander of one of General Krstic's subordinate brigades, the 1st Milici
Brigade, and Colonel Blagojevic is a commander of another one of
General Krstic's subordinate brigades, the 1st Bratunac Brigade.
(5)Now, in this intercept as well, it goes on and it mentions a man
by the name of Boban Indic. We know that Boban Indic was a subordinate of
the accused, and we know from testimony here that Boban Indic was at the
forward command post with General Krstic.
Now, in this intercept as well, there is a reference to Furtula,
(10)and Furtula is another one of General Krstic's subordinate commanders, the
Commander of the 5th Visegrad Gorazde Brigade. And ultimately what
Colonel Beara tells General Krstic is that there are still 3.500 parcels
to distribute, and he has no solution. And of course what he was talking
about is that he had 3.500 more Muslims to execute and he didn't have
(15)executioners. And General Krstic says: "I'll see what I can do."
Now, interestingly, General Krstic did not take people who -- nor
did he recommend people from the Zvornik area of responsibility to
participate in those killings, because General Krstic had been fully
informed and was fully aware of the plight of the Zvornik Brigade,
(20)remembering, of course, that they were responsible for fighting the armed
head of the column that had penetrated into the Zvornik area, but he was
fully aware that he couldn't pull people off the front lines in Zvornik.
He had received, on the 15th of July, an interim combat report sent to him
by Colonel Vinko Pandurevic, the commander of that unit, the Zvornik
(25)Brigade, and in that report it says: "An additional burden for us is the
• Page 9953 • {19/98}
(1)large number of prisoners distributed throughout schools in the brigade
area as well as obligations of security and restoration of terrain."
Now, let me interject there. "Restoration of terrain," we know
means burying the dead.
(5)Then this interim combat report continues: "This command,"
referring to the Zvornik Brigade Command, "cannot take care of these
problems any longer as it has neither the material nor other resources.
If no one takes on this responsibility, I will be forced to let them go."
That's Prosecutor's Exhibit 609, 610.
(10)So General Krstic, in the face of this request to distribute 3.500
parcels, then went to his other units who weren't engaged in Zvornik.
Interestingly enough, in this intercept General Krstic says, about
a third of the way down when they're talking about needing additional men,
General Beara -- I'm sorry. General Krstic says to Beara: "Ljubo, this
(15)line isn't secure." And Beara says: "I know. I know."
What General Krstic was fearful of was that the details of this
plan would be spoken about over unsecure means of communication. So this
again being clear evidence of General Krstic's participation and awareness
of the genocidal plan.
(20)Now, on the 16th of July, another significant conversation was
intercepted. And if we could have that on the ELMO. It should be before
Your Honours on the monitor.
This is a conversation at 1358 hours, and it is a conversation
between Lieutenant Colonel Popovic, General Krstic's subordinate who was
(25)in charge of security, and it is a conversation that requests fuel.
• Page 9954 • {20/98}
(1)Now, before I discuss the contents of this, we know that
Lieutenant Colonel Popovic was not involved in directing or engaged in
combat operations. We also know that Pilica was far distant from the
combat that was taking place between the column and the Zvornik Brigade.
(5)Now, what does this intercept say? This is a request by
Lieutenant Colonel Popovic wanting to speak to Basevic. Mr. Basevic
appears in this organigramme as well. He is the person who is in charge
of fuel for the brigade. He's in rear services, right here. What
Lieutenant Colonel Popovic is interested in is 500 litres of fuel, and
(10)according to this intercept, Popovic says, "500 litres of D2 are urgently
being asked for or else the work he's doing will stop."
Now, we know that the work that was being done on the 16th of July
was the massacres that were taking place at the Branjevo Military Farm as
well as at the Pilica Cultural Dom. Further, this intercept says that the
(15)fuel had to be delivered to the Pilica village, the Pilica village being
the location where the actual Pilica Cultural Dom massacre occurred.
Now, we know from the next piece of evidence that this is a
receipt, Your Honours, for 500 litres of fuel. You'll see that it was
distributed on the 16th of July. Item 14 on this, you'll see that
(20)recipient was the command -- it should be "command of the Drina Corps,"
not "commander." The person who received the fuel was Lieutenant Colonel
Popovic, and he received his precious fuel so he could continue with the
work that was taking place at the Branjevo Military Farm and at Pilica.
Now, we know further that on the 16th of July -- we also know on
(25)the 16th of July, Mr. President, from an intercept that took place at 2116
• Page 9955 • {21/98}
(1)hours, that Lieutenant Colonel Popovic was keeping General Krstic fully
apprised of the progress of the executions. In this intercept, at 2116
hours, Lieutenant Colonel Popovic is attempting to contact General
Krstic. General Krstic isn't in, and what Lieutenant Colonel Popovic says
(5)is, and I quote, "It's all just like he wrote. I was there on the spot
and saw for myself he had received some numbers ... well, that's not
important ... I'll come there tomorrow so tell the General," referring to
General Krstic, "I've finished the job." "You've finished?" "I've
finished everything." "Good." "I'll come there tomorrow when I'm sure
(10)that that's all been taken care of, you know."
And then later in the intercepted communication, Lieutenant
Colonel Popovic says, "Well, in general, there weren't any major
problems. But up there, there were horrible problems and that thing the
commander sent, it was just the right thing." And the other correspondent
(15)says, "Good."
Now, the job, as I say, that Lieutenant Colonel Popovic was
talking about were the executions at the Branjevo Military Farm and the
Pilica Dom, and the thing that he's referring to were executioners, the
thing that the commander had sent.
(20)Now, our next important intercept is one that occurs on the 17th
of July. This is an intercept that is at 1242, and this is an intercept
between Major Golic -- Major Golic is the assistant to Lieutenant Colonel
Kosoric, who is the defendant's brother-in-law, who works in the
intelligence section of the corps. What Major Golic is asking for is,
(25)toward the bottom, he says, "Listen, find this Popovic chap and have him
• Page 9956 • {22/98}
(1)report to the forward command post." Now, the forward command post was
the forward command post at Zepa. Who was at the forward command post at
Zepa? General Krstic. So Golic says, "Find him and have him report
immediately."
(5)Two minutes later, the next intercept is an intercept where
they're trying to find Popovic, and what is revealed in this intercept is
the following interesting information. When asked where Popovic was,
Trbic, who was one of the correspondents, says, "Well, he went there
towards that task." Now, what task are they talking about? He's not
(10)going to say he went towards the executions. They're using code again
here. They went towards that task. And the other correspondent
understands exactly what he's saying. "North of you?" "Yes."
So in their pursuit of trying to find Lieutenant Colonel Popovic,
five minutes later there's another intercepted communication and this time
(15)again involving one of the correspondents being Trbic. Trbic says this
time, "It's changed again." And Trbic says, "Yes." And the other
correspondent says, "If you get in touch with him, let him finish that
work." And then the correspondent says, "Let him finish that work that
he's doing, and have him report immediately here at Golac's."
(20)Now, I suspect the intercept operator didn't mean Golac. I
suspect he meant Golic.
And then Trbic says, "Okay, then, I'll let him work, I won't
disturb him. And then he'll stop by over here."
The last intercept in this series showing General Krstic was fully
(25)aware and engaged in this process is the intercept that takes place then
• Page 9957 • {23/98}
(1)
Blank page inserted to ensure pagination corresponds between the English
and French transcript.
• Page 9958 • {24/98}
(1)at 1622 hours on the 17th, on the same day that they had been trying to
find Popovic. This is at 1622 hours, and it says -- this is Lieutenant
Colonel Popovic, the accused's subordinate, speaking, "Hello, it's
Popovic ... boss," his boss being Commander Krstic. "Everything's okay.
(5)That job is done ... everything's okay ... everything's been brought to an
end, no problems ... I am here at the place ... I'm here at the place
where I was before, you know ... I'm at the base ... at the base ... the
base. Can I just take a little break, take a little break, take a shower
and then I'll think again later ... basically, that all gets an A ... an
(10)A ... the grade is an A, everything's okay ... that's it, bye, take
care."
Now, what was done was this: We've seen this image before. This
is the Branjevo Military Farm where, according to Mr. Erdemovic's account,
1.200 Muslims were murdered in five hours. What job was done was also
(15)this, if we turn to the next, the Pilica Cultural Dom, where 500 Muslims
were murdered.
It's quite evident, Your Honours, from the evidence that we've
seen in this case that General Krstic was fully aware of and engaged in
the mass executions that took place. He participated in the planning of
(20)these activities. He was totally familiar with the code words; he
understood Colonel Beara when he said he had 3.500 parcels to distribute.
He sent executioners to help distribute those parcels, and he was fully
briefed about the progress of the genocide by Lieutenant Colonel Popovic,
his direct subordinate and the individual who General Krstic says was
(25)responsible for everything.
• Page 9959 • {25/98}
(1)Also, Your Honours should consider the lack of investigation.
I'll discuss this a little bit later. But General Krstic didn't report
these crimes or order an investigation into them or punish anyone for
them, and it's our submission that Your Honours may infer from that, those
(5)omissions, that General Krstic didn't do that because of his direct role
in the crimes themselves.
Lastly, I think Your Honours may infer from the repeated pattern
of untruths told by General Krstic, both to the Prosecutor's Office and
then repeated under oath to Your Honours, that he was involved in these as
(10)well. As Your Honours are aware, much of General Krstic's defence depends
exclusively on his testimony and whether you believe it. We don't believe
General Krstic should be believed on the material points that are
identified in the indictment.
General Krstic would have Your Honours believe that he was
(15)hermetically sealed in Zepa; that he was in an information vacuum, and
that his direct subordinates and superiors kept him purposefully unaware
of the events and of the resources that were being drained from his
command at a time when he desperately needed them, at a time when he was
conducting both offensive operations in Zepa and defensive operations in
(20)the Zvornik municipality.
Now, nothing could be further from the truth. He was apprised of
every critical aspect of the plan that he had participated in conceiving.
He attempted, through lying to the Prosecutor's Office and not telling
Your Honours the truth under oath, to deflect his culpability, to
(25)essentially exonerate himself and place the blame on others, his
• Page 9960 • {26/98}
(1)co-perpetrators.
So since the principal pillars of his defence depend on his
credibility and almost exclusively his credibility, I would like to
examine many of the material aspects of his testimony.
(5)Mr. President, may I continue?
JUDGE RODRIGUES:
[Int.] You may continue until 10.00 --
that is to say, ten to 11.00.
MR. HARMON: Let's take a look, then, at the critical aspects of
his testimony and his untruths. I've mentioned some of them already.
(10)He testified about the deportations, that he didn't know about the
arrival of the buses in Potocari, that he wasn't in any way involved in
securing the buses. I've discussed that at length earlier. His testimony
was false in that regard.
He said that he didn't become the commander of the Drina Corps
(15)until the 20th or the 21st at a pass over of command ceremony at Han
Kram. I have gone into great detail showing Your Honours that he became
the commander of the Drina Corps on the 13th. So when he testified before
Your Honours that he wasn't the commander of the Drina Corps until that
late date, he wasn't truthful with Your Honours.
(20)I've discussed another untruth, when he said he wasn't in
Potocari. Now, that initial false representation was made to the
Prosecutor's Office. Later, as you recall from the film clip of that
dialogue between Mr. Ruez and General Krstic, he was very emphatic about
that, he said, "Absolutely not." But when he came to trial, his story
(25)changed. After we introduced this film, a copy of which he had prior to
• Page 9961 • {27/98}
(1)his statement to us, after we introduced that film, he said the
following. This was his trial testimony at page 6218 and 9. He said that
he had intended to return to the forward command post in Pribicevac via
Srebrenica, and this is what he said:
(5)"But I ran into a checkpoint at Potocari which was manned by
troops of the 65th Protection Motorised Regiment, and the soldiers told me
that nobody could pass through the checkpoint before General Mladic and
that was his order and, indeed, that is how I interpreted it, as an
order. So I respected it, because soldiers are supposed to respect orders
(10)issued by their superiors. While I was there for this very brief period
of time, I noticed the presence of a TV crew there. They asked me to get
out of my vehicle, and I gave them a brief interview."
He then went on to testify that immediately thereafter, he
returned to Bratunac and then proceeded to the forward command post. That
(15)testimony was found at 6628 and 9.
Now, this trial testimony was untruthful. We have presented
evidence to Your Honours that directly contradicts General Krstic on this
point.
He went to Potocari on the 12th. He was stopped at a checkpoint,
(20)but he proceeded through that checkpoint where he and General Mladic
remained for one to two hours.
