1 Friday, 30 September 2005

2 [Open session]

3 [The accused entered court]

4 [The witness entered court]

5 --- Upon commencing at 9:03 a.m.

6 JUDGE ROBINSON: Mr. Milosevic, you are to continue with your

7 examination-in-chief.

8 WITNESS: BOGOLJUB JANICEVIC [Resumed]

9 [Witness answered through interpreter]

10 Examined by Mr. Milosevic: [Continued]

11 Q. [Interpretation] Good morning.

12 A. Good morning, Mr. President.

13 Q. Yesterday, we went through documents from which one can see how

14 many people were killed and abducted; citizens, soldiers, policemen,

15 Albanians, Serbs, Montenegrins, and other ethnicities. Could you tell us

16 briefly, as we reached tab 60, having finished with 59, what is under tabs

17 60, 61, very briefly, please.

18 A. In tab 60 we have the photo documentation of the criminal act of

19 terrorism against a certain Dobrosav --

20 THE INTERPRETER: The interpreter didn't hear the last name.

21 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] -- who was found in June 1999 with

22 his throat slit and decapitated. He was a shepherd, taking care of his

23 herd, and the cattle were stolen by the terrorists.

24 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]

25 Q. What about 61?

1 A. It is also a photographic documentation of the terrorist act

2 committed in the area of Kacanik. Right outside Kacanik, if you go from

3 Skopje, Georgi Stefanov and Stojmen Dimitrijevski were killed in the most

4 monstrous way while travelling in a vehicle with Skopje licence plates.

5 Q. You said Skopje.

6 A. Right. It happened on the 10th of June, 1999.

7 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Mr. Robinson, I would like these two

8 tabs exhibited as well.

9 JUDGE ROBINSON: Yes.

10 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]

11 Q. Yesterday, in tabs 52 and 53, to which we will not return, we

12 could see how many attacks there were on the police and the army and how

13 many people were killed in those attacks. I am now asking you, were any

14 of these attacks provoked in any way by the army or the police?

15 A. No terrorist attack or provocation was ever provoked by the army

16 or the police.

17 Q. Tell me about this dispatch signed by you in tab 62.

18 A. It's dated 14 March 1999. It contains information about a

19 terrorist attack on an army vehicle on the road Suva Reka-Stimlje in the

20 area of the Crnoljevo gorge. A soldier was injured in the attack and was

21 transported by the traffic police to a hospital in Pristina.

22 Q. That is just one example of such attacks. Similar attacks are to

23 be found in tabs 20 to 26. We will not go back to them. This is an

24 example of the documentation compiled in such attacks.

25 A. When we have an armed provocation against members of the police or

1 the army or the citizens, a dispatch was sent to all superior authorities,

2 in this case, the Staff and the competent administrations of the ministry.

3 JUDGE ROBINSON: Mr. Milosevic, do any of these attacks relate to

4 allegations in the indictment?

5 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] These are attacks on the army and

6 the police in that region that were reported by Colonel Janicevic to his

7 superior authorities, and they pre-date the charges in the indictment, the

8 events charged in the indictment.

9 JUDGE ROBINSON: What is their significance for your case?

10 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] The significance lies in the fact

11 that in a couple of minutes we are going to come to Racak, which is one of

12 the main points in what Mr. Nice calls the indictment, and these are the

13 circumstances under which this terrorist organisation came into existence.

14 All these circumstances point to an extremely intensive terrorist

15 activity. You see the large number of soldiers, policemen, and civilians

16 killed and the high degree of terror in this very small region.

17 I don't know if you need to see the map again. We have seen it

18 hundreds of times already.

19 JUDGE ROBINSON: Mr. Milosevic, well, we'll wait to see their

20 significance in relation to Racak.

21 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] You were also able to see other

22 types of activities when we were looking at events involving loss of life,

23 what happened with terrorists and victims in various incidents. We took

24 the example of Kacanik and other places that are also mentioned in the

25 indictment.

1 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]

2 Q. Could you tell me about these terrorist attacks. You said they

3 were reported to all the competent authorities. Was the OSCE Verification

4 Mission also notified?

5 A. Every attack, every provocation, every incident was reported to

6 the Verification Mission, both the people -- or, rather, both the

7 incidents that happened while they were there and the incidents that

8 happened a couple of months before they arrived.

9 JUDGE ROBINSON: Mr. Milosevic, I must let you know that the

10 Chamber is concerned about the use that you're making of the time

11 allocated to you. Some of these matters we have been over. For example,

12 Racak, which you say you are coming to, we have been over that. You have

13 utilised most of the time allocated to you and you are still on Kosovo.

14 You still have witnesses to call on Kosovo. We have Bosnia and Croatia to

15 deal with. And please don't give me the standard answer that this merely

16 illustrates the inadequacy of the time allocated to you by the Trial

17 Chamber.

18 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] I will try to hurry up and use my

19 time as rationally as possible, Mr. Robinson. And as for Racak, you say

20 we have reviewed, Mr. Janicevic was in charge of precisely that area.

21 That is, in the strictest sense of the word, his competency.

22 JUDGE ROBINSON: Very well.

23 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]

24 Q. I asked you whether OSCE Verification Mission members were also

25 notified of all the incidents. I'm now asking you about the documents we

1 have under tab 64 with all its subtabs from 1 to 28. I wanted us to go

2 through them as efficiently as possible.

3 Do we see reports, Official Notes, and notifications sent to the

4 OSCE Verification Mission concerning terrorist attacks and anti-terrorist

5 operations as well as other security related events?

6 A. Yes. We see reports of the Ministry of the Interior,

7 notifications of the Ministry of the Interior to SC KVM, and all security

8 related events of particular interest that happened in the area of our

9 secretariat.

10 Q. Starting with 64.1 until 64.28, we have 28 reports drafted in the

11 usual prescribed form. We see the first one. It says, "Contact with,"

12 and then members of the OSCE mission are indicated. The contact itself is

13 described, and then --

14 A. The particular members of the mission, the topics of the exchange,

15 and the answers they were given to their questions.

16 Q. In 64.2, .3, until .28, we see only that kind of reports

17 concerning contacts with the OSCE-KVM. Is that the contents of tab 64

18 containing 28 such reports?

19 A. Correct. Precisely.

20 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Mr. Robinson, do you wish me to go

21 through each one of these or can tab 64, from 1 to 28, be treated as one

22 exhibit?

23 JUDGE ROBINSON: Mr. Milosevic, perhaps it would be helpful if you

24 just went through one, perhaps not in as summary a manner as you have

25 done, so that we could then get a flavour of what these documents contain.

1 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Very well.

2 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]

3 Q. Let us look at 64.2. What does this Official Note dated December

4 1998 contain? Could you explain briefly.

5 JUDGE ROBINSON: I don't want you to read it. Since you're

6 familiar with it, then you can just give us the gist of it, Mr. Janicevic.

7 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] The gist of this document is that a

8 team from the OSCE mission, including representatives from France,

9 Germany, and some other country, I can't see which here, visited the

10 police station in Nerodimlje, which is part of the Urosevac police

11 station, to make inquiries, general inquiries about various incidents and

12 events. They were given a report on what was going on in that area and

13 what was going on that the Serbs were upset over the kidnapping, the

14 recent kidnapping of two persons. There were no clues, but the Serbs knew

15 that the kidnappings were done by terrorists based near Jezerce. That is

16 the gist of it.

17 They asked verifiers to extend their assistance in resolving this

18 problem.

19 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]

20 Q. Which the verifiers were unable to do, as far as I can see.

21 A. Yes. They came later, and they said they could not do anything.

22 In fact, for the entire duration of the mission, they could not do

23 anything about it in the whole area.

24 Q. Tab 64.3 we see a report from the police station in Stimlje

25 concerning their contact with the OSCE Verification Mission.

1 A. Commander of this police station, Branko Mladenovic, did have a

2 meeting with OSCE verifiers who happened to visit just as a citizen was

3 reporting his own kidnapping and the fact that he had been kept for ten

4 days in some basement.

5 Q. An Albanian or a Serb?

6 A. It was an Albanian. He gave his account in the presence of OSCE

7 verifiers. He described the whole event, for how many days he had been

8 detained, what he had been given to eat, and how he had been treated.

9 Q. Look at the next page, because it has to do with Racak. It is on

10 the fifth line, and he says, "I confirm the fact that in the same way a

11 number of persons were kidnapped by Siptar terrorists who were located in

12 the village of Petrovo, Racak, Malopoljce and Rance."

13 A. Yes.

14 Q. Is that what it says there?

15 A. Yes, that's exactly what it says there.

16 Q. And then a few lines further down, it says that there was a

17 terrorist band in the village of Racak, Petrovo, Malopoljce and Rance.

18 Can you tell us, Racak, Petrovo, Malopoljce and Rance, are they all

19 neighbouring villages? And you've explained to us the actions of the

20 161st Brigade there; is that right?

21 A. Yes. Racak is about two and a half kilometres away from the

22 centre of Stimlje but actually their suburbs follow on from one other and

23 it looks like one settlement. Petrovo is about two kilometres away from

24 Racak, and so is Malopoljce, two and a half kilometres. Rance is about

25 three kilometres away. So all of the villages are in one area and follow

1 on one from another. They're next door to each other.

2 Q. This report on the talk with the Verification Mission -- or,

3 rather, when was that meeting held? What does it say in the upper

4 left-hand corner? What's the date there?

