1 Thursday, 28 August 2003

2 [Open session]

3 [The accused entered court]

4 [The witness entered court]

5 --- Upon commencing at 9.06 a.m.

6 JUDGE MAY: Yes, Mr. Milosevic.

7 WITNESS: WITNESS C-1175 [Resumed]

8 [Witness answered through interpreter]

9 Cross-examined by Mr. Milosevic: [Continued]

10 THE INTERPRETER: We couldn't hear the beginning of the sentence.

11 Q. [Interpretation] We stopped yesterday talking about those

12 buildings that were detonated and the events that happened earlier. All

13 this combined caused great anxiety among the Serbian population; is that

14 right?

15 A. Yes.

16 Q. And then, from what I see from your statement, the issue of how to

17 obtain weapons became very topical. You explain that on the 13th of May,

18 1991 you took over a certain amount of weapons.

19 A. Yes.

20 Q. You say, "The blue Zastava vehicle appeared, reduced speed,

21 somebody dumped ammunition, and the vehicle drove on"; correct?

22 A. Yes.

23 Q. Did you know these people who brought this?

24 A. No.

25 Q. Was this given to you?

1 A. No. It was just dumped outside from a vehicle.

2 Q. Who was around when this happened?

3 A. There were three of us.

4 Q. But you took the weapons, didn't you?

5 A. Yes.

6 Q. Now, I see here that you were arrested because of this. How did

7 it come about, your arrest?

8 A. When I took the weapons, I was arrested on my way home.

9 Q. And then you spent time in a prison in Osijek; right?

10 A. Yes.

11 Q. Is that a regular prison, an investigations prison?

12 A. An investigations prison.

13 Q. How long did you spend in prison?

14 A. Three months.

15 Q. Were you tried?

16 A. No.

17 Q. How did it come about that you were released?

18 A. I was released in the course of an exchange.

19 Q. How many of you were exchanged on that occasion? How many of you

20 were in that prison?

21 A. I don't know how many we were, but there was a busload of people

22 who were exchanged.

23 Q. You personally have knowledge only about the group with whom you

24 were exchanged; right?

25 A. Yes.

1 Q. Tell me, please: Since this was a regular investigations prison

2 in Osijek, how were you treated there?

3 A. Decently.

4 Q. Nobody mistreated you, from what I understand.

5 A. No, they didn't.

6 Q. There was no rough treatment.

7 A. There wasn't.

8 Q. And who interrogated you?

9 A. An investigating judge.

10 Q. You see -- you say on page 3 of your statement, at the very

11 beginning of the first paragraph: "In the Osijek prison, I was very

12 roughly treated. During interrogation, I was beaten up very badly on

13 several occasions. The same happened to a number of other Serb prisoners

14 that were there with me."

15 A. I added that to the statement.

16 Q. So you amended your statement?

17 A. Yes, because it wasn't recorded correctly the first time.

18 Q. Is this another thing that hadn't been properly -- properly

19 recorded, what it says in the next paragraph: "For a number of days after

20 I came back home, I was unable to go out for several days because I was in

21 such a bad shape." Is that correct?

22 A. Yes.

23 Q. Was it really so or is this an error?

24 A. I was mentally in such a bad shape. Physically, I was all right.

25 Q. And then you tried to find your family, who lived in Vukovar?

1 A. Yes.

2 Q. You had heard that the JNA had evacuated them from Vukovar and you

3 found them in the second half of the month of August; correct?

4 A. Yes.

5 Q. You say -- I don't know about this term, because I see it in your

6 statement for the first time, "The so-called space police arrested all the

7 non-Serb residents." What kind of police is that?

8 A. Some sort of self-styled police.

9 Q. You mean a para-police force?

10 A. Yes.

11 Q. And it consisted of who?

12 A. There were three or four men at most.

13 Q. Were they wearing uniforms?

14 A. Camouflage uniforms.

15 Q. And they were arresting non-Serb residents?

16 A. Right.

17 Q. Did you know these men?

18 A. Yes, I did.

19 Q. Were they people from Dalj?

20 A. Yes.

21 Q. So your own local people?

22 A. Yes.

23 Q. But from what I understand, they were neither members of the JNA

24 nor members of any other formation. You could call them some sort of

25 self-appointed, self-styled police.

1 A. Yes, self-appointed police.

2 Q. You mentioned a certain person by the name of Stricevic, who was

3 the chief of police in Dalj; right?

4 A. He was the chief of this space police.

5 Q. So he was the chief of this illegal police force?

6 A. Yes.

7 Q. Now, tell me, because you seem to have spent only a month with the

8 Territorial Defence, what was the reason why you left the Territorial

9 Defence?

10 A. I had to go back to my job and my home.

11 Q. You say on page 3, in this large, long paragraph: "I needed fuel

12 for my car, but I couldn't buy it without a voucher issued by the TO

13 commander. I asked Pavle Milovanovic, also known as Pajo, to issue me

14 with this voucher, but he refused. This upset me, so I decided to leave

15 the Territorial Defence."

16 A. That's right.

17 Q. So you left the TO because this so-called Pajo, the commander,

18 refused to issue you with a voucher for fuel?

19 A. That was one of the reasons.

20 Q. Now, tell me a little more, in greater detail about this person

21 from Vukovar who was brought to the police station in Dalj and who,

22 according to your statement, used the building of the old farm

23 cooperative. It must be some sort of farm, isn't it?

24 A. Yes.

25 Q. If I understand your statement correctly - and I'll read out from

1 page 4 - "I heard that one group of people had also been brought to the

2 Dalj police station, which at that time was using the building of the old

3 cooperative centre as their station. But I personally did not see these

4 people." You didn't see this personally?

5 A. No, I didn't.

6 Q. So you heard from someone else that these people had been brought

7 to the building of the agricultural cooperative?

8 A. Correct.

9 Q. And then you go on to say - and I have the impression that these

10 are two separate things - you say that you were trying to help some

11 people, to get them out of prison, some among the people who were detained

12 there. Are we talking about a different place, a different prison?

13 A. A different place and a different prison.

14 Q. What prison?

15 A. That is the prison located in the very local commune, in the TO

16 headquarters, and there was another prison located at the Red Cross.

17 Q. You went there and you managed to free a couple of people.

18 A. Right.

19 Q. You just said a moment ago that it was a TO prison organised or

20 set up by local residents. We established that much at the beginning of

21 your testimony; correct?

22 A. Yes.

23 Q. The JNA had nothing to do with it; is that so?

24 A. It had nothing to do with it.

25 Q. And you continued to speak about the first killing in Dalj, when

1 one of the prisoners who had been detained and interrogated there jumped

2 out of the window, as you say, and was then killed by a TO guard.

3 A. Yes.

4 Q. Did you see that?

5 A. Yes.

6 Q. And who was that guard?

7 A. It was an older man, known under the nickname Babura.

8 Q. You know this man. He is a local resident?

9 A. Yes.

10 Q. Tell me now something about this group of people who were killed.

11 You mentioned that they had been on a slope somewhere between Dalj and

12 Lovas; right?

13 A. Yes, at the Lovas farm.

14 Q. So at the Lovas farm. Do you know anything about the

15 circumstances under which they were killed?

16 A. All I heard when I came there was that they had been brought by

17 bus and that this was done by people from Borovo Selo.

18 Q. If you would be kind enough to explain this in greater detail a

19 little more clearly, because I see on page 6 of your statement that this

20 commander, the man who was there with you, told you that they had been

21 killed by Savuljasi men. What does that mean?

22 A. That's the name of a street near Borovo Selo. It belongs to the

23 territory of Borovo Selo.

24 Q. So it was a group of men named after a street in Borovo Selo, and

25 he explained to you that they -- this group of people had been killed by

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1 these men.

2 A. Yes.

3 Q. Did he also explain that they had been brought there and executed

4 by firing squad, or did he say anything more precisely?

5 A. He said that they had been brought by some bus.

6 Q. So there was no doubt that all of them were killed there on the

7 spot and they had not been brought from anywhere.

8 A. Well, judging by the bodies, I believe they were killed on that

9 spot.

10 Q. Very well. Now, tell me, regarding these people brought from

11 Vukovar, what actually happened to them? Because in the course of the

12 examination-in-chief, I heard you describing how a large number of

13 residents of Vukovar was brought there. What do you mean by "large

14 number"?

15 A. Well, for instance, about three truckloads, which means 60 to 70

16 people, were brought to the building of the Red Cross.

17 Q. And you go on to say that the women were taken to Serbia.

18 A. Yes.

19 Q. What happened to them?

20 A. They just took their names down, listed them, and transported them

21 to Serbia after they had spent only one night there.

22 Q. Who transported them?

23 A. They were taken there by bus.

24 Q. I understand the vehicle used was a bus, but I mean who did this?

25 A. The TO.

1 Q. You mean the TO transported them to Serbia after they were

2 released?

3 A. Yes.

4 Q. How many men were they -- were there?

5 A. At the Red Cross building, there were only women and children.

6 Q. And they were only transported and released on the other side.

7 How about the men?

8 A. The men were at the TO, in the local commune.

9 Q. That's the place where you went to intervene for a couple of them

10 to be released?

11 A. Yes.

12 Q. How many men were there?

13 A. The same number; 50 to 60.

14 Q. Do you know what happened to those men who were at the local

15 commune, that is, the TO headquarters?

16 A. They were also transferred to the cinema hall in Dalj, and from

17 then on they were also transported by buses to Serbia.

18 Q. You mean to say they too were released?

19 A. Yes.

20 Q. Was any of them mistreated or killed?

21 A. There was mistreatment, but I don't know that anybody was killed.

22 Q. Very well. So you managed to release only a few, and the rest

23 were released. But how much later?

24 A. Well, more or less two or three days later.

25 Q. Did anyone interrogate them in the meantime and then release them?

1 A. Yes.

2 Q. Tell me now, since in the examination-in-chief you were asked in

3 connection with cooperation between the TO or, rather, the locals who were

4 in Dalj with the JNA. And I gathered from your explanations that the JNA

5 had a unit in Ilok.

6 A. No.

7 Q. A JNA headquarters in Ilok was mentioned.

8 A. There was a headquarters in the PP Dalj.

9 Q. And then they asked you whether the TO cooperated with the JNA,

10 and you said that you didn't know.

11 A. I don't know.

12 Q. How many JNA members were there in this PP Dalj? What is that PP

13 Dalj?

14 A. An agricultural enterprise.

15 Q. Yes. Was it a platoon, a company, a unit?

16 A. Well, a unit.

17 Q. Tell me, what were they doing?

18 A. They were within the PP Dalj compound. That is where their

19 vehicles were stationed. There were guards in front of the gate so that

20 people couldn't enter.

21 Q. Very well. But there were no prisoners there.

22 A. Allegedly there was a group of civilians from Vukovar up there in

23 a hangar.

24 Q. Do you have any knowledge as to what happened to them?

25 A. Allegedly they, too, were taken to Serbia.

1 Q. Do you have any knowledge as to whether any of them were

2 mistreated by the JNA?

