1 Wednesday, 28 August 2002

2 [Open session]

3 [The accused entered court]

4 [The witness entered court]

5 --- Upon commencing at 9.03 a.m.

6 JUDGE MAY: Right. Mr. Milosevic, it's for you to cross-examine

7 this witness. You have the standard 45 minutes, if you require it.

8 WITNESS: JACKY ROWLAND [Resumed]

9 Cross-examined by Mr. Milosevic:

10 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] All right, Mr. May. Before I move

11 on to my questions, I would like us to view the witness's tape that I

12 received as well. It's your tape, isn't it? I gave it to the technical

13 booth. Could it please be played.

14 JUDGE MAY: Yes, we'll play it.

15 [Videotape played]

16 "JACKY ROWLAND: ... people have been killed in this first wave of

17 bombing, but that wasn't the end of the story. The drone of bombers could

18 still be heard overhead and as we raced away from the scene, NATO struck

19 again. There was clearly no mistake about the target. A narrow escape

20 for us, but maybe not for the prison guards we were speaking to earlier.

21 "Jacky Rowland, BBC News, Istok in Kosovo."

22 "Another NATO bomber drops its payload. The target this time a

23 prison in a remote part of North-western Kosovo. We took these pictures

24 as we fled the scene. Just moments earlier, we were at the prison,

25 inspecting damage from a first wave of bombing. NATO pounded the gaol for

1 two hours in the morning, firing about 15 missiles into the main complex

2 and blowing a hole in the perimeter wall.

3 "INVESTIGATING JUDGE: This is the second time NATO has attacked

4 this gaol. I can't find words to describe what I think.

5 "JACKY ROWLAND: Serb officials insist this was a civilian target.

6 They say the prison houses convicted thieves, rapists and other

7 criminals, but what makes Istok gaol interesting is that among its inmates

8 are members of the Kosovo Liberation Army.

9 "The authorities say a thousand prisoners are being held here.

10 The inmates have been let out of their cells. You can see them behind me,

11 lined up against a wall. Some of them have been killed in the NATO

12 attack. Others may have escaped. By unlocking the cells, the guards

13 thought they'd give the prisoners a better chance of survival. For many,

14 this gamble didn't pay off. Prison officials say at least 19 people were

15 killed in the two waves of bombing today.

16 "The regional capital, Pristina, has also felt the effects of

17 NATO's campaign, although much earlier. This damage in the centre of the

18 city was caused weeks ago. By now, the people of Pristina are falling

19 into the uneasy routine of being bombed and they're trying to get on with

20 their lives.

21 "These people are Kosovo Albanians. They're queuing for new

22 identity documents from the Serb authorities. So while refugees leaving

23 Kosovo have had their papers destroyed, here other Albanians are having

24 new ones issued.

25 "This man says he came to Pristina after fleeing his village. He

1 says he feels safe here and plans to stay. Nevertheless, some Albanians

2 are still leaving Kosovo. These people are heading for the Macedonian

3 border. Some of them have valid documents. Others hope to get through on

4 old passports."

5 "Jacky Rowland, BBC News, Pristina."

6 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]

7 Q. All right. That is sufficient. Actually, this entire report, as

8 you can see, you made it round the end of May, as far as I can see,

9 because Pristina follows the events in Istok; is that right?

10 A. I was in Kosovo for the latter part of May in 1999, yes.

11 Q. I'm asking you because what you presented at the end of May --

12 actually, then you refer to the normalisation of life in Pristina. The

13 end of May was the end of the war, and for six months now we have been

14 hearing witnesses here who have been saying that in Pristina in May, some

15 kind of wild Serb police was going around, killing people.

16 JUDGE MAY: You know by now that you can't put to this witness

17 what other witnesses have said. She won't know about that. You could put

18 to her what she saw or heard herself.

19 Now, if you want to put that things were normal in Pristina in

20 May, if that's your question, put it directly rather than interspersing it

21 with comment.

22 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] All right.

23 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]

24 Q. Ms. Rowland, on this footage of yours, no police can be seen

25 whatsoever that is forcing people onto buses with rifles, that is

1 deporting people, beating people, chasing them in the streets. I see that

2 the streets are full; right? So what was your impression? Was your

3 impression the same as you presented it in your report?

4 People are sitting, talking, strolling about in the streets. Some

5 are travelling. Others are waiting for new passports. Is that the way it

6 was or is that not the way it was?

7 A. Generally, Mr. Milosevic, I don't think that police officers, if

8 they are going to beat people or chase them out of their homes, they don't

9 generally do it in full view of television cameras.

10 Q. In this report of yours, you use the phrase "Serb authorities." I

11 assume that "authorities" in any territory means the government. Do you

12 know, since at that time you were in Pristina, that the government of the

13 autonomous province of Kosovo and Metohija, the provisional government

14 that was appointed by the Assembly of Serbia, consisted of Albanians,

15 Serbs, Turks, Muslims, Roma, Egyptians; that is to say, all ethnic groups

16 that live in Kosovo, and that in that government Serbs were a minority?

17 Are you aware of that fact?

18 A. Well, for a start, Mr. Milosevic, I don't think it's strictly

19 correct to say it was the autonomous province of Kosovo in 1999 because

20 you revoked that status of the province some years before.

21 Q. Let's not debate that. What you call abolition is in the

22 constitution of Serbia, and when you say that the province was abolished,

23 it does say in the constitution that there is an autonomous province of

24 Kosovo and Metohija and also an autonomous province of Vojvodina and these

25 are forms of autonomy. This explanation that says that it was abolished

1 is part of this false indictment. But now let's go back to Istok.

2 Since the beginning of this operation which is called,

3 inappropriately, a trial, did you --

4 JUDGE MAY: Mr. Milosevic, we've had enough comment. Now, you

5 either ask proper questions or you're going to be stopped altogether.

6 Now, have you any questions for this witness, as opposed to making

7 comments as you go along?

8 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Mr. May, I do have questions.

9 JUDGE MAY: Just ask them, and briefly. We'll all get on more

10 quickly.

11 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] You've given me 45 minutes, very

12 generously, so do let me use them the way I think is necessary.

13 JUDGE MAY: You will be stopped -- you will be stopped if you do

14 not act in accordance with the rules. It's as simple as that and you know

15 it. Now, get on.

16 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]

17 Q. Did you have the opportunity, Ms. Rowland, to see the introductory

18 remarks made by this false Prosecution about the events in the prison in

19 Dubrava where the Serb authorities were blamed, accused of what you

20 actually recorded here, what you saw there. That is to say in terms of

21 the consequences of the NATO strikes --

22 JUDGE MAY: [Previous translation continues]... what the

23 Prosecution said. It's not for this witness. It's nothing to do with

24 her. Now, ask her about what she saw and heard. You've been told that.

25 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Well, I'm asking her. That's

1 precisely what I'm asking her, whether she saw on her very own television

2 a transmission of what was said here about this event that she had

3 reported on.

4 JUDGE MAY: Look, you're not cross-examining, you're simply making

5 speeches. Now, unless you ask this witness about what she saw and heard

6 herself, as opposed to trying to comment on the Prosecution, you're going

7 to be stopped altogether. Now, have you any questions as to the witness?

8 Not about the Prosecution but about her evidence.

9 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] By all means, Mr. May.

10 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]

11 Q. Tell me, now we've seen this footage, and I see that you have

12 commented upon that in your statement, that is to say the events in the

13 prison in Istok, why is it significant that you saw a man in civilian

14 clothes, probably a policeman in civilian clothes, who was promenading

15 along the path within the prison and that he has a rifle? What makes this

16 observation relevant at all and what is unnatural about this?

17 JUDGE MAY: Do you understand the question?

18 THE WITNESS: Not really.

19 JUDGE MAY: What do you mean? What do you mean? You must make

20 yourself clear, Mr. Milosevic.

21 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]

22 Q. It is mentioned by way of some kind of proof that something

23 irregular is being done. The fact that there is a policeman who was

24 patrolling up and down a path within the prison is wearing civilian

25 clothes. What does that have to do with anything? Why is this relevant

1 at all?

2 JUDGE MAY: Let us rephrase that so it makes some sense. Was

3 there any significance, as far as you could see, in the policeman wearing

4 civilian clothes? And I guess it's the one who had the rifle and a pistol

5 that's being referred to. Could you see any significance in that,

6 Ms. Rowland, or not?

7 THE WITNESS: I would be in no position as to know whether this

8 man was a policeman or not a policeman. He was a man dressed in civilian

9 clothes, carrying two weapons.

10 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]

11 Q. When you made this report - this was during your second visit -

12 the prison had already been evacuated; right?

13 A. Incorrect. The report which shows the man dressed in civilian

14 clothes, carrying the weapons, that was on my first visit to the prison,

15 on Friday, the 21st of May, 1999, not my second visit to the prison.

16 Q. All right. But during your second visit - it doesn't matter

17 whether it's that or something else that you recorded - the prison had

18 already been evacuated; is that right?

19 A. On my second visit to the prison, the prison appeared to be

20 deserted, and the officials, the Serb officials at the prison, told us

21 that the prison had been evacuated earlier that day, that day being

22 Monday, the 24th of May, 1999.

23 Q. We saw at the very beginning of this tape which was just played a

24 few minutes ago that cameramen, TV crews, are running, perhaps members of

25 your own crew, I don't know who was all there. So the bombing took place,

1 once again, as you were reporting from the prison; is that right?

2 A. That is correct.

3 Q. You say that during your second visit, you saw on the ground in

4 some places around the prison there were still bodies lying around there

5 that you had noticed during your first visit. Did I understand you

6 correctly?

7 A. It was my assumption that at least some of the bodies I saw lying

8 around the grounds of the prison covered by blankets were still those same

9 bodies from the first time that were still lying in situ. Of course, I

10 cannot say for certain whether they were new bodies. It was my assumption

11 that these were bodies from the first bombing, still lying in position.

12 Q. And do you know that the investigation that was conducted by the

13 investigating judge in charge and the team of the investigating judge from

14 the District Court in Pec was interrupted due to the bombing and that this

15 investigation took place for a few days with a few short interruptions?

16 A. Well, bearing in mind that I saw the investigating judge during my

17 second visit to the prison, all I can know for certain is that this

18 gentleman clearly visited the prison on at least two occasions, the two

19 occasions when I saw him and filmed him there.

20 Q. Yes. So you assume that until an investigation is over, that part

21 of the scene where the investigating team had not been should remain as it

22 was during the event concerned, that is to say, during the bombing. Did

23 it occur to you that what you saw - that some of the bodies were in the

24 same position as they had been a few days prior to that - was because the

25 judge had not processed certain points yet during his investigation? He

1 had not taken care of certain things, of certain individuals. Or do you

2 think there was some other reason? Isn't it logical for it to be that way

3 while an investigation is going on?

4 A. Well, if we are to be -- if we're to speak strictly about how

5 investigations would be carried out, one could argue that it was

6 inappropriate for the judge and his team to allow a bunch of international

7 journalists to run around the site of the prison. Normally in an

8 investigation, police officers would wish to keep the scene of the event

9 intact. So the very fact that they allowed us to run around with cameras,

10 possibly damaging evidence, suggests to me that they were not clearly

11 following all the procedures that one would normally expect to be carried

12 out if it's a scene that's under police investigation.

13 Q. The scene, as we could have established, was under investigation

14 for a few days. Do you hold it against them that they allowed you to come

15 in and to film and to see what it was all about and in this way disrupt

16 the investigation?