5 A. It was conducted on the 4th of January, 1999.

6 Q. So that's January 1999, you say.

7 A. Yes, that's right.

8 Q. In the police station of Stimlje; right?

9 A. Yes.

10 Q. And that police station covers the area of Racak, does it not?

11 A. Yes, it does cover Racak and the other villages mentioned.

12 Q. How far is Stimlje away from Racak? You said from the centre to

13 Racak is two and a half kilometres.

14 A. Two kilometres.

15 Q. Right, two kilometres. But their suburbs are joined. They follow

16 on from one another.

17 A. Yes.

18 JUDGE ROBINSON: Mr. Janicevic, why were these meetings with the

19 OSCE mission held?

20 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Pursuant to an agreement reached

21 which provided for the fact that meetings be held at least once a week

22 with the representatives of OSCE to exchange information which were of a

23 security nature. However, although it was envisaged that those talks be

24 held once a week, we were in contact with representatives of the

25 Verification Mission on a daily basis. We informed them every day about

1 the events that had taken place, security related, which were of interest

2 and which took place on the area covered by the secretariat from the --

3 from day-to-day, on a 24-hour basis, and sometimes even more frequently.

4 And those contacts were sometimes even held several times in a single day

5 with the same group of verifiers.

6 For example, if I can quote you one --

7 JUDGE ROBINSON: No. Thank you. You have explained.

8 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]

9 Q. Not to go through all of these documents, look at 64.5. It refers

10 to the police station of Stimlje once again, and the date is the 9th. No

11 it's not. The number is 9. I made a mistake. I read the wrong line.

12 The date is the 11th of January.

13 JUDGE ROBINSON: Mr. Milosevic, the Chamber will allow you to

14 tender these collectively.

15 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Thank you, Mr. Robinson.

16 JUDGE ROBINSON: Just let us have the numbers. It's 64, tab 64.

17 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Yes, from 64.1 to 64.28 inclusive.

18 JUDGE KWON: Just to let you know, you skipped tab 63. I take it

19 it's intentional.

20 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] I skipped 63, tab 63, inadvertently.

21 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]

22 Q. Mr. Janicevic, just tell us what is in tab 63. It's a statement.

23 Is it an official document of your secretariat of the interior?

24 A. Yes, it is an official document of the SUP of Urosevac. The

25 statement was taken by Sparavalo from this individual who indicated that

1 certain persons were located in the leadership of the Staff of the 161st

2 Brigade in Kacanik.

3 Q. Thank you.

4 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] May this tab be exhibited, too,

5 Mr. Robinson, please, tab 63, 64.

6 JUDGE ROBINSON: Yes.

7 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]

8 Q. You were saying that you informed the verifiers on a regular basis

9 about all the events that took part. Now, what did the verifiers do?

10 What steps did they take?

11 A. According to what I know and to the best of my knowledge, as far

12 as I was informed, they never -- we never had feedback. They never

13 informed us what steps they had taken except in one case when they went to

14 Gornje Nerodimlje police station and conveyed to the commander there that

15 they were not able to find the person responsible for the area, the person

16 in charge of the area, to discuss the question of the abducted Serbs from

17 Nerodimlje. Otherwise, later on, they would only take note of the

18 information conveyed to them from us and the security related incidents

19 would be noted, but what they actually undertook I really don't know.

20 Q. Tell us just briefly --

21 JUDGE ROBINSON: What were they supposed to do? According to

22 the --

23 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Well, they were supposed to --

24 according to the agreement, they were supposed to extend assistance to the

25 police and to the army and members of terrorist organisations or, rather,

1 Albanian citizens who were jeopardised, who were under jeopardy, who were

2 considered to be under jeopardy by the police; and as far as I know, there

3 were no such persons. 90 per cent of the verifiers asked to be involved

4 in the problems themselves. They sought information about kidnapped

5 persons, and they received those facts and figures, but we never received

6 any feedback information from them except in that one case as to what they

7 had actually undertaken.

8 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]

9 Q. After the arrival of the Verification Mission, did the terrorist

10 -- number of terrorist attacks decline? Were there fewer?

11 A. Quite the contrary. There was an increase of terrorist attacks

12 after the arrival of the Verification Mission. Pursuant to the agreement,

13 the army withdrew from all the positions which it had held up until the

14 arrival of the verifiers, and of course the police did, too. They

15 withdrew from the checkpoints that they had held. And in a gorge at

16 Crnoljevska gorge, pursuant to the agreement, there was a post still held

17 by the police and the army had stationed a combat group close by at

18 Canovica Brdo. That was pursuant to the agreement, but there were

19 provocations every day both in the presence of the verifiers and when they

20 were not there. Every day, provocations and attacks and kidnappings, and

21 this resulted very often in the death of innocent citizens.

22 Probably the verifiers couldn't wield too much influence on the

23 terrorists who engaged in actions like that.

24 Q. Do you have any knowledge about any attacks on members of the

25 verifiers themselves by the terrorists?

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1 A. There was one case which was not reported, but the police

2 observation post, which was along the riverbanks towards Jezerce, some two

3 and a half kilometres from Nerodimlje in the direction of Jezerce, they

4 heard and saw a burst of gunfire on two -- two vehicles, and as far as I

5 remember, there was one vehicle belonging to the OSCE and the other to

6 KDOM. And the vehicles turned round and went back in the direction of

7 Nerodimlje when this shooting took place. This incident was reported, and

8 the policeman who was on duty in the station went out to ask the verifiers

9 whether they needed any aid and assistance, but they didn't stop when the

10 stop sign was shown them. They just carried on. And later on, when we

11 tried to learn what had actually happened by talking to the verifiers, we

12 didn't actually manage to get any information.

13 Q. Was an Official Note written about the incident, and it was 64.10;

14 is that right?

15 A. Yes.

16 Q. All right. Fine.

17 JUDGE ROBINSON: Mr. Janicevic, are you saying that the attacks

18 increased after the verifiers came because, pursuant to the agreement, the

19 army and the police left the areas that they had secured?

20 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] According to the agreement, the army

21 and police left the territory or, rather, the positions that they had held

22 previously in order to secure the settlements in the area and the

23 population there. Once the army had withdrawn, the terrorists took over

24 those positions.

25 For example, Jezerce is a village which is in the area of the SUP

1 Urosevac territory, towards Suva Reka and Budakovo, along that axis. In

2 Jezerce, we would have patrols up until the 10th of October, 1999,

3 patrolling the area. After that, the patrols were restrictive. Once the

4 verifiers arrived -- however, once the verifiers arrived, we never were

5 able to go there again. And the same thing happened with the village of

6 Racak, Petrovo, and Malopoljce.

7 After the second half of October, we were not able to enter those

8 villages or areas. Whenever a police patrol would turn up at the access

9 to the village, they would shoot at us. In the Crnoljevska gorge we had

10 eight observer posts and they were reduced to six.

11 JUDGE ROBINSON: Thank you, Mr. Janicevic.

12 Mr. Milosevic.

13 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]

14 Q. Mr. Janicevic, we're now going to move on to Racak. You explained

15 the position of Racak to us, and you have a map in front of you, I

16 believe.

17 A. Yes.

18 Q. May the map be shown on the ELMO.

19 Can you indicate the position of Racak on the map in relation to

20 Stimlje and Urosevac, that is to say the area you were in charge of.

21 THE INTERPRETER: Microphone for the witness, please.

22 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] The scale is 1:50.000, and Stimlje

23 is somewhere here. I don't know if you can see this. The scale is

24 1:50.000. That is Stimlje. Racak is two and a half kilometres away,

25 right where I'm pointing now. That's Racak. Petrovo is to the south-east

1 of Racak, here, a few kilometres away. And Malopoljce, about two and a

2 half to three kilometres. A maximum of three kilometres away. Rance is

3 situated in this sector here, at about four kilometres distance away from

4 the Racak. Belince is to the north of Racak and is about one to one and a

5 half kilometres away.

6 This is the regional road running from Prizren to Suva Reka,

7 Prizren -- and Prizren [as interpreted], and the regional road linking

8 Stimlje to Urosevac. This is another road to Lipjan and Pristina.

9 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]

10 Q. Mr. Janicevic, I assume that your excellent knowledge of geography

11 on a microlevel is not only the result of your being able to map read but

12 also through the fact that you were in the area. You knew the area. Is

13 that right? Would that be the correct assumption?

14 A. Yes, that is right. As an operative -- as a policeman and later

15 on as an operative working on crime suspension and crime -- I worked in

16 the Stimlje area and covered that sector, and I was always on the road to

17 Racak, Petrovo, Malopoljce, and touring the other villages in the region,

18 Topila, Canovica, and so on, along the mountain range here.

19 Q. All right. Now, tell me, what knowledge did the SUP of Urosevac

20 have, headed by you, about the presence and activity of KLA terrorists in

21 Racak?

22 A. The SUP of Urosevac, as can be seen from the Official Notes and

23 reports and information received, knew that in the Racak area there were

24 members of the 161st Terrorist Brigade, which had established a substaff

25 in Racak, headed by Afet Bilalli, nicknamed Qopa, who was the commander of

1 that so-called substaff, and the numerical strength of the group was about

2 80. There were about 80 members.

3 Furthermore, our knowledge indicated that that terrorist group, on

4 a daily basis, moved around the area, cruised the area and attacked.

5 Police patrols, military patrols, civilians, regardless of their

6 ethnicity, they stopped traffic along the road, kidnapping people on

7 buses, for example. That happened several times, and also kidnapped

8 people in passenger vehicles. People would disappear, no trace of them.