Now, the testimony that General Krstic remained in Potocari was
further corroborated by the testimonies of neutral third-party witnesses.
Colonel Kingori also saw General Krstic in Potocari. He said he
(25)was one of the senior VRS officers who had arrived at the UN Compound in
• Page 9962 • {28/98}
(1)Potocari to check for Muslim soldiers who may have been inside the
compound. That testimony can be found at 1837 through 39.
He testified that he saw General Krstic and General Mladic near
the white house where Muslim men who had been separated were being
(5)detained, and it appeared to Colonel Kingori that General Krstic was
issuing orders to soldiers who were nearby. Again, the testimony can be
found at 1848 and 1907.
Next we have the testimony of Major Franken of the Dutch
Battalion, who said sometime around the 12th or the 14th - he was unsure
(10)of the actual date because the events had taken place almost six years
earlier - he had observed the defendant in Potocari outside of the UN
compound with a group of other senior VRS officers discussing matters.
And finally, Your Honours, Witness F, who was another DutchBat
soldier, testified that he saw General Mladic and General Krstic in
(15)Potocari around the UN compound and around the white house and near the
refugees. He testified that sometimes he observed them giving orders to
their subordinates. He also said that General Mladic and General Krstic
were "jolly." It appeared to Witness F that, quote -- General Krstic was,
"Mainly walked around and looked whether everything was going according
(20)to plan."
And that was the impression of a Dutch soldier who was present.
And not only present were General Mladic, General Krstic, we know that
Lieutenant Colonel Popovic was there and other principal players of the
genocidal plan.
(25)So it's our submission to Your Honours that when General Krstic
• Page 9963 • {29/98}
(1)testified that he was stopped at a checkpoint and did not proceed through
it, gave a brief television interview and quickly returned to Bratunac and
back to the forward command post, that he was untruthful when he gave you
that testimony.
(5)Next General Krstic tried to disassociate himself from the people
who he had pointed out as being responsible for everything. At trial and
under oath, General Krstic said that he did not have any conversation with
Colonel Beara between the 13th and the 17th of July. Again, this was an
effort to distance himself from one of the people who was one of the
(10)principal players in these crimes.
Now, this evidence, this testimony, was false. It has been
refuted by the intercept of the 15th of July between Colonel Beara and
General Krstic, wherein Beara says, "I have 3.500 parcels to distribute."
We have presented closed-session testimony of the presence of
(15)Colonel Beara at the forward command post in Zepa, and we have the
testimony of Defence Witness DC, who testified that she had seen Colonel
Beara at the forward command post during the Zepa operation, those
references being at 7450 and 7493 in the transcript.
And later, of course, we also have evidence that Colonel Beara and
(20)General Krstic remained in contact. And this next image that you will see
is a piece of evidence that we introduced, and this is a ceremony that
took place in Vlasenica on the 2nd of December, 1995, where Krstic, as you
recall, at this ceremony was being praised by General Mladic for his
leading role in the Srebrenica and Zepa operations, and you will see --
(25)the first person is General Mladic. My colleague Ms. Keith has a crayon.
• Page 9964 • {30/98}
(1)She's putting a circle around General Mladic. The next individual is the
accused, and the next individual is Colonel Beara.
It's our submission to Your Honours that when General Krstic said
he had no conversations with Colonel Beara between the 13th and the 17th,
(5)he was untruthful.
Now, not only was Colonel Beara at the forward command post in
Zepa, but also Lieutenant Colonel Popovic was present. Again I refer Your
Honours to the transcript at 9134. Furtula was present. Boban Indic was
present. All of the principal players were consulting with and present
(10)with General Krstic in Zepa.
Now, let's examine two other critical aspects where General Krstic
didn't tell Your Honours the truth. They relate to his knowledge about
the capture of people who had fled from Srebrenica.
During the trial, General Krstic was asked by Judge Wald whether
(15)between the 13th and the 17th of July, whether he had received information
that people were being or had been captured from the column.
General Krstic answered: "I didn't know at all. I had no knowledge or
information whatsoever during that period that any capture had taken
place, and I did not know what had happened to those people who had been
(20)captured."
Now, our evidence shows that as early as the 12th of July, the
Drina Corps Command was receiving information that Muslims from the column
were surrendering to the military police, Ministry of the Interior, and to
the VRS.
(25)This next exhibit that is before you is dated the 12th of July.
• Page 9965 • {31/98}
(1)It is an intelligence report directed to the Drina Corps Command
intelligence section. And if you notice the first paragraph, it
references the discovery of the column and how this column had split up.
It says further that: "The third group was discovered in the area.
(5)They're fleeing in panic, without any control, in groups or individually
and giving themselves up to the Ministry of the Interior and the Republika
Srpska army."
So on the 12th of July, information went directly to the corps
headquarters that prisoners were giving themselves up to the army and to
(10)the Ministry of the Interior.
Now, I've previously discussed as well - I won't go into it at
this moment, but I've previously discussed General Zivanovic's last order
issued on the 13th of July with a transmission stamp of 1600 hours, and
remember in that order, point three of that order, which was an order to
(15)subordinate units "to put captured and disarmed Muslims in suitable
buildings and immediately inform the Superior Command." In other words,
there was an order by the then commander of the Drina Corps to all of his
subordinates to capture the Muslims, put them in suitable buildings, and
keep the command - now General Krstic and others - informed about the
(20)capture of these Muslims.
I've already showed Your Honours today the intercept that took
place between Lieutenant Colonel Borovcanin and General Krstic, that took
place on the 13th of July, where General Krstic was asking Borovcanin how
it was going and he'd be back in touch later. What they were talking
(25)about, Your Honours, was prisoners and the capture of prisoners.
• Page 9966 • {32/98}
(1)So when General Krstic answered Judge Wald, saying that he did not
know at all and had no knowledge about the captures of prisoners taking
place, it's our submission that he wasn't telling Your Honours the truth.
The second misinformation that he gave Your Honours related to his
(5)testimony that on the 12th of July, he left the Srebrenica area and went
via the Viogora-Susica-Derventa-Milici-Vlasenica road. Taking that
direction, he says he arrived at the Vlasenica headquarters between 1600
and 1800 hours. Significantly, as Your Honours are aware of the
geography, by taking that road, he would see nothing other than an empty
(10)road, a clear passage.
Our evidence is to the contrary, that on the 13th of July,
General Krstic travelled to the Vlasenica headquarters via the
Bratunac-Milici-Konjevic-Polje road. That would have taken him right
through the heart of darkness, right through the thousands -- right past
(15)the thousands of Muslim prisoners who had been detained alongside the
road, right past the rucksacks that had been abandoned along the road,
past the Kravica warehouse where prisoners were being detained prior to
their execution, past the Sandici meadow where thousands of Muslims were
being detained, past the stadium at Nova Kasaba where thousands of Muslims
(20)were being detained.
If we can go to the next image. This is just -- you've seen
aerial images, but this is the public road that goes past to the Nova
Kasaba stadium. You can see the stadium is to the right, and the next
picture is precisely what General Krstic would have gone by on the 13th of
(25)July.
• Page 9967 • {33/98}
(1)So it is our submission to Your Honours that General Krstic again
was untruthful to Your Honours when he said to you that he had no
knowledge or information about the capture of prisoners and when he said
that he had gone the road that would have taken him past open fields,
(5)clear traffic, et cetera.
Now, according to General Krstic, he also told Your Honours that
he only found out about the killings of the Muslim prisoners in late
August or early September. That testimony is found at 6331 and 2, and
6850. This obviously wasn't true.
(10)We have presented to Your Honours certain hearsay evidence about
the date and the time when General Krstic was informed of the killings.
We have the intercepted communication of the 15th, the 3.500 parcels to
distribute. We have the series of communications culminating on the 17th
with Colonel Popovic telling General Krstic that everything's done, the
(15)job gets an A. We have the presence of Lieutenant Colonel Popovic,
Colonel Beara, and General Mladic at the forward command post in Zepa, and
lastly, we have worldwide publicity, as these events were developing, that
there were executions taking place in Srebrenica in and around the
environs. So when General Krstic told Your Honours that he had no
(20)knowledge about these killings until August or September, he wasn't
telling Your Honours the truth.
General Krstic, in his testimony, repeatedly told Your Honours
that between the 13th of July and the 2nd of August, he never went to the
Vlasenica headquarters. If you turn to 6732 of the transcript, you will
(25)see that assertion. Of course, Your Honours, that was a critical part of
• Page 9968 • {34/98}
(1)
Blank page inserted to ensure pagination corresponds between the English
and French transcript.
• Page 9969 • {35/98}
(1)his attempt to demonstrate that he was completely isolated in the Zepa
area, that he wasn't receiving information.
We know, Your Honours, from Witness DB, that all communications
that had to go to Zepa had to be -- had to come through the Vlasenica
(5)headquarters and then disseminated to other points, to other brigades. We
know that the Drina Corps headquarters was receiving and transmitted
orders and communications, I should say communications relating to these
killings. We've seen some examples. In all likelihood, they were
transmitting by secure means, by encrypted means, information about these
(10)killings.
Now, all that communication was coming through and out of
Vlasenica, the headquarters where General Krstic said he never went. We
have stipulated -- the parties have stipulated that the Vlasenica
headquarters was not a very long distance from the forward command post at
(15)Krivace. The stipulation, as you recall, was that the distance between
the Krivace forward command post where General Krstic says he was isolated
and the Vlasenica headquarters is 34 kilometres. Investigators from my
office travelling at 47 kilometres an hour took 42 minutes and 57 seconds
to get to -- from Krivace forward command post location to the Vlasenica
(20)headquarters.
Now, we know as well that from closed-session testimony at page
9133, that General Krstic was at Vlasenica. We also know from
closed-session evidence, from related closed-session evidence, that
General Krstic was at Vlasenica. And if we turn to the next exhibit, we
(25)know on the 17th of July that General Krstic was at the Vlasenica
• Page 9970 • {36/98}
(1)headquarters. This is his order of the 17th of July, signed as the
commander and issued, you will see in the upper left-hand corner, issued
from the Vlasenica headquarters.
Now, if we turn to the next exhibit in order, this is an
(5)intercepted communication, Your Honours, from the 18th of July, and I've
only extracted the first five lines from that, but this is General Krstic,
in an unknown correspondence, which General Krstic says, "OK then, did he
tell you where am I supposed to come, here or up there?" And X says,
"Well, the boss said that you should wait for him there in Vlasenica."
(10)Krstic says, "Good, I'm just checking if I understood that correctly." X
says, "You got it right." And General Krstic says, "Good, good."
So it is our submission to Your Honours that on this point as
well, General Krstic was untruthful to Your Honours.
We could prepare to stop at this point, Mr. President.
(15)
JUDGE RODRIGUES: If I understood correctly, it would be
convenient to have a break now, so we're going to have a half-hour break.
--- Recess taken at 10.52 p.m.
--- On resuming at 11.32 a.m.
JUDGE RODRIGUES:
[Int.] Mr. Harmon, let us continue and
(20)hopefully finish.
MR. HARMON: Thank you, Mr. President and Your Honours.
JUDGE RODRIGUES:
[Int.] We're going to work until 1.00.
MR. HARMON: Before the break, or at the break I was discussing
with Your Honours a series of times when General Krstic was not truthful
(25)with the Trial Chamber. Let me continue.
• Page 9971 • {37/98}
(1)I had discussed the testimony of General Krstic when he said he
wasn't aware of the killings that had taken place because he was in this
information vacuum at the command post in Zepa. Let me slightly vary
that. General Krstic not only said he didn't know about the killings that
(5)were taking place outside the Zepa area of operation, but he didn't have
any information about what was happening, about other events that were
happening outside the Zvornik -- I'm sorry, outside of the Zepa area of
responsibility. Except on the 14th of July, he had received information
from the assistant commander of the Zvornik Brigade telling him about the
(10)alarming developments in the Zvornik area of responsibility. That was the
only piece of information he said that he received.
Now, that was what he told the Office of the Prosecutor during his
interview. At trial he confirmed that, but then he slightly changed his
story and he said that that information vacuum about what was happening in
(15)and around the Zepa area was filled on the 20th of July when he received
information from Colonel Cerovic. Again, Colonel Cerovic is the head of
the Department of Moral Guidance and Legal Affairs. And at that point he
says he was briefed on the situation by Colonel Cerovic about the events
that were taking place in the Drina Corps area of responsibility.
(20)Again, this testimony was an attempt to again create the
impression that he was in an information vacuum, now somewhat reduced in
time from August the 2nd, but still an important period of time, up to the
20th of July.