17 A. Does anyone really care whether I hold it against them or not?

18 Q. Well, I see that you are addressing critical remarks in respect of

19 the fact that they allowed you to come and film.

20 Tell me, please, is this your article? It says here [In

21 English]: "Tuesday, May 18, 1999, published at 2123 GMT, 2223 UK, by

22 Jacky Rowland in Pristina."

23 [Interpretation] I'm going to read it out to you and then I'm

24 going to put some questions to you in relation to this. [Previous

25 translation continues]... Albanian refugees --

1 JUDGE MAY: Before you do, let's establish where it's from and

2 whether the witness recognises it. Where do you get it from,

3 Mr. Milosevic?

4 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Well, I precisely wish to establish

5 whether the witness recognises this.

6 JUDGE MAY: Where do you say it appeared so that she may have some

7 idea whether she can recognise it or not.

8 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] You were not listening carefully. I

9 said Tuesday the 18th of May, 1999, 2123 hours.

10 JUDGE MAY: Listen to the question: Where did it appear? In what

11 publication are you saying it appeared?

12 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Well, to the best of my

13 understanding, Ms. Rowland is a BBC journalist, so it appeared on the BBC.

14 So I'm asking her whether it's her article and I'm reading it out to her.

15 JUDGE MAY: What you're saying is this, as I understand it: It

16 was on the BBC website. Is that where you got it from?

17 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] This was published, Mr. May. That

18 is to say it was released on the BBC on the 18th of May, 1999. I have the

19 actual text. I haven't got the tape, the footage. So I wish to ask

20 her --

21 JUDGE MAY: Just a moment. Read it and read it slowly, bearing in

22 mind the interpreters.

23 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] All right. It says by Jacky Rowland

24 in Pristina, Kosovo. [In English]: "Displaced Kosovo Albanian refugees

25 have settled in other parts of Kosovo reportedly without harassment from

1 the Serbian security forces. These examples stand in stark contrast to

2 persistent reports from refugees arriving in Macedonia and Albania of

3 serious human rights abuses committed in Kosovo. In the village of Stari

4 in Northern Kosovo, hundreds of young Albanian men can be seen wandering

5 around or sitting on the grass. At the beginning of NATO bombing

6 campaign, the refugees fled their homes in Podujevo region. Police worked

7 their way south towards Pristina where some of them were allowed to stay.

8 Then, according to refugees, the police opened up a corridor for them,

9 allowing them to move northward again. Some of them came to rest in

10 Svetlje. The refugees say the security forces leave them alone even

11 though there are clearly supporters of the Kosovo Liberation Army in their

12 midst."

13 [Interpretation] And then there's a quotation here. [Previous

14 translation continues]... "[In English]: ... to sell us cigarettes, they

15 said. Meanwhile, in the south, we were unable to find any evidence of the

16 tens of thousands of refugees who NATO allege are being kept here by the

17 security forces near the town of Urosevac. One Kosovo Albanian man told

18 us he drove his horse and cart from his village to the town every day and

19 has not seen large numbers of refugees in the area. He and his family

20 continue to live in their village while Serbs live in the village next

21 door. These stories stand in sharp contrast to the testimonies of

22 massacres heard from many refugees arriving in Albania and Macedonia, and

23 they suggest a far more complex picture of refugee movements in Kosovo and

24 the behaviour of the security forces."

25 [Interpretation] Is this your article, Ms. Rowland?

1 A. I would not be able to verify absolutely word-for-word because, I

2 don't know about you, Mr. Milosevic, but I can't remember exactly what I

3 was doing on Tuesday, May the 18th, 1999, at 2123 GMT, but I recognise the

4 general drift of it, and I would thank you for reading it out in court

5 because it I think it presents an excellent example of how the BBC is

6 objective, fair and impartial and has sensitivity in portraying what was

7 an extremely complicated conflict.

8 Q. Is this your article, though?

9 A. As I said, I recognise parts of it. I would not be able to put my

10 hand on my heart and swear that it's word-for-word correct because, as I

11 said, you know, you're asking me about something which I wrote over three

12 years ago. You know, if I had summoned it up from the BBC website myself,

13 then I would be able to put my hand on my heart and say it was. But this

14 is the first time you've read it to me and you cannot possibly expect me

15 to remember word-for-word exactly what I wrote.

16 Q. I will let you have this to look at it so that you can see it.

17 A. Fine. As I said, Mr. Milosevic, by and large I recognise the

18 article and, as I said, I'm very proud of it because I think it

19 demonstrates the example of how the BBC is impartial, objective, and

20 always wants to tell all sides of the story and to reflect on often

21 complex situations. So thank you very much for your bit of publicity for

22 the BBC there.

23 JUDGE MAY: Let the witness see the article.

24 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]

25 Q. Ms. Rowland, when you occasionally say something that is true,

1 that doesn't mean that everything that the BBC reports about is

2 necessarily true. Perhaps you're an exception, who knows.

3 A. Was that a question, Mr. Milosevic? I didn't hear a question, I

4 heard a statement.

5 Q. Could you please look at the article.

6 A. As I said, it looks familiar. It looks familiar, but I -- you

7 know, it's three and a half years ago. This looks like my article, as far

8 as I can say, but, you know, I can't say 100 per cent that it is

9 word-for-word my article, but it looks like the article I wrote, yes.

10 JUDGE MAY: Yes.

11 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]

12 Q. Very well. So you were in Kosovo, and some of the things you

13 reported about in the article, some were provided in reports that the

14 other side didn't show, but it's all on tapes that you filed. Do you

15 consider that, for example -- do you believe that, for example, in the

16 case that you witnessed in the Dubrava Prison, do you consider that the

17 aggressor was the one who carried out the crime there by bombing the

18 prison where you yourself said there were 1.000 prisoners?

19 JUDGE MAY: That -- the view of the witness about that, even if

20 she has one, is irrelevant. It's a matter which we're going to have to

21 determine, as to what happened in Dubrava Prison. The witness can

22 describe what she saw and heard but the conclusions from it are a matter

23 for the Trial Chamber.

24 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] She saw the prison in Dubrava,

25 Mr. May, and that's why I'm asking her whether she assesses that the

1 bombing of the prison is a crime.

2 JUDGE MAY: The question is irrelevant.

3 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Very well, Mr. May.

4 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]

5 Q. Could you please tell me, a little while ago you mentioned that

6 you were in Kosovo in the second half of May. Is that the only time that

7 you spent in Yugoslavia?

8 A. Mr. Milosevic, I had the honour of holding a Novinarska

9 Legitimacija signed by your Federal Secretary of Information, Mr. Goran

10 Matic. I was BBC Belgrade correspondent from October 1998 until January

11 2001. During that period, I visited Kosovo on a great many occasions.

12 Q. And during those numerous visits, as you say, who did you receive

13 your information from on the locations that you visited?

14 A. Are we talking -- are we talking specifically about time spent in

15 Kosovo during the NATO bombing or are we just talking about any times

16 between October 1998 and January 2001 when I visited Kosovo?

17 Q. During the entire time, your experiences.

18 A. A great many people --

19 Q. All the time. Very well.

20 A. A great many people. Mr. Milosevic, as you're probably aware,

21 journalists consult all manner of people from government ministers to

22 simple villagers, farmers, women, children, men. We at the BBC are as

23 interested in what ordinary humble people have to think about situations

24 as we are about what ministers and government officials have to say.

25 Q. And please tell me, were you able to move about Kosovo safely?

1 A. Depended on the time. There were times in Kosovo in the autumn of

2 1998 and the spring of 1999, obviously, when there were military clashes

3 going on between the forces of the Serbian police and the Yugoslav army

4 and the forces of the Kosovo Liberation Army when there were certain risks

5 involved, certainly as journalists, in moving around the territory of

6 Kosovo, yes.

7 Q. Did the authorities enable you to go wherever you wanted or did

8 they prevent you from going and making your reports? Did you have freedom

9 of movement expected by a journalist?

10 A. During the earlier part of the conflict, we enjoyed considerable

11 freedom of movement. However, I have to say that in the days and last few

12 weeks leading up to the NATO bombing campaign of Yugoslavia, our ability

13 to move around in Kosovo was severely curtailed by the Serbian police and

14 the Yugoslav army.

15 Q. Did you report about the suffering of the Serb and other

16 non-Albanian population as well as Albanians who were killed by the KLA?

17 Did you report about that?

18 A. Absolutely, Mr. Milosevic. As you yourself have seen; balanced,

19 impartial, objective, fair reporting.

20 Q. There is a Serbian proverb which says that one swallow doesn't

21 make up spring, so please do not generalise regarding this one objective

22 report with the reporting of the BBC in general.

23 Did you report about attacks by the KLA?

24 JUDGE MAY: [Previous translation continues]... Ms. Rowland. The

25 comment is about a Serbian proverb about a swallow not making a spring,

1 and it's said that you are trying to generalise from one objective report.

2 Would that be right or not?

3 THE WITNESS: I'm sorry, I really don't quite understand the

4 question.

5 JUDGE MAY: What the accused is putting to you is that the BBC

6 were not necessarily objective. That here was one objective report; the

7 fact that there was one objective report -- at least, this is how I

8 understand the point: The fact that there was one objective report

9 doesn't mean that all the reports were objective. Since that point has

10 been made, perhaps you'd like to deal with it.

11 THE WITNESS: I take a great deal of pride in the reporting that I

12 did from the former Yugoslavia, from both Bosnia, Macedonia, Federal

13 Republic of Yugoslavia as was including Serbia, the province of Kosovo,

14 and I think that anyone who knew me in Yugoslavia at that time, including

15 Kosovo Serbs, would say that I was one of the fairest and most objective

16 reporters that they knew.

17 For example, a few days before the NATO bombing began, a radio

18 feature which I made was broadcast on the BBC on the Today programme on

19 Radio 4, in which I looked at the issue of the demonisation of Serbs. And

20 in my report, I interviewed a great variety of Serbian people about how

21 they felt about the way in which their race was being demonised. I think

22 that provides --

23 JUDGE ROBINSON: Ms. Rowland, as I understand it, there is no

24 challenge to your personal objectivity. The question that is being raised

25 relates to the objectivity in general of the BBC for which you work.

1 That's what I think you should comment on, so far as it is significant.

2 THE WITNESS: Well, A, I would question the significance, but B, I

3 am very happy to say that the BBC enjoys probably the best international

4 reputation of any broadcaster for being objective. And I should point out

5 that during the NATO bombing campaign, Mr. Milosevic, as you well know,

6 the British government was sharply critical of the BBC's coverage. I

7 think at one stage some government officials referred to us as the

8 Belgrade Broadcasting Corporation. They felt that some of our coverage,

9 particularly some of the television reports filed by my senior colleague

10 Mr. John Simpson, were too sympathetic to the Yugoslav viewpoint. So I

11 think that all of this is proof, if any proof really be needed, that the

12 BBC is an extremely objective and responsible international broadcaster.

13 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]

14 Q. You said that you are proud of your reports, and as far as the one

15 that we saw here, you have grounds for that, there is no doubt about that.

16 We have to grant that to you. I didn't see that one, unfortunately.

17 Could you please tell me, except for this report from Istok, did

18 you report about the other consequences of NATO bombarding? Did you tour

19 the towns and cities throughout Yugoslavia which were bombarded by NATO;

20 civilian targets, hospitals, schools, buses, trains, moving trains,

21 columns of civilians, people on bridges? Did you report about all of

22 those things, Ms. Rowland?