9 Q. All right. Fine. You've just told us what the targets of the

10 attack were, that is, the group working in Racak, what they did and whom

11 they attacked. We now have, in tab 65 -- if you can turn to tab 65. From

12 65.1 to 65.28, and then in tab 66, from 66.1 to 66.44. So this is a large

13 number of documents that we will have to go through selectively, I hope,

14 if Mr. Robinson allows us to deal with it that way, as a set of documents.

15 Now, in order for you to be able to follow --

16 JUDGE BONOMY: It appears that the ones which are translated all

17 have the name Jasovic and Sparavalo on them; is that correct?

18 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] I'm going to tell you which tabs.

19 JUDGE BONOMY: No, is that correct? All the ones that are

20 translated are documents compiled by Jasovic and Sparavalo?

21 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] That's not the way I looked at them,

22 who compiled them, because all of them are official documents of the

23 Urosevac SUP. What I wish to say to you is that in tab 65, 65.2, that is

24 Exhibit 295, tab 1.

25 JUDGE BONOMY: Can I take it that all the ones with Jasovic and

1 Sparavalo's names on them have already been exhibited?

2 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] I'm not sure. I have the exact ones

3 that were admitted.

4 JUDGE BONOMY: Well, how many of them were admitted already?

5 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Well, I'll tell you. Out of these

6 in tab 65, 17 was admitted. Just a minute.

7 MR. NICE: My machine doesn't work, so I can't --

8 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Nineteen. Nineteen were admitted,

9 and I will give you the exact number of each and every one that was

10 admitted, the number under which it had been admitted, that is.

11 JUDGE BONOMY: What's the point of going over documents we've been

12 over already with the person who actually compiled them? Why do it again?

13 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Because this is a set of documents

14 that Mr. Janicevic had at his disposal as chief of the Secretariat of the

15 Interior of Urosevac. He is speaking about all this information that has

16 to do with Racak.

17 [Trial Chamber confers]

18 JUDGE ROBINSON: Yes, Ms. Higgins.

19 MS. HIGGINS: Your Honour, can I just attempt to clarify a certain

20 matter? We have tried to undertake and have undertaken a review of the

21 Jasovic files and the Stevanovic files to try and attempt to see which of

22 the tabs have been previously admitted where they refer to Jasovic and

23 Sparavalo. Those comments are listed on the index. And as far as our

24 review is concerned, some of those documents which contain the name

25 Jasovic have not been exhibited before. That is to the extent of the

1 review that we've been able to undertake, and it appears that they are new

2 documents.

3 If I can just summarise what it appears to be. Tab 65, for

4 example, relates to KLA activity in 1998, and more precisely, the presence

5 and activity of Racak, the KLA in Racak, for example, tabs 65.9, 65.10,

6 65.12. Tab 64, again activities of the KLA in 1998 and, I think, some

7 1999. But to assist Your Honours, the review has been undertaken, and

8 we've tried to locate as many of them as we can, and it seems that many of

9 these have not been previously exhibited.

10 MR. NICE: Your Honour, it appears that everybody is doing the

11 work that ought to have been done by the accused. We certainly embarked

12 upon an exercise that will be reduced to a schedule form for you that

13 should identify in due course what material is new and potentially

14 significant. It's not yet ready. It's quite labour intensive. It may be

15 ready, I'm not sure, but it will be ready in due course; if not today, on

16 Monday.

17 [Trial Chamber confers]

18 JUDGE ROBINSON: Mr. Janicevic, you were the chief of the Urosevac

19 SUP.

20 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Yes.

21 JUDGE ROBINSON: And were you -- where were you on the day of the

22 Racak incident on the 15th of January?

23 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] On the 15th of January, when the

24 anti-terrorist action in Racak was carried out, I was at the police

25 station in Stimlje from 7.00 a.m.

1 THE INTERPRETER: Interpreter's note: Could the witness please be

2 asked to speak up.

3 JUDGE ROBINSON: Did you hear that? The interpreters are asking

4 you to speak up, speak more loudly.

5 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] The 15th of January, when the

6 anti-terrorist action in Racak was carried out, from 7.00 a.m. I was at

7 the police station in Stimlje.

8 JUDGE ROBINSON: And when did you first learn of what happened?

9 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] What do you mean "what happened"?

10 JUDGE ROBINSON: Of the Racak incident on the 15th.

11 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] An anti-terrorist action was carried

12 out on the 15th of January and I was following via radio everything that

13 was going on in Racak. I was following it through the radio

14 communications that we had with the people who were directly engaged in

15 this on the ground.

16 JUDGE BONOMY: So you're another witness who wasn't actually

17 involved in what took place, didn't actually kill anybody, but we're going

18 to hear what you heard about the incident. Is that how you're going to

19 present the evidence?

20 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] I didn't kill anyone, but I followed

21 everything, and I worked out the plan for carrying out the anti-terrorist

22 action in Racak.

23 [Trial Chamber confers]

24 JUDGE ROBINSON: Mr. Milosevic, in respect of this evidence, you

25 can, of course, lead the witness as to the information that he received by

1 radio of what took place in Racak, and we'll hear that. As for the tabs,

2 those that are new would obviously be very useful, but we are not able to

3 identify with any certainty those that are new.

4 Those that are old, if he has fresh information to give about

5 them, anything new, then I mean to that extent we would hear it.

6 THE INTERPRETER: Microphone, please.

7 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] My microphone was off.

8 Mr. Robinson, let us just deal with some confusion that's

9 happened. Colonel Janicevic was not an observer of the action in Racak

10 who just happened to be informed about what was going on there. He is the

11 immediate superior of the policemen who were in action in the area.

12 JUDGE KWON: So Mr. Janicevic was in command position in Stimlje

13 police station, commanding over the police force who is performing

14 anti-terrorist act.

15 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] No, I did not directly command

16 anything. I mean, the anti-terrorist action was carried out by a group of

17 policemen consisting of about 135 persons. One hundred policemen, members

18 of the 64th Special Police Unit, and 30 members of the Operations Group.

19 The action was directly commanded by Goran Radosavljevic.

20 JUDGE ROBINSON: But you told us earlier that you were receiving

21 reports by radio.

22 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Right.

23 JUDGE BONOMY: Mr. Milosevic, are we going to hear from Goran

24 Radosavljevic?

25 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] I was not intending to call Goran

1 Radosavljevic, but if Mr. Nice wants to hear him, he can. He can call

2 him. He mentioned him in some interviews. But in relation to what

3 happened in Racak, Mr. Janicevic knows everything.

4 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Yes.

5 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Because that police unit that

6 carried out the anti-terrorist action was directly subordinated to him.

7 It's his unit. He was not directly commanding in Racak itself, but he was

8 in Stimlje on that day because this anti-terrorist action was taking place

9 in Racak. That is the normal way things work in the ground. He is chief

10 of the secretariat. He's a colonel. He's two and a half kilometres away

11 from where the action is taking place. He is not directly commanding the

12 company that is carrying out that anti-terrorist action. That is what is

13 done by a commanding officer of a company.

14 JUDGE KWON: So, Mr. Janicevic, you would not challenge that you

15 were the first person for Mr. Radosavljevic to report?

16 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] No. I was not someone who

17 Mr. Radosavljevic reported to, but I was the superior of part of the group

18 of policemen who were taking part in it. 105 policemen belonged to the

19 SUP of Urosevac. Goran Radosavljevic was a member of the MUP staff, and

20 on behalf of the staff he was appointed leader of that action, and that

21 company that I was in charge of was attached to that group, in addition to

22 the Operative Pursuit Group that was always under his command while we

23 were in Kosovo.

24 JUDGE ROBINSON: The reports that you heard on the radio came from

25 whom; Mr. Radosavljevic or from someone else?

1 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] From the commander of the company.

2 I followed all the communications because there was a single

3 communications line. Everybody listened to those communications that I

4 was listening to.

5 JUDGE ROBINSON: Who was the commander of the company providing

6 the reports? Radosavljevic?

7 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] No. Radosavljevic was in charge of

8 the entire action, whereas the commander of the company was --

9 THE INTERPRETER: The interpreter did not understand the name.

10 JUDGE ROBINSON: Please give the name of the person, the commander

11 of the company who sent the reports by radio.

12 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Major Milan Lecic.

13 JUDGE KWON: Let me be clear about this again, Mr. Janicevic.

14 Where was Mr. Radosavljevic located at the time of the operation? Was he

15 with you in Stimlje?

16 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] No. He was in the field. He was

17 supposed to be in the field, actually.

18 JUDGE KWON: Yes. And if you could describe your role in relation

19 to anti-terrorist act operation in Racak. What were you supposed to do?

20 Why did you go to Stimlje, and what did you do there?

21 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] The anti-terrorist action in Racak

22 was carried out in the territory of the Urosevac SUP, and I was the chief

23 of the SUP Urosevac. So Racak is within the territory where I was chief

24 of secretariat. A company of mine took part in the action, and I was

25 personally interested in lawfully completing this action without any

1 omissions and doing it properly. That is number one.

2 Number two, according to the task given to me by the Staff, I was

3 in charge of following the action from Stimlje and informing the Staff

4 every now and then about the course the action was taking and the results

5 that were being achieved.

6 JUDGE KWON: So, Mr. Milosevic, the Chamber wants to hear from the

7 witness what he can tell from his experience without uselessly going over

8 the documents which we have seen already.

9 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Mr. Kwon, we have a set of documents

10 here that I've been quoting from, tabs 65 and 66. You have seen some of

11 them and you have not seen others, but the entire set of documents speaks

12 of the situation in Racak and the terrorist activities and everything that

13 the police had by way of information, everything that we could collect.