Now, we have submitted evidence to Your Honours, voluminous
(25)evidence, saying that that simply was not the case. I refer Your Honours
• Page 9972 • {38/98}
(1)to Exhibit 378, an exhibit that is under seal but lists the numerous
communications that were made to General Krstic. Let me mention a few of
those.
If we could have the first item put on the monitor. There it is.
(5)It appears on my monitor. This is just an example of one of the numerous
pieces of information. I've previously discussed it with Your Honours.
This is the response of the Bratunac Brigade to Commander Krstic's first
order.
The next exhibit that we have seen, and has been the subject of
(10)discussion, is Prosecutor's Exhibit 536. This is also from the Bratunac
Brigade and it references General Krstic's previous order.
We go to the next exhibit that has also been previously exhibited
in this argument, Prosecutor's Exhibit 537, which is the proposal from the
chief of the air defence for the Drina Corps, again informing him of
(15)events that were taking place in and around the area outside of Zepa, this
proposal being dated the 15th of July.
If we turn to the next exhibit, Prosecutor's Exhibit 650, I'll
spend just a moment on this exhibit with Your Honours, because this
exhibit is very revealing in light of what General Krstic testified at
(20)trial.
This is a conversation that was intercepted between General Krstic
and the commander of the Zvornik Brigade, Colonel Pandurevic. It is a
report, an information -- I mean an intercepted communication showing
directly that General Krstic was receiving information from outside the
(25)Zepa area of responsibility. If I can direct Your Honours' attention to
• Page 9973 • {39/98}
(1)the portion of this intercept, it is not highlighted on this, I see, but
it is about a quarter of the way down, General Krstic says, "Are there any
changes up there for the better?" and Trbic says, "Well, it's mostly for
the better. We are stabilising the situation, work's going on ahead,
(5)preparing the manpower that arrived and so on."
And if you go down later, at the end of this intercepted
communication, here is the communication between Vinko Pandurevic, the
head of the Zvornik Brigade, and General Krstic: "This is Krstic."
Pandurevic says: "Hello, General, sir." Krstic: "Hello, Vinko.
(10)Vinko!" Pandurevic: "Go ahead." Krstic: "Are there any changes in
reference to that report?" Pandurevic: "Nothing significant. Basically,
we'll probably finish this today." Krstic: "Finish it?" Pandurevic:
"Yes."
What this intercepted communication demonstrates is that General
(15)Krstic wasn't telling you the truth when he said he had no information
about what was happening outside of his area of responsibility. Again,
this is an intercept of the 17th of July, with General Krstic directly
talking to Vinko Pandurevic, his subordinate, and referencing reports that
he had received from Vinko Pandurevic.
(20)Now, the next exhibit is one we have also seen. This is an
intercept of the 19th of July, again between Colonel Cerovic, who was the
head of the Department of Moral Guidance and Legal Affairs, and Vinko
Pandurevic. This was the intercept that we talked about in respect of
General Krstic giving orders to units that were outside the area of the
(25)Drina Corps responsibility. And if we go to the bottom of this intercept,
• Page 9974 • {40/98}
(1)we can see that Colonel Cerovic is saying, "Yes. I presented that to
Krstic and wrote him a special report based on your interim and daily
reports." Again, evidence that General Krstic was receiving information
contrary to what he told Your Honours.
(5)Now, we also presented evidence that with General Krstic in the
Zepa area were General Mladic, who was the chief of the Main Staff and who
clearly knew what the battle situation was like. He was in Zepa with
General Krstic. He would naturally have informed General Krstic about
those developments.
(10)Present as well in Zepa was Lieutenant Colonel Svetozar Kosoric,
the defendant's brother-in-law who was the chief of Drina Corps
intelligence. We have presented to Your Honours some copies of
intelligence reports where clearly the situation inside and outside of the
enclave are reported. Colonel Kosoric would be the man who would receive
(15)those intelligence reports, and he would quite naturally have conveyed
that information to his brother-in-law, the commander of the Drina Corps.
So it's our submission to Your Honours that when General Krstic
said to you that he was living in this information vacuum up to the 20th
of July, he wasn't telling you the truth.
(20)Now, let's take a look at the next very important time when
General Mladic -- General Krstic did not tell you the truth. He testified
that General Mladic took over command of the Drina Corps, all the units in
the Drina Corps. Initially he said that the takeover of command took
place on the 9th of July, during the attack on Srebrenica. He said later,
(25)at a meeting that was held on the 11th of July at the Bratunac Brigade
• Page 9975 • {41/98}
(1)command, that command had been taken over by General Mladic. Again, these
were attempts to shift command responsibility away from General Krstic to
others. In this case to General Mladic, who was also responsible for
these foul deeds.
(5)Now, let's take a look at his testimony. In respect of the
proposition that General Mladic took over command of the Drina Corps when
he arrived at the forward command post in Pribicevac on the 9th of July
and remained in command during the attack, that testimony has been
contradicted by Witness DB, who was a Defence witness, a high-ranking VRS
(10)officer, as you know, and a person who remained at the forward command
post throughout the period of the attack.
According to Witness DB, who was in a unique position to observe
the interactions of the high-ranking generals with whom he was dealing, he
testified that the chain of command during this period of time remained
(15)intact throughout the Srebrenica operation. That testimony can be found
at 7231 of the transcript.
Now, when General Krstic was interviewed by the Office of the
Prosecutor in February of 2000, he said that at that meeting on the 11th,
he said, "At a meeting of the command of the Bratunac Brigade, Mladic
(20)said, 'From this moment on, all units in the areas of Bratunac,
Srebrenica, Zvornik, are placed under my command.'"
He said present at that meeting were himself, Mladic,
General Zivanovic, Colonel Pandurevic, Lieutenant Colonel Andric,
Lieutenant Colonel Blagojevic, Lieutenant Colonel Nastic, and
(25)
[redacted] Now, at the trial he reasserted that same position,
• Page 9976 • {42/98}
(1)attempting to shift his criminal responsibility.
Now, General Krstic's testimony at trial was again directly
contradicted by the testimony of his own witness, Witness DB, who was a
person who also attended the meeting at the Bratunac Brigade
(5)headquarters.
Listen to this series of questions and answers of Witness DB that
occurred during this trial:
• Q.: Now, at that meeting ...
And he's referring to the meeting at Bratunac Brigade headquarters.
(10)
• Q.: Now, at that meeting that you attended, did
General Mladic say that from that moment on,
command of all the forces, the Drina Corps forces in
the municipalities of Srebrenica, Bratunac, Zvornik,
Milici, and Vlasenica would be assumed by him
(15)personally?
• A.: I don't remember that wording.
• Q.: Now, had the command of the Drina Corps units in
those municipalities been taken over personally by
General Mladic, that implies, does it not, that
(20)those units would then report to General Mladic;
correct?
• A.: In military terms, that would be so.
• Q.: And then that would mean that the -- on combat
reports, for example, and daily combat reports,
(25)those would be sent to General Mladic as the now
• Page 9977 • {43/98}
(1)commander of the Drina Corps forces?
• A.: Yes.
And that can be found at 7265 through 67.
And if Your Honours review the numerous interim combat reports and
(5)daily combat reports of the Bratunac Brigade and the Zvornik Brigade
between the period of the 11th and the 20th of July, you will see that not
a single one of those reports is addressed to either General Mladic or to
the Main Staff. They are all addressed to the Drina Corps Command, thus
indicating clearly that the chain of command remained intact.
(10)Now, Warrant Officer Butler, who was the Prosecutor's military
analyst and who testified before you and examined literally thousands of
VRS documents from the period, concluded that General Mladic did not take
over command of the Drina Corps as asserted by General Krstic. That can
be found at pages 5262 through 65 of the transcript and paragraphs 1324
(15)and 25 of Mr. Butler's expert report.
Witness DB's firsthand observations that the chain of command
remained intact were further corroborated by the expert testimony of
General Dannatt who, in response to a question posed to him by Judge Riad,
testified that he did not see any evidence of General Mladic "giving
(20)direct orders to constituent parts of the Drina Corps, and therefore
bypassing the normal corps command and control structure. I don't see any
evidence of that." That is found at 5714 of the transcript.
Indeed, Your Honours, two exhibits clearly demonstrate that
General Mladic did not take over command of all the units in the corps.
(25)Those -- let me -- these are all illustrative, but if we turn to
• Page 9978 • {44/98}
(1)Prosecutor's Exhibit 463, this, of course, is the first order - we've seen
this before - the first order of General Krstic to search the terrain.
And you'll notice that one the addressees in this order is the Skelani
Independent Battalion, and the Skelani Independent Battalion was not a
(5)unit that was identified as one of the units participating in the attack
on Zepa.
Also, Your Honours, this indicates that the reports from this
particular order are to be submitted in writing to General Krstic by the
17th of July. Not to be submitted to the Main Staff, not to be submitted
(10)to General Mladic, but to be submitted to General Krstic.
Now, if we turn to the next exhibit, 536, this is just another
illustration. This is one of those daily combat reports; this coming from
the Bratunac Brigade. Again, Your Honours, if you look at the addressees,
this report was sent to the command of the Drina Corps and to the forward
(15)command post. It wasn't sent to General Mladic; it wasn't sent to the
Main Staff. Again, this demonstrates that the chain of command remained
intact.
Now, lastly, let's turn to Prosecutor's Exhibit 539, an exhibit I
have not used in this summation. This is a daily combat report dated the
(20)16th of July, 1995, again from the commander of the Bratunac Light
Infantry Brigade, Colonel Blagojevic. This relates to the order that was
given by Commander Krstic on the 13th.
If Your Honours focus your attention on the part of this
highlighted in the middle, "During the day ..." It reads, "During the day
(25)the brigade commander visited all units which are blocking the enemy
• Page 9979 • {45/98}
(1)
Blank page inserted to ensure pagination corresponds between the English
and French transcript.
• Page 9980 • {46/98}
(1)retreat, the 65th Protection Motorised Regiment, parts of the MUP," the
Ministry of the Interior, "the 5th Engineering Battalion," and then
importantly it says, "defined their tasks and organised their joint action
and communications."
(5)This document illustrates that the operations that were taking
place throughout the Drina Corps area of responsibility were joint and
unified actions taken by Main Staff and Drina Corps units under the
command of Drina Corps commanders.
Now, let's take a look at an exhibit that the Defence produced.
(10)It's Defence -- we used it also as an exhibit. It is 649. Now, this
exhibit is the only document that supports the defendant's assertion that
General Mladic took over control of all elements in the Drina Corps area
of responsibility. You'll note in the upper left-hand corner that this
document was sent out and issued from the Main Staff of the army of the
(15)Republika Srpska on the 17th of July, and that it is signed by General
Mladic.
Now, this document needs to be put in the context of what was
happening at the time. What was happening on the 17th of July in the area
that is addressed -- in the Drina Corps area of responsibility?
(20)First off, the Zepa operation had started on the 14th of July,
consuming large amounts of men from the corps. Second of all, on the 14th
of July, the armed column had penetrated the Zvornik Brigade area of
responsibility and the Zvornik Brigade was engaged in active combat
operations against the column. Thirdly, on the 16th of July, the Bratunac
(25)Brigade readied a unit for the deployment to Zepa. You can see that in
• Page 9981 • {47/98}
(1)Exhibit 404/2. On the 19th of the July, we know that Colonel Blagojevic
and elements of the Bratunac Brigade were in Zepa to fill the void created
by the dislocation of Colonel Pandurevic who had to leave the Zepa
operation with his men to go north to address the situation in the area of
(5)his brigade. So that was the situation in the context in which this order
was issued.
Now, let's examine the face of this order, because this order
calls for the integration of operations to continue to deal with the
Muslims in and around the area.
(10)If you turn to the third paragraph, you'll see that combined
forces, Main Staff and Drina Corps forces, are to engage in the area of
Bratunac, Milici, and Drinjaca. So this is an order that deals with a
limited geographic area, and if you read on, it deals with a limited
period of time, between the 17th and the 19th of July. In this order,
(15)General Mladic gives an order to appoint a member of the Main Staff to
head up those operations.
Now, this is not proof that General Mladic took over control of
all of the elements of the Drina Corps area of responsibility. This
addressed a particular and limited situation in a particular and limited
(20)geographic area for a period of two days. And we know that from the date
of this, the 17th of the July, and from other evidence, that there were no
killings, no massacres that occurred in the area described in this
particular document, and we know that mass executions had finished by the
17th of July.