23 A. Myself and my colleagues, yes. I should point out that at that

24 time in Yugoslavia, we were a team of three BBC reporters; myself, Mr.

25 John Simpson, who I just mentioned, and also Mr. Michael Williams. There

1 were three of us, and between the three of us, we reported broadly on all

2 the various things that were hit by NATO bombs, yes.

3 Q. In your statement, you say that you filed many more reports and

4 taped more material than was actually broadcast. Do you think that in the

5 choice of the material that was broadcast, the objectivity was reduced

6 regarding the things that you were reporting about?

7 A. I would doubt that very much. I have to point out that it was not

8 a BBC cameraman who filmed the material. It was a cameraman from Antena

9 Television. The Serb authorities were keener to have Greek journalists in

10 Kosovo at the time than they were other journalists. I was something of

11 an exception. The way it worked from a technical point of view was that

12 the material which was filmed by the Greeks, they were kind enough to film

13 a piece to cameras, as we saw. I would then give the voice track, which

14 would be recorded onto a cassette. All of this would be taken by car to

15 the border, to the Macedonian border, where journalists on the other side

16 would pick up the tapes - so the visual footage and the voice

17 track - and it would be physically assembled by a picture editor in

18 Skopje, Macedonia. I obviously couldn't be there because I was not at

19 liberty to wander in and out of Kosovo at the time.

20 Q. In your statement, you say that on several occasions you received

21 information from, as you call it, the Serbian media centre in Pristina,

22 which was known to you as an independent media source. You state this on

23 page 2 of your statement. I assume that you remember that. Did this

24 media centre provide you with correct information?

25 A. I had a great deal of respect for the media centre. I don't call

1 it the Serbian media centre, I call it the media centre. I think the

2 adjective "Serbian" was added in the statement so there shouldn't be any

3 confusion.

4 The media centre was run by Mr. Miki Mihajlovic, and Mr. Radovan

5 Urosevic, and I think they did their best to do a serious job of

6 collecting information and checking it, and the information that they gave

7 I generally found to be accurate but not necessarily complete. I think

8 they did their best to double-check their information from their sources

9 in the VJ and the MUP, but I wouldn't have been able to go to the media

10 centre to ask for information about things that were happening on the

11 Albanian side, the Kosovo Albanian side. We used to go to other sources,

12 including KIC, the Kosovo Information Centre, to get other information to

13 complement the information that I was getting from the media centre.

14 Q. All right. Let's go back to the prison. Do you know that in the

15 prison itself, before the bombing and during that event, there was no

16 military unit stationed there, there were no weapons, and that no military

17 facility was stationed there nor any military unit was stationed in the

18 prison? Do you know that?

19 A. Mr. Milosevic, I would have absolutely no way of knowing what the

20 situation was at the prison before I visited because the first I even

21 heard of Dubrava Prison in Istok was when we were taken there on Friday,

22 the 21st of May, 1999.

23 Q. Was it clear to you that this was a civilian facility since this

24 was a prison that was being bombed?

25 A. I would have no way of knowing for certain exactly what

1 applications the prison was being used for at that time.

2 Q. For what purposes can a prison be used other than as a prison?

3 JUDGE MAY: Well, that's just a matter of argument.

4 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]

5 Q. Did you see, then, or were you informed that during the bombing

6 the deputy warden of the prison was killed? He's an Albanian. That some

7 guards were gravely wounded, guards and other prison employees, as well as

8 prisoners? Were you informed about that at the time?

9 A. I was, Mr. Milosevic, and I included it in my radio reports, in

10 the radio reports that I filed on Friday, the 21st of May, 1999, which you

11 can also find on the Internet if you care to hunt them out. I stated

12 quite clearly that we were informed by officials at the prison that both

13 inmates and employees of the prison had been killed and injured by the

14 NATO bombing attack.

15 Q. Ms. Rowland, do you have any doubt that those prisoners were

16 killed by NATO bombing? Is there any doubt that these people were killed

17 as a consequence of the NATO bombing? Is there any possibility that they

18 could have been killed by something else?

19 A. If we are referring to my second visit to the prison on Monday,

20 the 24th of May, 1999, yes, I have strong doubts that all of those

21 prisoners were killed as a direct result of NATO bombing.

22 Q. I didn't understand you very well. So there is no doubt that they

23 were killed by NATO bombing or in your mind you do doubt that they were

24 killed by NATO bombing?

25 A. The latter.

1 Q. On what do you base your doubts that they could have been killed

2 by anything else other than the NATO bombing? When you see the dead

3 people, what was it that could have killed them other than the bombing?

4 A. I believe that some of them were killed by the NATO bombing.

5 However, it was my assessment that some of them may not have been killed

6 by the NATO bombing, and the reason I have those doubts is because of the

7 appearance of the corpses. If a person has been killed as a result of

8 bombing, I would expect to see some kind of injury on the corpse

9 consistent with that manner of death. I mean, if, for example, I look at

10 you now, Mr. Milosevic, I can see that you have both your arms, I can see

11 the features on your face, I can see that your body is intact. If,

12 however, you were hit by a bomb, Heaven forbid, I think I would be able to

13 tell by looking at your body whether that was in fact the manner of your

14 death. And the bodies that I saw in that second report, the bodies -

15 which, incidentally, you didn't play the second report, I believe - the

16 bodies that we see piled up in a room, a room that was not really damaged

17 at all by the bombing, I have serious doubts that those prisoners were

18 killed as a direct result of bombs.

19 Q. There were collected there, there's no doubt about that. But do

20 you know that the majority of people during the bombing are killed by the

21 blast effect, that the bodies are not dismembered, their limbs are not

22 torn off, or their heads. Death simply occurs because of the blast.

23 A. The bodies also, as far as I recall in that room, were not -- I

24 would have thought if they had been involved in a blast, they would be

25 covered with either dust or debris or plaster. I didn't recall them being

1 covered in those. I'm sorry that I'm not a forensic scientist, Mr.

2 Milosevic. I realise today that it was a regrettable decision to become a

3 journalist, but I can only base my assessment on what I as a layperson, an

4 observer, a firsthand eyewitness assessed the cause of their death to be.

5 Q. Are you familiar with the fact from the official report by the

6 investigative judge that you actually talked to that, from the rubble, 93

7 bodies were pulled out? The report was completed after your second visit,

8 as far as I can recall by the dates. We looked at it yesterday. But it

9 does state in the report that 93 bodies were pulled out from the rubble,

10 from the prison.

11 A. I am not familiar with that report, Mr. Milosevic, and for the

12 record, your authorities expelled me from the territory of Yugoslavia a

13 few days after I filed that report.

14 Q. Are you willing to look? I provided photographs yesterday of the

15 prison. So would you be willing to look not at all of them but only at

16 those which depict the prisoners who were killed? The photographs were

17 taken in the prison after the bombing. Would Ms. Rowland be willing to

18 look at them?

19 JUDGE MAY: Let the witness see the photographs. Mr. Milosevic,

20 your time is practically up, but the witness can look at the photographs

21 and you can ask some questions about it if you want.

22 Yes. What do you want to ask the witness about the photographs?

23 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]

24 Q. Do you notice that there are no dismembered bodies there but these

25 are people who were obviously killed in the bombing?

1 A. I would say some of them look in a pretty bad state,

2 Mr. Milosevic. This one here looks pretty dismembered to me.

3 Q. Is it true that during your second visit you determined that the

4 prison was practically razed to the ground?

5 A. Not razed to the ground, Mr. Milosevic. We shouldn't exaggerate.

6 Buildings were still standing. The building had been heavily bombed by

7 the time I visited on the second time. It had been significantly damaged.

8 JUDGE MAY: Yes. Well, you've had more than your time. You can

9 have one more question, if you want.

10 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]

11 Q. Do you know that the organs of the authorities continued with the

12 investigation on the 25th when they also photographed, also sketched the

13 place where it happened? They carried out the external examination by --

14 of the victims. This was done by doctors from Pec. Fingerprints were

15 taken and other investigative actions were carried out and all of this is

16 documented in records held by the District Court in Pec?

17 A. I do not know the details of the investigation because, as I said,

18 Mr. Milosevic, unfortunately, your authorities chose to expel me shortly

19 after I filed the last report we saw. Otherwise, I would have been very

20 pleased to have continued to cover the investigation into the events of

21 Istok prison.

22 JUDGE MAY: Very well. No. You've had your opportunity.

23 Now, have the amicus any questions?

24 MR. TAPUSKOVIC: [Interpretation] Thank you, Your Honours.

25 Questioned by Mr. Tapuskovic:

1 Q. [Interpretation] I have just a few questions for you,

2 Ms. Rowland. Looking at the material that was taped, I didn't see in the

3 material any tanks in the prison or in front of the prison. Was there a

4 tank or were there any tanks in front of the prison or within the prison

5 compound?

6 A. I do not recall that there were any tanks in or around the prison

7 compound on that particular -- during the days of my actual visit. I do

8 not recall.

9 Q. Were there any in front of the prison? Were there any destroyed

10 tanks or cannons or were they undamaged? Did you see that or did you

11 perhaps tape that?

12 A. As I said, I do not recall whether I saw any tanks or not. You

13 know, this is three and a half years ago. We didn't see any pictures in

14 my footage, but I do not recall whether I saw any, I'm sorry.

15 Q. Thank you. Perhaps you didn't see everything, but I would like to

16 know about the wall that surrounded the prison. Was that damaged

17 anywhere? And if it was and if you saw that, could you please tell us the

18 extent of the damage.

19 A. Well, we've seen the pictures, both on the video footage and the

20 photographs which Mr. Milosevic kindly supplied. There was significant

21 damage to parts of the perimeter wall. A segment two, three metres maybe

22 was blown away, and there was also something of a crater in the ground

23 below the perimeter all as well. So the wall was gone and there was a

24 crater in the ground.

25 Q. And also this: You stated that in your statement - it's on page 3

1 of the English version - you said here that the second time you visited

2 the prison, you saw approximately 44 bodies of persons who were killed and

3 that they were mostly covered with blankets. That means that you were not

4 able to see the bodies; is that right?

5 A. That's correct. That's correct, yes. We were not, as I explained

6 in my statement, we didn't have a lot of time at the prison, we weren't at

7 liberty to inspect individual bodies. I was counting corpses that were

8 covered by blankets.

9 THE INTERPRETER: Microphone, please, for Mr. Tapuskovic.

10 MR. TAPUSKOVIC: [Interpretation]

11 Q. In a building, there were 25 bodies piled up; is that right? And

12 then you add the bodies looked whole. They did not look as if they were

13 blown apart by a blast. So there were no external injuries on these

14 bodies; is that right?

15 A. As far as I could see, yes. That's correct, yes, as far as I

16 could see.

17 Q. Thank you.

18 MR. TAPUSKOVIC: [Interpretation] Thank you.

19 Questioned by the Court:

20 JUDGE KWON: May I? Ms. Rowland, you said that you had --

21 A. Sorry.

22 JUDGE KWON: No problem. You had strong doubts as to whether the

23 bodies were all killed because of the bomb at that time. But you didn't

24 mention that aspect in your statement. Why was that? Because it would be

25 a very important aspect.

1 A. Which statement are you talking about? Are you talking about --

2 JUDGE KWON: The statement given to the OTP, the Prosecutor.

3 A. I think I have something along those lines there. Hang on.

4 JUDGE KWON: You mentioned they are brought in, they might have

5 been brought in, but you didn't mention that whether they are killed

6 during the bomb or not.