3 A. No.

4 Q. Very well, Mr. 1175. Thank you.

5 JUDGE MAY: Mr. Tapuskovic.

6 MR. TAPUSKOVIC: [Interpretation] Your Honours, I have no questions

7 for this witness.

8 JUDGE MAY: Yes.

9 MS. UERTZ-RETZLAFF: Your Honours, I have a few questions.

10 JUDGE MAY: Yes.

11 Re-examined by Ms. Uertz-Retzlaff:

12 Q. Witness, during this cross-examination, Mr. Milosevic asked you

13 about the arming of the Croats. And in your statement that forms part of

14 your testimony, you said that you heard stories that the Croats were

15 arming themselves, that you did not see that but that you saw a truck and

16 concluded that the stories were true. And my question to you is: Who

17 actually told such stories about the arming of the Croats?

18 A. The Serbs were telling those stories.

19 Q. Did you also get stories of that kind from the media?

20 A. No.

21 Q. Mr. Milosevic, during his cross-examination, also asked you about

22 events in Borovo Selo on the 2nd of May, 1991. Were you in Borovo Selo at

23 that day?

24 A. No.

25 Q. Did you personally make any observation related to the events in

1 Borovo Selo on the 2nd of May?

2 A. No, nothing. Only the people from Dalj headed towards Borovo Selo

3 to see what was going on, so that we heard everything from them. Some of

4 them even went into Borovo Selo.

5 Q. And those who informed you about the events, were they all Serbs?

6 A. There were Serbs and Croats.

7 Q. Did you get also information about the events in -- in the media?

8 A. Yes.

9 Q. What media?

10 A. Croatian television carried reports, as did the radio.

11 Q. Did the Croatian television report also the killing of 12

12 policemen, Croatian policemen?

13 A. Yes.

14 Q. Did you have any means to check whether the reports that you heard

15 from people or from the media were correct?

16 A. No.

17 Q. Mr. Milosevic also put to you other events related to Borovo Selo

18 in April and May 1991. Did you observe any of these events yourself?

19 A. No.

20 Q. What was the source of your information to these events?

21 A. Every event that happened, shall we say in Borovo Selo, the people

22 in the village heard about it straight away, so that I obtained all the

23 information from the locals.

24 Q. Mr. Milosevic also asked you about what happened to certain groups

25 of people that were brought from Vukovar, and my question to you is: What

1 happened to those that you saw being detained in that prison behind the TO

2 headquarters? Do you know what became of them?

3 A. I don't know what became of them or where they were taken.

4 Q. How long were they kept there? Also only for a few days, or

5 longer?

6 A. For a few days.

7 Q. Did you see any mistreatment?

8 A. Yes.

9 Q. What kind of mistreatment?

10 A. Well, they beat them and mistreated them.

11 Q. And when you say "they," whom do you mean?

12 A. This svemirska police, or cosmic police, and this group that came

13 from Prigrevica.

14 Q. And you also -- and you also mentioned the people that were

15 detained or you heard about in the Dalj police building. What became of

16 them? Do you know that?

17 A. I don't know. I just know that there was a story one day that

18 some of them were killed at Jama, down the Danube.

19 MS. UERTZ-RETZLAFF: Your Honours, these are the questions that

20 the Prosecution has. Thank you.

21 JUDGE MAY: Witness C-1175, that concludes your evidence. Thank

22 you for coming to the International Tribunal to give it. You are free to

23 go. If you'd just wait for the blinds to be lowered.

24 [The witness withdrew]

25 [Trial Chamber and registrar confer]

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1 MS. UERTZ-RETZLAFF: Your Honour, while the witness leaves, I

2 would like to announce a -- a change in the witness list, or, rather, a

3 drop in the witness list, just so that the parties do not prepare. The

4 witness Josipovic will not be called this week, and we will re-evaluate

5 whether we will have to call him at all.

6 JUDGE MAY: Very well. Thank you.

7 The next witness is which, please?

8 MR. SAXON: Your Honours, the next witness will be Witness C-1071.

9 JUDGE MAY: I'm told there's one witness who may have difficulty

10 in reading.

11 MR. SAXON: That's correct, Your Honour.

12 JUDGE MAY: Is that right? Is this the witness, do we know?

13 MR. SAXON: No, Your Honour. I believe it is the following

14 witness.

15 JUDGE MAY: Very well. We'll deal with that. Thank you.

16 MR. SAXON: Perhaps while we're waiting, if I could ask the

17 registrar to place this sheet on the table where the witness will sit,

18 containing her true name.

19 Thank you very much.

20 While we're waiting, Your Honours, Witness C-1071 will discuss

21 events that relate to page 23 of the Croatia atlas.

22 JUDGE MAY: Thank you.

23 [The witness entered court]

24 JUDGE MAY: Just one moment. There's a matter I need to consult

25 on.

1 [Trial Chamber and registrar confer]

2 JUDGE MAY: We need to go into private session to deal with the

3 voice distortion.

4 [Private session]

5 [redacted]

6 [redacted]

7 [redacted]

8 [redacted]

9 [redacted]

10 [redacted]

11 [redacted]

12 [redacted]

13 [redacted]

14 [Open session]

15 JUDGE MAY: All right. I'm sorry to put you through that, but

16 could you take the declaration now.

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

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

19 WITNESS: WITNESS C-1071

20 [Witness answered through interpreter]

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

22 Yes, Mr. Saxon.

23 Examined by Mr. Saxon:

24 Q. Witness, good morning. There is a piece of paper in front of you.

25 And without reading the name that is on that piece of paper, could you

1 simply please verify that that is your true name written on that piece of

2 paper.

3 A. Yes.

4 Q. During this proceeding this morning, I will refer to you by the

5 pseudonym C-1071.

6 A. Yes.

7 Q. Witness C-1071, did you provide a statement to a member of the

8 Office of the Prosecutor of this Tribunal in May of 2001?

9 A. Yes, I did.

10 Q. During the past few days, have you had the opportunity to review

11 the statement that you gave in 2001?

12 A. Yes, I have.

13 Q. And two days ago, did you confirm to an officer of the Registry of

14 this Tribunal that your statement is true and correct?

15 A. Yes, I did.

16 MR. SAXON: Your Honour, at this time I would offer the statement

17 of this witness into evidence pursuant to Rule 92 bis. We have provided a

18 redacted version for the public and an unredacted version to be filed

19 under seal. There is a passport photo that is attached to this statement,

20 and that should be filed under seal as well.

21 JUDGE MAY: We'll get the next exhibit number for the package.

22 THE REGISTRAR: This will be Exhibit 518, Your Honours.

23 MR. SAXON: Your Honours, at the end of the battle for Vukovar on

24 19 November 1991, JNA soldiers escorted Witness C-1071, her husband, who

25 was a Croat, and their two children from the basement of their apartment

1 building to the village of Luzac. In Luzac, Serb forces separated men

2 from women and children and the men were taken to the local community

3 building in Luzac. Witness C-1071 last saw her husband when she handed

4 him some cigarettes by this building. Shortly thereafter, the JNA

5 transported Witness C-1071 and her children to the village of Brsadin and

6 from there civilian buses carried them to Bac in Vojvodina in the Republic

7 of Serbia.

8 Witness C-1071 subsequently heard that many people from Vukovar

9 were taken to the village of Dalj, and she made several trips to Dalj to

10 search for her husband. She spoke to people at the JNA headquarters in

11 Dalj, the Territorial Defence headquarters in Dalj, the Dalj police, and

12 the local Red Cross. No one gave her any information about the fate or

13 whereabouts of her husband. However, one man who resided in Dalj told

14 Witness C-1071 that he had seen her husband in front of the Red Cross

15 building in Dalj and that her husband had been beaten. Another person

16 told Witness C-1071 that she should stop looking for her husband because

17 he had been killed. This person, however, did not give Witness C-1071 any

18 more information.

19 Seven to eight years after she last saw her husband, another

20 person gave information to Witness C-1071. This person told Witness

21 C-1071 that her husband was seen in front of the Dalj cinema. A man

22 approached and said, "I need this one." A guard told the man that Witness

23 1071's husband had "passed the procedure." But the man insisted that he

24 wanted Witness C-1071's husband and returned with a group of men. They

25 captured Witness C-1071's husband inside the Dalj cinema and took him

1 away. Later, gunshots were heard.

2 JUDGE MAY: Yes. Is that the examination, Mr. Saxon?

3 MR. SAXON: It is. Thank you, Your Honour.

4 JUDGE MAY: Yes, Mr. Milosevic, if you have questions for this

5 witness.

6 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Just a few.

7 Cross-examined by Mr. Milosevic:

8 Q. [Interpretation] Madam 1071, you lived in Vukovar throughout,

9 didn't you?

10 A. Yes.

11 Q. And you say in your statement that from the second half of August

12 1991 the situation in Vukovar became very dangerous.

13 A. Yes.

14 Q. And actually, that you found yourself in the midst of a military

15 operation, because there was fighting everywhere around you.

16 Could you be kind enough to describe -- can you hear me now?

17 A. Yes. No, I can't hear again.

18 Q. Would you be kind enough to describe that situation. What was it

19 that changed? How did this dangerous situation come about? You were in

20 Vukovar throughout, even before that, weren't you?

21 A. How can I describe it? Shooting started, barricades. Simply, it

22 became dangerous for everyone. Around the 24th of August onwards,

23 everything was blocked, so that we couldn't go anywhere from Vukovar, and

24 our life was reduced to our own -- the confines of our own apartment. My

25 family spent the whole time in the basement, that is, for 86 days I and

1 the children were in the basement.

2 Q. Tell me, please, when did the fighting in Vukovar start and this

3 irregular state of affairs, the tensions and everything?

4 A. Sometime in the spring.

5 Q. And what was happening?

6 A. People were arming themselves. They were erecting barricades.

7 Simply, it wasn't safe anywhere.

8 Q. Tell me, who was arming themselves and who was putting up these

9 barricades?

10 A. I personally don't know. I heard that everyone was doing it.

11 Now, who is everyone? Around Vukovar, in the villages, the villages were

12 separating.

13 Q. But you were living in Vukovar.

14 A. Yes, I was. But I was living in an apartment building, so that I

15 didn't have information about it, only from the media, while we still had

16 power.

17 Q. Did you have any idea as to what was happening in your town? Or

18 you didn't leave the building at all?

19 A. I didn't leave the building, but I heard from people who did move

20 around.

21 Q. What did they say?

22 A. That there were various acts of sabotage, shooting, arrests,

23 blockades.

24 Q. What shooting? What act of sabotage? What kind of incidents and

25 events had you heard about? I assume you must remember something about

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1 it.

2 A. I heard about certain premises that were being blown up, that

3 there was shooting at certain houses. I just heard about this; I didn't

4 see it.

5 Q. And these premises that were blown up were owned by Serbs, weren't

6 they?