14 And I can tell you straight away, since Mr. Nice said that this was an

15 enormous job, it's a very simple job.

16 Tab 65.2 was admitted into evidence as 295, tab 2.1. Tab 65.5 was

17 admitted likewise. Tab 65.5 is tab 65.1 of Exhibit 295. Tab 65 --

18 JUDGE KWON: Mr. Nice -- I beg your pardon. Mr. Milosevic, tab

19 65.5 is an identical one with 65.1, which is -- which you presented. So

20 this is an example how you are presenting your exhibits in an orderly

21 manner. It is your responsibility.

22 Can we not hear from the witness what he can tell from his

23 experience and then coming back to these exhibits if necessary?

24 JUDGE ROBINSON: Yes. That's what we'll do, Mr. Milosevic. Let

25 the witness tell what he learned --

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1 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] All right.

2 JUDGE ROBINSON: -- about the incident. And I would encourage you

3 to call Major Milan Lecic, who actually sent the reports. He was there on

4 the day in the field, and he would probably be the best person to testify

5 from the point of view of someone with firsthand knowledge of this very

6 controversial incident.

7 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Very well. I will move on through

8 questions that have to do with his direct experience.

9 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]

10 Q. But before that, let us clear up one thing, Mr. Janicevic. Are

11 all these documents under tab 65 and 66, 28 documents in tab 65 and some

12 44 in tab 66, are they all your documents of the Urosevac SUP, and did you

13 have them all in your hands at the relevant time when they were drafted?

14 A. Yes. They are all authentic, and they originate from the Urosevac

15 SUP. I held each and every one of them in my hands.

16 Q. Did you hold each document in your hands at the time when it was

17 drafted?

18 A. Precisely. And it was based on these documents that the plan was

19 drafted for that anti-terrorist operation. We drew on these reports and

20 other operative information we gathered in the field.

21 Q. So they pre-date the anti-terrorist operation.

22 A. Yes. It was based on the intelligence contained in these reports

23 that we drew up our plan.

24 Q. Very well. To the best of your knowledge, there were terrorist

25 forces there. Based on what did you know that? You say the information

1 is contained in these documents.

2 A. Yes.

3 Q. How about the sources of your intelligence? Were they exclusively

4 from the area, gathered in the usual way in which the police gathers

5 information?

6 A. Exactly.

7 Q. Are they contained in the reports and Official Notes, and are they

8 indisputable facts that you established in the process of gathering

9 information about terrorist activities?

10 A. Yes. In addition to these reports, there are also criminal

11 reports against unidentified perpetrators guilty of very serious crimes.

12 In that area, just before the anti-terrorist operation, there were 11

13 attacks involving loss of life against policemen and civilians. Before

14 the 31st of December, 13 soldiers and officers got killed in that area,

15 25 officers and soldiers were seriously wounded, including two policemen.

16 All this information was submitted to the Staff, together with a

17 draft plan for this anti-terrorist operation.

18 Q. Very well. Who submitted that plan?

19 A. The Urosevac SUP, and I signed it.

20 Q. So it was you, your Secretariat of the Interior that, based on all

21 these events and incidents reflected in these reports and information that

22 you -- it was your secretariat that made the plan.

23 A. Correct. We made this plan to conduct an operation against the

24 terrorists that were --

25 Q. That were terrorising the whole population on a daily basis. So

1 you had a group involved to deal with this terrorist group that had 80

2 members, as you said.

3 JUDGE BONOMY: Could I ask you, do you have the plan with you?

4 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Unfortunately, no.

5 JUDGE BONOMY: Where is it?

6 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] I don't know whether you know, but

7 we had it in the building that housed our staff. It was made in one

8 single copy. That kind of plan is signed by the superior commanding

9 officer that was in charge of the operation. The whole building burnt

10 down. 90 per cent of the documentation that would have been very useful

11 for this trial burnt down, but it's not my fault.

12 JUDGE BONOMY: And the other documents that we're looking at, were

13 they in the same building?

14 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] No. These are copies of the

15 documents that were kept by the people, the actual officers and workers

16 who were in charge of different cases.

17 JUDGE BONOMY: That's Jasovic and Sparavalo in the case of the

18 ones that they prepared.

19 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Not only Jasovic and Sparavalo.

20 There is also Krstic and others.

21 JUDGE BONOMY: So these have come from the individuals who

22 compiled them.

23 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Some of them kept copies for

24 themselves. A policeman and an inspector had the right to keep a copy for

25 his own personal file after sending a copy to his superior officer.

1 JUDGE BONOMY: Did you bring these documents to The Hague or did

2 they come some other way?

3 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Part of the documents were brought

4 by me. Another part was obtained by the associates of Mr. Milosevic in

5 Belgrade from the Ministry of the Interior, and I brought some copies of

6 the reports that I had.

7 JUDGE BONOMY: And did you actually get any copy documents from

8 people who had compiled the reports and then kept copies for themselves?

9 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Yes, some.

10 JUDGE BONOMY: Going back to the plan, when the Staff approved the

11 plan and it was sent back to you, did they not keep a copy?

12 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Such plans are made in one single

13 copy. After the implementation of the operation, the plan is returned to

14 the Staff. After this operation, the Ministry of the Interior established

15 a working group that analysed all the events before and after the

16 implementation of this operation. That plan had to be returned to the

17 Staff to serve as a basis for drafting a plan to clarify the circumstances

18 that required this anti-terrorist operation to take place. That was the

19 responsibility of the policemen who worked there.

20 JUDGE BONOMY: You've lost me now. The plan was sent back from

21 your office to Belgrade?

22 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] No, in Pristina. The MUP staff in

23 Pristina.

24 JUDGE BONOMY: And this was to later -- at a later stage, to

25 analyse these events. Is that what you're saying?

1 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] After this anti-terrorist operation

2 was over, the public prosecutor sent an application to the Staff to give

3 him information that would serve as a basis for analysing the

4 circumstances in which this operation took place. The MUP set up a

5 working group to analyse all the facts and all the circumstances that had

6 an influence on the course of the operation.

7 JUDGE BONOMY: But my question was: Was the plan sent back to

8 Pristina?

9 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Yes.

10 JUDGE BONOMY: And is it still there?

11 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Well, it was there until the

12 bombing.

13 JUDGE BONOMY: Thank you.

14 JUDGE ROBINSON: Yes, Mr. Milosevic. Please continue.

15 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] There. I have before me index of

16 exhibits with updated cross-references. That means everything is

17 specified in great detail and precision. I hope we will be thus able to

18 identify exactly what has been admitted and what hasn't.

19 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]

20 Q. What matters to me, Mr. Janicevic, is this: These documents under

21 tab 65 and 66, have you read reach one of them carefully, and did you read

22 each one of them carefully at the time when they were written, for the

23 purpose for which they were written?

24 A. Yes. Each document had to come to my desk. In addition to other

25 officers, they had to be submitted to me. I read each one of them

1 carefully, I saw what they were about, I saw what operative intelligence

2 they contained, and with my subordinates at our regular briefings, we

3 agreed what specific measures to take on the basis of this information.

4 Q. In tab 66, we also have a great number of statements taken from a

5 certain number of persons who are indubitably Albanian, judging by their

6 names.

7 A. Yes. These are persons who, under various circumstances, came to

8 contact with the police or who came to the police of their own accord.

9 Interviews were conducted with them to discuss the presence, the

10 activities, and crimes committed by the KLA in that area.

11 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Let me draw your attention,

12 gentlemen, for instance, in tab 66, out of 44, only about 20 have been

13 admitted already.

14 JUDGE ROBINSON: Do you know which ones?

15 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] I know exactly, exactly. So in tab

16 66, previously admitted were 66.4, .7, 9, 10, 11 --

17 THE INTERPRETER: Mr. Milosevic is kindly asked to read more

18 slowly, especially numbers.

19 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] 19, 20, 22, 23, 27, 29.

20 THE INTERPRETER: The interpreter has missed some.

21 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 41, and that's

22 it. These have been admitted already.

23 MR. NICE: Several of the others aren't translated, of course.

24 And it's not just a question of knowing which documents have been produced

25 before. That's not the exercise on which I am engaged. The exercise on

1 which I'm engaged is to see what if any relevance there is in any of these

2 documents on the matters before us. That's, of course, additionally

3 difficult to do if they're not translated.

4 JUDGE KWON: As we indicated, Mr. Milosevic, given that this

5 witness is the most immediate person to the operation that took place in

6 Racak, can we not hear from him what he learned from his experience, and

7 then we can come back to these exhibits later.

8 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Certainly, certainly.

9 JUDGE KWON: Please do so.

10 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Very well.

11 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]

12 Q. You have just explained what kind of information you had about

13 terrorist activities. What kind of knowledge did you have about the

14 fortifications and all the other installations that existed in Racak

15 before you ordered this operation to be carried out?

16 JUDGE ROBINSON: Mr. Milosevic, let us move directly to the

17 information that he received on the day of the incident. We have had

18 enough information now about the background and the incidents that led to

19 the January 15th attacks.

20 He told us that he received information by radio. We want to find

21 out what he heard.

22 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] So you are not interested in

23 anything that preceded and that motivated this operation planned by the

24 Secretariat of the Interior in Urosevac, as signed and prepared by

25 Mr. Janicevic, Colonel Janicevic, in fact.

1 JUDGE ROBINSON: Are you referring to evidence which we have

2 already have in relation to the killing of two Serb policemen?

3 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Well, you have heard Colonel

4 Janicevic explain that it was not only two policemen who were killed. It

5 was a whole series of terrorist activities involving the killing of 12

6 persons that preceded this anti-terrorist action.