7 A. No, it's not there. I would say, as far as my television reports

8 went at that time, I was only really at liberty to pose a series of

9 questions. It was not clear how they died. It was not clear because, as

10 you're probably aware, we were subject to censorship by the Serbian

11 authorities at the time, but despite having been quite careful in what I

12 said, I was nevertheless expelled two days later.

13 JUDGE KWON: Okay. And could you tell us more about your

14 expulsion. Why was that? Was it because of your report?

15 A. They never used to give me reasons for expelling me, although they

16 did like to expel me on a number of occasions. They generally wouldn't

17 give you reasons. Just when you would go to the foreigner's section of

18 the police to renew your visa, which is an ordeal we had to go through on

19 a weekly basis, you would just be told that your visa wasn't going to be

20 renewed that week and you had 24 hours to leave the country. It happened

21 on a number of occasions.

22 JUDGE KWON: Did there come a time at a later stage that you came

23 to hear of the massacre which had allegedly happened during -- between two

24 of your visits to Dubrava Prison?

25 A. I heard about it later, yes. It would have been August 1999 that

1 I heard about that. I was back in Belgrade by then. The Yugoslav

2 authorities had seen fit to let me return and carry on my work in

3 Belgrade. And I did hear about it. I was contacted by a number of

4 colleagues who were in Kosovo at that time. This was after the NATO

5 forces had moved into Kosovo following the withdrawal of the Yugoslav army

6 and Serbian police, and a number of colleagues contacted me to tell me

7 about I believe these shallow graves that were found and about the

8 investigation that was going on, and they asked me to describe -- well,

9 rather as I have done today, they asked me to tell them about what I

10 remembered of my original visits to Dubrava Prison in May.

11 JUDGE KWON: Did you produce any report regarding that incident?

12 A. We're talking about in August?

13 JUDGE KWON: Yes.

14 A. I did not, no. One of my colleagues, Ms. Ola Gerin [phoen], did.

15 She was one of the television reporters who was in Kosovo in August 1999.

16 I was in Belgrade. I spent that period in other parts of Serbia, not in

17 the province of Kosovo.

18 JUDGE KWON: If you could tell us your opinion or assessment as to

19 what happened regarding the alleged massacre, if you could.

20 A. I don't have sufficient overview really to do that, I feel. All I

21 can talk about is the events that I witnessed at Dubrava Prison, and I

22 think I've already described those in quite a bit of detail today.

23 JUDGE KWON: Thank you.

24 MR. NICE: Half a dozen questions.

25 Re-examined by Mr. Nice:

1 Q. The man in green civilian clothing, carrying the Kalashnikov and

2 the pistol in the first report, was he apparently impeded in any way by

3 the other people in the prison who were in uniform?

4 A. I have to tell you that I have no recollection of the movements of

5 this man. He appears in my television footage but I have no personal

6 recollections of anything he did.

7 Q. The accused has raised with you a report said to be of yours and

8 which you recognise in part in which you speak of the testimony of the

9 massacres given by refugees in Albania and Macedonia. Did you speak to

10 such refugees yourself?

11 A. I was not in a position to speak to the refugees in Albania and

12 Macedonia because I was in Kosovo and in other parts of Serbia at the

13 time. However, plenty of my BBC colleagues spoke in great detail to those

14 survivors, and I think everyone is very familiar with those television

15 reports.

16 Q. The media centre, you describe its independence. You explain how

17 you had to go elsewhere for material in relation to Albanians. Was the

18 media centre loyal to a cause however carefully it checked its facts?

19 A. It was quite clear that Mr. Miki Mihajlovic and Mr. Radovan

20 Urosevic were there to present and defend their views and to defend the

21 position of the Serbian people. Certainly they had a position, and yet I

22 felt that they did carry out their work in a fair and honest manner.

23 Q. The opinion you've given today about the pile of bodies as opposed

24 to the bodies that you saw on the first occasion, is that an opinion - yes

25 or no - that you've always held?

1 A. I've always held that opinion, yes, from the moment I saw them.

2 Q. His Honour Judge Kwon asked you some questions about your

3 statement. You interpreted his question as a reference to the footage.

4 Maybe His Honour was asking about the written statement, but it doesn't

5 matter.

6 In the statement, you set out all the facts that you find, the

7 bodies being intact, not appearing to have been blown up and so on. You

8 didn't venture an opinion there. Was your statement a statement of fact?

9 A. It was intended to be a statement of objectively observed facts

10 rather than my layman's assessments, yes.

11 Q. An opinion, of course, you were asked by the accused in the course

12 of today.

13 A. Yes.

14 Q. Thank you very much. Did you see anything in those bodies that

15 you saw from the position you did to indicate that they had been the

16 subject of bombing deaths?

17 A. What I did see, and I remember particularly strongly and was quite

18 disturbed by was the fact that, for some reason, their trousers were

19 pulled down around their ankles, exposing their underwear, and that was

20 very strange, I thought, and quite disturbing.

21 Q. Yes. Thank you very much.

22 JUDGE MAY: Ms. Rowland, that concludes your evidence. Thank you

23 for coming to the Tribunal to give it. You are free to go.

24 THE WITNESS: Thank you.

25 JUDGE MAY: I want to deal with some administrative matters next.

1 [The witness withdrew]

2 JUDGE MAY: Two matters to be dealt with. The first is the next

3 witness, Mrs. Imeraj.

4 MR. NICE: Yes.

5 JUDGE MAY: Her evidence is on a new topic and therefore should be

6 given live, but obviously, given the circumstances, it must be dealt with

7 in a very appropriate way.

8 MR. NICE: I'll deal with it in what I hope is an appropriate way.

9 It may be that it would be not inappropriate for me to lead on a number of

10 matters where I can.

11 JUDGE MAY: Yes.

12 MR. NICE: I have to say that there is a video of the deaths, and

13 we have to bear in mind the wholesale challenge that's coming or that's

14 been advanced to all these witnesses by this accused. There's a video of

15 the family. It's a disturbing video. The witness has seen it. She

16 wishes you to see it. I'll show it to her at the end. We'll show it in

17 an abbreviated form by having one of the investigators in the booth fast

18 forwarding it, if that's an acceptable course to you.

19 JUDGE MAY: Yes. The other matter which I wish to deal with

20 concerns the report which we've had on the health of the accused, which I

21 trust has been seen by the Prosecution and the parties. It has been filed

22 but it's right that I should deal with it generally now.

23 We have this cardiological report concerning the high blood

24 pressure of the accused. The doctor advises that sufficient rest periods

25 for the accused be incorporated into the conduct of the trial as a result

1 of the high blood pressure and recommends a period of four consecutive

2 days every two weeks of trial. That is advice which we think should be

3 followed not literally but as far as the spirit is concerned. We will

4 consider, this week, a suitable programme which incorporates it as far as

5 possible.

6 We will sit this and next week and into a third week, if

7 necessary, to try and finish this part of the Prosecution case, but we

8 will consider if a break is required during the third week.

9 We should consider, as should the parties, the overall effect on

10 the trial as a whole of this new state of affairs and the progress which

11 can be made.

12 Yes.

13 MR. NICE: Your Honour, may I respond now to that with just these

14 observations?

15 THE INTERPRETER: Microphone, please, for Mr. Nice.

16 MR. NICE: Assuming my calculation is correct and the remaining

17 witnesses take less time rather than more time this week, but I'm not

18 always very accurate, maybe I'm being over-optimistic, but nevertheless my

19 calculation is that we may well not require the third week at all. There

20 will, of course, be some outstanding issues and witnesses, and I'm going

21 to have prepared for you by the beginning of next week a written document

22 which we will file, setting out the position about all outstanding

23 witnesses. Some of that may have to be ex parte, but we'll see.

24 So I'm optimistic that we may be able to conclude by Friday week.

25 May I call Mrs. Imeraj?

1 JUDGE MAY: Yes.

2 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Can I respond to what we've just

3 heard?

4 JUDGE MAY: Yes, you may briefly.

5 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Well, quite briefly. First of all,

6 I wish to emphasise once again that I did not ask for any examinations,

7 and I did not ask you for anything. That is one point.

8 Secondly, in relation to what Mr. Nice has been saying, what I'm

9 going to challenge and what I'm not going to challenge, he does not know

10 about that. Yesterday Mr. Nice explained here that I am challenging

11 whether somebody is dead or not. It's not a question of challenging

12 whether somebody's dead or not. It's a question of challenging how the

13 person who is dead became dead.

14 I am challenging the following, and I assert that, and anybody can

15 see that, and everybody in Yugoslavia knows about that, that there is not

16 a single officer or a single unit of the army, of the police, that would

17 carry out an execution. So that is what I'm challenging. I'm challenging

18 an execution, and whether somebody made a list --

19 JUDGE MAY: Very well. This is not the occasion to expound on

20 your case. Now, you've made your point.

21 Now, I'm sure you'll bear in mind with this next witness the

22 circumstances and take it into account when you come to cross-examine her.

23 Yes. We'll call --

24 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] As for the next witness, I wish to

25 object in principle. I am not asking. I am not requesting. I am not

1 begging you for anything. I'm just asking you to put an end to the

2 following practice:

3 Last night around 6.00 or whenever, somewhere around that time,

4 my associate Mr. Ognjanovic received a telephone call in order to be made

5 aware that there is an addendum, a correction to the testimony of that

6 witness and there are 18 points in terms of correcting her testimony, and

7 that is what I am being given a day in advance. I'm not asking you to

8 postpone the testimony of this witness, but what I do ask you to do is to

9 put an end to this kind of practice on the part of this other side because

10 this is impermissible. She gave her statement on the 9th of May, 1999,

11 and they give me corrections this morning, because of course during the

12 night my associate cannot come to the prison and bring me these

13 corrections. And these corrections have to do with substantive matters.

14 JUDGE MAY: Let us clarify this. What is the position here,

15 Mr. Nice?

16 MR. NICE: The accused has been provided with the addendum that

17 follows on the proofing session with this witness, and the alternative is

18 that she can give evidence and give all these matters without any notice,

19 in the way that happens in most other trials because they're mostly

20 matters of detail, or because the Prosecution attempts to help him and is

21 scrupulous in its fair conduct in this case and have advance notice of

22 matters that are a little different or need correction. It has been the

23 policy I've pursued from start to finish, and the characterisation of the

24 accused is extravagant, inappropriate, and entirely without merit. The

25 addendum is designed to help him and you.

1 JUDGE MAY: Very well. Yes. Let's hear the witness.

2 MR. NICE: And while she's coming in, the Court might like to take

3 the map at page 5. We just lay it on the overhead projector for those

4 viewing. I don't think she's going to be looking at it in any great

5 detail, but Padaliste is shown on page 5 at block L12.

6 [The witness entered court]

7 JUDGE MAY: Yes. Let the witness take the declaration.

8 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] I solemnly declare that I will speak

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

10 WITNESS: LIRIJ IMERAJ

11 [Witness answered through interpreter]

12 JUDGE MAY: If you'd like to take a seat.

13 Examined by Mr. Nice:

14 Q. Can you tell us your full name. And while that's being done, just

15 for the purposes of spelling by any journalists, would the usher just lay

16 this on the overhead projector. Your full name, madam.

17 A. My name is Lirij Imeraj.

18 Q. Mrs. Imeraj, you used to live in Padaliste?

19 A. Yes.

20 Q. Your husband, mother-in-law, and nine children?

21 A. Yes.

22 Q. I don't want to take you through this in any detail. Are you in a

23 position to tell us -- I may ask you some questions about this a little

24 later. Are you in a position to tell us about how life for Albanians in

25 your part of Kosovo changed in the course of 1998?