7 A. Yes.

8 Q. Apart from those business premises that were blown up in the

9 period starting with March, when the conflict started, up until the time

10 when they escalated in August, as you say, do you know anything at all

11 about the crimes that were being committed against the Serbs in Vukovar

12 throughout that period of time?

13 A. I heard about them. There were stories. But as I say, I didn't

14 leave my apartment after August, so I simply don't know. This is just

15 unverified information. And I did hear that the most frequent victims

16 were people in mixed marriages. I don't know how to put it. I can't

17 claim that with certainty, because I didn't see it.

18 Q. But do you remember that sometime in July, before those events

19 escalated further, that the president of the municipality was replaced?

20 He was a Serb. His name was Slavko Dokmanovic.

21 A. Yes.

22 Q. Did you know the reasons for his replacement?

23 A. Again, I don't know personally. I'm not a politician. People

24 were saying that it was because he was a Serb, and that someone else was

25 appointed in his place.

1 Q. You listened to the radio, and do you remember that at the time

2 the director of the radio was replaced too?

3 A. It was Radio Vukovar at the time. Later on it became Croatian

4 Radio.

5 Q. I see, it was Radio Vukovar at the time and then Croatian Radio.

6 A. Yes.

7 Q. Do you remember the liquidations of Serbs in Vukovar at that time?

8 A. As I said, I heard about that. We were a mixed population, and

9 there were rumours going around to that effect. But I didn't see this or

10 read about it.

11 Q. So you neither saw it nor read about it?

12 A. No. No, I didn't.

13 Q. Do you remember that in the village of Brsadin, which was just

14 mentioned, near Vukovar on the 1st of May, 1991, the first Serb victim

15 fell?

16 THE INTERPRETER: The witness [sic] didn't catch the name of the

17 victim.

18 Q. Yes. A man called Djuro Gelincin.

19 A. I don't know. I just heard about that.

20 Q. Do you know anything about the paramilitary units that were set

21 up, that committed those murders?

22 A. I don't know where they were set up, where they gathered or where

23 they ambushed people.

24 Q. Do you know anything about the collection centres for Serbs in

25 Vukovar? According to my information, you were a citizen of Vukovar, so

1 you would certainly be aware of that. The collection centres in Borovo

2 Komerc, Borovo Nova Obuca, the hangar at the airport, the unfinished

3 school in Borovo, the kindergarten in the municipality, in the

4 municipality basement, in the atomic shelter, in Drvo Promet.

5 A. I heard about all that after the war, when we came back, when the

6 fighting started. People were talking about this. But I wasn't there. I

7 didn't see that. I did not see a single victim.

8 Q. Do you know -- well, you say, "When I came back." When did you

9 come back?

10 A. On the 27th or 28th of November, 1991, some ten days later, after

11 the fighting had stopped. People talked.

12 Q. Did you hear about the places where Serbs were killed after

13 interrogation and arrest? For example, Trpinska Cesta, Borovska Cesta,

14 Zracni Klub Borovo, the Borovo stadium, the Pcelica Creche, the bank of

15 the Danube, and so on and so forth. I have quite a long list here, so I

16 won't burden you with the whole list. Did you hear about these locations?

17 A. All the locations are familiar to me. I heard about this, but I

18 didn't see it because I had other things to do, and it was terrible even

19 to hear about this.

20 Q. Terrible even to hear about it. Did you hear about Marko

21 Filkovic, known as Kinez, who was the commander of the National Guard

22 Corps?

23 A. No.

24 Q. Did you hear a single name of the people killed under his command,

25 the civilians, especially November 1991, early November?

1 A. I heard some names later on, but -- well, maybe those people I

2 knew, but the names meant nothing to me.

3 Q. Do you remember an event when in the house of Milos Novakovic, in

4 which whole families were hiding in the basement, the Pavlovic family, the

5 Pavic family?

6 A. Where is this street? Where is this house?

7 Q. According to my information, the house belongs to Milos Novakovic.

8 A. Yes. But where is it? I don't know. I didn't hear about that.

9 Q. As you were still in Vukovar in August 1991, do you remember in

10 Olajnica, in the atomic shelter, some children were killed or, rather,

11 slaughtered, 15-year-old boys?

12 A. I don't know about that. I know about the atomic shelter in

13 Olajnica but I wasn't there and I didn't hear about this event. I heard

14 later on that some children were killed by a shell which landed in front

15 of the shelter, and this was just before the end of the war.

16 Q. What do you know about the blockade of the barracks in Vukovar?

17 A. The barracks is quite far from the area where I live. People said

18 it had been blocked, that water, power, and food had been cut off, and

19 that attacks on Vukovar had started for that reason.

20 Q. Did you know anything about shooting at the barracks?

21 A. It's too far from where I live.

22 Q. Do you know at least when the blockade started?

23 A. I don't know exactly. I know that from the 24th of August on I

24 didn't leave my basement, because that's when the planes started flying

25 over. And they said that a truck had been attacked on its way to

1 Borovo Selo.

2 Q. So it started before that date.

3 A. Probably. I don't know.

4 Q. Do you remember that the JNA tolerated all this until the 1st of

5 October and took no action, expecting the barracks to be unblocked?

6 A. Sir, I would like to answer your questions, but I had two children

7 to look after. And as I have already told you, I didn't leave the

8 basement at all after the 24th of August.

9 Q. In your statement, you say that two JNA soldiers arrived and told

10 you you were to leave. Did they do this to protect you?

11 A. Yes.

12 Q. Did they help you to take shelter?

13 A. They protected us while we crossed the street to come to a house

14 where we would be safe. One went in front of us and one went behind us.

15 Q. You say they took you to a soccer field where there were already a

16 lot of people.

17 A. Yes.

18 Q. Did you see your husband there?

19 A. My husband came with me.

20 Q. So you were all together then.

21 A. Yes.

22 Q. And did they detain him there? From what you said in your

23 statement, I understood that he was in a logistics group for the hospital.

24 A. Yes.

25 Q. So he was working there.

1 A. All the men, both young and elderly men, were separated off on

2 that soccer field. The women were left behind, and the men were taken to

3 the school and the local commune for their documents to be checked.

4 Q. From what Mr. Saxon said, I understood that after this you never

5 saw your husband again. Is this correct?

6 A. Yes.

7 Q. So everything you learnt, you learned while searching for him from

8 your conversations with some people.

9 A. Yes.

10 Q. I would like to know more about the last part of Mr. Saxon's

11 explanation. You said that from a certain person, whose name I will not

12 mention so as not to identify you, that this person saw your husband in

13 Dalj.

14 A. Yes.

15 Q. And that this person said that they were taken to Dalj.

16 A. We all passed through Dalj, but I passed through Dalj earlier.

17 Q. Well, I'm reading what it says here: "The person was standing in

18 front of the cinema in Dalj when my husband approached them."

19 A. Yes.

20 Q. So this is about your husband.

21 A. Yes.

22 Q. "They chatted for a while, when a rather short man approached my

23 husband and told him he needed him."

24 A. Yes.

25 Q. And then you say, "The men who were guarding the area told him

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1 that my husband had gone through the procedure and he had been released."

2 A. Yes.

3 Q. Madam 1071, could you please explain: When you were separated

4 off, you were protected by the JNA; is this correct?

5 A. Yes.

6 Q. It follows from this that some sort of check was carried out and

7 that your husband was released by the JNA. Is that correct?

8 A. Yes, as far as Dalj.

9 Q. The people you mention as trying to capture your husband again or

10 do something to him had nothing to do with the JNA; is this correct?

11 A. That's what transpires from what I heard.

12 Q. Were they local people from Dalj?

13 A. Yes.

14 Q. And then you say that this man insisted, although he had been told

15 that the man had been released, and then he brought another group of

16 people, who captured him and took him away.

17 A. Yes.

18 Q. And that's the last you heard of your husband; is this correct?

19 A. Yes.

20 Q. I wanted to clarify this. Did you ever see members of the JNA

21 behaving illegally or using violence against people?

22 A. No.

23 Q. I won't keep you long. I know this is not easy for you. I want

24 to clarify just a few more points. You spent some time in Serbia with

25 relatives.

1 A. Yes.

2 Q. I won't mention the place, it doesn't matter. It was in

3 Vojvodina, in the north part of Serbia. Did you try through the Red Cross

4 in that municipality or the Red Cross of Serbia or the International Red

5 Cross to obtain some information? Did you apply for help to any

6 authorities in that municipality in Serbia?

7 A. No. I went back to Dalj on my own, to search.

8 Q. So you crossed the Danube to search for your husband?

9 A. Yes. The children remained in Serbia and I went back to search

10 for my husband through the police, the territorials, the army. They said

11 that they would check and that he would follow us after being checked.

12 Q. And that's what was supposed to happen, because he was released

13 after the check and then he was captured by some people. From these

14 conversations, did you understand that he was captured by a group of

15 civilians?

16 A. That's what I understood. In fact, I understood that he

17 disappeared because he was a Croat.

18 Q. Did you ever learn what prison your husband was in?

19 A. As far as I know, he never went further than Dalj.

20 Q. Dalj was held by the TO of Dalj, or the Dalj police; is this

21 correct?

22 A. Yes.

23 Q. And you heard that in front of the Red Cross building your husband

24 was beaten.

25 A. Yes.

1 Q. Did you try to find out who these men were who captured your

2 husband?

3 A. Yes, I did, but I didn't apply to the units there because it was

4 hard for me to say that my husband was a Croat and because I was left on

5 my own with my daughters. The man who told me that my husband had been

6 killed in Dalj told me to calm down and to stop looking for the sake of my

7 children.

8 Q. Before you met this acquaintance of yours who told you that he had

9 gone through the procedure and been released --

10 A. Yes.

11 Q. -- were you able to pinpoint the time referred to by the man who

12 told you that your husband had been killed and the time when the person

13 who talked to him in front of the cinema saw him?

14 A. This man, when I was searching through Dalj -- because I went to

15 Dalj every day begging for information, trying to find out. And if my

16 husband had been killed, trying to find his body to bury him. This was in

17 1991. As nobody wanted to talk about such things, a year had elapsed

18 before that woman described the last moments of my husband's life. She

19 was probably afraid for her own safety or maybe she was afraid she would

20 have to testify, but nobody told me that they had seen my husband being

21 killed.

22 Q. You say that before you met this acquaintance of yours --

23 THE INTERPRETER: The last part of the question was inaudible.

24 A. Yes, unfortunately, this person died.

25 Q. I would like to ask you what the person's name was, even if we

1 have to go into closed session, because this person would have to know

2 more about this. He would have to know who did this and how and when.

3 JUDGE MAY: Let me interrupt and deal with this. We didn't get

4 the interpretation of the person to whom you were referring,

5 Mr. Milosevic. Who is it that you're referring to?

6 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] I asked the lady, 1071, whether she

7 knew that man who told her that her husband had been killed. I asked if

8 she knew his name. But it happens to be irrelevant, because lady 1071

9 just said, "The man is dead."

10 A. I think that much is written in my statement.

11 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]

12 Q. Sorry, I didn't note that at first.

13 A. Give me a moment to look for that passage.

14 JUDGE KWON: It's in the paragraph 13. The name appears on that

15 paragraph.