7 JUDGE ROBINSON: We have the context.

8 JUDGE KWON: We have had enough, so why don't you go straight to

9 the 15th of January.

10 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] All right.

11 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]

12 Q. Let's clear up this. You just mentioned this plan. That plan was

13 approved. Who approved it?

14 A. Chief of Sector, Vlastimir Djordjevic.

15 Q. How many policemen were engaged in the implementation of the

16 operation, from your secretariat and from the Staff?

17 A. One hundred five members of the Special Police Unit and 30 members

18 of the Operations Pursuit Group.

19 Q. These 105 members were from your secretariat and you are their

20 immediate superior?

21 A. Yes.

22 JUDGE BONOMY: We've had all this information. You've been

23 instructed what to do. We ought to terminate this if you're not going to

24 do as instructed.

25 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] All right.

1 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]

2 Q. Now, I have to lay the foundation for my following question, which

3 is: What was the mission? What was the task of that -- of those members

4 of the Special Police Unit?

5 JUDGE BONOMY: We've had all the details of the numbers who were

6 there and who was responsible for what. So let's get to the issue.

7 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Who could you have heard the details

8 from, please? If the superior officer of that Special Police Unit was

9 here, I assume it was up to him to say what kind of task the unit had.

10 JUDGE BONOMY: That's your next question, but you've just gone

11 over yet again the numbers of officers who were there which he's already

12 told us in great detail. If you were listening to the answers to the

13 questions, you would know that.

14 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] I'm not asking about the numbers.

15 I've heard the numbers. I asked what task that Special Police Unit had.

16 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] May I answer?

17 JUDGE ROBINSON: Yes, answer that question and let's move on.

18 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] According to the plan, the

19 assignment of the Special Police Unit company was to block the village of

20 Racak from the Stimlje axis and Beric [phoen] and Petrovo. The task of

21 the Operational Pursuit Group which was trained and underwent a number of

22 training sessions in anti-terrorist combat was to enter into the rear

23 in-depth of the village where the terrorists were located during the

24 night; in the early hours of the morning, in fact.

25 According to the plan, the pursuit group set out at 3.00 and fully

1 took control of the trenches and positions held by the terrorists sometime

2 until 6.30. The special police company started to effect the blockade of

3 the village at about 6.30 a.m., and the operation went on until about

4 7.00 a.m.

5 Q. When you reached Stimlje; is that right?

6 A. Yes, I reached Stimlje then.

7 Q. And then you were able to follow the operation yourself?

8 A. That's right. And at that same time, approximately at that time,

9 two vehicles turned up with the verifiers, who had been informed about the

10 anti-terrorist operation that was under way.

11 Q. Please, before I ask my next question, who informed the verifiers?

12 Who was it who did that?

13 A. The verifiers were informed by Colonel Mijatovic, the deputy head

14 of the Staff in Pristina, at the headquarters in Pristina, and the police

15 station commander Branko Mladenovic on their outstation in Stimlje.

16 Q. Right. So you were in Stimlje --

17 JUDGE BONOMY: Before you move on, when you say the verifiers

18 showed up, where were they?

19 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] They were stationed at two positions

20 which was the -- were the best vantage points from which they were able to

21 observe the operation. They had -- they saw the whole of Racak as if it

22 were in the palm of their hands, and if they observed properly, then they

23 were able to see every single thing that went on, and I'm sure they did do

24 that.

25 JUDGE BONOMY: Did you see them?

1 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Yes. I saw their vehicles and

2 people around the vehicles, but I didn't approach them because I watched

3 them from a distance.

4 JUDGE BONOMY: At what time did you see them?

5 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] I think it was around 7.00 in the

6 morning, when I myself arrived.

7 JUDGE BONOMY: And is that the only time that you saw them?

8 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] I saw them later on when I left the

9 police station, in the yard. Because from the yard of the police station

10 in Stimlje, you can see the points and positions at which the verifiers

11 were. Stimlje is not a large town. It's a -- it's a village, slightly

12 larger village, but could you see the position of one group and the other

13 group. And around 10.00 on that same day, the group that was at the

14 entrance to Racak itself, coming in from the direction of Stimlje and the

15 old people's home there, another vehicle joined them. So that would make

16 a total of three groups of verifiers observing the operation throughout

17 the day, practically the whole time.

18 JUDGE BONOMY: Thank you.

19 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]

20 Q. Now, I would like to clear up the presence of the verifiers in

21 very precise terms, and we've just mentioned that. Mr. Janicevic, I have

22 several photographs here. It's -- they are called aerial photographs

23 showing the gully and buildings, and so on and so forth. So several

24 photographs. Some are aerial photographs, others are taken from the

25 ground. And I'd like to ask you now -- and let me say that they are

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1 photographs provided and presented by Mr. Nice here.

2 I would like to ask you to take a look at them, and I'd like to

3 ask you for some explanations on the basis of those photographs.

4 What could the verifiers see from the positions you saw them at?

5 Were they able to see everything happening in Racak? Take a look at those

6 photographs, please, and tell me whether you recognise the general area,

7 the terrain, the lie of the land. Do you recognise the lie of the land,

8 and from the positions that you saw the verifiers at, were they able to

9 see this whole terrain, this whole area?

10 You can take a look at the photographs, and you can set aside what

11 you wish to use for your explanation.

12 A. This is part of Racak taken from the air, photographed from the

13 air. The verifiers were not there.

14 Q. Now, what you can see -- I'm not saying -- you will tell us the

15 positions of the verifiers, but what I want to know is this: The

16 verifiers, from the point they were at, were they able to see this part,

17 this area?

18 A. This part here, except for this valley, they might have not seen

19 this indentation here, where it says 1 to 5, this depression. Perhaps a

20 group was able to see that depression, or maybe not, but the hill between

21 those two hamlets they were able to see if they had eyes to see it.

22 That's -- they were able to see if they looked, if they used their eyes.

23 JUDGE KWON: Could we find out the exhibit number of this, for the

24 record. Let's go on.

25 JUDGE ROBINSON: Mr. Nice may be able to help us later on, or

1 Ms. Higgins.

2 MR. NICE: I may be able to help. Whether this is one that's been

3 produced or whether this is one that's been provided as a general

4 disclosure under 68 or otherwise, I'm not sure. Perhaps the accused could

5 explain. If he's saying it's an exhibit, then it will be a shorter

6 search. He should, however, identify exhibits by number when he produces

7 them.

8 JUDGE ROBINSON: Mr. Milosevic, we have been through this before.

9 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Yes, yes.

10 JUDGE ROBINSON: It's your responsibility to identify --

11 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Fine. Very well.

12 JUDGE KWON: And no doubt this is part of the Racak binder, I

13 assume. Let's go on in the meantime.

14 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]

15 Q. Mr. Janicevic, please. Take a look at just a few of these

16 photographs and tell us whether you can state -- whether you can see the

17 positions of the verifiers on any of those photographs.

18 A. Of course you can see their positions. You can see them on both

19 these photographs, on both places. One group of verifiers was in this

20 part here.

21 Q. You mean on the hill?

22 A. Yes, on the hill. On the opposite side from which this photograph

23 was taken.

24 Q. So this photograph, the photograph of this area, you could see

25 from the position where the verifiers were?

1 A. Yes. The group of verifiers was at that point here, and there was

2 another group of verifiers -- this is the school building here, the

3 primary school in Stimlje, and some 250 to 300 metres above the school was

4 another group of verifiers. So this first group of verifiers could see

5 what we saw a moment ago on the previous photograph. They could see --

6 the first group could see both this hamlet here and this part of the

7 village there, in addition to the hill up here.

8 Q. So everything that was marked by Mr. Nice here, they could see all

9 that?

10 A. Yes, everything.

11 Q. All right. Fine. Any other photographs that you consider useful?

12 A. Ah, here's another one. Here you can see it more clearly. The

13 verifiers were here. They were here, and they were in this area here,

14 above the school building, between the Kostanje feature and the school

15 itself, and both groups could see this area here.

16 Q. All right. Fine. Now, tell us, what is the distance, roughly,

17 between the place the verifiers were standing at and this area here?

18 A. I think the first group standing here by the old people's home is

19 not further than 5 to 600 metres away. This other group might have been

20 at a distance of one kilometre, perhaps. Probably a kilometre, yes.

21 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] We see the references here on the

22 map, so I think it is easy to identify what the points are. I took the

23 maps later on, not while preparing and proofing the witness. I found

24 these maps later on, after I had talked to the witness.

25 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]

1 Q. Anyway, thank you, Mr. Janicevic. Now -- yes, what did you want

2 to say?

3 A. There's another photograph here where we can see the

4 fortifications in that part of the village. Here you can see the trenches

5 which come out to the bunkers, and a second line of trenches behind them,

6 behind the village.

7 Q. All right. Fine. Now, could the verifiers see that as well?

8 A. The verifiers knew that the trenches existed. They knew that

9 bunkers existed. They knew that there was shooting, and there was

10 shooting done in their presence, both at the police station and, on one

11 occasion, as far as I was informed, from a 12.7 millimetre weapon. From

12 the Kostanje feature they shot at the police station when the verifiers

13 were inside. So there is no logic that they could not have noticed any of

14 that. That doesn't hold water.

15 Q. This should be Exhibit 156.4, Mr. Nice's set of documents, these

16 photographs. I think it should be 156.4, but I'll check again.