1 A. Albanians had a very difficult life in Kosova. We were persecuted

2 by the Serbs, killed, beaten. Everything happened to us.

3 Q. Were checkpoints set up in your part of Padaliste?

4 A. They put up checkpoints at Rakosh Hill, Cerkolez, Banja, all

5 sides.

6 Q. Did you leave your house for a period in 1998?

7 A. Yes.

8 Q. Between what months?

9 A. In August.

10 Q. Returning in?

11 A. In November.

12 Q. Moving on just a little: Did you continue to suffer interference

13 or attacks between November and the spring of 1999?

14 A. A lot of them.

15 Q. In particular, what happened on New Year's Eve 1998/1999?

16 A. In 1998/1999, there was a lot of hail of gunfire at our house,

17 shell-fire. We were never able to go out in the yard or even out into the

18 meadow. We all had to stay inside in the cellar. This all came from the

19 Serbs.

20 Q. Moving on into 1999 and in particular to March of 1999. On the

21 25th of March of 1999, was there an attack that you can remember? An

22 airborne attack.

23 A. Excuse me?

24 Q. On the 25th of March, was there an airborne attack of which you

25 can remember?

1 A. There was in 1998, not 1999.

2 Q. Very well. What was the date?

3 A. I don't know the date, but it must have been round about August

4 1998, because that was when Padalishte was shelled.

5 Q. From what airborne plane or otherwise was it shelled?

6 A. It was a plane. It was a bomber. It belonged to the Serbs. The

7 forces took off from the prison and bombed Padalishte.

8 Q. What prison are you referring to?

9 A. Dubrava Prison.

10 MR. NICE: Your Honours, we see from the map with which we are

11 familiar, Padaliste is not such a distance away from Istok and the Dubrava

12 Prison, is it?

13 A. That's right.

14 Q. Very well. Let's move on to the 27th of March of 1999.

15 A. In fact the 26th.

16 Q. On that day, were you at home in the area of Padaliste that bears

17 the same name as your family name, Imeraj?

18 A. That's right. We were all at home, all our family.

19 Q. Did you become aware of Serb forces? If so, at what time and

20 whereabouts?

21 A. Serbian forces came in the morning, and we didn't notice them at

22 all until they surrounded our house. And when we saw them, they were 50

23 metres away, and then they started to shoot. And we woke our four small

24 children and put them behind the house to go out and flee with the

25 children. And they were watching us, and they shot at the children. And

1 Ardiana died on the spot and Afrim, five years old, fell. And I went out

2 to see what was happening to the -- see what was happening to the

3 children, and when I saw that Ardiana was dead on the spot and I went to

4 Afrim and said, "Go inside." And the --

5 THE INTERPRETER: The interpreter asks the witness to slow down.

6 MR. NICE:

7 Q. Mrs. Imeraj, can you slow down a little, and can I just interrupt

8 your account to get a little more detail. We've heard that many, many

9 houses of Kosovo Albanians are in the form of a compound with substantial

10 high walls around them. Was your house in a compound? If so, was it

11 surrounded by a wall?

12 A. No. Our house was not surrounded by a wall. None of the houses

13 in Imeraj.

14 Q. And indeed, how many houses were there in the particular part of

15 Padaliste called Imeraj?

16 A. There were 18 houses in the Imeraj neighbourhood.

17 Q. The troops who approached, did they approach just from one side,

18 two sides, or from all sides of your house?

19 A. On three sides.

20 Q. The account you've given us so far of the children being shot at,

21 before they were shot at, was anything said to them by the soldiers who

22 were doing the shooting, that you could hear?

23 A. After they came into the yard, they heard them -- I could hear

24 them, and they were only 50 metres away.

25 Q. Did they say anything or not before shooting at your children?

1 A. After they killed Ardiana, they came up to the house and said,

2 "Hands up because all the Beke family are going to die."

3 Q. You described the family as the Beke family, that name being the

4 name of -- that name being --

5 A. That's my husband.

6 Q. Well, then, let's pause there. A word or so about your husband.

7 What job did he have?

8 A. A teacher.

9 Q. Where did he teach?

10 A. He used to teach. He -- in Uca and in Lecina, Rakosh, and Susica,

11 and 20 years ago in Bukosh.

12 Q. What subjects did he teach?

13 A. Mathematics and physics.

14 Q. And did he teach at schools for Kosovo Albanian children?

15 A. Yes.

16 Q. The soldiers who said that the family of your husband were to die,

17 did you recognise the one who spoke or any of those with whom he came?

18 A. They were in a group, and at that time I was -- I was scared. I

19 couldn't really identify them individually because I was in a terrible

20 state because there was my children and my husband in my house, and I

21 couldn't really grasp what was going on.

22 Q. At the time they first shot at your children, what if anything had

23 your children done that might have caused them to be shot at by these men?

24 A. The only reason was because they were Albanians, nothing else.

25 Q. And at the time that they were shot, what were they actually

1 doing? They were outside the house?

2 A. At the moment when they shot, the four small children were in the

3 yard. The others were asleep. One of them, I took off his blanket and

4 said, "Get up." So they got up and we went out.

5 Q. The ones who were outside, what were they doing? Were they

6 standing still or were they moving away from the house or towards the

7 house? What were they doing?

8 A. My small son was playing, just like children do, in the yard.

9 Q. After that first shooting, they came to the house. What did you

10 do? You've told us about getting the one child up. Just carry on,

11 please, with the account of what happened. Take your time.

12 A. Half of the children I woke up. The other half were outside,

13 playing, and I told them to go behind the house and flee and run away from

14 the massacre. So I went in and I woke them up, and behind my back they

15 killed my daughter and my son.

16 Q. And then?

17 A. Then the children went out in the yard, and they were wounded

18 behind, in the back, behind the neck, and I was wounded in two places and

19 my skirt was torn in two places. And then the army came in and first they

20 fired with automatic rifles inside the house, and the children fell to the

21 ground, and then they -- then they entered. They threw outside -- they

22 threw everything outside. My son was 15 years old, and I hid him, and I

23 didn't see him any more. He was under the bed.

24 I was behind the house, and I saw when they drew a knife on my

25 husband and then I lost control, and I don't know how they killed him and

1 I don't know with what they killed him. I was --

2 Q. One minute. You'd got out of the house, you say, and you were at

3 the back of the house. Were you able to hide yourself to some degree, and

4 if so, how?

5 A. After the house, behind the house.

6 Q. Did you hide behind something or in something?

7 A. Behind the house. And that house was in front and I was behind.

8 Q. And how did you stop yourself being seen? Were you just behind

9 the house in the open ground or were you hiding behind something or in

10 something?

11 A. I barely saw them because I didn't go out to hide. I went out to

12 protect my children. And then it was pure luck that I survived.

13 JUDGE MAY: Mr. Nice, when you get to a suitable moment.

14 MR. NICE: That is as convenient as any.

15 JUDGE MAY: Mrs. Imeraj, we are going to take a break now for 20

16 minutes. Could you be back at the end of that, please, to continue your

17 evidence. Could you remember during the break not to speak to anybody

18 about it until it's over, and that includes the members of the Prosecution

19 team.

20 We will adjourn now.

21 --- Recess taken at 10.33 a.m.

22 --- On resuming at 10.58 a.m.

23 JUDGE MAY: Yes, Mr. Nice.

24 MR. NICE:

25 Q. Ms. Imeraj, I want you to conclude the account of what happened to

1 your family members, and it may be helpful and swift if you do it in your

2 own terms quite briefly and then I'll ask you a few supplementary

3 questions on matters of detail.

4 You already explained that as a result of what you saw you were

5 obviously in a state of shock, but can you just try to summarise for us

6 what happened to your children and your husband and how it came that you

7 then left the house.

8 A. The police, the Serb police, entered. My children and my husband

9 were in the cellar. They took them by force outside the house. They

10 killed them; six of my children, my husband, and my mother-in-law.

11 Q. How did they kill them? Was it with guns or in some other way or

12 don't you know?

13 A. I mentioned earlier that I was not in a situation to see how they

14 were killed, but I've seen them all fallen down, massacred.

15 Q. Did you hear any gunshots while you were there, apart from the

16 initial time when they were firing at Ardiana?

17 A. Yes.

18 Q. Did you hear one burst -- was it one burst of gunfire or lots of

19 bursts of gunfire or can't you remember?

20 A. Bursts of fire. There were lots of them. They didn't stop firing

21 for maybe half an hour. They fired a lot. Bursts of fire.

22 Q. When did you leave the house and how did you leave?

23 A. I was behind the house. I took my daughter with me, and I walked

24 further up to see what had happened with the rest of the Imerajs. I

25 contacted Nazmi. He was also wounded and asked me to help him with his

1 wounds, and I told him, "Nazmi, I cannot help you. I'm here only with

2 Arlinda." She was the only one who survived. All of my family was

3 massacred. I was in a critical mental state. And I gathered with some

4 others from the Imeraj family who had gathered near a stream. There were

5 13 of them. A little bit later, Albana and Feride, they also survived.

6 Q. Now that we've reached the stream, I'm just going to go back over

7 the killing of your family and ask you for just a couple of matters of

8 detail, if you can help us. The troops who came and did this, were they

9 in uniform, and if so, what can you tell us about their uniforms?

10 A. There were people from the military, paramilitaries as well,

11 policemen. There were lots of them. I couldn't even count them. There

12 were a lot of them.

13 Q. Did you notice anything about their uniforms, about what's called

14 the insignia that they might have had on their caps or on their shoulders?

15 A. One was wearing a black scarf around his forehead, and the others

16 were wearing camouflaged caps. They had the Serb army and police insignia

17 on their caps and on their armbands.

18 Q. First of all, did you recognise any of these individuals yourself

19 in the sense that you knew their faces? Forget whether you knew their

20 names, did you actually recognise any of them facially?

21 A. Facially I could recognise them but I could not remember their

22 names. We were surrounded in their checkpoints.

23 Q. When you say you recognise them facially, you recognise them

24 facially as coming from where or as being where when you've seen them

25 before?

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12 Blank pages inserted to ensure pagination corresponds between the French

13 and English transcripts. Pages 9054 to 9060.

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

1 A. From Cerkolez.

2 Q. What were they doing in Crkolez when you saw them?

3 A. Well, a Serb, a certain Serb who they called Trajku, who used to

4 come from Cerkolez all the time, our land was next to his. He was our

5 neighbour at all times.

6 Q. He was one of the men you saw?

7 A. There were -- repeat it, please.

8 Q. Was he one of the men you saw, this former neighbour of yours?

9 A. Yes. From Cerkolez. They were from Cerkolez.

10 Q. You've told us something about how the family of your husband was

11 going to be killed. Was that something you heard yourself or was that

12 something somebody else told you about?

13 A. No, I heard it myself.

14 Q. Were you told any other things by the children who survived, of

15 what was said to them in the course of this killing?

16 A. Yes. They said, "You come out here. Why didn't you want to be

17 compact with Serbia? Why did you want NATO?"

18 Q. Who was it who told you they had said those things? Which one of

19 your children?

20 A. Arben and Albana.

21 Q. At the time you left on your way to the stream, how many of your

22 children did you think had survived?

23 A. Only Arlinda, because I was holding her by her hand.

24 Q. In due course, you discovered that two others had survived,

25 namely?