16 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]

17 Q. Yes, I understand. But in any case, you were not able to find out

18 from him any more detail, any more information.

19 A. No, I wasn't.

20 Q. So it all boils down to these three sources, three persons who

21 gave you tidbits of information about your husband. And the only thing

22 that you can precisely know was that he was captured by this group of

23 people outside the cinema.

24 A. Yes.

25 Q. And it was a group of civilians.

1 A. So I was told.

2 Q. Thank you, Madame. I have no further questions for you.

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

4 Questioned by Mr. Tapuskovic:

5 Q. [Interpretation] Ms. Witness, I would appreciate just a couple of

6 clarifications for the benefit of the Judges.

7 About the barracks, this barracks that we're talking about, is it

8 located in the town itself?

9 A. Yes.

10 Q. It is not close to your home, but it is located in the town

11 itself.

12 A. Yes.

13 Q. And in that town, the barracks existed always, as far as you know?

14 A. Yes.

15 Q. Is it a big barracks with a lot of troops and a lot of weaponry?

16 A. To be quite frank, I don't know. I rarely visited that part of

17 town. And as for the number of troops, I don't know. I think it is a

18 regular, normal building, nothing special.

19 Q. All right. You said that the barracks and the troops inside it at

20 one point remained cut off from electricity, water supply, and food

21 supply.

22 A. They were cut off first, and then the rest of us.

23 Q. It was cut off to them first and then to the rest of the

24 population. How do you know that?

25 A. I only heard about the timing.

1 Q. Were there any attacks? Was anybody using weapons to attack the

2 barracks at any point?

3 A. I don't know.

4 Q. Did this happen first, before the shelling of the town?

5 A. That's how people told it.

6 Q. Just one more question: Were there any casualties among the

7 soldiers and officers during that blockade, before the shelling began?

8 A. Well, I didn't hear about it firsthand, because I was in the

9 basement. As I said, I heard about the attacks on the trucks. That's all

10 I know.

11 Q. Thank you.

12 Questioned by the Court:

13 JUDGE KWON: Madam 1071, did the members of the OTP not tell you

14 that there's a witness in this Tribunal that -- who says he had seen the

15 body of your husband?

16 A. No.

17 JUDGE KWON: Thank you.

18 Re-examined by Mr. Saxon:

19 Q. Witness C-1071, Mr. Milosevic suggested, as he put it, "It all

20 boils down to three sources who gave you tidbits of information." In your

21 statement, I believe you refer to another source. On page 3 of your

22 statement, you mention how you went to Dalj on the 22nd or 23rd of

23 November, 1991 to begin to look for your husband, and you went to the JNA

24 headquarters in Dalj and you spoke to a guard there. Do you recall what,

25 if anything, that JNA guard said about mistakes that had been made?

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1 A. I was told at that time, when I asked, whether they had a list or

2 something. This man, this army man, told me that they had made a mistake

3 because they had turned over everything to members of the Territorial

4 Defence.

5 Q. You also mentioned that you had heard that the most frequent

6 victims from Vukovar were people in mixed marriages. You were in a mixed

7 marriage yourself, weren't you?

8 A. Yes.

9 Q. Witness C-1071, has your husband's body been found and identified?

10 A. Yes.

11 Q. Can you tell us when your husband's body was found approximately

12 and approximately where it was found?

13 A. Roughly before the time I gave this statement, in spring 2001, and

14 it was found in a clearing called Lovas, between Dalj and Lovas -- sorry,

15 between Dalj and Borovo Selo, so I was told.

16 Q. And were there any wounds found on your husband's body, to your

17 knowledge?

18 A. I was told that he had two entry and exit wounds and possibly

19 other wounds I don't know about.

20 Q. Just to be clear, what caused the entry and exit wounds, according

21 to what you were told?

22 A. Probably gunfire. I don't know. Rounds from a rifle. I didn't

23 ask whether it was a rifle or a pistol. They didn't tell me, and I didn't

24 ask.

25 MR. SAXON: Thank you. I have no further questions.

1 JUDGE MAY: Witness C-1071, thank you for coming to the

2 International Tribunal to give your evidence. It's now concluded, and

3 you're free to go. But would you wait until the blinds have been lowered,

4 please.

5 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Thank you.

6 JUDGE MAY: In fact, we'll adjourn now. We'll take the

7 adjournment slightly earlier, but it would be convenient, and we'll hear

8 the next witness after the adjournment.

9 [The witness withdrew]

10 --- Recess taken at 10.24 a.m.

11 --- On resuming at 10.52 a.m.

12 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Mr. May.

13 JUDGE MAY: Just one moment. Let us deal with the witness first.

14 Ms. Bauer, arrangements have been made for this oath to be taken,

15 have they?

16 MS. BAUER: I believe they have, yes.

17 [The witness entered court]

18 JUDGE MAY: Would you follow what the interpreters say, please.

19 And if the interpreters would read the declaration.

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

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

22 WITNESS: ANA BICANIC

23 [Witness answered through interpreter]

24 JUDGE MAY: Thank you very much. If you'd like to take a seat.

25 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Thank you.

1 JUDGE MAY: Yes, Mr. Milosevic.

2 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Mr. May, we heard a moment ago that

3 this witness Josip Josipovic was taken off the list. I wanted to kindly

4 ask you to find out if Mr. Josipovic had come to The Hague this week.

5 And second, I want to point out that he is providing very

6 important evidence on the events that took place in that part of Bosanska

7 Dubica and Hrvatska Dubica and that I have very good reason to conclude

8 that the side opposite is taking him off the list because his testimony is

9 not convenient to them. Let me just read the last sentence.

10 JUDGE MAY: No. No. What we're going to do is this: We're going

11 to hear this witness's evidence first. She's here and she should be able

12 to give her evidence without interruption. We will then return to the

13 witness who you've referred to, and we'll hear about the position then and

14 you can make any submissions. But let us first of all deal with the

15 witness who's in court.

16 Examined by Ms. Bauer:

17 Q. Good morning, Witness. Do you hear me properly?

18 A. Yes.

19 Q. Would you please state your name for the record.

20 A. Ana Bicanic.

21 Q. Ms. Bicanic, do you recall that two days ago you went through your

22 statement in the presence of a representative of the court?

23 A. Yes.

24 Q. And did you sign a declaration attesting to its accuracy and

25 truthfulness in front of this court representative?

1 A. Yes, I did.

2 MS. BAUER: Your Honour, at this point I'd like to offer the

3 statement pursuant to the regulation 92 bis into evidence.

4 JUDGE MAY: Yes. We'll get an exhibit number for the package.

5 THE REGISTRAR: It will be Exhibit 519, Your Honours.

6 MS. BAUER: I'll commence with the summary.

7 Ms. Bicanic was a housewife and 56 years old at the time of the

8 events. All her life, she lived --

9 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Yes.

10 MS. BAUER:

11 Q. Ms. Bicanic, I'm reading out the summary. You don't need to say

12 yes or no. So just sit back and relax, please.

13 MS. BAUER: All her life she lived in Saborsko, which was a

14 predominantly Croat inhabited village of approximately 7 kilometres in

15 length. From June --

16 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Yes.

17 MS. BAUER:

18 Q. Ms. Bicanic, you don't need to say yes every time I read something

19 out.

20 JUDGE ROBINSON: I think I should just go ahead, Ms. Bauer.

21 MS. BAUER: Thank you, Your Honour.

22 From June 1991 to November 1991, Ms. Bicanic observed APCs and

23 jeeps full of soldiers driving through the village towards Licka Jesenica,

24 where the JNA had a military training base. At the foot of a hill called

25 Pljesevica, there was a military heliport, which was located close to

1 Saborsko. Helicopters and planes would fly over the village of Saborsko

2 regularly at that time.

3 In 1991 -- in June 1991, Serbs from the direction of Licka

4 Jesenica started shooting randomly at the village of Saborsko with gunfire

5 and occasional artillery fire. Some ten people died in these initial

6 attacks and several were wounded. Following these initial attacks, a few

7 persons were evacuated from the area, in particular women with small

8 children and elderly, frail people. Heavy artillery shelling of the

9 village began on the 5th of August, 1991 and continued until two days

10 before the fall of the village on the 12th of November.

11 On the 12th of November, airplanes attacked the village of

12 Saborsko, shooting tracers and dropping bombs. The witness and her

13 husband ran into a basement of a family house belonging to Petar Bicanic.

14 There were around 20 people in this basement seeking shelter from the

15 enemy assault, all civilians.

16 At one point, a woman from the village came to the basement which

17 was used as a shelter and told them to flee because the tanks had already

18 entered the town. Only a few young men followed this advice and ran off

19 immediately. Shortly afterwards, the witness and her husband ran into

20 their house, which was nearby, in order to pick up some warmer clothes.

21 Her husband, who had two hand grenades with him and feared it could cost

22 his life if detected, hid them in a haystack. Subsequently, they returned

23 to the basement. After the bombing attack subsided, the group thought

24 about surrendering and heard someone outside the house where they hid say

25 something to the effect "give me some matches." They believed that the

1 Serbs were burning houses and that they were going to be burned alive, so

2 they went outside to surrender. Mrs. Bicanic, who constructed an

3 improvised white flag on a stick, went out first, shouting not to shoot

4 because they were all civilians. She saw two soldiers dressed in Serbian

5 dark grey uniforms and wearing visor caps with a five-pointed red star.

6 These soldiers were heavily armed and spoke with a Serbian dialect.

7 The soldiers threw a hand grenade into the basement of the house

8 and then separated men from the women, searching all the men and taking

9 their valuables and money. Ms. Bicanic saw how her husband was slapped

10 without any reason. He looked terrified and pale. One of the soldiers

11 shouted that they all ought to be slaughtered. Other Serbs stood on the

12 road, searched houses, and took what they could take. Subsequently, they

13 separated the men and took them behind the house. Ms. Bicanic saw how

14 those two soldiers she initially had seen when she had come out of the

15 basement shot and killed all the men with automatic gunfire, including the

16 witness's husband. Subsequently, the soldiers gave the women an

17 ultimatum, that they had to leave Saborsko in half an hour or to be killed

18 as well.

19 The witness returned to Saborsko in 1995 and could not recognise

20 the village. Everything was destroyed and overgrown. The witness's house

21 was completely demolished and burned. Two local churches were destroyed,

22 one completely, the other one from medieval times was heavily damaged.

23 After Operation Storm in 1995, a mass grave was discovered near

24 the parish house in Saborsko.

25 THE INTERPRETER: Could you slow down a little, please.

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1 MS. BAUER: I apologise.

2 The witness's husband, Milan Bicanic, was among the dead, as well

3 as other men killed with him on that day.

4 I conclude the summary.

5 JUDGE MAY: Yes, Mr. Milosevic.

6 Cross-examined by Mr. Milosevic:

7 Q. [Interpretation] Mrs. Bicanic, in your statement, you say that in

8 the year 1990 a referendum was held and that Croats were happy and Serbs

9 were not happy at all about this referendum. Is that true?