17 A. I found something else on this photograph. May I tell you? This

18 second group that was by the school building --

19 Q. You're talking about the second group of verifiers?

20 A. Yes, the second group of verifiers, by the primary school

21 building. They were a little further off from where the events took

22 place, but they might have had an even better view because they had --

23 THE INTERPRETER: Could the witness repeat what they had? Could

24 the witness repeat what they had, the verifiers, in order to see better.

25 JUDGE ROBINSON: Please repeat what you just said, Mr. Janicevic.

1 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] The second group of verifiers, which

2 was located at the Kostanje position and feature by the primary school in

3 Stimlje, there is this hill here, you can see that on the monitor, on the

4 screen, and they could see, that group could see everything happening on

5 the neighbouring hill above the village of Racak.

6 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]

7 Q. In the area that you're indicating to?

8 A. Yes, the area I'm indicating now. The distance is about one

9 kilometre. And they had very good optic sites, all of them, they were

10 equipped with good optic sites and were able to take photographs. And I

11 think that some did film it using a video camera.

12 Q. Thank you, Mr. Janicevic.

13 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] I'd like to remind you, gentlemen,

14 that yesterday we talked about distances, referring to another matter,

15 what could be seen at 10, 11, 12, 13 kilometres, and here we're talking

16 about a distance of just one kilometre, which even with the naked eye can

17 be seen. It was one kilometre at the most, and Mr. Janicevic said perhaps

18 500 or 600 metres.

19 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]

20 Q. So you saw the verifiers at 7.00 in the morning. When you

21 arrived, they were already there.

22 A. When I reached this area, I saw a group of verifiers next to the

23 police and military point at Kostanje, their yellow vehicle and another

24 vehicle government above the special institute, at the institute at the

25 entrance to Racak, the houses, because the police station is not more than

1 200 metres away from the institution.

2 JUDGE KWON: Mr. Janicevic, can we see the place where you were

3 located at the time from this picture?

4 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Not on this photograph because it's

5 behind this hill here. So behind the hill where the first group of

6 verifiers was standing. Perhaps 20 metres. The altitude was 20 metres

7 lower than them, than that.

8 JUDGE KWON: Thank you.

9 MR. NICE: We've often enough proceeded on the basis of people

10 pointing at maps and not getting them to mark them, but on this occasion

11 it may be the Chamber would conclude that this map ought to be marked by

12 the witness with where he says people were placed -- this photograph ought

13 to be marked by the witness with places where he says people were placed,

14 not least so that if other witnesses come, whereas, for example, the

15 verifiers are identified, they can note precisely what's being said about

16 -- it's also quite difficult to recall sufficiently accurately what the

17 witness may have been intending to identify as the position of a verifier

18 if it's not recorded in writing.

19 JUDGE ROBINSON: I agree with you, Mr. Nice, that that would be

20 helpful.

21 We're going to take the break, and when we return we'll have those

22 points marked on the maps. We will adjourn for 20 minutes.

23 --- Recess taken at 10:36 a.m.

24 --- Upon resuming at 10:57 a.m.

25 JUDGE ROBINSON: Ms. Higgins.

1 MS. HIGGINS: Your Honour, the photographs the witness referred

2 to, the 11 photographs, are in fact Prosecution Exhibit 156, tab 12, which

3 came with the Finnish report.

4 In terms of binder 3 of the Janicevic exhibits, which deals with

5 tabs 55 and 56, could I hand Your Honour a list that I have prepared which

6 I submit simplifies it. It just sets out the ones which have not been

7 exhibited to date, which may be clearer than the list in fact that you

8 have with all together. Could I hand that to the Registry.

9 JUDGE ROBINSON: Thank you, and on behalf of Mr. Milosevic, I

10 express my gratitude to you.

11 Mr. Janicevic, I'm going to ask you to mark on the maps the -- the

12 photographs, rather, on the photographs, the areas where the verifiers

13 were and where you were.

14 Do we have the photographs there?

15 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] It cannot be seen on the photograph,

16 the place where I was.

17 JUDGE ROBINSON: Well, the place where the verifiers were. And

18 then just show it on the ELMO.

19 THE WITNESS: [Marks]

20 JUDGE ROBINSON: Is that a sufficient mark, Mr. Nice, or would you

21 like a V placed there, for "verifiers"?

22 MR. NICE: It would certainly help to have it written in, what

23 we're looking at, as we'll probably forget.

24 JUDGE ROBINSON: Perhaps just a V within the small circle you've

25 drawn, Mr. Janicevic.

1 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] [Marks] In addition to these two

2 places, from 10.00 another vehicle of the verifiers was at the beginning

3 of this road, which cannot be seen very well from this position. The

4 macadam road leading to Racak. It can best be seen on this particular

5 photograph.

6 JUDGE ROBINSON: Give us a mark there as well.

7 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] [Marks] The other group was a bit

8 further up here. It cannot be seen on this photograph. [Marks]

9 JUDGE KWON: Mr. Janicevic, if we are to give the numbers, number

10 1 and number 2 to the verifiers who arrived at 7.00, and number 3 for

11 those who arrived at 10.00, could you indicate the numbers on these marks.

12 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Yes. 1 and 2. They arrived

13 practically at the same time. This and this is the same. As for 3, it's

14 here, at the beginning of this road. This is where the road is. The road

15 goes for another ten to 100 metres. It cannot be seen from here. That's

16 number 3. An hour and a half later, the third one joined the first one.

17 So there were two vehicles of the verifiers, the ones that arrived at

18 10.00. [Marks]

19 JUDGE KWON: Thank you.

20 JUDGE ROBINSON: Yes, Mr. Milosevic.

21 THE INTERPRETER: Microphone, please.

22 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] These photographs that were

23 exhibited by Mr. Nice in 156, tab 12, can now be admitted along with the

24 inscriptions just made by Mr. Janicevic.

25 JUDGE ROBINSON: Yes. Yes.

1 THE REGISTRAR: That will be D313.

2 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Thank you.

3 MR. NICE: Very helpful in getting copy documents for us as soon

4 as possible. These are obviously documents I would be assisted by having

5 over the weekend, if possible; before the weekend, if possible, in copy

6 form.

7 JUDGE ROBINSON: Yes, the registrar will see to that.

8 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Mr. Robinson, I would like to remind

9 you and Mr. Kwon that a while ago when I played a videotape for you that

10 was recorded at the time of the event in Racak, I showed on it the orange

11 vehicles belonging to the verifiers, and they were on that videotape.

12 JUDGE BONOMY: You've certainly played a videotape while I've been

13 here and claimed that there were orange vehicles on it, but I couldn't at

14 the time see them. So if you have an opportunity of playing that tape

15 again, I would welcome it.

16 MR. NICE: Indeed, that's a position I endorse and I would be

17 assisted myself.

18 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] I'll try to find that tape over the

19 weekend.

20 JUDGE BONOMY: Thank you.

21 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] As a matter of fact, I believe it

22 can be found in the video material from the hearings, just like Mr. Kay

23 found Paddy Ashdown's testimony and when that was shown.

24 May I proceed now?

25 JUDGE ROBINSON: Yes, please.

1 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]

2 Q. Mr. Janicevic, you explained what the task of the members of the

3 Special Police Unit was. So what was the exact time when this unit

4 carried out a blockade from the Stimlje-Petrovo-Belince direction?

5 A. The blockade was introduced exactly around 7.00.

6 Q. That was the time when you arrived at the spot?

7 A. That's right.

8 Q. After that, this blockade that was placed from Stimlje, Belince

9 and Petrovo Selo, did it start narrowing down?

10 A. After the blockade was placed and after information was received

11 that the trenches of the terrorists were taken by the members of the

12 Operative Pursuit Group in the background of the village, the area was

13 narrowed down. At the same time, the commander of the company used a

14 megaphone, a loudspeaker, asking the terrorists to surrender, telling them

15 that they were under a blockade and that they would be arrested. So --

16 JUDGE ROBINSON: Mr. Janicevic, tell us how you're learning this.

17 Is this something you saw or is this a report that you received?

18 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] This is the report of the company

19 commander.

20 JUDGE ROBINSON: And that is Mr. Milan Lecic?

21 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Yes. I'm sorry, let me just add

22 something to what I've said. The police station of Stimlje is 100 to 150

23 metres away from the place where the blockade starts, or basically where

24 the village of Racak starts. It's in the depression and Racak starts on

25 the hill. Cesta, as they call it. So when the blockade moved further on,

1 at the same moment the company commander used a loudspeaker to ask them to

2 surrender, and he repeated that for about 15 times until gunfire was

3 opened.

4 JUDGE ROBINSON: This information you received by radio? This

5 information you received by radio?

6 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] The first call I heard myself, when

7 he first called upon them to surrender, and after that, over the radio.

8 JUDGE KWON: What time was it? What time was it?

9 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Around 7.00 in the morning. I

10 cannot tell you the exact time, but it was, say, 7.00 or five past seven.

11 JUDGE KWON: Did the operation not start at 3.00, earlier than

12 7.00?

13 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Part of the operation started at

14 3.00 in the morning. Part of the operation involving the Operative

15 Pursuit Group that had the task of taking the trenches or, rather, getting

16 to the terrorists from the back and making it impossible for them to

17 escape towards the hamlet of Luzak and Petrovo Selo and the other villages

18 where they were behind. This Operative Pursuit Group of the police did

19 not have the task to narrow down the terrain. Their task was to wait for

20 the terrorists and also to call upon them to surrender if they come across

21 them.

22 The task of the company was to narrow down the blockade and to

23 possibly arrest the terrorists, if they would agree to be arrested; if

24 they didn't open fire, that is.