1 A. Albana and Arben. Shortly after, Albana came out from the house

2 and she survived together with my 21-year-old daughter Feride. And I saw

3 her at 20 metres while she was approaching our area. She was walking

4 around and then I just screamed, I called out her name: "Albana, what

5 happened? Tell me what happened." And she said, "They killed them all,

6 Mom, they killed them all. And Arben is still under the bed." Then I

7 returned to the house. My house was on fire. I wanted to see for myself

8 what happened to my son. It was just possible that he was killed as well,

9 but I wanted to go to the house and check.

10 Then my two daughters dragged me, and they begged me not to go and

11 check on the house because they feared that I might be killed as well. My

12 neighbours also prevented me from going back to the house.

13 Two hours later, approximately, when they set the house on fire,

14 the police were still checking for survivors in the house, but they

15 couldn't see Arben. When Arben set off in the direction of the stream,

16 they fired two bullets in his direction, but the bullets did not catch

17 him. When he arrived, he asked me, "Is any from our family still alive?"

18 And I told him, "Yes, myself and two of your sisters are still alive."

19 And I took him with us, and four members of our family, we were all

20 together. So they did not succeed in exterminating the whole family.

21 Q. And can we just have the names of your children who died and their

22 ages at the time, approximately or precisely. Feride, was she 21?

23 A. Yes. Flurije, 19; Violeta, 17 years old; Ardiana, 13 years old;

24 Arijeta, 11 years old; and Afrim, 2 years old. My husband was 52, and my

25 mother-in-law 72.

1 Q. And I think that Albana survived because, in the process of being

2 killed, Feride fell on top of her and thus shielded her; is that correct?

3 A. Yes. Yes.

4 Q. I'll now move to the stream. Perhaps just before we do, although

5 your house wasn't in the formal fenced compound, did it have associated

6 with it a guest room or I think they're called odas within the --

7 A. Yes, there were.

8 Q. I'll return to the reason for my asking you about that later. At

9 the stream, how many other people from the Imeraj part of Padaliste were

10 there?

11 A. About 13. About 13 were there when we all got together. When we

12 sat there for a few hours.

13 Q. Were there, as well as people who were alive, some dead bodies in

14 the stream?

15 A. When we set off for a location further up, we saw many dead

16 bodies. We met Gjylfidan Imeraj, 15 years old. She was lying near the

17 stream with her eyes gouged out. She was screaming, and she died two

18 hours later. Rab Imeraj was wounded. She had three bullet wounds. She

19 lived for another three days, together with her brother-in-law who was

20 also wounded and had some of his fingers and toes cut off. There were

21 lots of wounded.

22 Q. I think you can give accounts, if asked for details, of Gjylfidan

23 Imeraj you've already spoken of, Mona Imeraj, who I think was 72 years of

24 age.

25 A. Yes.

1 Q. Mus Imeraj, 55, who was wounded. Then Rab Imeraj you've told us

2 about. And then Nazmije Imeraj, who was wounded. I think you saw her.

3 A. I also saw others. Is it necessary if I mention all their names?

4 Q. No. I think we've probably taken enough detail. While you were

5 at the stream, did Serb policemen appear?

6 A. Yes, they came.

7 Q. What did they say?

8 A. They came to the stream. Before they arrived to our location,

9 they had gone to the location where Rab and Mus were. They took all their

10 money, all their valuables. Then when they reached our location, they

11 also asked for money, for valuables, and everybody who had something on,

12 we gave it all. And then one said, "Let's kill them." And then another

13 one said, "No. Leave them alone. Don't."

14 Q. Were you identified or did you identify yourself as Beke's wife

15 when the Serb policemen were there?

16 A. No. They did not know that I was Beke's wife because otherwise

17 they would have killed me.

18 Q. You went from the stream to the hills or mountains?

19 A. To the mountains. We went to the mountains.

20 Q. Whose advice was it that you should go there?

21 A. We decided ourselves, because when we heard Musa saying that they

22 were going to come in a short time and take us and massacre us, then we

23 set off in a direction further up in the mountain.

24 Q. When did you hear Musa say that? Do you mean at the time you've

25 just told us about, when he was stopped by one of the other soldiers; is

1 that right?

2 A. That was after the Serbs came to our location. And when they

3 left, then as we were walking upwards, Musa told us what had happened, how

4 they looted all the valuables and money, and then we -- all the rings, and

5 then we went further up in the mountain and sheltered ourselves.

6 Q. In the mountains, roughly how many people were there gathered

7 together?

8 A. About 22 or 23. I did not count them.

9 Q. Later -- and were they all from your particular part of Padaliste?

10 Were they all from the Imeraj community?

11 A. Yes, all of them.

12 Q. Did you move to another part of the mountains called the big

13 field, Fushe e Madhe?

14 A. That evening at night-time, at about midnight, struggling through,

15 we managed to pass without being noticed by the police. And the following

16 morning, we walked to Fushe e Madhe, where we stayed for another ten days.

17 Q. How many people were gathered there?

18 A. There were about 25 of us.

19 Q. Yes. But were there other people from other villages there?

20 A. No, only from the Imeraj community.

21 Q. And then did you, in due course, leave the area and leave Kosovo

22 indeed and go to Albania?

23 A. We stayed in the mountains for ten days and then we set off on

24 foot in the direction of Montenegro. We joined the convoy, and with my

25 three children, I crossed, I went to Montenegro, after three days of

1 journey.

2 Q. Just a couple of details of other events which you'd heard or that

3 you'd seen. This is at the foot of page 4, I think, of the statement.

4 Was there one particular death amongst the Imeraj family of a man

5 called Hasan Imeraj and his son?

6 A. Yes. On 26th of March, on the same day, they also went to the

7 family of Hasanaj. The family of Abdyl and Hasan were together at that

8 time. They took Fadil Imeraj, Hasan Imeraj, they took them outside and

9 they executed them at the front door.

10 Q. Were you told of things that were said by the father before that

11 killing and his willingness to die in the place of his son?

12 A. Before they killed him, Hasan said, "Kill me. Don't kill my son.

13 We are neighbours." Because they were neighbours in Cerkolez. And they

14 answered to him, "No. We are not neighbours. We are here to exterminate

15 you."

16 They knew Hasan very well, and Hasan's daughter also knows them,

17 and she can testify about this.

18 Q. In total, how many members of the Imeraj community were killed?

19 A. Nineteen members.

20 Q. Your son Arben, who, I think to your surprise, survived, he having

21 been in the house, has, I think, been reluctant to talk to you about the

22 detail of what happened; is that correct?

23 A. No. He didn't want to talk to me about details because he knew I

24 was a mother and he didn't want to worry me.

25 Q. Nevertheless, did he tell you anything about what the troops had

1 done by way of speaking or singing at the time of the killings?

2 A. I've heard them singing myself. My son told me about this as

3 well. They were singing in Serbian Croatian language. They were singing

4 in Albanian. They were cheering each other for having killed people.

5 Q. Your house was on fire, you say. All of the house, including the

6 guest house, or any part of the complex of buildings?

7 A. The house was burnt because the oda, the guest room, was a little

8 bit further, near the entrance. The children were killed in front of the

9 oda.

10 Q. Did you hear from others what happened to the oda in due course

11 and whether it was used at all by the Serbs or not?

12 A. They haven't used it. I don't think they have. I don't know how

13 they could use it when the bodies of my children remained in that room for

14 three months, unburied. For that reason, they couldn't have used it.

15 Q. Before we return to that particular issue, I just want you to look

16 at one document, please. Perhaps you'll look at this document, please,

17 and tell us when you first saw it and in what circumstance.

18 When did you first see this document?

19 MR. NICE: Perhaps the usher would be good enough to place the

20 original on the overhead projector initially and then we'll put an English

21 version on top of that so those viewing can see what we're looking at.

22 First the -- no. The witness can keep that. Thank you. Just lay that on

23 the overhead projector. Thank you very much.

24 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] This document was found with Shaban

25 Mani, a deceased person. It is a list of persons who carried out

1 massacres in the municipality of Istok.

2 MR. NICE:

3 Q. Just there, Ms. Imeraj. Because most people read English rather

4 than B/C/S, so can we now put the English version on the overhead

5 projector while Mrs. Imeraj keeps the Cyrillic version.

6 We can see in English, Mrs. Imeraj, that the document is actually

7 dated the 27th of April, 1998. "At an extraordinary session of the

8 association of veterans of the war of 1990," setting out certain

9 decisions. And we then see a list of people. And on the second page, if

10 the usher would be so good, we see that over the signatures of a

11 Mr. Djordjevic and Asanin, decisions were taken about weapons, about a

12 working war staff being linked up with a working war staff of the

13 municipality, and various other matters.

14 Now, if we come to the list, first page again, please, the

15 document's dated April, 1998. Roughly when did you first see it, please?

16 A. The first time I saw this document was three weeks ago.

17 Q. Very well. Shown to you by whom?

18 A. By the wife of Shaban Mani, who has the original of this document.

19 .

20 Q. And according to that person, the document was found where?

21 A. The document was found in Shaban Mani's house. The Serbs had left

22 it there.

23 Q. We can see on the typewritten version, and better on the original

24 Cyrillic version, that Zikica Belosevic has been underlined in hand and

25 that numbers 21 and 22 have been annotated in hand as Guso and Guso's son.

1 A. Yes, that's right.

2 Q. Can you explain those markings?

3 A. It was composed by Shaban Mani when he was alive. This person was

4 a commander who ordered the massacre at Imeraj's community. And the

5 others also participated in the massacre, and all these persons whose

6 names are underlined --

7 Q. Pausing there -- pausing there for --

8 JUDGE MAY: Mr. Nice, I must interrupt. It's difficult to

9 understand the significance of this.

10 MR. NICE: Certainly.

11 Q. The list is a list that came to somebody in your community and has

12 the writing on it that we can see. Now, we can see that somebody's named

13 as Guso, number 21, and that's a handwritten amendment to the list, and

14 you've spoken of somebody called Guso. Is this the same Guso of whom

15 you've spoken?

16 A. I don't know him, but they said that he took part from

17 Djurakovac.

18 Q. And the Belosevic, is that a name known to you or not personally?

19 A. Belosevic.

20 Q. Belosevic, number 18.

21 A. Would you repeat this once again, please?

22 Q. Number 18, the name Zikica Belosevic. Is that somebody known to

23 you personally or not?

24 A. Belosevic. I've heard his name but I do not know him personally.

25 MR. NICE: Your Honour, I think the document can be of use only as

1 a list found in the area setting out the facts that it sets out on its

2 face. I'd ask that it be available produced for that reason but for no

3 further.

4 JUDGE MAY: Yes. We will --

5 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] In Cerkolez, there is a

6 neighbourhood called Belosevic.

7 JUDGE MAY: Let me repeat that so it's on the transcript. The

8 exhibit will be given a number and exhibited for the limited purpose for

9 which the Prosecution put it in.

10 THE REGISTRAR: That will be marked as Prosecutor's Exhibit 293.

11 MR. NICE: Thank you very much.

12 Q. Ms. Imeraj, you've spoken of your family, your husband and

13 children, being left unburied for many weeks.

14 A. For three months.

15 Q. Have you seen this morning a video, an amateur video, taken of the

16 house in which you lived --

17 A. Yes.

18 Q. -- showing --

19 A. Yes.

20 Q. Distressing as it obviously is to look at such a video, are you

21 happy for it to be shown to the Judges and to see it or would you prefer

22 that it can be produced, as it could be produced, by a later witness?

23 Would you rather deal with it yourself or would you rather it was dealt

24 with by a later witness?