10 JUDGE MAY: Yes. Did you -- did you hear that question?

11 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Yes, I did.

12 JUDGE MAY: Is that right?

13 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] No, that's not right. The Serbs

14 were very happy when they were doing this, because that's what they

15 wanted, to have Greater Serbia and to destroy whatever they could destroy.

16 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]

17 Q. Mrs. Bicanic, I understand this explanation after yours, but it

18 has nothing to do with my question. I asked you about your statement, and

19 I will read out from it. "In 1990, there was a referendum and the Croats

20 were very happy but the Serbs were not happy at all."

21 A. Because they wanted Greater Serbia; that's why they were not

22 happy. They attempted to have a Greater Serbia, and that's how it all

23 played out.

24 Q. All right, Mrs. Bicanic. How do you explain the fact that the

25 Serbs were not happy about the referendum concerning the separation of

1 Croatia from Yugoslavia?

2 A. I don't know.

3 Q. But you say that's why they were not happy.

4 A. They were happy. They got it all. They surrounded places. They

5 killed whoever they wanted. How wouldn't they be happy?

6 Q. All right, Mrs. Bicanic. In the same paragraph you say that

7 "Serbs as early as the summer of 1990 erected barricades on roads."

8 A. Yes, yes.

9 Q. Did you see any of these barricades?

10 A. I didn't see the barricades or the people who erected them, but it

11 was all blocked. We were surrounded, isolated, like we sitting in this

12 room. We couldn't move out. We could use up whatever stocks we had at

13 home, and the few supplies we had in stores until the very attack started.

14 We were surrounded, encircled, like we in this room. We couldn't go out

15 anywhere.

16 Q. All right. But did these people who told you about these

17 barricades ever tell you where exactly they were located?

18 A. I couldn't tell you. I didn't go there, and I didn't really

19 interrogate anyone about them. I just heard about these barricades.

20 Q. But was it in Saborsko itself?

21 A. At the entrance to Saborsko, going towards Licka Jesenica.

22 Q. Did you at least see that one barricade at the entrance to

23 Saborsko?

24 A. Did you hear what I said? I didn't move anywhere. I only stuck

25 to my house.

1 Q. Is Saborsko a Croatian village?

2 A. Croatian. And there were also four Serbs, four Serb neighbours

3 living there.

4 Q. So was it the locals, the inhabitants of that village who erected

5 the barricades?

6 A. They had no reason to. They were not afraid of anything. These

7 four Serbs were together with us in that basement and we got on well

8 together until the last moment.

9 Q. So who erected this barricade in your village?

10 A. These people from Jesenica.

11 Q. You mean the people from the neighbouring village?

12 A. Yes, the neighbours. It's their territory.

13 Q. Okay. On page 2, in paragraph 3, you say that in the beginning of

14 June 1991, the Serbs started opening fire on your village.

15 A. Yes.

16 Q. And they mainly shot at the school building and the church.

17 A. Yes. That was inevitable. Every house got its share.

18 Q. All right, Mrs. Bicanic. What was it special about the school

19 building and the church so that they shot at them?

20 A. Well, they were normal, regular buildings. Children went to

21 school. And these two buildings had it the worst, got the most bullets

22 and were eventually razed.

23 Q. Were any weapons situated on top of the church and the school

24 building that were targets?

25 A. No, there was nothing. There were even very few policemen and

1 very few people who had any weapons, and those were small rifles. That

2 was the heaviest weapon anyone had, including the police.

3 Q. You say that at that time nine inhabitants of Saborsko got killed.

4 A. Yes, from machine-gun fire from a plane. We couldn't stick our

5 heads out whenever we could hear a plane. And if we were out having

6 breakfast, if we happened to be out, we had to move right back in, and

7 these nine people were shot while on the road, from a plane.

8 Q. So it was machine-gun fire from aircraft.

9 A. Yes, when planes were flying over.

10 Q. When was it exactly, this bombing from planes?

11 A. In 1991. It all happened in the summer, in that period, from

12 August to November. In November we fell.

13 Q. All right. But you say that Saborsko was bombed from airplanes.

14 What was it that airplanes had to bomb in Saborsko?

15 A. How do I know? They wanted to destroy it. It was a small

16 village. There were no troops, nothing. There were only civilians mostly

17 and people defending themselves and standing guard.

18 Q. All right. But you say yourself, Mrs. Bicanic, on page 3 of your

19 statement, in paragraph -- in the first paragraph, that "Around October

20 1991, two truckloads of Croatian soldiers with around 50 men arrived."

21 A. Yes. They brought some aid in food and we got some small arms

22 then, and that was nothing; it's a drop in the sea.

23 Q. So 50 soldiers arrived and weapons.

24 A. Well, a defence team, a defence force came. Because we were by

25 that time unable to survive. We were afraid we would be slaughtered. We

1 were not expecting so much army to come to our door and attack us. We

2 were unable to defend ourselves because it was such a great force against

3 such a small village.

4 Q. How did they manage to come with trucks -- on trucks to Saborsko?

5 A. They went through the woods, crept at night.

6 Q. How did they creep on trucks?

7 A. Through the woods, because everything was blocked, everything was

8 surrounded. There were guards everywhere. We could see that there was

9 nowhere to run. It was all people from your side.

10 Q. Very well, Mrs. Bicanic. But did you find out how they managed to

11 reach you by truck through the woods?

12 A. How they managed? They didn't fight or anything like that?

13 Somehow peacefully they managed to get there. They stealthily managed to

14 pass, the way thieves do. They tried to defend it but they didn't defend

15 anything.

16 Q. Very well. You say that these two trucks brought 50 soldiers and

17 weapons; isn't that right?

18 A. Yes, some rifles and some very small weapons.

19 Q. What do you mean "small weapons"?

20 A. I mean small arms; rifles and a couple of grenades perhaps.

21 Q. And you're quite sure that there were only two trucks, in view of

22 the fact there were 50 men bringing food and weapons, and all this fitted

23 into two trucks?

24 A. Two trucks. There weren't more than that.

25 Q. And was there a police station in Saborsko?

1 A. Yes.

2 Q. How many policemen were there there?

3 A. Ten or so, and some civilians, a few elderly people. That was all

4 we had to defend ourselves until these men arrived.

5 Q. Apart from these 50 soldiers that arrived, how many members of the

6 TO were there in Saborsko?

7 A. Nothing. It's all one.

8 Q. On page 3, in the second paragraph, you say that social workers in

9 July 1991 - so this was prior to these events - came to Saborsko and

10 evacuated elderly persons, children, and younger women; is that right?

11 A. Yes. Yes.

12 Q. How many people left Saborsko on that occasion?

13 A. Mostly the elderly, old women and children, and the children's

14 mothers. But these were few. We didn't have that many people in the

15 village. The people who were unfit and who couldn't walk, who couldn't

16 flee, they left.

17 Q. I see. So those unfit for military service left.

18 A. People who could not run through the woods and small children who

19 couldn't spend the night in the woods. We didn't spend the night in our

20 homes but in the woods because of the shooting and the attack.

21 Q. And tell me how many inhabitants there were in Saborsko in all.

22 A. I couldn't tell you. I don't know. I'm not that literate to know

23 these things.

24 Q. And how many people stayed on in Saborsko when these people had

25 left in June 1991, all these women, children, the elderly men, and so on?

1 How many people remained in Saborsko?

2 A. You mean when the attack occurred?

3 Q. Yes. How many people remained when these left?

4 A. Few. Some soldiers and some people; the elderly women and so on.

5 And they waited for the last moment, until everything happened, until the

6 attack came to destroy everything. And then people started fleeing, who

7 managed to save their lives, they did.

8 Q. So only the men stayed behind, those capable of military service.

9 All the others had left Saborsko.

10 A. No. Some women stayed behind too and men. Only the -- those who

11 were unfit, who couldn't hide, the children and the old men left.

12 Q. Very well. On page 3, in the third paragraph, you say that "Heavy

13 shelling of Saborsko started on the 5th of August, 1991."

14 A. Yes. Yes. I say "Kolovoz" for August.

15 Q. Yes, you say "Kolovoz" for August. And that the only two days

16 when there was no shelling were the days prior to the fall of the village

17 on the 12th of November; is that right?

18 A. For three months, from the 5th of August, there was shelling every

19 day and there were helicopters flying over the village to Vukelic Poljana.

20 And as they flew over; we knew that in the evening shelling would come.

21 Q. So from the 5th of August until the 12th of November.

22 A. Yes. Only in -- on the 12th of November there were two days prior

23 to that that were peaceful. And then on the third day, that is, on the

24 12th of November, after this lull early in the morning, the planes started

25 shelling and they didn't stop until they destroyed everything. That's it.

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1 Q. Tell me, Mrs. Bicanic, does that mean that Saborsko was shelled

2 for all of three months?

3 A. Yes. Throughout a period of three months, they never stopped for

4 a day.

5 Q. And on that day, you say your husband had two hand grenades on

6 him.

7 A. Yes, to save his life. If he were to be captured alive, that he

8 could kill himself, not to hand himself over alive.

9 Q. And what did the others have, in terms of weapons?

10 A. Rifles. Rifles. There weren't many weapons. They didn't have

11 anywhere to get them from. Maybe from the heavens.

12 Q. And when this attack occurred, where were these soldiers and

13 policemen, these 50 soldiers who came?

14 A. They were at positions, deployed. And when the planes came, their

15 weapons and rifles were thrown away and each one of them fled, because

16 they simply couldn't resist such a strong force.

17 Q. I understand that, as you explained it. But on page 3, in

18 paragraph 7 you say that the circumstances quieted down that afternoon for

19 two or three hours and that Nikola Bicanic, he was already deceased, that

20 he should surrender.

21 A. Nikola was already dead by then. That's not correct. I said that

22 when we were coming out of the woods, when everything was over. We fled

23 from the basements. There was a lull. And at night for three days and

24 three nights we went over there. And Nikola said this in the basement.

25 When there was a lull -- the army had already entered the village, and he

1 said it would be a good idea that we surrender.

2 Q. That's what I'm asking you about.

3 A. This Nikola in the basement, he said that you should surrender?

4 A. Yes, that we should come out with a white rag to surrender.

5 Otherwise, we would all be killed down there. And as one was saying,

6 "Give matches to start torching," and one woman had a little boy of five

7 or six and she said, "Take his white shirt as a sign of surrender." This

8 was in my street. I went out and saw two soldiers with those heavy

9 weapons, those big rifles with something around on them. I don't know how

10 you call them. I folded my hands like this and I begged them not to

11 shoot. "There are no soldiers here, only men and women." And he said,

12 "Tell them to come out." So I went to the door and told them, "Come out,

13 come out." And then one by one they came out. One of them threw a

14 grenade into the cellar, thinking that someone was still there. And then

15 in front of the house they put the women under a threshold. Then they

16 slapped my husband first, then Jure Vukovic, also he got a slap. Then

17 Strk, Jure, and then his wife said, "Don't beat him." And he yelled at

18 them. And others were cursing our mothers, saying that everyone should be

19 slaughtered.