25 JUDGE KWON: So you're saying that the combat did not take place

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1 until 7.00, did it?

2 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Open combat did not take place

3 before 7.00, except for the combat during the night from 3.00 until 5.30

4 when three or four terrorists were killed who were at the positions that

5 they had taken.

6 JUDGE KWON: What were you doing while that combat was taking

7 place overnight?

8 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] The morning? I was not there. But

9 I was informed at 7.00.

10 JUDGE KWON: Where were you and what was -- what were you doing at

11 3.00, from 3.00?

12 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] I was in Urosevac. When I arrived

13 in Stimlje, they told me that the Operative Pursuit Group had taken up

14 positions where the terrorists had been until then and that they were

15 waiting for the narrowing down of the blockade by the PJP company from the

16 direction of Belince.

17 JUDGE KWON: Please proceed, Mr. Milosevic.

18 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]

19 Q. So you explained just now that the Operative Pursuit Group, before

20 the blockade got narrowed down, took those trenches.

21 A. That's right.

22 Q. There was not much fighting there because there were only a few

23 members of the KLA there who were guarding the trenches?

24 A. Only two.

25 Q. Only two?

1 A. Yes.

2 Q. And then when they took the trenches, they were waiting for a

3 Special Police Unit to start narrowing down the blockade from the area of

4 Stimlje?

5 A. To introduce a total blockade.

6 Q. All right. I just wanted to see whether I understood you

7 correctly, what you were saying.

8 So you heard the first call over the loudspeaker to surrender.

9 You heard that yourself. And then you heard them over the radio.

10 A. That's right.

11 Q. Did the terrorists respond to this call to surrender?

12 A. Not a single one. As for the first call, the --

13 MR. NICE: I wonder if I could interrupt.

14 JUDGE ROBINSON: Mr. Nice, yes.

15 MR. NICE: The leading question, which was clearly intentional,

16 is --

17 JUDGE KWON: It is a summary of what is the evidence so far, I

18 take it.

19 JUDGE ROBINSON: It's the evidence already.

20 MR. NICE: Very well, but it's a -- it's the bit about taking the

21 trenches, waiting for the special --

22 JUDGE BONOMY: That wasn't the previous --

23 MR. NICE: No. Now, that is a critical part of this narrative, as

24 the accused well knows from the documents I've explored, and it may be

25 that the Chamber would think it prudent to take the questioning away from

1 the accused and to find out exactly what and with what sources this

2 witness is able to give this part of the narrative. It is a critical part

3 of the narrative.

4 I'll do it, of course, in cross-examination otherwise, but that

5 question seemed to me to be pretty monstrous.

6 JUDGE ROBINSON: You can do it in cross-examination, as you said.

7 MR. NICE: So be it.

8 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]

9 Q. All right. Mr. Janicevic, you've just described now what was

10 going on. Could you please put on the overhead projector a map of Racak,

11 and could you explain to us on that map the beginning of the operation,

12 how it evolved, the positions of the members of the MUP, of the

13 terrorists, and how the operation developed.

14 I would like to draw your attention to 70.1, the development of

15 the situation from 3.00 until 8.30 a.m. In tab 70.2, a map including the

16 development of the situation from 8.30 until 10.00, and in the following

17 tab from 10.00 until 1530 hours.

18 Could you please explain?

19 MR. NICE: Before we race ahead, if we're going to be looking at

20 these maps, it may be that the Court would be assisted by knowing

21 something about by whom and when the maps were drawn and for what purpose.

22 JUDGE KWON: Yes. I was about to ask. If you could answer the

23 question.

24 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] The maps were prepared in

25 preparation of this trial, in Belgrade, in cooperation with Milan Lecic,

1 commander of the PJP company, before I came here.

2 MR. NICE: There's a problem for Chamber, in my respectful

3 submission. We are now, it would appear, being offered hearsay material,

4 prepared for the purposes of the litigation, by someone who it appears is

5 not coming. Because when the Chamber invited the accused to call him, or

6 suggested how wise it would be to call him, the accused characteristically

7 didn't answer the question and gave an answer to a different question, the

8 preceding procedural issue that the Chamber had raised with him, in much

9 the same way as he's declined, despite Radosavljevic being on his witness

10 list, ever to come clean about whether he's going to call him. Now

11 apparently not.

12 Now, these documents, it would seem to me, may offend the

13 Chamber's approach to hearsay material.

14 [Trial Chamber confers]

15 JUDGE ROBINSON: Mr. Janicevic, let me clarify this: Were you

16 involved in the preparation of this map?

17 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Yes.

18 JUDGE ROBINSON: Thank you.

19 [Trial Chamber confers]

20 JUDGE ROBINSON: Yes, Mr. Milosevic, proceed.

21 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]

22 Q. Could you please explain, using this map, how the operation

23 started and how it developed; the position of MUP members, the position of

24 KLA members, and how the situation developed.

25 A. Let me explain the legend first, if you allow me. Blue designates

1 the Siptar terrorist forces in the field and the positions they were

2 occupying. Red is for VJ forces. The circle with an arrow is the

3 direction of movement of MUP members.

4 JUDGE KWON: Just a second. I understand the colour version is

5 not offered to the Prosecution. No?

6 MR. NICE: And how, if I may ask --

7 THE INTERPRETER: Microphone, please.

8 MR. NICE: -- through the Court, how am I supposed to be able to

9 deal with colour-coded maps in preparation for cross-examination if I'm

10 only provided with black and white? It simply won't do.

11 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] I will provide the Prosecution with

12 my own copies of these maps in colour. And I will ask the AV booth --

13 these are three different maps for three different times. I will ask

14 the --

15 JUDGE ROBINSON: Is it tab 70.1 which is now on the ELMO?

16 JUDGE KWON: Yes. I can note it by the time. It starts from

17 3.00.

18 JUDGE ROBINSON: Is the witness able to say or --

19 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Yes.

20 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Mr. Robinson -- excuse me,

21 Mr. Janicevic, just a minute.

22 I would like to ask the video engineers to sharpen the colours,

23 because we cannot see them very well on the projector, the red, blue, and

24 green.

25 JUDGE ROBINSON: Well, they would have heard that. Let's see

1 whether that can be done.

2 JUDGE KWON: While it is being prepared, Mr. Janicevic, bear in

3 mind when you answer the question put by the accused, please indicate as

4 how you did come to know those facts; whether you heard that in person or

5 whether you heard that in recent preparation for your testimony. Do you

6 follow?

7 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Yes, I understand. Can I start?

8 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]

9 Q. Can you first answer Mr. Kwon's question. Mr. Kwon asked you a

10 question.

11 JUDGE KWON: No. You bear in mind in answering each question to

12 indicate as how you come to know each fact.

13 Can you go back to the VJ position? You said VJ position.

14 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Red designates VJ forces.

15 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Can we see anything on the screen

16 here?

17 JUDGE KWON: 243 Motor Brigade.

18 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] 243 Motorised Brigade, correct.

19 They were located on Canovica Brdo, below elevation 671.

20 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]

21 Q. Let us clarify one thing: There was one unit of the 243rd Brigade

22 there. Why was it there?

23 A. That unit of the 243rd Brigade was there to protect

24 communications, pursuant to the agreement with the OSCE.

25 Q. Pursuant to the agreement with the OSCE?

1 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] I remind you, gentlemen, that in

2 every area of Kosovo there was one unit, one company strong, to secure

3 roads, and that is the location marked here.

4 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]

5 Q. Now, tell us, Mr. Janicevic, that unit of the VJ, did it

6 participate in any way in the anti-terrorist operation in Racak?

7 A. No. Not a single soldier, not a single combat vehicle of this

8 group or any other VJ group was involved in the anti-terrorist operation.

9 I can say that with full responsibility.

10 Q. You marked it exactly where it was positioned pursuant to the

11 agreement, and that was the location where they were standing. There was

12 no coordinated action or anything of the sort?

13 JUDGE ROBINSON: Mr. Milosevic, you cannot lead in these matters.

14 You know that this is a controversial issue in the trial. You cannot

15 lead. You cannot lead --

16 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] He answered. Mr. Robinson, prior to

17 this, the witness replied. He said, and I'm summarising, not a single

18 soldier of this group or any group was involved in Racak. Not a single

19 unit of the army was involved in Racak. That's what he said before. He

20 said, "I say with full responsibility that not a single soldier or vehicle

21 were participating in the anti-terrorist operation in Racak." It's all on

22 the record.

23 JUDGE KWON: Involvement in the operation could be one thing and

24 coordination could be another. Please bear in mind the leading question

25 is not helpful to the Chamber.

1 Please proceed, Mr. Milosevic.

2 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]

3 Q. All right. Bearing in mind what Mr. Kwon said, was there any

4 coordination with this army unit that you marked here?

5 A. No. On the 14th of January, in the evening, before the operation

6 began, there was a meeting and Krsman Jelic, commander of this unit of the

7 243rd Brigade, was invited to be acquainted with the plan of action. The

8 person in charge of the operation, the company commander and platoon

9 commanders were also attending the meeting.

10 Krsman Jelic, commander of this army unit, was invited so as to

11 know that if any combat occurs between terrorists and policemen, he

12 shouldn't open fire on the policemen who were going to be in front of him.

13 They had, in addition to this, two forward posts, one on the road with a

14 combat vehicle Praga positioned there, manned by five or six soldiers, and

15 another standing post on Kostanje hill, which you cannot see on this map,

16 but it's approximately in the same area where the verifiers were. That's

17 east of Stimlje.