25 A. Let's see it. Let's watch it. No problem.

1 MR. NICE: Your Honour.

2 JUDGE MAY: Yes.

3 MR. NICE: Your Honour, there's a colleague in the booth who is

4 going to fast-forward the video, and I can then, I think, probably ask

5 just a few questions at the end of that. We'll give the video an exhibit

6 number at the end if it's produced.

7 [Videotape played]

8 MR. NICE:

9 Q. I think the first body is the body of your husband; is that

10 correct?

11 A. Yes.

12 Q. The other bodies that we're looking at, are they the bodies of

13 your children and your other relations who died?

14 A. Yes.

15 MR. NICE: Fast-forward, please. Fast-forward, please. I think

16 that's probably enough by way of demonstration of the video. Thank you

17 very much.

18 Q. Are those the bodies of your family members left lying for three

19 months in the garden?

20 A. Yes.

21 MR. NICE: Can that video be given an exhibit number, please.

22 THE REGISTRAR: That will be Prosecutor's Exhibit 294.

23 MR. NICE: Ms. Imeraj, will you wait there, please, and you'll be

24 asked some further questions.

25 JUDGE MAY: Mr. Milosevic, it's for you to cross-examine. You

1 will bear in mind the particular circumstances of this witness, I am sure,

2 in cross-examining her.

3 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] I am sorry that this witness lost

4 her family. Because of that, I'm going to reduce my own questions only to

5 those that seem quite necessary to me. However, before I move on to my

6 questions, let us try to clarify some of the timing.

7 Cross-examined by Mr. Milosevic:

8 Q. [Interpretation] The time frame, from the statement, as far as I

9 can see, this event occurred on the 27th of March. Is that correct?

10 A. 26th of March. And it was on your orders that all my family were

11 massacred. So you shouldn't feel sorry for me.

12 Q. This tape is the 24th of June, 1999. So this is three months

13 later. So all of it stood the way it was for three months then.

14 A. So what difference does that make? Please.

15 Q. I just wanted to clarify the timing to see whether it was clear to

16 me.

17 You described an exceptionally savage and cruel crime. That is

18 what you've described. In addition, I see at the end of your statement

19 that you speak -- that you say the following: "Most of them spoke the

20 Albanian language." Then you say that they sang. They sang in Albanian

21 and in Serbian, that they congratulated each other and, generally

22 speaking, that they behaved like savages.

23 My question is the following: Mrs. Imeraj, do you allow for the

24 possibility that these were not Serb policemen at all or, rather, that

25 they were not Serbs at all?

1 A. It's not possible, not at all possible. They were all Serbs, and

2 they spoke Albanian better than we did. They were our neighbours from

3 Cerkolez. They all speak Albanian. We know they were Serbs. I could

4 recognise them, my daughter could recognise them; they were familiar faces

5 to us.

6 Q. Well, I have to say to you that, for me, it is really incredible

7 that Serb policemen kill children, sing Albanian songs, cut fingers off,

8 and so on. So that is what I'm asking you precisely, whether it is

9 possible that they did something savage and cruel like that and then they

10 sing Albanian songs and then they massacre children?

11 A. Of course it is possible. They were our neighbours. They spoke

12 Albanian. As we speak B/C/S, they could speak Albanian as well. They did

13 it for fun, to kill Albanians.

14 Q. Mrs. Imeraj, your husband was an intellectual, from what I can see

15 in this statement, and he was a member of Rugova's party, the LDK; is that

16 right? He was an activist of that party, a prominent member.

17 A. Yes.

18 Q. Do you know that the members of the KLA liquidated a large number

19 of prominent members of Rugova's party on the eve of the war, during the

20 war, and after the war, after the United Nations came to Kosovo?

21 A. It's not possible. All those that were killed were killed by your

22 hand, by those who were in Kosovo, who were positioned by you in Kosovo.

23 Q. And do you know that it is precisely members of the KLA that in

24 1998 and 1999 committed various atrocities precisely towards the

25 Albanians? And they claimed the Serb police for that or the Serbs who

1 live in Kosovo. Do you know about that?

2 A. This is not possible, not at all.

3 Q. All right. I'm asking you whether you know about that. And do

4 you know that in such events the members of the KLA, in order not to be

5 recognised, wore camouflage caps and masks so that they would be

6 disguised?

7 A. How can a KLA kill Albanian? They're Albanians themselves. They

8 were there to defend their thresholds. They were not there to kill

9 Albanians. This is nonsense. This is not possible.

10 Q. There are many such examples, but I do not wish to burden you with

11 that.

12 Do you know that among the members of these units there were

13 foreign mercenaries as well, Mujahedin, who mercilessly carried out the

14 most cruel crimes possible? Actually, the savagery and the cruelty of the

15 crime that you described precisely resembles them. It looks like them

16 doing it and then singing about it after that. This identifies them. Did

17 you ever give it any thought?

18 A. I never thought about it, and it can't be true. They were Serbs

19 from Cerkolez, those who committed the massacre in my courtyard. This is

20 not true.

21 Q. I advise you to give some thought to that, although I have no

22 right to give you any advice.

23 Please let us just clarify one more fact: In this correction that

24 I received this morning, you wrote that you were correcting the second

25 sentence in the third paragraph of your statement, and your correction

1 reads as follow: "[In English] Our house was surrounded. I could not see

2 who was surrounding us. I found out later from a document that it was a

3 local paramilitary group. The document from which I learned this

4 information was found by the late Mani, Shaban, in an office." Et cetera.

5 Please.

6 A. This is not true. This might be a mistake of the interpreter. I

7 could see them well, that they were the ones who surrounded the house,

8 they were the ones who killed my children. They were Serbs.

9 And as far as this document is concerned, I just discovered it

10 three weeks ago. And as for the rest, I know everything by heart because

11 I've seen it with my own eyes. I've seen them myself, how they surrounded

12 the house. I was there behind the house. This is not something that I've

13 heard about, this is something I've seen with my own eyes. They were from

14 Cerkolez. They were from Gjakove. They were all familiar faces. Only

15 four or five of them were not familiar faces. This is more than true.

16 Q. Mrs. Imeraj, I do not wish to upset you by this. I just read to

17 you what I received, stating what you had allegedly said when correcting

18 your statement. And this was submitted by the other side this morning.

19 I'm not claiming that this is correct.

20 I asked you how come it was possible then that you found out only

21 three weeks ago, when you saw this document, who it was that surrounded

22 you? Because here you say that you did not know who had surrounded you.

23 That is what is written here. However, if they put it wrongly, then it's

24 their mistake and I'm not going to torment you any further with this.

25 Another thing I just wish to ask you: In this correction of your

1 statement, it says here -- again I'm going to quote to you what I

2 received. You say that you speak Serbian. Unfortunately, I cannot quote

3 this to you in Serbian because I received it in English. "[In English] I

4 also wish to add that in addition to the words I heard Belosevic Zikica

5 saying to my ..." [Interpretation] and so on and so on. You heard what

6 Zikica Belosevic and others were being told. A few moments ago when asked

7 about this list, asked about this document, as far as I understood you,

8 you said that you did not know Belosevic.

9 A. I've heard all these names while they were shouting at each other,

10 calling each other by names in the courtyard. I could hear everything. I

11 could see everything.

12 Q. Did they address each other by their last names?

13 A. By names. By surnames. They were calling on each other as they

14 were going down the courtyard.

15 Q. And did you see that it says here in this list that it was

16 established and that it has as its task to protect all the citizens and

17 all the attacks of the Serb -- on Serb property and on Serb citizens and

18 all people with a patriotic commitment?

19 A. The Serb citizens, not the Albanian citizens. They were defending

20 their own people, the Serbs. It can be seen on the videotape. The tape

21 talks for itself how civilians were protected, how my children were

22 protected. This doesn't need a comment. You can see for yourselves how

23 they acted and what they did. All the world knows.

24 Q. Mrs. Imeraj, it is not being challenged here that you lost the

25 members of your family. I just wanted to clarify the point that you could

1 not be certain, first of all, that they were policemen; and secondly, that

2 they were Serbs at all on the basis of the entire description, and that is

3 why I put these questions to you.

4 A. I'm 100 per cent sure. This is not based on description. This is

5 something that I've seen myself. This document, I've seen it three weeks

6 ago only. And what happened, I saw it with my own eyes, and you cannot

7 deny it. I can tell you that I've seen the Serbs with my own eyes, and

8 I've heard everything myself.

9 JUDGE ROBINSON: Mr. Nice --

10 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] This is not true.

11 JUDGE ROBINSON: The accused is quoting from, I think,

12 corrections --

13 MR. NICE: Yes.

14 JUDGE ROBINSON: -- that were made this morning. Those

15 corrections, however, were not passed on to --

16 MR. NICE: I'm sorry if you don't have them.

17 JUDGE ROBINSON: We don't have them.

18 MR. NICE: They're coming your way. I'll make an observation at

19 the end of the evidence about the circumstances in which they were made

20 available to the accused and when. The addendum was, of course, in the 92

21 bis package, but the decision having been made, I'm sorry it didn't reach

22 you independently. It was my oversight.

23 JUDGE ROBINSON: Mr. Milosevic, could you just bring our attention

24 to the precise passage that you just quoted.

25 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] I'm going to tell you,

1 Mr. Robinson. It is the third paragraph, the third sentence. It reads:

2 "[In English] At the time when our house was surrounded I could not see

3 who was surrounding us. I found out later from a document," et cetera.

4 You can see that now, I suppose.

5 JUDGE MAY: The point that the witness was making is that it was

6 the local -- she found out it was the local paramilitary group, from the

7 document. But in any event, we can read it.

8 Mr. Tapuskovic.

9 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] And the other quotation I made was

10 the third paragraph from the bottom, where it says: "[In English] I also

11 wish to add that in addition to the words I heard Belosevic Zikica saying

12 to my husband," et cetera.

13 JUDGE MAY: Yes.

14 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] And a short while ago, the witness

15 said she had only heard of the name but she did not know him. I wish to

16 point out these elements that simply indicate the fact that the witness

17 can be confused with regard to the perpetrators of this crime, which is

18 beyond any doubt. So I have no intention of --

19 JUDGE MAY: Yes.

20 MR. TAPUSKOVIC: [Interpretation] Your Honours, in view of the

21 tragedy suffered by Ms. Imeraj, I did not intend to ask her anything, had

22 I not received this today. It was actually today, during the break,

23 during the trial, I got this translated into Serbian, this addendum. I'm

24 referring to the addendum. I would just like to clarify something that

25 Ms. Imeraj did not say earlier on. This is the last paragraph of this

1 addendum. The last paragraph.

2 Questioned by Mr. Tapuskovic:

3 Q. [Interpretation] Ms. Imeraj, you said that the night before the

4 attack on the village, a helicopter had fired about 100 grenades on your

5 municipality. That was the night between the 25th and the 26th. One

6 hundred grenades were thrown on the municipality and --

7 A. No. In 1998 -- no, no. This is not true. In 1998, the

8 helicopter bombarded in Citak and in Padalishte. And in 1999, nobody

9 bombed. This is not true. This is misinterpreted. It was in 1998, in

10 August. I can't remember the exact date. Citak and Padalishte were

11 bombed by a helicopter which took off from the location near the Dubrava

12 Prison.

13 Q. Mrs. Imeraj, I'm not going to insist, but you said the night

14 before the attack. That is literally what you said two days ago. That is

15 what is recorded here.

16 JUDGE MAY: She said --

17 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] I'm telling the truth here. What

18 you're saying is not true. It was in 1998. In 1999, there were no

19 bombings, there were only massacres.