(25)Now, let's turn back to Prosecutor's Exhibit 364/2/15 July/tab
• Page 9982 • {48/98}
(1)8iii. This is an intercepted conversation where General Krstic and
Colonel Beara have a conversation, Colonel Beara imploring him to send men
to distribute 3.500 parcels. Now, had there been a rupture in the chain
of command, and we know that Colonel Beara was from the Main Staff, had
(5)there been a rupture in the chain of command, Colonel Beara or General
Mladic would have issued orders directly to the Drina Corps units that are
identified by Colonel Beara in this intercepted conversation. Instead,
Colonel Beara went to the commander of the Drina Corps for those units so
he could secure his executioners. This intercept illustrates that the
(10)chain of command was operating properly.
Now, it's therefore our submissions to Your Honours that when
General Krstic testified that General Mladic had taken over command of the
Drina Corps operation -- I'm sorry, had taken over command of the Drina
Corps for the operation between the 9th and 11th of the July, he wasn't
(15)telling Your Honours the truth. And when he further said on the night of
the 11th that General Mladic had taken over command of all of the units
within the Drina Corps area of responsibility, he wasn't telling you the
truth.
It's our further submission on these points relating to the
(20)killings, then, that the evidence in this case has established that
General Krstic planned, ordered, instigated, and aided and abetted in the
mass executions of Muslim men and boys following the fall of Srebrenica.
May I just have a moment while we change this, get rid of it.
The next issue that I would like to address, Your Honours, is
(25)whether or not the killings that Your Honours have heard evidence about
• Page 9983 • {49/98}
(1)constitute genocide. We have, as Your Honours know, submitted extensive
submissions on this in our written brief.
The accused is charged in Count 1 with committing genocide; that
is, intending to destroy a part of the Muslim people as a national,
(5)ethnical, or religious group by killing members of that group or by
causing serious bodily injury and mental harm to members of that group.
He's also charged alternatively in Count 2 with complicity to commit
genocide.
Now, the group of people we're referring to in this case are
(10)Bosnian Muslims from Eastern Bosnia, in and around the enclave of
Srebrenica. We know from other exhibits that have been presented by the
Office of the Prosecutor that the 38.000 to 42.000 Muslims who were living
in the artificially created safe area didn't all originally come from that
area but were Bosnian Muslims from the area surrounding Srebrenica, from
(15)the Cerska area, from the Bratunac area, from the Zvornik area, and other
locations, who had been pushed into the enclave as a result of the 1993
counteroffensive by the Bosnian Serb army. So this isn't a little tiny
group of Muslims from Srebrenica, this is a group of Muslims from Eastern
Bosnia who had been pushed into this artificially created area.
(20)Now, killing has been defined in the Akayesu judgement, and it
includes all forms of voluntary killings, not just murder. That judgement
also identified and defined the terms "causing serious bodily or mental
harm" as including "acts of torture, be they bodily or mental, inhumane or
degrading treatment, persecutions," and it has cited as authority to that
(25)the Eichmann case, which held that "serious bodily injury or mental harm
• Page 9984 • {50/98}
(1)can be caused by enslavement, starvation, deportation, and persecution ...
and by their detention in ghettos, transit camps, and concentration camps
in conditions which were designed to cause their degradation, deprivation
of their rights as human beings, and to suppress them and cause them
(5)inhumane suffering and torture."
Now, it's clear, Your Honours, from the jurisprudence in this
Tribunal that genocide may be perpetrated within a limited geographic
area. In this case, we are talking about Eastern Bosnia. It is our
submission to Your Honours that the attempt to destroy thousands of people
(10)because of their membership in a particular group constitutes genocide
even if these persons constitute only a part of the group, either within a
country or within a region or within a single community. This position
has been supported in the jurisprudence of this Tribunal and in the
jurisprudence of the Rwanda Tribunal, where, in the Akayesu judgement, the
(15)acts of the accused were limited to a single commune where the accused was
the burgermeister. Similarly, in the Nikolic Rule 61 hearing decision, it
characterised acts in a single region of Bosnia and Herzegovina, that is
Vlasenica, as genocide.
In the Jelisic judgement, the Trial Chamber opined that
(20)international law admits the characterisation of genocide even when the
exterminatory intent only extends to a limited geographic zone.
Most recently, the decision in Kayishema and Ruzindena, held that
genocide was implemented against the Tutsis in a single prefecture.
Therefore, we submit, Your Honours, that this Trial Chamber is
(25)entitled to focus its consideration on the genocidal acts in and around
• Page 9985 • {51/98}
(1)the geographic area of the Srebrenica enclave, and we submit that that is
a proper consideration by Your Honours.
Now, the genocide -- our Statute refers to the destruction of
people in whole or in part. It's clear from our jurisprudence that the
(5)destruction of the entire group is not
[Realtime transcript read in error:
"now"] required for a finding of genocide. The term "in part" has been
defined as a substantial part of the group in proportional terms or,
alternatively, a significant section or sector of that group.
Now, let me focus on the first aspect, that is, the destruction of
(10)a substantial part of the group in proportional terms.
At the time of the fall of the enclave, an estimated 38.000 to
42.000 Muslims lived in Srebrenica at the time of the takeover. As I
said, they weren't Muslims exclusively from Srebrenica but from the
environs. It is our submission that a substantial part of this group in
(15)proportional terms has been destroyed. By our conservative estimates,
7.475 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were destroyed.
JUDGE RIAD: Excuse me.
MR. HARMON: Yes.
JUDGE RIAD: There must be some kind of mistake in the
(20)transcript. You said it's clear from our jurisprudence that the
destruction of the entire group is needed for a finding of genocide.
MR. HARMON: Thank you for that correction, Judge Riad. No, it is
not required.
JUDGE RIAD: Did you say that?
(25)
MR. HARMON: I did not say that.
• Page 9986 • {52/98}
(1)
JUDGE RIAD: Okay. Then we'll correct it.
MR. HARMON: Thank you very much for that correction, Judge Riad.
Now, it is not required that the entire group be destroyed but a
part of that group destroyed would be sufficient for a finding of
(5)genocide.
Now, I was talking the destruction of a substantial part in
proportional terms, and I mentioned Your Honours have heard the evidence
from a demographer, expert demographer who came here and analysed records
that very conservatively 7.475 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were killed in
(10)that period of time. Those figures, as I say, were conservative because
they were based on a reporting, an ability to notify people, the
authorities, that people were missing. And according to the demographers,
whole families were wiped out during this sad affair and, therefore, could
not report about missing -- about being missing.
(15)We know that from the VRS intercept on the 13th of July, the one
intercept I showed Your Honours earlier, that they held 6.000 men on the
13th of July at 5.30 in the afternoon. None of those men and boys
survived.
When we conducted exhumations of a portion of the graves that had
(20)been identified, and we do not know the location of others, the minimum
number of bodies we have recovered is 2.028. And according to one expert
assessment, 2.571 bodies remain possible in the remaining known, and I
emphasise "known," graves, primary and secondary. For example, we don't
know where the majority of bodies from the execution at the Dam were
(25)taken.
• Page 9987 • {53/98}
(1)Now, that is a substantial number of people in respect of the 38
to 42.000 Muslims from Eastern Bosnia, a substantial number of people who
were destroyed. Therefore, it is our submission that this number clearly
falls within the definition required; that is, part of the Muslims from
(5)the community were destroyed.
Now, let's focus on the second aspect of genocide, which is the
second aspect of this definition in whole or in part, which deals with a
significant section or sector of that group being eliminated.
As stated in the Jelisic decision, a significant section certainly
(10)can include leaders of a group. They're an important section of a group.
And the Jelisic judgement said that genocidal intent could "consist of the
desired destruction of a more limited number of persons selected for the
impact that their disappearance would have upon the survival of the group
as such. This would then constitute an intention to destroy the group
(15)selectively."
Now, the UN commission of experts said, in relation to selective
attacks on a group's leadership, and I quote: "The character of the
attack must be viewed in the context or fate of what happened to the rest
of the group. If a group has its leadership exterminated and at the same
(20)time has a relatively large number of its members of the group subjected
to heinous acts, for example, deported on a large scale, the cluster of
violations ought to be considered in its entirety in order to interpret
the provisions of the genocide convention in the spirit consistent with
its purpose."
(25)Your Honours, we have presented evidence about the social fabric
• Page 9988 • {54/98}
(1)of Eastern Bosnian Muslim society. It was a patriarchal society. It was
a society where the men were the leaders of the group. The men generally
had more formal education and training. They generally worked outside of
the home, enabling material support for the family. They made the final
(5)decisions that affected the lives of their family members. They were the
protection of the group.
By eliminating the males of Eastern Bosnian society, the VRS was
fully aware, as was General Krstic, of the impact this would have on the
survival of the group. The effect on this group I'll discuss a little bit
(10)later in my submissions to Your Honours, but it's our submission to Your
Honours that by destroying the male members of the Bosnian Muslim
community in Eastern Bosnia, this was the destruction of a significant
section of the group.
Now, to sustain a conviction of genocide against General Krstic,
(15)we must establish that General Krstic had genocidal intent; that is, he
committed the acts with the intent to destroy in whole or in part a
national, ethnical, racial, religious group as such.
In assessing this element, the Trial Chamber in Kayishema and
Ruzindena acknowledged that it may be difficult to find explicit
(20)manifestations of intent but said that the perpetrator's action, including
circumstantial evidence, may provide sufficient evidence of intent.
Now, during the Rule 61 hearing in Karadzic and Mladic, which was
decided in 1996, the Trial Chamber identified a number of factors from
which genocidal intent can be inferred. I will address those factors in
(25)order.
• Page 9989 • {55/98}
(1)First, the Chamber said that the Court could consider "the general
political doctrine that gave rise to the prohibited acts."
We have seen the strategic objectives of the Serbian people which
was published on the 12th of -- I'm sorry, the 12th of May, 1992, in which
(5)the first objective was to establish borders separating the two -- the
ethnic communities.
The political agenda of the Republika Srpska was to create a
homogenous state, eliminating the non-Serb population from the territory
which the Serb community claimed was traditionally theirs. The policy was
(10)defined by the political leadership, it was implemented by the army, the
police, and other Republika Srpska bodies. The strategic objectives of
this policy were achieved through ethnic cleansing.
I direct Your Honours' attention to Exhibits 33 through 38, the
reports of the Special Rapporteur, Mr. Mazowiecki, wherein he discusses
(15)the policy of ethnic cleansing.
President Karadzic of the Republika Srpska and other political
leaders created an atmosphere of peril and used inflammatory rhetoric to
incite Bosnian Serbs, claiming over and over again that the Serbs were
likely to be the victims of genocide at the hands of the "Ustashi Muslim
(20)hordes."
Army leaders, General Mladic, General Krstic, echoed those views.
I refer Your Honours to Exhibit 750, which is the report on the army in
1992 prepared by General Mladic.
General Krstic also espoused those views, and we can see an
(25)expression of that in the Drinski Magazine, wherein he is quoted as
• Page 9990 • {56/98}
(1)
Blank page inserted to ensure pagination corresponds between the English
and French transcript.
• Page 9991 • {57/98}
(1)saying, and I quote, "In this war, as in previous wars, the Muslims had
the goal of annihilating everything Serbian."
In a different magazine, Srpska Vojska, General Krstic is quoted
as saying, "We have brought peace and calm to the population which does
(5)not have to fear Ustasha pogroms any more."
Now, following the fall of Srebrenica, General Krstic sent
congratulations to his units saying, "You have done by your resoluteness,
courage, self-sacrifice, and dedication, done everything to eliminate" --
I'm sorry, "everything to liberate centuries-old Serbian territory from
(10)the hated enemy and to prevent further genocide against the Serbian
people."
Such rhetoric, Your Honours, created the hard surface on which the
genociding match was struck. And you may infer from that rhetoric, from
this language, an intent of General Krstic to commit genocide.
(15)Now, the next factor that was identified in the Rule 61 hearing
from which genocidal intent could be inferred was the general nature of
atrocities in a region or in a country. Now, after the Srebrenica area
was ethnically cleansed by the VRS at the beginning of the war, we know
that the government forces mounted a successful counteroffensive, and they
(20)reclaimed the territory from which they had been driven.
In 1993, we know that the VRS had a counteroffensive against the
Bosnian Muslim forces. An according to the report on the
Secretary-General, "The Fall of Srebrenica," which is our Exhibit 30,
March of 1993, "Serb army forces were advancing rapidly, killing and
(25)burning as they did so." General Krstic, was a senior officer during that
• Page 9992 • {58/98}
(1)counteroffensive.