20 Outside, there were soldiers, and then these soldiers with

21 five-cornered stars and helmets on their heads -- all this was happening

22 very quickly. They moved about 10 or 15 metres down the road and took a

23 turn at the next corner, and then they opened two bursts of fire, and then

24 they were moving towards us. Again, again I folded my hands and begged

25 them not to hurt us. And then two of them stood in front of them and

1 said, "Where is your son? In the army?" I said, "In Osijek." "Is he in

2 the Ustashas?" I said he was not. "And when did he leave?" I said, "In

3 June." And then they looked at one another and waved their hands, telling

4 us to move on, us women. And I looked in front of me along the main road,

5 and on the main road there were so many soldiers and tanks that an egg

6 couldn't drop between them.

7 Then I called out myself, "Let's go to Jesenica," to Nina. And he

8 said, "Go on." And we ran to this Nina. And as we entered Jesenica, I

9 asked this Nina, "Take us to Jesenica, please." And he said, "Not

10 Jesenica. You mustn't go there. There's no one there. Everyone's been

11 killed." But then there were people coming towards us from Jesenica. I

12 couldn't tell whether they were soldiers or civilians. Mostly civilians.

13 One had a coat over his head, I suppose not to be recognised. And then

14 the others moved off, moved away, and we stopped and a man came towards us

15 and said to Nina, "Nina, where are you going with those women?" And then

16 he cursed, and "I wish I could get rid of them." And then he said,

17 "Women, I don't wish to have your lives on my soul. Just flee. Go

18 through the woods." And that is where we went during the night, until it

19 became more peaceful. And after midnight nothing more could be heard.

20 JUDGE MAY: Mrs. Bicanic, I'm going to stop you now. The accused

21 is going to ask you some questions. If there are any other details which

22 are necessary, then the Prosecution can ask you some questions at the end.

23 Yes, Mr. Milosevic.

24 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]

25 Q. Mrs. Bicanic, as far as I was able to understand, many soldiers

1 passed along that road. Is this correct?

2 A. Yes.

3 Q. So the soldiers didn't stop in the village but only passed

4 through. You said there were tanks, trucks. This was an open road and

5 the army was passing through.

6 A. Yes, and destroying along the way.

7 Q. So they destroyed things as they went along?

8 A. Yes, they razed everything to the ground. They left nothing

9 behind.

10 Q. Very well. You mentioned two soldiers.

11 A. Those who killed people in my neighbourhood when they found us in

12 the basement, I saw them. I looked them in the eye. They had helmets on

13 their heads.

14 Q. And the soldiers passing along the road, what were they doing?

15 All those tanks and trucks and vehicles, did they have anything to do with

16 your village?

17 A. Well, they destroyed it, they razed it to the ground. They did

18 what they wanted, and then they went on.

19 Q. You say that one of the soldiers took out a Croatian police

20 uniform from somewhere.

21 A. Yes. And he said, "Look, this is an Ustasha nest," and he threw

22 it on the ground. This was a police uniform from the police quarters,

23 where they slept.

24 Q. And he asked you to tell him who it belonged to; is that correct?

25 A. He didn't ask anything. He just threw it down onto the ground and

1 he said, "Look, here's an Ustasha nest."

2 Q. Whose uniform was that?

3 A. It belonged to a policeman. The policemen used to sleep in that

4 house, but they ran away when the attack started. We fled every which

5 way. Everybody fled as best they could.

6 Q. So where did these 50 soldiers flee and these policemen and the

7 citizens?

8 A. Oh, they ran every which way, towards Bosnia, towards Slunj,

9 whenever they could. Whoever could find a way out of that hell, fled.

10 Q. Very well. Tell me who of the soldiers that you knew - because

11 they'd spent a few months there - and the policemen, which of them were

12 killed?

13 A. Quite a few were killed; five or six.

14 Q. And the others fled?

15 A. Yes, they fled. Whoever managed to do so, to save his life, he

16 fled.

17 Q. Mrs. Bicanic, how many people were killed in Saborsko in all these

18 attacks?

19 A. Are you asking about civilians or altogether?

20 Q. How many people altogether?

21 A. 54 or more.

22 Q. And this is throughout these three months of bombardment and the

23 attack?

24 A. Yes, yes.

25 Q. Saborsko is on the main road?

1 A. What does that mean? That they were killed in their own houses.

2 Q. Yes, I understand. But how many soldiers and policemen were

3 killed?

4 A. Quite a few; about 10.

5 Q. Very well. You say that a uniform was found there. Did any of

6 your neighbours change into civilian clothes?

7 A. No. Why should they? What would they change into?

8 Q. You say that some 15 minutes later some men were taken behind the

9 house belonging to Ivan Bicanic. Is this correct?

10 A. Yes, my husband and seven men, and they were killed from a

11 machine-gun.

12 Q. Very well. You were on one side and they were taken behind the

13 house.

14 A. We were all together, and we were looking at them. There's a road

15 - it's like this room here - and the houses were on opposite sides. And

16 the distance was like from that wall to this one.

17 Q. On page 4, paragraph 2, you say that you saw those same two

18 soldiers whom you had seen before when you surrendered, that they shot and

19 killed all these men.

20 A. When we surrendered and left the house, they took those men, they

21 slapped them, they took whatever they had in their pockets, then they took

22 them some 10 metres away from us and fired bursts of machine-gun fire at

23 them.

24 Q. So these are the same two soldiers?

25 A. Yes, yes. They were the only ones whom I saw killing. I didn't

1 see others killing.

2 Q. Yes. So these two who robbed you, they were the ones who did

3 that?

4 A. How would I know what the others were doing all over the place?

5 Q. Very well. And after that, you went to a village -- or rather, a

6 Serbian hamlet called Solaja in Borik.

7 A. Yes, yes. We took refuge there. And Nina went off to Jesenica.

8 Q. Very well. And there you met other Serbs; is that correct?

9 A. No, no.

10 Q. And soldiers?

11 A. No, no.

12 Q. So you met no one?

13 A. No one.

14 Q. So there was no one in that Serbian village?

15 A. No. They were all out in the field, because we took paths through

16 the woods and we hid.

17 Q. Yes, but you wanted to go to Licka Jesenica.

18 A. Yes, because we were on good terms with them. We weren't

19 expecting anything bad. They were tradesmen. They were teachers.

20 Q. Well, the person who prevented you from going to Licka Jesenica,

21 he was a Serbian soldier?

22 A. No, he wasn't a soldier. He was a civilian and he was together

23 with them.

24 Q. Was he a Serb or a Croat?

25 A. He was a Serb. There was another man called Bogdan, but we didn't

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1 see him on that day but he walked around the village and he was hiding

2 together with us, and he showed us his booklet. He had a booklet which

3 said "SAO Krajina," as he said, and he was there with us.

4 Q. So the man who told you not to go to Jesenica, he said he didn't

5 want to have your lives on his conscience and that you should go and hide.

6 A. Yes. Yes. He was a man from Jesenica and he was a civilian. I

7 don't know what his name was.

8 Q. Very well. He was wearing civilian clothes.

9 When you speak of the soldiers who carried out this murder --

10 A. Yes.

11 Q. -- can you describe their uniforms? You said that they had dark

12 grey uniforms on; is that correct?

13 A. Camouflage uniforms and they had white patches, and others had

14 camouflage uniforms without those patches, but the two -- these two, they

15 had the JNA uniforms with the five-pointed star, the ones who committed

16 the murders.

17 Q. I understood you to say that they had dark grey, as you say,

18 Serbian uniforms.

19 A. No. They were kind of greyish, multicoloured.

20 Q. The two soldiers who committed this murder, in your opinion were

21 they members of the JNA or were they reservists or territorials?

22 A. How should I know what they were? But they had military uniforms

23 on. They had real military uniforms on.

24 Q. And you didn't know any of them?

25 A. No.

1 Q. Did any of the other people present on that occasion have any

2 knowledge about these men and who they were? Did anybody else know them?

3 A. No, no one knew them. No.

4 Q. Very well, Mrs. Bicanic. I have no further questions for you.

5 MR. TAPUSKOVIC: [Interpretation] Your Honour, I have no questions.

6 MS. BAUER: Your Honours, I have only two questions.

7 Re-examined by Ms. Bauer:

8 Q. Ms. Bicanic, at the time of the killing of your husband on that

9 day, when you were hiding in the basement, did your husband have any other

10 weapon at that time?

11 A. No, no weapon. These people didn't have any weapons at all at

12 that time, except that they stood guard. They had patrol duty. You know

13 what they did, including my husband? They would patrol at night, because

14 they were afraid. They were afraid that people would be slaughtered, so

15 they found cans --

16 Q. Mrs. Bicanic, let me interrupt you here one moment. I'm talking

17 on the day your husband was killed, did he have any weapon at that time,

18 when he was killed?

19 A. No. No, no. No, none of them had. Of those seven, none of them

20 had anything.

21 Q. Okay. Thank you, Mrs. Bicanic. That's all I wanted to ask you.

22 A. Thank you. Thank you.

23 JUDGE MAY: Mrs. Bicanic, thank you for coming to the

24 International Tribunal to give evidence. Your evidence is now over and

25 you're free to go.

1 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Thank you too. Thank you. Thank

2 you very much.

3 [The witness withdrew]

4 JUDGE MAY: Yes, Ms. Uertz-Retzlaff.

5 MS. UERTZ-RETZLAFF: Yes, Your Honour, I can explain the reasons

6 why we have actually not brought Mr. Josipovic today.

7 JUDGE MAY: Yes.

8 MS. UERTZ-RETZLAFF: But we actually can reinstall him, but I will

9 explain the situation first.

10 We have, as you all know, a priority list of witnesses given the

11 time constraints for the Prosecution to present the case. And we had for

12 the first week of -- after the summer break scheduled a huge number of

13 Croatian witnesses, which are of this priority group 1, the absolutely

14 necessary witnesses. Mr. Josipovic was not among them, because his

15 evidence is actually covered already by another witness. But it turned

16 out that several of the priority 1 witnesses, crime-base witnesses from

17 Croatia were not available, and that is why we scheduled Mr. Josipovic.

18 He was actually the only one available. And as he has some -- he has some

19 important evidence, we thought it's worth calling him.

20 Now, after the two trial days this week, we got the impression

21 that there is a delay and we would not get through all the witnesses that

22 we scheduled for this week. And just yesterday we decided to then

23 withdraw Mr. Josipovic from this week, because especially the next Bosnia

24 witness needs to be finished this week and be sent home.

25 But Mr. Josipovic is still here, and he -- the proofing will be

1 concluded this morning and we could call him. But if it is -- if it

2 occurs, he would need to be wrapped around the next Bosnia witness, who

3 actually needs to go back tomorrow, and that's why we actually decided to

4 withdraw him. There's nothing suspicious about it.