20 MR. TAPUSKOVIC: [Interpretation] Thank you.

21 Re-examined by Mr. Nice:

22 Q. Ms. Imeraj, just a couple of matters arising. It's been suggested

23 to you that the KLA had something to do with this. Were there any KLA

24 present in your area?

25 A. No. At the Imeraj neighbourhood, there was no KLA. No KLA in the

1 Imeraj neighbourhood.

2 Q. Has there ever, to your knowledge, been any hint or suggestion or

3 question raised in an investigation about whether the KLA had anything to

4 do with this killing, this massacre?

5 A. The KLA has nothing to do with this massacre.

6 Q. More than that - and this is at page 3 of the statement - a

7 suggestion of the accused is that this was something that happened at the

8 time of the bombing by NATO. Did you discover - this is at page 3 of the

9 statement, second to last paragraph - did you discover later --

10 THE INTERPRETER: Could Mr. Nice speak closer to the microphone,

11 please.

12 MR. NICE: I'm sorry, yes.

13 Q. Did you discover later something of a conversation between

14 Slobodan Petkovic and Shaban Selmanaj about what was going to happen to

15 your family?

16 A. Yes.

17 Q. Tell us shortly the circumstances in which you learned of this and

18 what it was you discovered.

19 A. Slobodan Petkovic said -- told Shaban Selmanaj that, as you are

20 working in three schools --

21 THE INTERPRETER: Could the witness slow down, please.

22 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] And he --

23 MR. NICE:

24 Q. Slow down, please.

25 A. Slobodan Petkovic told Shaban Selmanaj that, "How can Beke

1 continue with teaching? How can he go to work? We are going to massacre

2 him and all his family." He was also a teacher, Slobodan Petkovic, who

3 used to work in the same school with any husband.

4 Q. What ethnicity is Slobodan Petkovic?

5 A. Serb.

6 Q. According to what you've heard from Selmanaj Shaban, how long

7 before the massacre was it that Petkovic had said what he said?

8 A. I don't know how long before the massacre it was. My husband was

9 still working in the school.

10 Q. When did he stop working in the school?

11 A. My husband? He worked in the school until he died.

12 Q. So sometime before he died, according to Shaban, who I think was

13 the school cleaning man, there had been a warning by Petkovic, the Serb,

14 of the death to come; is that correct?

15 A. Yes.

16 Q. I think the man Petkovic, is he still in circulation, still at

17 liberty?

18 A. Yes. He is still teaching in Cerkolez. He is still in the

19 teaching.

20 Q. Finally, just to clarify, you've named the man Belosevic. Just

21 help us; was that a name that you knew before the killing or not?

22 A. Slobodan Petkovic --

23 Q. No. I moved to another topic. It's my mistake. The man

24 Belosevic, the man who's been -- he's on the list and the man you've been

25 asked questions about, did you know that name before the massacre or

1 not?

2 THE INTERPRETER: The interpreters request the witness to move

3 closer to the microphone.

4 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Belosevic. Belosevic is the

5 neighbourhood in the village of Suhogerlle.

6 MR. NICE:

7 Q. It's name you knew certainly as a location before the massacre.

8 A. Yes.

9 Q. Did you hear the name used at all in the course of the massacre or

10 not?

11 A. Yes.

12 MR. NICE: Those are the only questions I ask of this witness.

13 JUDGE MAY: Mrs. Imeraj, that concludes your evidence. Thank you

14 for coming to the International Tribunal to give it. You are free to go.

15 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Thank you, Your Honours.

16 [The witness withdrew]

17 JUDGE MAY: The statement and the addendum have been referred to.

18 They should be exhibited together.

19 MR. NICE: Your Honour, yes. Have we given a number to the video

20 as well?

21 JUDGE MAY: Yes.

22 MR. NICE: We have. Thank you. Before I move to the next --

23 JUDGE MAY: Just a moment. The statement and addendum, please.

24 MR. NICE: We have them, of course, in the 92 bis package, which

25 is probably the most convenient way if you ...

1 While that is being dealt with, can I --

2 JUDGE MAY: Let's just have a number before we go on.

3 THE REGISTRAR: This will be marked Prosecutor's Exhibit 295.

4 MR. NICE: Your Honour, before I move to the question of the next

5 witness, I, of course, will take as little time as I can to correct the

6 various unfortunate things the accused feels it necessary to say from time

7 to time on procedural issues, but this morning's outburst should not go

8 entirely uncorrected. First of all, I explained why it's in his interests

9 and benefit to have things like addenda, and I hope he will accept that.

10 Whether he does or he doesn't, he declines, I understand, to accept

11 material by way of fax transmission, either from us or even, it may be,

12 from the Registry. We've been asked to communicate with him via the

13 Registry and this material was available yesterday for faxing sometime in

14 the middle of the afternoon.

15 His associates with whom I have attempted to create a relationship

16 that would assist the accused lack instructions to deal with this

17 directly, either in relation to matters of this sort or in relation, of

18 course, to matters of Rule 68 disclosure, as the Chamber will know from

19 the reports we've filed, and these outbursts of the accused are designed

20 to generate interest or sympathy elsewhere but don't reflect what this

21 Prosecution is doing to try to bring this matter to a speedy conclusion.

22 Can I move to the question of the next witness.

23 JUDGE MAY: Yes.

24 MR. NICE: I said at the beginning of the week --

25 THE INTERPRETER: Could Mr. Nice move closer to the microphone,

1 please.

2 MR. NICE: It's either this microphone or my volume. Perhaps I

3 must turn the volume up as well.

4 I mentioned at the beginning of this week I might ask you to

5 consider taking Mr. Merovci out of order. The Chamber will recall that

6 he's coming back simply to deal with a television broadcast which is about

7 a minute long which the accused raised with him and in respect of which he

8 gave some answers already. He's a witness I took -- I can't be here after

9 the second break. The video itself is available, Mr. Merovci is

10 available, he's flown in, and I wonder if the Chamber will consider taking

11 him now. I obviously haven't proofed him. He's obviously, as it were, in

12 the course of cross-examination. He's simply here to have the video

13 played and to give his answers to the text which we do have in the form of

14 a transcript for you. The transcript would take about one minute, at

15 most, to read.

16 JUDGE MAY: Has the transcript been disclosed?

17 MR. NICE: Yes.

18 JUDGE MAY: It hasn't been disclosed to us.

19 MR. NICE: Not to you but it's been disclosed to the accused.

20 Because the accused it was who said -- he'd got a copy of the video. In

21 any event, it was he who raised it.

22 JUDGE MAY: Mr. Milosevic, would you have any objection to

23 Mr. Merovci being called next?

24 THE INTERPRETER: Microphone, please, for Mr. Milosevic.

25 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] I only request for the tape to be

1 played that I provided for you awhile ago because the tape of his

2 interview at that time was not disclosed. And then he can give his

3 comments on that tape, because no one has seen that tape except for you.

4 JUDGE MAY: Is this another tape, a different tape to that which

5 has been provided by the Prosecution?

6 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Of course. I gave you the tape at

7 the end of the cross-examination of Merovci. I told him about his

8 interview and his stance in that interview, and I said that I had the

9 tape. I had received it on that day. And the next day, I provided it for

10 you. So that is the tape of his interview by which I confirmed that what

11 I said was correct. But that tape, since he finished his

12 cross-examination and left, was never shown. So if he wishes to respond

13 to this interview, and it's a TV interview in which he gives answers, the

14 answers and questions are taped in their entirety, so I ask that the tape

15 be played and then Merovci can respond to questions.

16 JUDGE MAY: Mr. Nice, can you assist about this? The accused

17 apparently provided a tape. We apparently have it.

18 MR. NICE: Yes.

19 JUDGE MAY: Now, is the tape which you're going to produce a

20 different one?

21 MR. NICE: I think it's the same, and the transcript of this was

22 disclosed in draft as long ago as the 27th of June, the final version from

23 CLSS much more recently, but the transcript -- it's a very short point and

24 if we just play it, I'm sure that the Merovci --

25 JUDGE MAY: But the accused must have his tape played if it's

1 different. So perhaps during -- we will adjourn now. Perhaps somebody

2 could see if there's any difference between the two and then we'll decide

3 what to do.

4 MR. NICE: Very well. I may not -- I may be here, I'll see,

5 because I have to leave sometime -- at 12.40, I think.

6 JUDGE MAY: You can be here for 20 minutes, perhaps, to short that

7 out for us.

8 MR. NICE: Yes.

9 JUDGE MAY: Yes. We'll adjourn now. We'll hear Mr. Merovci.

10 We'll play the necessary tapes after the adjournment. Twenty minutes.

11 --- Recess taken at 12.08 p.m.

12 --- On resuming a 12.34 p.m.

13 [The witness entered court]

14 JUDGE MAY: Mr. Merovci, you have been brought back on a very

15 limited point which we will deal with probably first by playing a video.

16 The -- would you bear in mind that you're under the same declaration which

17 you took when you gave evidence earlier.

18 WITNESS: ADNAN MEROVCI [Recalled]

19 [Witness answered through interpreter]

20 Examined by Mr. Nice:

21 MR. NICE: Your Honour, the position is, as I've now discovered,

22 that the tape produced by the accused had been the subject of a transcript

23 within Registry, but the transcript had never found its way to us. I make

24 no complaint about that, these things happen. It's a longer tape than the

25 tape that we have, our tape covering just the last part of it. I gather

1 the accused wants the longer version played, which is about 14 minutes or

2 something like that. And so rather than quibble about it, no doubt that

3 should be done.

4 I'm afraid I won't be able to wait to hear all of it myself, but

5 that can be dealt with by my colleagues.

6 Comparing the transcript of the relevant part of the longer

7 transcript and the shorter transcript, I'm not sure quite how full the

8 translation is, or the transcript is, on the first version but we'll have

9 to hope for the best.

10 JUDGE MAY: Yes.

11 MR. NICE: I would ask that indeed it be played and that the

12 witness be given an opportunity to comment on it at the end.

13 JUDGE MAY: Yes. Before we do, you say you have a transcript.

14 MR. NICE: We have a transcript that the registry has had. We

15 have a shorter transcript, which is only of the last couple of questions

16 and answers, but it does seem to be more detailed in format than --

17 JUDGE MAY: Let us have that transcript too.

18 MR. NICE: We'll hand that in as well. It picks up from the

19 second to last page, I think.

20 Yes. Let the video be played.

21 [Videotape played]

22 VOICEOVER: [Interpretation]

23 "SEHOLI: You're talking about a peaceful solution, how can we talk

24 about a peaceful solution to this?

25 "MEROVCI: We know that President Rugova has -- wants a peaceful

1 solution, that the way he has chosen is the way of peace. President

2 Rugova remains firm in this position and is committed to making a

3 temporary solution for the people who have left Kosova, and he is one of

4 the few people that can do something to alleviate the situation and to

5 make use of certain mechanisms. And first, President Rugova is in a good

6 physical state and is alive, and I asked that he be provided with a

7 telephone and that has been done.

8 "SEHOLI: You're one of President Rugova's close associates. In

9 the meeting with Milosevic, he met with various associates like Fehmi

10 Agani, Idajet Hiseni, Drita Tahiri, Alush Gashi, and Dzemalj Mustafa.

11 Milosevic made a commitment, as I said before. According to what I have

12 heard, these people are in Macedonia, in Skopje, and some are in villages.

13 "SEHOLI: Did you have an opportunity to see the consequences of

14 the NATO bombings? And what about the casu