Now, I also direct your attention to Exhibit 37, which is the
report of the Special Rapporteur, Mr. Mazowiecki, wherein he discusses the
ethnic cleansing in the eastern enclaves. Elsewhere in the Republika
(5)Srpska, ethnic cleansing was occurring, and I direct your attention to
Prosecutor's Exhibit 35, another report prepared by Mr. Mazowiecki. I
direct your attention specifically to paragraphs 8 through 20 for a
detailed account.
Now, the next factor from which you may infer genocidal intent is
(10)the existence of a genocidal plan and the accused's participation in its
creation or execution. Proof of a genocidal plan per se is not an element
of the offence of genocide, but you can infer genocidal intent from the
creation of a plan.
In Kayishema and Ruzindena, one of the factors that they said
(15)would be proper to consider would be "the methodical way of planning."
I'm sorry, I can't pronounce that word; I'm getting a little tired. You
have certainly had evidence of how methodical this planning was. It was
meticulous. It was designed to not make errors. It was designed to
eliminate everybody who had fallen into the genocidal net. But for the
(20)grace of God, General Krstic and his colleagues would have succeeded.
We've heard testimonies of the handful of survivors who succeeded in
getting out of that net. You may consider, then, how effective this plan
was in inferring genocidal intent.
The next factor that the court can consider in inferring the
(25)genocidal intent is the scale of the atrocities committed. At the
• Page 9993 • {59/98}
(1)beginning of my closing remarks, I identified in detail the scale of the
atrocities committed. I have identified a number of pieces of evidence to
suggest that the numbers that we have recovered are clearly not the total
picture of the number of people who were killed. But we can say within a
(5)period of five days, the Eastern Bosnian Muslim community in and around
Srebrenica was destroyed.
In Kayishema and Ruzindena, that decision held that intent can be
inferred from the systematic manner of killing. It goes without saying in
this case that these killings were systematic, precise, and well
(10)organised.
The Trial Chamber in the Karadzic and Mladic Rule 61 hearing also
identified another factor; that is, the perpetration of acts which
violate, or which the perpetrators themselves consider to violate, the
very foundation of the group.
(15)General Krstic was raised and educated in Eastern Bosnia. He
claimed to have lived with and amongst the Muslim community in Eastern
Bosnia. He claims to have been in the army and had good relations with
Bosnian Muslims throughout his career. Now, by virtue of his being a
native of the region, he was fully cognizant of the role that the males
(20)had in Muslim society; a traditional patriarchal society. The elimination
of the male members of the group and the effects that that would have on
the surviving members of the group were known to him. His intent, it's
our submission, his intent to destroy this group or a part of this group
has to be assessed in light of his knowledge of the society against which
(25)he directed his acts and the acts of his subordinates.
• Page 9994 • {60/98}
(1)As the Commission of Experts noted, "Genocide may be comprised of
a cluster of acts which together threaten the collectivity's continued
existence. These should be considered in their entirety in order to
interpret the provisions of the Convention in a spirit consistent with its
(5)purpose."
The cluster of acts that we're talking about in this case that
were directed against the Bosnian Muslim community include mass murder,
deportation and forced expulsion, intentional burning of Muslim homes.
And I think, Your Honour, even though the genocide convention does not
(10)prohibit cultural genocide, the Court may also consider what happened to
the religious monuments in the Srebrenica enclave after the capture by
General Krstic's soldiers. All of the mosques within the town of
Srebrenica were dynamited; the main mosque in Srebrenica was completely
destroyed and it's now a parking lot.
(15)The Rule 61 judgement in Karadzic and Mladic identified another
factor; that is, the hatred for the group of the accused and his
associates precipitating in the commission of the offence, including
superiors and subordinates. Now, while the crime of genocide doesn't
require proof of hatred for the group, such evidence can be considered by
(20)you in inferring intent. Both before, during, and after the takeover of
the enclave, the animus toward the Bosnian Muslim communities expressed by
the highest levels of the Bosnian Serb army command, including General
Mladic, General Krstic, and other high-ranking Drina Corps officers and
soldiers, was obvious. Let me review some of that with you.
(25)Before the attack on the enclave, United Nations Military
• Page 9995 • {61/98}
(1)Observer, Colonel Kingori, testified that he had a professional
relationship, a liaison, with Colonel Vukotic, who was the commander of
the Skelani Separate Battalion and a frequent liaison with the United
Nations Military Observers. According to Colonel Kingori, the attitude of
(5)this man was "a bit rough ... it was said that the Muslims have to leave
the Srebrenica enclave in total. He doesn't want to see them there. If
they are there, he might end up killing one of them." Now, this was
before the attack that this expression was made.
We know that on the 11th of the July, during the triumphant march
(10)into Srebrenica, that General Mladic was interviewed. We have presented
that interview to Your Honours. General Mladic, in the presence of
General Krstic, said, "Now is the time to take revenge on the Turks."
During the meeting with the Muslim representatives, first on the
evening of the 11th and then on the morning of the 12th of the July, where
(15)General Mladic intimidated and threatened the Muslim representatives, he
used the term that the Muslims were going to disappear. Now, alongside of
him when those threats were made was none other than General Krstic. And
remember at that ceremony, this was one where the --
JUDGE RODRIGUES:
[Int.] Excuse me for interrupting.
(20)Perhaps you need a break. Please feel free to ask for one.
MR. HARMON: Thank you.
Let me turn to the next example, which was in February of 1995,
when Captain Momir Nikolic, who was the Drina Corps, the Bratunac Brigade
assistant commander for intelligence and security, told Colonel Karremans
(25)during one of their regular meetings, "He told me, you could see it on his
• Page 9996 • {62/98}
(1)face too, that the hatred of the Muslim people, especially those who were
living in the enclave ... I think looking in those days, at that moment on
his face, that he meant that, and that there was quite some hatred in his
eyes, and also in those words."
(5)Next, Your Honour, we know that the expression "balija" is a
pejorative term that even the accused recognised as being extremely
offensive to Muslims. According to the survivor testimony Your Honours
have heard, throughout the periods of detention and up to the point when
the victims were executed, this term was directed at them repeatedly by
(10)both officers and soldiers within the Drina Corps. It was a term that was
used by General Krstic in an article that appeared in Drinski Magazine in
November of 1995.
We know from the testimony of Bego Ademovic, who was a Potocari
survivor, he recalled how soldiers cursed him, cursed his balija mother,
(15)and one Serb soldier issued the following warning to him: "You'll all be
butchered. You will be burned in acid. This is our Serb fatherland.
This is greater Serbia."
We know further from Mr. Erdemovic that during the executions of
the Muslim victims at the Branjevo Military Farm, that these victims were
(20)often abused. Venomous remarks were spewed at them. They were sometimes
tortured and humiliated before they were executed.
Lastly, in Exhibit 513, which is an intercept from the 13th of the
July, in which there's a discussion about Muslims who had been killed
during the course of the day, and one of the correspondents says,
(25)"Fuck 'em, they weren't human beings," and the other correspondent in
• Page 9997 • {63/98}
(1)that conversation says, "That's clear to me."
Now, our evidence shows that there was a pervasive hatred of the
Muslims starting from the top of the VRS chain of command and reflected in
the words and the deeds of both the officers who were under the command of
(5)General Krstic and the common soldiers.
The other factor that the Trial Chamber -- I mean Chamber in the
Rule 61 hearing identified is an area from which you can infer genocidal
intent was the degree to which the group was in fact destroyed in whole or
in part.
(10)The efforts in this case to destroy the Bosnian Muslim community
from Eastern Bosnia, from the environs of Srebrenica, were directed, they
were goal-oriented, and they were quite effective. Through deportations,
through mass execution of both the men and the boys, the boys being the
leaders in the future - they were going to be the backbone after their
(15)fathers passed on - from the destruction of the men and the boys, from the
fact that no Muslims currently remain in the Srebrenica area, you may
infer intent. The surviving members of the community, and again I will
address that later, this community remains shattered and dysfunctional,
unable, unwilling to return to the area.
(20)It's our submission to Your Honours that General Krstic planned,
ordered, implemented, and aided and abetted in the deportation of between
25.000 and 35.000 Muslims from Srebrenica, and in the mass execution of
thousands of Muslim males from this area, and in so doing, he intended to
destroy in part a group of Muslim people. So it's our submission to Your
(25)Honours that by so doing, he's guilty of genocide, Count 1 of the
• Page 9998 • {64/98}
(1)indictment.
Now, we have also charged General Krstic in an alternative count
which is complicity to commit genocide. In order for the Trial Chamber to
find General Krstic guilty of this alternative count, the Trial Chamber
(5)has to first conclude that genocide was, indeed, committed.
There's a difference between genocide and complicity, the main
distinction being in the intention of the perpetrator. If General Krstic
knew of the genocidal plan at the time and he participated in it, then he
can be held as an accomplice, in complicity in genocide. He doesn't have
(10)to have the specific intent, the dolus specialis. If he merely knows at
the time he's participating that there's a genocidal plan ongoing and he
contributes to that plan, then he can be held, as I say, as one who is
guilty of complicity.
In this case, we submit that genocide was indeed committed and
(15)that General Krstic was aware of that plan by virtue of his close
association with General Mladic and the others, and that he is therefore
guilty of complicity to commit genocide as well.
Now, Your Honours, I'm going to turn to one more brief subject
before we adjourn for lunch, and that is General Krstic's responsibility
(20)under Article 7.3 of the Statute.
Now, General Krstic has been charged with 7.3 responsibility for
all counts in the indictment. Article 7.3, under this provision, an
accused may be guilty for the acts of his subordinates "if he knew or had
reason to know that the subordinate was about to commit criminal acts" or
(25)he had done so and the superior failed to take reasonable and necessary
• Page 9999 • {65/98}
(1)steps to prevent such acts from occurring or from punishing the
perpetrators who had committed those offences.
In this case, it is crystal clear that General Krstic knew about
his obligations under the laws of war. He was a senior officer in both
(5)the former army of Yugoslavia, the VJ, and he was a senior officer in the
Bosnian Serb army. He had attended the military academy; he had been
instructed about those laws and his obligations under them. He was a man
who, by his own testimony, said that anybody who commits such violations
would be guilty of war crimes.
(10)Now, Article 7.3 has two prongs to it. The first prong deals with
prevention of crimes and the second deals with punishment of subordinates
who committed them. I'd like to focus first on the prevention of crimes.
Under the High Command case from the Nuremberg jurisprudence, an
officer who receives illegal orders directed to him and his subordinates
(15)has three options: He can issue an order countermanding the order, he can
resign, or he can sabotage the enforcement of the unlawful order to the
extent possible. General Krstic agreed with that jurisprudence, as did
General Dannatt and Professor General Radinovic. General Krstic took none
of those actions.
(20)Now, war crimes are the result of people who don't take
appropriate actions. General Krstic, had he taken steps to prevent or
countermand this order of General Mladic, had he done so, perhaps this
tragedy could have been mitigated, perhaps even avoided entirely. But it
is unfortunately people like General Krstic who lack the moral courage to
(25)stand up to superior officers because this may entail professional or
• Page 10000 • {66/98}
(1)personal risks. It is the Krstics of the world that create the kind of
crimes that we see here today. Had General Krstic refused the order of
General Mladic, he wouldn't be here today.
Now, the second aspect of Article 7.3 is the failure to punish.
(5)General Krstic told the Office of the Prosecutor in his interview, "I
wasn't authorised and I wouldn't have dared to order anyone to investigate
what had happened." First of all, he was clearly authorised to do it, to
investigate. He had a duty to do so. That duty was embedded in both a
decree that was signed by President Karadzic and was embedded in rules and
(10)regulations of the VRS.
According to General Krstic, he learned only in late August or
early September from
[redacted] about the executions that had been
committed at Kravica and a location he identified as Laze, probably
Lazete. He said he also learned that members of the Main Staff, General
(15)Mladic, Colonel Beara, and his own subordinate, Lieutenant Colonel
Popovic, were responsible for these crimes.
Now, as a commander of the Drina Corps, General Krstic was
required to take affirmative steps to investigate, to report these crimes,
and to punish the perpetrators, both under international law and under the
(20)law of the army of the Republika Srpska. His only effort to take an
affirmative action in that direction was his attempt, according to his
testimony, to relieve Lieutenant Colonel Popovic of command on the basis
of actions that were entirely unrelated to his participation in these
crimes, and that represents the sum total of the efforts made by
(25)General Krstic to prevent known perpetrators.
• Page 10001 • {67/98}
(1)
Blank page inserted to ensure pagination corresponds between the English
and French transcript.