5 JUDGE MAY: So the position is this: That you haven't yet made a

6 final decision about this witness; is that right?

7 MS. UERTZ-RETZLAFF: We had made a decision yesterday, but we can

8 reinstall him. It's not a -- it's -- we could call him, but we actually

9 had decided rather not. But now it looks actually that we are much faster

10 than we expected it to be, so the time constraints that we saw for this

11 week seemed to disappear.

12 JUDGE MAY: But the position is that the next Bosnian witness, who

13 will be the witness after this; is this right?

14 MS. UERTZ-RETZLAFF: Yes.

15 JUDGE MAY: This is your last witness today, we understand.

16 MS. UERTZ-RETZLAFF: Mr. Sutalo is actually the next witness we

17 thought would testify today. The next witness could start, but it would

18 actually have to be Mr. Josipovic, because one of the Bosnian witnesses

19 has fallen sick. She is actually at the doctor's. And the other one is

20 only arriving this afternoon.

21 JUDGE MAY: All right. But did I understand you right? One of

22 the Bosnian witnesses has to finish this week?

23 MS. UERTZ-RETZLAFF: Yes. Yes, absolutely, the male one.

24 JUDGE MAY: Well, let us call this witness, and then we can

25 consider this.

1 MS. UERTZ-RETZLAFF: Yes. I mean, we can see how far we get with

2 the next witness. And then if there is enough time, to also have

3 Mr. Josipovic, we are -- we of course would do that, because he is here

4 and available.

5 JUDGE MAY: Very well. Yes.

6 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Mr. May.

7 JUDGE MAY: Yes.

8 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] I'm glad that the witness is here,

9 and he will be followed by B-1054, according to the list I have.

10 JUDGE MAY: Let us -- we'll consider that. We're going to

11 consider it when we've heard this witness, as to the form in which the

12 witnesses will be taken, the order.

13 [The witness entered court]

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

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

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

17 WITNESS: LUKA SUTALO

18 [Witness answered through interpreter]

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

20 Yes, Ms. Uertz-Retzlaff.

21 MS. UERTZ-RETZLAFF: Thank you, Your Honour.

22 Examined by Ms. Uertz-Retzlaff:

23 Q. Please state your name, sir.

24 A. Luka Sutalo.

25 Q. Mr. Sutalo, did you give a statement to an investigator of the

1 Office of the Prosecutor in 1999?

2 A. Yes, I did.

3 Q. In June of this year, did you review your statement in the

4 presence of an officer of the court and confirm its accuracy except for

5 one minor correction?

6 A. Yes.

7 MS. UERTZ-RETZLAFF: Your Honours, the Prosecution would like to

8 tender the Rule 92 bis package into evidence.

9 JUDGE MAY: Give it a generic number, please, the next Prosecution

10 exhibit number.

11 THE REGISTRAR: This will be Exhibit 520, Your Honour.

12 JUDGE MAY: Thank you.

13 MS. UERTZ-RETZLAFF: Your Honours, I will now read briefly the

14 summary of the evidence of this witness, including only a very few

15 questions for clarification.

16 Mr. Sutalo is a Croatian inhabitant of Erdut and was 65 years old

17 during the events. In May 1991, he saw that JNA tanks and mortars began

18 to mass on the other side of the Danube River. In July 1991, two weeks

19 before the main attack, the JNA started to fire from machine-guns across

20 the river during the night. A week before the 1st of August, 1991, the

21 JNA shelled the village with mortars.

22 On the 1st of August, 1991, the witness observed JNA tanks

23 entering Erdut. The tanks shelled Erdut as they drove past on their way

24 to Dalj, just south of Erdut. Hearing that many Croat people had been

25 killed in Dalj, the witness and his wife went to Serbia, on the other side

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1 of the Danube River. There he was arrested by the JNA military police,

2 interrogated, mistreated, and beaten, and he was partially held in a

3 factory building over three subsequent days.

4 Q. Mr. Sutalo, I have one question in relation to paragraph 11 of

5 your statement, where you mentioned that four or five other men were also

6 arrested at that time in Serbia and among them were Zvonko Tucak and a

7 certain Mata. And my question to you is: What ethnicity did these and

8 the other few men that were arrested together with you have?

9 A. They were Croats. Croats.

10 MS. UERTZ-RETZLAFF: I'll continue now with the summary.

11 On the 4th of August, 1991, the witness was allowed to return to

12 his house in Erdut but told to attend a meeting in Dvor during which a new

13 government was to be formed. During this meeting, a man who introduced

14 himself as Marko Loncarevic said that this was not Croatia any more, it

15 was now Serbia, and the Croat people could not rule any more and would no

16 longer be part of the government.

17 Q. Mr. Sutalo, in relation to this meeting in Dvor, you said -- it

18 says in paragraph 19 of your statement that a form of local government was

19 to be formed, including members of all three ethnic groups. And my

20 question to you is: What kind of a government was this and did Croatian

21 inhabitants actually participate in any governmental function?

22 A. That meeting was convened by Lieutenant Colonel Kosutic. It was

23 attended by Croats, Serbs, and Hungarians. At that meeting, a demand was

24 made by Lieutenant Colonel Kosutic to elect some sort of government that

25 would rule the village, and he admitted himself that it would not be a

1 democratic government but it had to govern democratically.

2 When the people were finally elected, there were Serbs, Croats,

3 and Hungarians; but in the future, Croats and Hungarians were never

4 invited. Only the Serbs were actually on that government.

5 MS. UERTZ-RETZLAFF: I'll continue now with the summary.

6 Over the next several weeks, the witness had to report to the

7 local police on a regular basis and was interrogated frequently.

8 Restrictions of movement were imposed on the witness and others. Houses

9 were searched and looted. On the 15th of August, 1991, the witness was

10 ordered to join a work crew consisting of Croats and Hungarians, repairing

11 the TO facility in Erdut, which was clearly being prepared for occupation.

12 Q. Mr. Sutalo, I have a question in relation to what you said about

13 the restrictions of movements. These restrictions of movements, did they

14 apply to the entire population, including Serbs?

15 A. No. The curfew at the beginning was set at 8.00 p.m. And after a

16 month or so, they extended it to 9.00 p.m. The only thing I want to point

17 out is that it only applied to Croats and Hungarians. It did not apply to

18 Serbs. They went wherever they wanted, and we were the only ones who were

19 not allowed to move out of our houses and yards.

20 Q. Were houses of Serb inhabitants searched or looted?

21 A. No. Only Croat property.

22 Q. Were Serbs ordered to work in a work group like you were working

23 in?

24 A. Not that I know of. They didn't work. Only Croats and Hungarians

25 worked, chopping wood, picking corn, cleaning stables.

1 MS. UERTZ-RETZLAFF: I'll continue with the summary.

2 On the 25th of August, 1991, the witness was arrested while

3 working in the orchard near his house, cutting grass. He was taken to the

4 police station in Dalj and detained in a small room for about a week with

5 seven or eight others. During the night, Mr. Sutalo was interrogated.

6 Although he himself was not beaten, his fellow detainees were beaten.

7 From Dalj, the witness was transferred to a large stable or

8 workshop in Borovo Selo and kept there for several days. When the witness

9 arrived, there were about 80 prisoners there. The detainees were beaten

10 severely on a regular basis and one detainee, a Croatian policeman from

11 Bilje had a "U" cut into his forehead with a knife.

12 The witness and some other detainees were then transferred to the

13 Borovo Selo police station for a few days, where they were kept in a room

14 in knee-deep water. Then they were returned to the previous cell in the

15 Dalj police station. There the mistreatment continued. Most of the

16 detainees were beaten every single night and during the daytime too.

17 Q. Mr. Sutalo, I have just one question: In relation to your fellow

18 detainees in Dalj and Borovo Selo, what ethnicity did these other

19 detainees have?

20 A. They were mostly Croats and Hungarians.

21 Q. You mentioned also a Haso Brajic in paragraph 44 of your

22 statement. What ethnicity did he have?

23 A. He was of Islamic faith, a Bosniak who lived in Croatia.

24 MS. UERTZ-RETZLAFF: I'll continue with the summary.

25 Two or three days after the witness was taken back to the Dalj

1 police station, Arkan came to the police station with several of his men.

2 He introduced himself and cursed the detainees with ethnic slurs. His men

3 beat the detainees while Arkan watched. During the beating, several of

4 the detainees were seriously injured.

5 Towards the end of September 1991, Haso Brajic was detained in --

6 was taken into the witness cell after he had been severely beaten in the

7 yard.

8 In the night of the 22nd of September, 1991, several men in

9 camouflage uniforms appeared in the cell. One of them asked for the

10 witness. The witness identified himself and the man said, "You are coming

11 with me. I'm taking you home." At that point, Slavko Palinkas, a fellow

12 detainee said, "Mr. President, take me as well." At the time, the witness

13 had no idea why Palinkas referred to the man as "Mr. President." The man

14 also secured Palinkas's release. The witness only subsequently learned

15 that the man was Goran Hadzic.

16 The witness was taken into the yard of the police station, where

17 he saw approximately 30 to 40 men he calls Chetniks, and among them was

18 Arkan. The witness was driven to Erdut. On the way to Erdut, Goran

19 Hadzic asked him if he had been beaten. The witness replied that he

20 personally wasn't but what was happening to the others was horrible

21 because they were beating innocent people. Goran Hadzic asked the witness

22 how he knew that they were innocent and the witness replied that they were

23 men captured in their gardens or fields, just working, and Goran Hadzic

24 said, "These days everyone is beating everyone else."

25 The witness never saw Haso Brajic or any of the other detainees

1 left behind when he was released.

2 After this event, people in the village began to disappear. On

3 Christmas Eve, a bomb was thrown into the witness's yard and caused damage

4 to his house. When the witness reported this event, a commission came to

5 investigate; however, when they found out that the witness was a Croat,

6 they said, "That explains it," and left it at that and nothing happened.

7 The witness applied for a permit to leave Erdut. Before the

8 permit was granted, the witness had to sign over his house and all of his

9 property to the village council.

10 Q. And in this -- in relation to this, Mr. Sutalo, I have just two

11 questions: Why did you leave Erdut?

12 A. Well, they had begun to mistreat me, to blackmail me, to threaten

13 me, and I realised I couldn't go on living there. I had to run. And even

14 before that some Croats had started to flee because they had been beaten

15 up, threatened, and mistreated, and it was not possible to live there

16 anywhere. You were not allowed to move around. You were not allowed to

17 visit anyone. The only way out was to run. Run where, I didn't know. I

18 was going into total uncertainty.

19 Q. And so why did you sign over your property?

20 A. Well, in order to the stay alive, because I had to run away.

21 People had started to go missing, to be beaten, to be detained.

22 Q. Sir, was it required to be allowed to leave?

23 A. Well, that was the only way out if you wanted to save your neck.

24 I had to run away.

25 Q. Sir, my question actually was related to the signing over of the

1 property. Did you have to do that to be allowed to leave or not?