• Page 10002 • {68/98}
(1)Now, his testimony was that he was afraid of General Mladic and
the security apparatus of the army of the Republika Srpska. That fear was
not supported in any way by any objective evidence that was presented to
this Trial Chamber. Indeed, one of the exhibits that I showed Your
(5)Honours today was a photograph that took place in Vlasenica, where
General Mladic and Colonel Beara were together with General Krstic, and at
that ceremony, General Mladic praised -- he had very high praise for his
commander of the Drina Corps, General Krstic.
So it's our submission to Your Honours that General Krstic took no
(10)steps to either prevent these crimes from occurring nor to punish the
perpetrators who were known to him, and therefore, it is our submission
that he is responsible criminally under Article 7.3 for all of the crimes
in the indictment.
Now, Mr. President, if I could, this would be an appropriate time
(15)to break. I can tell Your Honours that I will finish today. I only have
one more section to address Your Honours about, and it may be that there
will be some time for the Defence to commence its closing remarks, but I
only have a short presentation left.
JUDGE RODRIGUES: How much time do you need to finish?
(20)
MR. HARMON: I would say probably 45 minutes.
JUDGE RODRIGUES: Okay.
[Int.] Perhaps we'll see
whether we can begin with the Defence today, but Judges will have
questions. So even from the point of view of methodology - we always have
problems with methods - perhaps from the methodological point of view, it
(25)would be better after all for the Defence to start tomorrow. I believe
• Page 10003 • {69/98}
(1)so. I've already seen such signs from the side of the Defence, indicating
that they agree with me.
Did I guess right, Mr. Petrusic?
MR. PETRUSIC:
[Int.] Yes, Mr. President. The Defence
(5)would like to begin its closing arguments tomorrow.
JUDGE RODRIGUES:
[Int.] Very well. So, Mr. Harmon, we
are now going to have the break of 50 minutes. Yes, 50 minutes. We will
complete the closing arguments of the Prosecution, then we will have
questions of Judges for the Prosecution, and tomorrow we will begin with
(10)the Defence closing argument.
So now we'll have some 50 minutes to have lunch and to give your
voice a rest, too, Mr. Harmon.
--- Recess taken at 12.47 p.m.
--- On resuming at 1.44 p.m.
(15)
JUDGE RODRIGUES:
[Int.] So, Mr. Harmon, I hope that your
voice is in better shape now, and you may continue.
MR. HARMON: I have only one additional area to cover this
afternoon and that is the area of the impact of these terrible crimes on
the victims.
(20)The crimes that were perpetrated by the defendant and his
co-perpetrators resulted in the deaths of thousands of Muslim men and
boys. We must never forget that. But we must likewise never forget the
impact that these crimes had on the living victims, the women, the
children, and the few men who survived.
(25)The annihilation of the male sector of this community of
• Page 10004 • {70/98}
(1)traditionally patriarchal society has caused incalculable damage to that
community. In contrast to the lives of the people who lived in this
vibrant community before these crimes were committed, the lives of the
living survivors are now lives that find themselves generally in abject
(5)poverty, where generations, multiple generations, live in a single room in
either a refugee settlement or in housing that has been paid for by the
state. Most of these living victims remain unemployed. They receive
meager incomes, incomes that are virtually nothing by comparison to what
they had before in their rich lives, lives where they had farms, where
(10)they could raise their children, send their children to school, have loved
ones around during the moments that we all cherish.
None of these people, none of the survivors, the living survivors
from Srebrenica have returned to their homes in Srebrenica. They can't.
They fear to do so because they lack the leadership, the men who would
(15)normally provide them with protection.
Mrs. Ibrahimefendic, who as you know was from the Vive Jene
programme that has been treating the surviving victims, the women and the
children, testified that she had worked with one woman who had lost 56
male members of her immediate and broader family in a single day.
(20)Virtually all of the women of Srebrenica experienced multiple
losses, losses of their sons, their brothers, their fathers, their
nephews, their cousins. A whole community has been decimated by these
crimes. What remains of the Srebrenica community survives in many cases
only in the biological sense, nothing more. It's a community in despair;
(25)it's a community clinging to memories; it's a community that is lacking
• Page 10005 • {71/98}
(1)leadership; it's a community that's a shadow of what it once was.
Witness I, who was a grandfather at the time of these events, was
separated from his family in Srebrenica. He was taken to the Branjevo
Military Farm where the mass execution occurred, and he was one of the few
(5)survivors. This was his testimony:
"And 8.000 Srebrenica inhabitants are missing, and we must all
know that. We must all know that there must have been children, poor
people, between 16.000 and 20.000, and one needs to feed them all, to
bring them up. There are so many fathers without sons, and sons without
(10)fathers. I had two sons, and I don't have them any more. Why is that?
And I lived and I worked in my own home, and not in anybody else's, and
that was -- that same held true for my father and my grandfather. But
what they seized, what they took away, what they grabbed. I had two
houses. One they burnt down. It could burn. They burnt it down. But
(15)the other one they couldn't burn, so they came and put a mine to it,
because the house was new and I hadn't finished it yet. The roof was
still missing, but it was all made of concrete and bricks, so it wouldn't
burn. And I thought, "Well, it will survive at least." But, no, they
came and planted mines, and it just went down. Nothing but dust. But,
(20)right, never mind that. I had it, so it's gone. They took it. They
seized it. But why did they have to kill my sons? And I stand today as
dried as that tree in the forest. I could have lived with my sons and
with my own land, and now I don't have either. And how am I supposed to
live today? I don't have a pension or anything. Before that, I relied on
(25)my sons. They wouldn't have left me. They wouldn't have let me go
• Page 10006 • {72/98}
(1)hungry. And today, without my sons, without land, I'm slowly starving."
Now, that was the voice of one of tens of thousands of victims
from these terrible crimes perpetrated by the accused. We have submitted
for your consideration the testimony of health care professionals, Jasna
(5)Zecevic and Teufika Ibrahimefendic, from the NGO Vive Jene, who described
their work over the past five years with the women and the children
survivors of Srebrenica, and they testified to Your Honours about their
findings in respect of them.
They testified first about war trauma because they had seen war
(10)trauma victims in other parts of Bosnia, and they distinguished the
effects of war trauma and the war trauma that they had seen in the
Srebrenica survivors. They said that in the other cases, in normal war
trauma cases, that where the reality of death has been confirmed, the
victims were able to recover despite enormous personal pain, and they were
(15)able to take control over their lives and to start thinking about the
future.
They said that the trauma suffered by the victims in Srebrenica
was significantly different. They described this as the Srebrenica
syndrome. Now, I have distilled from the testimony of those two witnesses
(20)from Vive Jene the characteristics of this syndrome.
Persons suffering from this syndrome "cannot begin life, they
cannot face up to the reality of the death of a missing person. They can
only remember the moment they bade farewell, the moment when they agreed
to meet in a spot when they would be safe. And this is still something
(25)that guides them in their thoughts. They are stuck. They are in a
• Page 10007 • {73/98}
(1)waiting position always. They are keeping their thoughts that husbands
will come back, that they will -- they are living somewhere ... This is
exhausting, discouraging. They think life has no value. They become
emotionally lacking ... Some of them will remain at the level of waiting
(5)and uncertainty 'til the end of their days."
Now, these clinical observations were reflected in the eloquent
testimony of Mirsada Malagic, a Srebrenica deportee, who answered Judge
Rodrigues's final question, asking her if she had anything to add at the
conclusion of her testimony. This is what she said:
(10)"Yesterday afternoon, when I returned from here, I went out to
walk around your city, that is what I wanted to tell you. I couldn't
really see much, but what I really liked, what caught my eye, was a
monument that we visited and that was a monument to women; that is, women
awaiting sailors who never came back. And the monument to those wives
(15)touched me profoundly. I should like to find this statue and take it to
Bosnia with me. Perhaps it could be likened to the mothers and wives of
Srebrenica who have been waiting and hoping for all those years, except
that we followed different roads. We could turn to our empty forests. We
saw our sons and husbands off to those woods and we never found anything
(20)about them again, whether they are alive or dead, where are their bones
lying. Many mothers have died hoping against hope, and it is quite
possible that all the other mothers would end up like that because their
numbers are dwindling every day."
The experts further testified that the survivors of these
(25)massacres were unable to return to society, unable to return to
• Page 10008 • {74/98}
(1)Srebrenica, unable to return to their homes and their farms, because they
lacked male leadership and protection. According to these experts, five
years after these events, their psychological condition is extremely
grave. They were certain that some will never recover.
(5)Their level of personal loss is utterly unfathomable. Their pain,
their memories are enduring. In trying to put these crimes into
perspective, one can only begin by imagining how each one of us would feel
with the loss of a loved one, a child, a husband, or a brother who was
needlessly killed and the personal trauma that such an event would
(10)entail.
Imagine Srebrenica. The pain of these losses was oftentimes
evident in this courtroom. The pain was a reflection of the gross and
immense pain that is suffered by that community.
We heard the testimony yesterday of Witness DD, whose 14-year-old
(15)son was taken from her by the VRS. My colleague, Ms. Karagiannakas, asked
Witness DD, "What do you think happened to your husband and sons?" This
is what she said, and we will play her testimony.
If we could have the next film.
[Videotape played]
(20)
MR. HARMON: This, Your Honours, is the pain of Srebrenica many,
many years after these events. It is for this suffering that we are here
today and we have been here for 15 months conducting these proceedings.
Now, at the conclusion of her testimony and after being excused,
Witness DD asked leave of the Trial Chamber to say one more thing. She
(25)was granted that request and this is what she said:
• Page 10009 • {75/98}
(1)
[Videotape played]
MR. HARMON: The testimony of Witness DD, Your Honours, is the
reflection of the Srebrenica syndrome and the enduring pain of these
crimes.
(5)And then, of course, Mr. President and Your Honours, there are the
children, many of whom saw their older siblings separated, never again to
return. It is described by Mrs. Ibrahimefendic. The children that she
was treating who survived the Srebrenica events are quite different from
children who suffered trauma elsewhere in Bosnia.
(10)"Children from other areas who were also swept up by the war have
preserved their security, and within their family there are male members
to whom they could look as role models, whereas the children of Srebrenica
do not have any models they can identify with, especially the boys. The
immediate trauma suffered by many of the children victims, coupled with
(15)being subjected to living conditions that are desperate, has scarred these
young victims and left many of them unable to form proper and healthy
social relationships. A society without men, a society torn from their
traditional homes and roles has left many of the children insecure and
traumatised, even five years later."
(20)It's our submission, Your Honours, that the defendant's crimes
have not only resulted in the deaths of thousands of Muslim men and boys,
but has destroyed the Srebrenica Muslim community and has inflicted
incalculable suffering and permanent damages to the tens of thousands of
living survivors who are now consigned to a lifetime of enduring mental
(25)suffering and material hardship. What was once a vibrant community is no
• Page 10010 • {76/98}
(1)more. What remains are only the memories.
Turning to the Prosecutor's sentencing recommendation in this
case. During the trial, again Your Honour asked Mrs. Ibrahimefendic,
"What do you think the role of the Tribunal should be?" And she
(5)answered, "The Hague Tribunal, all of the victims, all the women with whom
I have had a chance to work, has a very great significance for them. They
expect justice will be done. We believed we were members of a civilised
society, a society where good will be compensated for and evil punished.
They do trust that the real causes of what happened will be identified and
(10)that the people will muster enough courage, including victims, to tell the
story of what happened. Those who did it, that they, too, will be able to
speak out so that we all can have a future, so that all can have a basis
for a common life together one day. Great expectations are being placed
on the Tribunal. People expect that justice will be done and that the
(15)right decisions will be reached."
In this answer, Mrs. Ibrahimefendic touched upon the very basis
why the Security Council established the International Tribunal, to take
effective measures to bring to justice the persons responsible for the
serious violations of international humanitarian law committed in the
(20)former Yugoslavia, and to contribute to the restoration and maintenance of
peace.
In this case, General Krstic has had the benefit of a trial, with
the full panoply of rights enshrined in international law accorded to him,
a triumph of the rule of law and of civilisation over the atavistic
(25)impulses that surely motivated he and his collaborators to slaughter
• Page 10011 • {77/98}
(1)thousands of helpless victims, to deport 35.000 people from their lands
and the lands of their ancestors, and to deprive them all of their
fundamental human rights.
The defendant has had the benefit of a trial. His victims did
(5)not.
Considering the magnitude of these crimes, is there any sentence
that can be appropriate? Truly, is there any sentence that can be
appropriate?
When focusing on a sentence, I will submit to Your Honours that
(10)there are no factors in mitigation. The aggravating factors are
overwhelming. I've touched on them throughout my closing submissions; the
sheer magnitude of these crimes; the premeditation and planning that went
into them; the suffering of the victims, both the dead and the living; the
destruction of the community from Eastern Bosnia and the Srebrenica area;
(15)the immediate and long-term psychological and material impact that these
crimes have had and continue to have on the surviving victims; the
accused's repeated false testimony under oath, and his complete lack of
remorse for the crimes that he committed.
It is with that in mind, Your Honours, that I request this
(20)Honourable Trial Chamber to find the defendant, Radislav Krstic, guilty on
all available counts in the indictment and that you sentence him to life
sentences for each of the counts in the indictment for which he is found
guilty, and further that these life sentences be consecutive to one
another.
(25)That concludes my submissions, Your Honours. Thank you very
• Page 10012 • {78/98}
(1)
Blank page inserted to ensure pagination corresponds between the English
and French transcript.
• Page 10013 • {79/98}
(1)much.
JUDGE RODRIGUES:
[Int.] Thank you very much,
Mr. Harmon.
We are now going to proceed to questions from the Judges, and I
(5)give the floor to Judge Fouad Riad first.
[Questions from the Court]
JUDGE RIAD: Good afternoon, Mr. Harmon.
MR. HARMON: Good afternoon, Judge Riad.
JUDGE RIAD: I'm quite aware that you must be quite tired by now.
(10)We've been listening very carefully during these two days. I have mainly
one question to ask you for clarification concerning the communications
and intercepts which were happening between General Krstic and some of his
associates.
The first one would be Colonel Beara. Now, one of the main
(15)messages, communications, was when Beara asked him, implored him, as you
said, to send men. He told him, "I still have 3.500 parcels to distribute
and I have no solution." Now, we understood how you deciphered the word
"parcels," and that was used apparently several times. Is there any
other connotation which you could give the word "parcel" than, as you
(20)said, killing men?
MR. HARMON: There is none, Judge Riad. I refer Your Honour to
the intercept of the 14th of July between Colonel Beara and Major Jokic
from the Zvornik Brigade, where Major Jokic made an inadvertent slip when
he said that parcels were people. If you look at that in the context of
(25)that whole intercept, they are talking about a plan. The person who is
• Page 10014 • {80/98}
(1)discussing with Major Jokic is Colonel Beara, one of the individuals whom
General Krstic has pointed an accusatory finger and has said is entirely
responsible for everything that happened. Colonel Beara wasn't involved
in distributing parcels or packages. What he was talking about was
(5)people. And that is why Major Jokic quickly slipped back into the use of
the code word and that is why, in that conversation, that intercept, there
is referenced, "Be quiet. This line is not secure."
So the only connotation that I think is reasonable is the
connotation that the Prosecutor has submitted for Your Honours'
(10)consideration; that is, that parcels meant people, that parcels were the
people who were going to be massacred on the following day at the
Pilica Dom and at the Branjevo Military Farm and possibly at Kozluk.
We know, for example, if we do the arithmetic, 3.500 parcels, if
we go through that calculation, we know that 1.200 people were killed at
(15)the Branjevo Military Farm.
JUDGE RIAD: So chronologically that's --
MR. HARMON: Chronologically, that's correct. Numerically, it's
correct, I think, as well, because 1.200 were massacred at the Branjevo
Military Farm, 500 people were massacred at the Pilica Dom, that takes us
(20)to 1.700 people, and we don't know how many people were massacred at
Kozluk, although we know it was a considerable number.
JUDGE RIAD: And when Colonel Beara said, "I have no solution,"
the solution was given.
MR. HARMON: The solution, in our submission, was given by General
(25)Krstic.
• Page 10015 • {81/98}
(1)
JUDGE RIAD: And you can deduce that from only the conversation or
any other circumstances?
MR. HARMON: Yes, I can deduce that from a variety of
circumstances. One, Drazen Erdemovic -- first of all, the people who were
(5)identified as being able to provide men were all subordinates of General
Krstic's. That included Colonel Blagojevic, head of the Bratunac Brigade;
Nastic, who was head of the Milici Brigade; reference was to Furtula, who
was from the Vlasenica Brigade; Boban Indic, who was a subordinate of
Furtula. Those were all the possible sources of the manpower that could
(10)provide this solution. They were all direct subordinates of General
Krstic.
Furthermore, I can deduce the context of the conversation because
it is our submission that General Krstic was being kept fully informed of
the events relating to these killings. I have presented and we have
(15)presented in evidence, and I in my submissions in the last two days,
intercepts of Colonel Popovic, Lieutenant Colonel Popovic, keeping General
Krstic fully informed of the progress of the killings.
Now, bear in mind, Judge Riad, that these are only a small,
probably sampling of the communications that were sent between the
(20)executioners in the field and General Krstic. These are the open,
unsecure lines of transmission where the traces of the execution plan, the
genocide, were revealed. What we don't have and what we haven't presented
are the encrypted messages that went quietly and through secure means of
transportation from the killers in the field, through Vlasenica, and down
(25)to General Krstic, where, as we know, General Krstic had a communications
• Page 10016 • {82/98}
(1)vehicle that had encryption capabilities.
Lastly, Your Honour, in considering the context of that
distribution of 3.500 parcels, we must bear in mind the intercept of the
17th of July from Lieutenant Colonel Popovic to General Krstic informing
(5)him that the job had been done, that it was an A.
So I would answer Your Honour's question by saying we have made
submissions in respect of that, that they are logical, they are in the
context of the events that we know were taking place and they are logical
in the sense of we know that General Krstic, in that conversation as well,
(10)said, "This line isn't secure." What he didn't want to reveal, what he
didn't want to talk about was the mass execution scheme that was ongoing.
Our submission to Your Honours is that the 3.500 parcels being
distributed refers exclusively to human lives; Muslim lives that were
later lost the following day in the Zvornik municipality at mass execution
(15)sites.
JUDGE RIAD: And with deference to Popovic's message which you
mentioned, when he said, "I have finished the job," that could be only
interpreted as the killing?
MR. HARMON: That is our submission to Your Honours. We know, for
(20)example, that Lieutenant Colonel Popovic was a security officer. We know
that Lieutenant Colonel Popovic was not a combat officer, he wasn't
involved in combat operations. When he asked for fuel to go to Pilica,
the village of Pilica, on the 16th of July, we know that the killings at
the Branjevo Military Farm and ultimately at the Pilica Dom were taking
(25)place or had taken place. Heavy earth-moving equipment was needed to dig
• Page 10017 • {83/98}
(1)those bodies into the ground to conceal them at the Branjevo Military
Farm. The machinery used to do those tasks consumed huge volumes of
fuel. The trucks that were needed to take the bodies from the Pilica
Cultural Dom to a burial site unknown consumed huge amounts of fuel.
(5)In that intercept, when Popovic asks Basevic, who was the head of
the corps' technical services, essentially the gas station for the Drina
Corps, when he was asking him for the fuel, he said, "Otherwise, the work
will stop, the job will have to stop."
Later when we read in the intercepts that the job gets an A, and
(10)we put that together with General Krstic's own testimony that Lieutenant
Colonel Popovic was responsible for everything that happened, I think it's
clear. And that would be our submission, Judge Riad.
JUDGE RIAD: Thank you very much.
MR. HARMON: Thank you.
(15)
JUDGE RODRIGUES:
[Int.] Thank you very much, Judge Fouad
Riad.
Madam Judge Wald.
JUDGE WALD: Mr. Harmon, I've got five questions. I'll try to get
through them in a short period of time and while your voice holds up.
(20)
MR. HARMON: All right.
JUDGE WALD: Number one would be that I fully realised from your
very compelling presentation over the last couple of days that your basic
theory is that General Krstic was right in on the creation of this
genocidal scheme at the same time as General Mladic and several of the
(25)other people going back to the 9th or 11th, when it was done.
• Page 10018 • {84/98}
(1)However, do you think that your case, your proof could, I realise
this is not your preferred choice, but could be susceptible to an
interpretation along the lines of something you mentioned in your briefs,
which is, namely, a common design or a criminal enterprise type theory, in
(5)which even if General Krstic wasn't a full participant from the beginning,
he might have come along at a later stage and, finding out what was going
on, continued to participate, thereby making himself a member of that.
I do remember, although I don't have it in front of me, Richard
Butler's testimony in which, in my memory, seemed to say that he thought
(10)some of the beginning executions were opportunistic and that it wasn't
until the thing got going that the genocidal scheme came into full bloom.
My basic question is: If -- and you yourself have mentioned a
common-design theory but only in a paragraph or two in your brief. Do you
think that the proof, and your case, would be susceptible of that kind of
(15)reasoning, especially in light of Judge Hunt's decision that you have to
go plead a common design or a joint criminal enterprise from the very
beginning?
MR. HARMON: Well, my answer to that, Your Honour, first and
foremost is we think, in our submissions to Your Honours, is that
(20)General Krstic is one of the original planners.
JUDGE WALD: I understand.
MR. HARMON: He planned it, he organised it, he gave orders
relating to it, he participated in the cover-up. That is, we believe,
what the evidence shows clearly in this case.
(25)Now, from a theoretical possibility, do I think it's possible that
• Page 10019 • {85/98}
(1)General Krstic didn't know anything about it and therefore only learned
about it later? I suppose, Judge Wald, that anything is possible.
JUDGE WALD: I'm speaking now specifically about suppose he didn't
know about the killings until later. He may well have known about the
(5)deportations.
MR. HARMON: Well, let's assume he didn't know anything about the
killings. First of all, I respectfully reject that as a possibility.
JUDGE WALD: I understand.
MR. HARMON: I don't think our evidence can be susceptible to
(10)that. I think our evidence is to the contrary, that it is only
susceptible to his original and initial planning of the operation and the
participation and the full participation of this throughout.
So, Judge Wald, I hope that answers your question.
JUDGE WALD: Yes, it does answer it. The second question I have
(15)is you talked a little bit about the difference in the alternative
pleading of genocide and complicity in genocide, and I think what you
said, and I think this is reflected in the brief, is that genocide would
require that the person himself, the perpetrator, have the intent to
destroy in whole or in part. Complicity would require that the person
(20)knew that somebody had that intent, the head person had that intent, and
knowing that they had that intent went ahead and participated or gave some
substantial support to it.
I'm having a little difficulty in drawing that kind of line,
because it seems to me that if you know that a genocide is ongoing and the
(25)people who are running the plan have a genocidal intent and you go ahead
• Page 10020 • {86/98}
(1)and subscribe and contribute something to it, why isn't that intent
imputed to you?
I'm having just a little bit of difficulty in seeing, in this
case, where the Prosecution would say we could come down with genocidal
(5)intent given the strongness with which you advocate your case.
MR. HARMON: Well, I think the -- first, the evidence clearly
shows that he had the intent, the specific intent required for genocide.
That is our principal submission.
Obviously, the finer distinction is not one that we're urging on
(10)the Court. We believe that he is -- he had the genocidal intent from the
beginning, he maintained it throughout, and that complicity for genocide
would require some leaps of faith based principally on General Krstic's
testimony. We don't think that the interpretation should be given to the
facts in this case that he is culpable of only complicity.
(15)
JUDGE WALD: Okay. My next three are factually and, I think,
probably less theoretical.
All along throughout the case at the various stories that occurred
at the execution sites, we had witnesses who talked about soldiers being
in green camouflage uniforms, but most of them were not able to say, "I
(20)knew that" -- you did give us a few examples where they were able to
identify a Drina Corps, somebody they knew from back home or something,
but in the main, they said, understandably, "I don't know what unit those
people were from."
I know that the Prosecution argues strongly that the MUP, who have
(25)been identified as being along the road and taking some of the prisoners
• Page 10021 • {87/98}
(1)were -- had been resubordinated, but leaving that out, is it part of
your -- do you think you have made the necessary proof to show that the
soldiers, the green camouflage uniformed soldiers who were along the roads
taking the prisoner, some of whom were guarding people at the detention
(5)sites and some of whom were actually participating in it, apart from those
specific examples you gave us were Drina Corps soldiers?
MR. HARMON: Yes. We believe that to be the case.
JUDGE WALD: But you just simply -- they just weren't witnesses
that you could bring that could say, "Yes, I knew it was a Drina Corps
(10)person"?
MR. HARMON: Your Honour, we had only a finite pool --
JUDGE WALD: I understand, yes.
MR. HARMON: -- of persons who could make those identifications.
And bearing in mind their mental and physical state at the time, they
(15)simply were unable to make positive identifications of the units --
JUDGE WALD: But it's your argument that the inference could be
drawn.