2 A. Well, otherwise I couldn't get the document allowing me to leave,

3 to go across the bridge to Serbia. It was a condition, a precondition for

4 obtaining this permit to leave.

5 MS. UERTZ-RETZLAFF: Your Honour, these are the questions of the

6 Prosecution.

7 JUDGE KWON: Ms. Uertz-Retzlaff, I would like you to clarify in

8 what context the photo of the accused is included in this packet.

9 MS. UERTZ-RETZLAFF: Your Honour, these were just the attachments

10 -- attachments to his -- his statement, and it's actually showing

11 basically photos of Arkan. He was shown -- the investigator showed photos

12 to the witness from which he actually had to say whether he recognised any

13 person, and he did recognise Arkan.

14 JUDGE KWON: It was just the recognition.

15 MS. UERTZ-RETZLAFF: Yes, just the recognition of the person who

16 he met, as being Arkan.

17 JUDGE KWON: Thank you.

18 JUDGE MAY: Yes, Mr. Milosevic.

19 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Just before I start, let us clarify

20 one thing. I apologise to Mr. Kwon, because I haven't quite understood

21 his question. I don't have a photograph in my package. Is Mr. Kwon

22 asking what photograph of mine is included?

23 JUDGE MAY: No. Look at the -- the package you should have been

24 given today. You should have just been handed one. Ask you'll see some

25 photographs.

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1 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Yes. Yes, I've only just received

2 this before the examination of Mr. Sutalo. I received a package. Yes, at

3 the end there are some photographs. I just can't understand -- oh, I see.

4 This is my photograph. This is a photo montage. It is shot at a funeral.

5 Here in front is my daughter. Right there is a general. This is a

6 photograph from a funeral ceremony at the new cemetery, and I believe it

7 was the funeral of Radovan Stojicic.

8 JUDGE MAY: Yes.

9 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] What has it got to do with this?

10 JUDGE MAY: Well, you heard the evidence. It was shown -- or some

11 photographs were shown to the witness from the point of view of

12 recognition. It was in particular in relation to Arkan.

13 Ms. Uertz-Retzlaff, is it right that the only photograph of

14 significance is the Arkan photograph?

15 MS. UERTZ-RETZLAFF: Yes, Your Honour.

16 JUDGE MAY: Yes. The others we can dispense with?

17 MS. UERTZ-RETZLAFF: Yes, yes.

18 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Very well. I don't understand at

19 all how come that I receive such packages just before the witness comes

20 in. I really have no time to review the documents. I can't see the point

21 of this practice. But let us not waste any more time.

22 JUDGE MAY: I imagine the documents were probably disclosed to you

23 a very long time ago and also at the time in which the application was

24 made for the 92 bis statement to be admitted. But in this case, there's

25 absolutely no prejudice at all.

1 Yes, let's start.

2 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Well, in view of this remark, I only

3 wish to tell you, Mr. May, that, for instance, for the witness following

4 Josipovic, which is 1054, I haven't got the statement yet. I have checked

5 through my associates; all we received is the transcript. I haven't got

6 even a statement for that witness.

7 JUDGE MAY: We'll deal with that in due course, when we get to

8 that witness. But let's start the cross-examination of this witness.

9 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Certainly.

10 Cross-examined by Mr. Milosevic:

11 Q. [Interpretation] Mr. Sutalo, is it true that before the elections

12 in 1990, the relations among residents of Erdut belonging to various

13 ethnicities were, as you described them in your statement, "perfect"?

14 A. Mr. Milosevic, until the arrival of the Jugo army on the 1st of

15 August, 1991, we lived as one family. In Erdut, there were mixed

16 marriages between Croats and Serbs. We attended each other's funerals,

17 celebrations of saint's day, Christmas Eve, and we lived as one family

18 indeed. When the Jugo army arrived to our village, it was like all the

19 devils had come upon us. They stopped talking to us, they stopped

20 acknowledging us, they stopped all contact with us. Looting began,

21 threats, and all sorts of evil. Even when I was detained by Mr. Kosutic,

22 some colonel - I don't know any more who it was, Milo Savljevic or Rade

23 Savljevic - came to ask me what kind of relations we had between us. And

24 I answered, "Please don't do anything to ruin this. Just let your men

25 stay where they are and everything will be all right." But nobody

1 listened to me. They acted according to the principle "divide and rule."

2 Q. Mr. Kosutic, you said, "Since the Jugo army came." I asked you

3 about this because I read your statement, and your statement is your

4 testimony. It's one and the same thing because your viva voce testimony

5 is very little. I'll read out to you what you wrote. You didn't write

6 about the arrival of the Yugoslav army that ruined your interpersonal

7 relations. You wrote the following: "Prior to the elections in 1990" --

8 I'm reading from your statement. "Prior to the elections in 1990,

9 relations between the different ethnic groups in Erdut were almost

10 perfect. We got along well. We attended each other's weddings, funerals,

11 and feasts. This was due in part to the multitude of mixed marriages we

12 had."

13 And then - I'm not skipping anything - you go on to say: "When

14 the HDZ party was formed, I became its member. Meetings were held in

15 Stjepan Lucan's house in Orasje on the outskirts of Erdut.." And then you

16 mentioned who the president was, and then the next paragraph goes:

17 "After the elections in 1990 --" and I repeat, after at the elections, not

18 after the arrival of any army. You say, "-- the local Serbs stopped

19 talking to us Croats and avoided us. There was no explanation or reason

20 given for this behaviour, but it was obvious that they wanted to cause a

21 rift between us. Although Serbs accounted for only 26 per cent of our

22 population in Erdut, they had the best jobs."

23 So why is it that after the elections -- in fact, first after the

24 establishment of the HDZ party and then all the time you're talking about

25 1990, why did a rift follow? Why did the relations deteriorate?

1 A. Because when this man of yours, Raskovic, came and held that

2 speech about the Serbs -- or to the Serbs in Dalj - it was a pre-election

3 meeting - he issued -- he distributed those documents to Serbs on how they

4 should act.

5 Q. Mr. Sutalo, as far as I know, Professor Raskovic was the president

6 of the Serbian Democratic Party, which also existed in Croatia in 1990 and

7 ran in the elections.

8 A. Yes. But he carried that fuse throughout Croatia.

9 Q. What he carried, I don't know, but he was a Serb from Krajina. He

10 was a renowned psychiatrist or a neurological psychiatrist, I don't know

11 any more. He was the founder of the Serbian Democratic Party in Croatia.

12 And as you well know, we didn't even know him, we in Serbia at that time.

13 And you also know that in your parts, in Eastern Slavonia, most Serbs

14 voted for the League of Communists of Croatia, SHSDP.

15 A. I don't know who they voted for. I know how they acted later.

16 Q. You know how many deputies they had in the Croatian Assembly

17 precisely from your area, from your list.

18 A. I don't know about that.

19 Q. Well, you could have read about it in the newspapers. There was a

20 list of assemblymen. So when was it that relations deteriorated? When

21 the HDZ came into power or a little before that?

22 A. No, no. After that rally held by Raskovic, it's then that they

23 received instructions on how to act. Because I had a lady neighbour who

24 said, "We are not allowed to talk to you Croats." I asked, "Why?" And

25 she said, "Because we got orders not to talk to you," and that's it. And

1 some Serbs just said in passing, "You Croats are going to come to a bad

2 end, something bad is in the offing for you."

3 Q. Well, didn't you have enough proof that Serbs were not in favour

4 of Raskovic because they didn't vote for his party?

5 A. Mr. Milosevic, I don't know who voted for whom.

6 Q. Well, you can know that, because his deputies were -- his MPs were

7 not elected there. Let's not waste any more time on this. Let's go on.

8 Do you know anything about what happened from then onwards, from

9 1990, and how the status of the Serbs changed or how they were treated by

10 official authorities? Let me not specify. Do you know anything at all?

11 A. I do. I know that not a single Serb in Erdut was struck, robbed,

12 or threatened before the army arrived.

13 Q. Mr. Sutalo, you say that until the army came. When did the army

14 come?

15 A. When they, Croatian policemen in Borovo, were killed. Then

16 immediately after that, the Jugo army brought its tanks along the road,

17 along the bank of Danube towards Croatia, and they came up to the bridge.

18 And these three tanks stood on the Erdut bridge all the way up to the 1st

19 of August. Around the 10th of July, Jugo army shelled us from Bogojevo

20 and it was our good fortune that nobody was killed. The second shelling

21 was around the 12th of July, and on that occasion seven policemen were

22 killed.

23 On the 1st of August, they moved to invade Croatia. As soon as

24 they arrived, as soon as they crossed the bridge and reached the first

25 populated area in Erdut, they immediately started firing artillery shells.

1 One of them fell into a pigsty of Mate Vukovic and killed a pig. Another

2 one fell into a house, and another one into a neighbour's yard.

3 Q. Was there -- were there any casualties from this artillery fire

4 except that sow?

5 A. There were no casualties. On the first day, they destroyed Nikola

6 Erduat's [phoen] house and another house. I don't know why, because they

7 were offered no resistance. There was no resistance at all. And why were

8 they shooting? They must have wanted to show clearly their intentions to

9 the Croatian people.

10 Q. Let us not speculate about their intentions now. You said they

11 were responding to the events in Borovo Selo. Do you know that it was

12 precisely the JNA, which you refer to as Jugo army, saved Croatian

13 policemen in Borovo Selo, without firing a single round? Instead, it

14 intervened, diffused the clash, and enabled the Croatian people, who had

15 gone there and opened fire at people, to be pulled out and save their

16 lives. Do you know that, Mr. Sutalo?

17 A. I don't know what exactly happened. All I know is that 12

18 Croatian policemen were killed. Why were they killed if there was no

19 resistance?

20 Q. I don't think you are giving evidence here about Borovo Selo. I

21 was just asking you this question because you mentioned the Jugo army and

22 Borovo Selo. It was precisely in the case of Borovo Selo that this army

23 separated the two conflicting parties and saved --

24 JUDGE MAY: Now, this is argument which you run with all the

25 witnesses. You see, you complain that he's giving evidence about Borovo

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1 Selo, but you ask it. But in any event, this witness wasn't in Borovo

2 Selo at the time and can give no direct evidence, so there seems little

3 point asking this witness -- or putting to this witness what you say

4 happened or what the role of the JNA was. Now, there may be witnesses who

5 can deal with this more directly, and we'll hear from them. But there's

6 little point putting it to a witness who wasn't there.

7 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] I did not want to raise this. The

8 witness himself mentioned the intervention of the Jugo army in Borovo Selo

9 and this intervention is very well known. It was very positive and

10 constructive, because they had stopped the conflict without firing a

11 single round.

12 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Mr. Milosevic, you can say what you

13 please, but the Jugo army is to blame for everything, headed by you.

14 Because if you had said a single word, if you had said "Enough" --

15 JUDGE MAY: Mr. Sutalo, let us confirm the evidence, if we can,

16 and we'll confine the questioning to the matters that you can deal with

17 directly, your own experiences in Dalj and also in Borovo Selo police

18 station.

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