MR. HARMON: I think it's very strong.
JUDGE WALD: My fourth question is the Defence has argued in their
(20)briefs that Srebrenica can't be viewed as genocide in the terms of overall
plans in terms of intent to destroy in whole or in part because, two
things, women, children, and elderly were obviously let go out. They were
deported, but they were let leave the country. They weren't physically
destroyed. And secondly, because finally some members of the column were
(25)eventually, in the latter part of the week, allowed to pass through. I
• Page 10022 • {88/98}
(1)think the testimony was somewhere around 3.000 people in the column were
allowed to go through. These are cited as pieces of evidence suggesting
that the intent was not to destroy in whole or in part.
MR. HARMON: Let me address your latter point first --
(5)
JUDGE WALD: Yes. Okay.
MR. HARMON: -- that is that 3.000 people went through to the free
territory. Bear in mind, Judge Wald, that these 3.000 people in the
column who made it to the free territory were not in the custody of the
VRS. They were engaged in the fight of their lives. And so was Vinko
(10)Pandurevic, whose numerical strength in the Zvornik Brigade area had been
limited. He had been involved in the Zepa operation. He was in a
military crisis, and he, for military reasons, had to let those people
go.
I have no doubt in my mind, based on the evidence that has been
(15)presented to Your Honours in this trial, that had the VRS captured those
3.000 people, they would have met the same fate as the victims we've
already heard about.
Now, in respect of your question about the women and the children,
it is our position, Judge Wald, that genocidal intent doesn't require the
(20)elimination of the entire group. In this case, they did eliminate some of
the children, some of the future of this society, but also bear in mind
that they needed -- there was a humanitarian crisis that had been reported
to the world's community. They could ill-afford to eliminate the women
and the children if they had that desire. They needed the women and the
(25)children to get to the free territory to cover for their genocidal plans
• Page 10023 • {89/98}
(1)
Blank page inserted to ensure pagination corresponds between the English
and French transcript.
• Page 10024 • {90/98}
(1)to execute the limited number, the selected group, the selected genocide.
So we would reject the submission of the Defence in that regard
and propose the alternative that I've just commented on.
JUDGE WALD: I hope you can hold up for the last question.
(5)
MR. HARMON: I will, Judge Wald.
JUDGE WALD: You have very eloquently pleaded the case of the
impact of these mass burials, reburials, and survivors of the victims not
knowing whether their loved ones were really dead, and if so, where they
were or where they were buried.
(10)I am not entirely sure whether the counts that you have talked
about that deal with the putting of the people who were killed and
executed in mass graves and later using the mass graves in order to
conceal the first mass graves, transferring them to other graves, is that
evidence being argued that that kind of putting of victims in the mass
(15)graves and then later hiding them still further in second mass graves is
in and of itself a crime against humanity or a war crime because of the
suffering that it brings onto the survivors, or do you see it more along
the lines of when you were talking about the mosques and the cultural, as
some additional evidence of a genocidal intent?
(20)
MR. HARMON: The reburials, it's our submission, are part of a
cover-up of the genocide.
JUDGE WALD: But what legal handle are you putting those on? Are
they a crime or are they part of the genocide?
MR. HARMON: They're part of the genocide.
(25)
JUDGE WALD: They're part of the genocide.
• Page 10025 • {91/98}
(1)
MR. HARMON: Yes.
JUDGE WALD: Okay. Thank you very much.
MR. HARMON: Thank you, Judge Wald.
JUDGE RODRIGUES:
[Int.] Mr. Harmon, I too have a few
(5)questions. In the indictment, you defined the object of the genocidal
plan as the Muslims of Bosnia. In your final brief, you defined the group
as being the Muslims of Srebrenica. In your oral argument today, you
defined the group as being -- the group as the Muslims of Eastern Bosnia.
My question is: What are the reasons which prompted you to change
(10)your definition of the group, and what are the legal arguments that you
could offer in support of defining the group definitely as being the
Muslims of Eastern Bosnia?
MR. HARMON: Mr. President, first of all, from a factual point of
view, the use of the term "Srebrenica" must be looked at in the context of
(15)the broader events that took place prior to those people being driven from
their homes in the surrounding area. So the term "the Muslims from
Srebrenica" doesn't mean only the Muslims in the limited geographic region
surrounded by the enclave. We presented evidence to Your Honours in the
form of reports - I think those are Exhibits 33 through 38 - talking about
(20)the Bosnian Muslims who were cleansed from the eastern enclaves.
Now, we have talked about, and this indictment talks about the
destruction of a part of the Bosnian Muslim community. First of all, the
destruction of the Bosnian Muslim community doesn't mean the destruction
of the entire community throughout Bosnia. Bearing in mind that this
(25)indictment addresses the responsibility of General Krstic, it's very clear
• Page 10026 • {92/98}
(1)in this indictment that the events that have been described in this
describe a limited area within the Drina Corps area of responsibility, the
communities around the Srebrenica enclave, and even, from the point of
view if you look at the survivor/witness records prepared by the ICRC,
(5)you'll notice people even -- Muslims even from outside of the Srebrenica
community were included in that group.
So our submissions to Your Honour deal with what has been
contained in this indictment, the events in this indictment. We're
talking about selective genocide and we're talking about the genocide
(10)that, from a geographic point of view, is limited to Eastern Bosnia. We
have never alleged in this indictment that General Krstic was responsible
for genocide outside the area that has been described in this particular
indictment.
JUDGE RODRIGUES:
[Int.] Mention has been made of the
(15)moment when the safe area of Srebrenica was established, and then we went
through certain decisions of the constitutional assembly of Republika
Srpska, and in those documents it is stated, and you mentioned this in
your final brief, that the ultimate political objective of the VRS, ever
since 1992, was, and I quote, "to establish borders to separate the Serb
(20)people from the other two ethnic communities." What one was able to
verify throughout the conflict, ever since 1992, was that the objective of
each ethnic community was the displacement of the population, to create,
if one can call it that, areas or territories that would be ethnically
homogeneous.
(25)Why, once we reach Srebrenica, we change and say that the
• Page 10027 • {93/98}
(1)objective is not to separate the communities, to let them go to another
territory, but to destroy segments of another ethnic group? What are the
reasons that you would give when talking about Srebrenica within the
context of the whole conflict?
(5)
MR. HARMON: Well, Mr. President, let me just refer Your Honours
again to the Exhibits 33 through 38. In one of those UN reports, there is
a description on the policy of ethnic cleansing, and the experts who
prepared that report make a distinction between the various ethnic groups
and any policy to separate the races, if they exist.
(10)What the experts reported was in the government, the Bosnian
Muslim -- the government that existed, the recognised government, there is
no such policy, and indeed they say while there were instances when the
races were separated by ethnic cleansing, it was clear to the reporters
who prepared those reports that the Bosnian government had no such
(15)policy. They turned their attention to the community of the Republika
Srpska and they found in those reports that the opposite was true.
Now, I can't direct Your Honour off the top of my head to those
paragraphs, but that reference will be found in those reports. I think
it's on the report dealing with ethnic cleansing.
(20)Now, Your Honours, why in this case was there this spasm, this
genocidal moment in Srebrenica whereas the previous policy throughout the
Republika Srpska had been one of an official policy to separate the races
effected by a policy of ethnic cleansing?
I obviously have endeavoured this afternoon to explain some of the
(25)factors that you could consider in determining intent, including the
• Page 10028 • {94/98}
(1)events that had taken place in and around that community, the hatred that
had existed in the VRS ranks at the highest levels of leadership down to
the common soldier. I think it's difficult to give you a precise answer
as to why at that particular moment there was a decision taken to commit
(5)genocide. I think the decisions to commit genocide obviously were
decisions taken at the highest levels of the army. General Mladic, who
remains free to this day, was one of those decision-makers. Why this
chemistry between General Krstic, General Mladic, and others, Colonel
Beara, Lieutenant Colonel Popovic?
(10)I'm afraid I can't answer your question. All I can say, Your
Honour, is that we must measure the results by the deeds and the words of
the accused and General Mladic and others. I'm sorry I can't offer you a
better response.
JUDGE RODRIGUES:
[Int.] Another question: The Defence
(15)interprets Article 4 of our Statute as limiting the intention of
destroying the group to physical and biological destruction, and excludes
cultural destruction. Today you mentioned in passing also the possibility
of interpreting genocide, also taking into consideration cultural
destruction. But you went through that rather quickly, so could you give
(20)us some more clarification as to what you are suggesting to the Chamber in
that regard?
MR. HARMON: Yes, I can.
The genocide convention doesn't recognise cultural destruction as
being genocide, the cultural monuments and the like being genocide. My
(25)submission to Your Honours was not that the destruction of the mosques
• Page 10029 • {95/98}
(1)equaled genocide, but that it is a factor in the matrix of all the other
factors that you could consider when assessing whether or not there was
genocidal intent. We know that immediately on the heels of the
deportations and immediately during or after the mass executions, the
(5)traces of the Muslim community were being erased. So that is my only
submission on that point.
JUDGE RODRIGUES:
[Int.] One more question, Mr. Harmon.
I'll release you very soon because I think you must be tired.
If I understood you correctly, you focused on the moment of
(10)establishment, and in your final brief you spoke about the creation and
development of the genocidal plan. The moment of creation of that plan,
you dated it the evening of the 11th, I think, or maybe the morning of the
12th. But I think that your submission was that it was the 11th of July.
That is the moment of birth; afterwards it developed.
(15)In the course of the development of this plan, there were several
factors, as you have already mentioned, which should be considered
together. But did you identify a particular fact of greater significance
in the process of development of this plan which would be indicative of
the specific intention of destroying the Muslims of Srebrenica in the
(20)broader sense? A particular fact or event which could figure as a turning
point or a significant moment in that process of development?
MR. HARMON: Your Honour, I think that in terms of a significant
fact that the dates of the creation of the plan, I think those significant
facts are what I touched upon this morning; that is, the immediate
(25)separation of the men, the immediate dispossession of the identifications
• Page 10030 • {96/98}
(1)of those men. That was a fact that was evident all throughout this
sequence, but the first trace of it was in Potocari. The subsequent
traces of it, which were uniform, were all along the road. We saw a film
with the abandoned articles. We heard the testimony of one of the
(5)witnesses who was at Nova Kasaba. That clearly suggests, and it's our
submission, that that is very clear evidence that there was a plan.
I mentioned this morning in my submission that even the
lowest-level soldier was aware of this plan, knew that these men were
going to their deaths, when the witness who was at Nova Kasaba stadium
(10)asked to pick up his belongings and was told, "You don't need that any
more" or "You don't need that where you're going."
I would say that in terms of the dating of the events, I summed it
up this morning in terms of the significant facts. Clearly, we have
another trace -- we start to develop other traces as well, but the
(15)earliest traces are seen in Potocari themselves.
JUDGE RODRIGUES:
[Int.] Perhaps, Mr. Harmon, we come to
my last question.
You also mentioned a factor that needs to be taken into
consideration is the fact that in the speeches of a number of officials,
(20)and specifically General Krstic, the word "genocide" was frequently used.
Are you convinced that they used this word "genocide," and particularly
General Krstic, in the strictly legal sense? That is just my question.
MR. HARMON: Mr. President, I can't get into their minds. I can
only get into --
(25)
JUDGE RODRIGUES:
[Int.] No, of course not. But in the
• Page 10031 • {97/98}
(1)
Blank page inserted to ensure pagination corresponds between the English
and French transcript.
• Page 10032 • {98/98}
(1)reading of the text, one could interpret this word in that context.
MR. HARMON: I think it is fair to interpret that word in the
context. They were talking about pogroms; they were talking about the
destruction; they were referring to events that took place in the Second
(5)World War, where there was genocide. I think in that context it is fair
to understand their intended meaning of the use of those words.
JUDGE RODRIGUES:
[Int.] Very well, thank you.
Mr. Harmon, on behalf of my colleagues and the whole Chamber, we
really wish to thank you for your great effort and the enormous amount of
(10)work in organising your case. We thank you and your whole team very much,
and we wish you every success in the future. Thank you very much,
Mr. Harmon.
MR. HARMON: Thank you very much, Your Honours, and thank you for
listening so patiently.
(15)
JUDGE RODRIGUES:
[Int.] So for today we have finished.
As we said before the lunch break, we will resume tomorrow with the
closing arguments of the Defence. When I say "tomorrow," that means at
9.20, as usual.
--- Whereupon the hearing adjourned at 2.55 p.m.,
(20)to be reconvened on Thursday, the 28th day of June,
2001, at 9.20 a.m.
|