18 JUDGE ROBINSON: What's the basis for this information which you

19 are providing? What's the source?

20 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] I saw it with my own eyes.

21 JUDGE BONOMY: Were you at the meeting on the 14th of January?

22 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Yes, I was there.

23 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]

24 Q. Mr. Janicevic, who chaired that meeting of the 14th?

25 A. I chaired it, as chief of the secretariat and as somebody who was

1 personally interested in having this operation carried out in that area to

2 put a stop to terrorist activities and to put a stop to killings.

3 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] I just received information that one

4 of my associates found and prepared the videotape showing verifiers in

5 Racak.

6 If I may address the video engineers, this is a good time, a

7 convenient time to play it.

8 JUDGE ROBINSON: Yes. Let it be played.

9 [Videotape played]

10 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] These are the vehicles of the

11 verifiers that you see now. The police is coming in. Up on the hill are

12 verifiers. It's enough. Thank you, video engineers. We can move on.

13 MR. NICE: First of all, it would be helpful to be just reminded

14 of the exhibit number for this exhibit, and it would also be helpful, if

15 it hasn't been provided in the evidence so far, to know the provenance of

16 the tape and also whether what we've seen is said to be a continuous

17 passage of the tape.

18 It's among a number of issues that arise from the tapes of that

19 have been produced by the accused and in the course of the Racak material,

20 and I'd certainly be grateful now to know a little bit more, if we can,

21 about that tape as it's been shown. Or later, but preferably now.

22 JUDGE ROBINSON: Mr. Milosevic, can you say whether this is in

23 evidence already; and, if so, what is the number?

24 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] This has been shown here, I'm

25 certain of that. It was shown by me. I cannot tell you off-the-cuff

1 which exhibit number it was or whether it has been admitted at all. At

2 that time, I remember I thought everything played here was automatically

3 admitted, and it was only later that you explained to me that I had to

4 tender it.

5 MR. NICE: Ms. Dicklich I think has identified all the material,

6 and it's 45. -- 290 tab 45.2, and it's said that the source -- 45.1, and

7 it's said that the source is Reuters but we know no more than that. And I

8 don't know whether this is an unbroken, I mean an uninterrupted passage of

9 Reuters tape, and it was introduced through the witness Marinkovic.

10 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Yes. It was admitted on the 23rd --

11 24th of March this year. And the source is Reuters. A Reuters team

12 filmed this. They were accompanying the police and they filmed everything

13 they could see in Racak. It's tab 290. It was played during the

14 testimony of Investigating Judge Danica Marinkovic.

15 JUDGE ROBINSON: Do you know when this was filmed, Mr. Milosevic,

16 or the witness?

17 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] It was filmed on the 15th of

18 January, in Racak, as the police entered. It is a longer video. You

19 could see a much longer video. The police was just going into Racak.

20 Fire hadn't been opened yet. You can see verifiers on the hill. And fire

21 was opened on the police a bit later. What we just saw was the beginning

22 of the blockade. That's D290, tab 45.

23 [Trial Chamber confers]

24 JUDGE ROBINSON: Mr. Milosevic, you said there was more to this

25 tape.

1 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Yes, and you saw that material when

2 I played it first. I believe I even played part of it during my opening

3 statement or, rather, one of my opening statements, but I will try to play

4 it again for you, if you wish, in its entirety.

5 JUDGE KWON: My record says it lasts 6 minutes and 23 seconds, so

6 it will not last that long. Ten, ten minutes.

7 JUDGE ROBINSON: Mr. Milosevic, please proceed.

8 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Thank you, Mr. Robinson.

9 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]

10 Q. Could you explain, Mr. Janicevic, this first map that is on the

11 overhead projector that explains how things developed from 3.00 a.m. to

12 8.30 a.m.

13 A. I left off when I was explaining the legend. This circle with the

14 horizontal arrow is the direction of movement of the MUP. The curved

15 line, the curved green line, are MUP forces. The blue circle, half

16 coloured, is a bunker of the Siptar terrorist forces. The crossed circle

17 are fallen terrorists. A circle with another horizontal arrow in blue is

18 the direction of pull-out of the terrorists. The green square with the

19 flag is the police station. Green rectangular, filled up to a diagonal

20 line, is a police checkpoint; and a blue triangle is the observation post

21 of the Siptar terrorist forces.

22 The police station Stimlje marked, and the green circle with the

23 arrow is the place from which the 6th Company of the PJP moved out at that

24 time.

25 Q. Were you there in Stimlje in the police station beginning with

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1 7.00 a.m.?

2 A. Yes, and I was there all the time after that.

3 Q. What is the scale of this map?

4 A. 1:25.000.

5 Q. I just gave my map to Mr. Nice, but I believe it's 1 -- I'm sorry,

6 it's actually 1:12.500.

7 A. Yes, the scale is even larger. One square is 500 square metres,

8 in reality.

9 This is the position of the army. At this police checkpoint the

10 Operative Pursuit Group moved out at 3.00 a.m. The Operative Pursuit

11 Group moves through the woods until they reach the trenches occupied by

12 the terrorists. At 5.00 a.m., they enter the trenches and take full

13 control of them before 6.30, with the exception of one thing, and that is

14 the observation post at Krcine. That was taken a bit later.

15 From 5.00 a.m. to 6.30 a.m., in this time line, at 6.51 terrorist

16 was killed in a bunker. At 6.45 two were killed who manned the

17 observation post and a machine-gun nest below Krcine elevation.

18 At 6.45, four terrorists were killed who had been moving to

19 replace the group that had manned the trenches until then. They were to

20 take over their shift. There were 3 terrorists plus one leader.

21 At 7.15 the terrorists were already seized by panic. They had

22 heard over the loudspeaker that they were surrounded. They heard --

23 Q. Just a minute. It says in the transcript three terrorists plus

24 one leader. That is the shift leader, shift leader, in fact. It is

25 something like a sergeant. Shift leader. He is no leader, at least not

1 in the political sense. It should be "shift leader."

2 JUDGE BONOMY: Can I ask, what is the source of your knowledge of

3 these events so far?

4 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] The company commander, Milan Lecic,

5 was my subordinate. One of the leaders of this Operative Pursuit Group,

6 late Miro Mekic, who was killed on the 19th of November, fighting

7 terrorists who were trying to protect their positions, wrote a report

8 after the operation was finished on the 18th of January, and based on that

9 report, based on my own memory and the memory of the company commander,

10 this account of the advance of the police in Racak and the whole time line

11 of events from 3.00 to 8.30 was written.

12 JUDGE BONOMY: Do you have that report with you?

13 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Unfortunately not, and I explained

14 why I didn't have it.

15 JUDGE BONOMY: What happened to it, sorry?

16 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] The report and almost all the

17 documents relevant to this -- these proceedings were burnt when the

18 building of the MUP in Pristina was bombed.

19 JUDGE BONOMY: Thank you. Now, the various people who were killed

20 so far, how were they killed?

21 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] In combat.

22 JUDGE BONOMY: Yes, but how?

23 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] In the armed settling of accounts.

24 JUDGE BONOMY: What weapons were used to kill them?

25 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Infantry weapons.

1 JUDGE BONOMY: Thank you.

2 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] May the witness continuing

3 answering?

4 JUDGE ROBINSON: Yes.

5 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]

6 Q. Go ahead, Mr. Janicevic.

7 A. At the entrance to Racak, at the terrorist checkpoint next to the

8 road from the Stimlje axis, at 0715 hours a terrorist was killed, and the

9 police forces, to all intents and purposes, set up a siege or semi-siege

10 around Racak until 8.30 a.m., by 8.30 a.m. There were no losses on the

11 side of the police. The terrorists at the time, at about 7.15 a.m. tried

12 to pull out towards the Hadzovici hamlet and the Luzak hamlet, which is

13 part of Petrovo village.

14 Q. Is that all?

15 A. Yes, that's all.

16 Q. So that was the dynamics that went on there. Now let's see the

17 events after 8.30 I think until 10.00 a.m. it was. I can't find the exact

18 time. I have it here somewhere. Let me just take a moment to find it.

19 JUDGE KWON: While it is being prepared, I should note that legend

20 and chronology should be translated in due course.

21 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]

22 Q. What do we see on the screen now?

23 A. On the screen now we have the activities of MUP units from 8.30

24 a.m. until 10.00 of the 15th of January.

25 Q. Before you begin explaining what happened and the sequence of

1 events and time line, does this legend on the map completely match the

2 legend you've just explained to us?

3 A. Yes, it does. It fully matches it. Here we have the situation

4 that occurred from 8.30 to 10.00 a.m. From 8.30 onwards, there was active

5 fighting and armed resistance towards the police that were moving forward

6 from the direction of Belinac, Stimlje, and part of the Petrovo-Racak

7 road.

8 At -- or, rather, between 9.00 and 10.00, another bunker was taken

9 control of where there were two members of the terrorist group, and that

10 is somewhere in the middle of the village. The village of Racak, of

11 course.

12 At that same time, another bunker was taken control of held by

13 another group of policemen, and two more terrorists were killed in that

14 operation. And in a third bunker, three terrorists were killed by 10.00

15 a.m.

16 The terrorists, who were in the headquarters and the houses in

17 which they had been accommodated, were armed and started in combat

18 formation towards the trenches where members of the pursuit group, police

19 group, were located. And as I said a moment ago, these were taken control

20 of by 6.30 a.m.

21 Without knowing that in the trenches there were members of the

22 police, these same persons reached the trench -- almost reached the

23 trenches. The policemen who were in the trenches themselves called to

24 them to surrender. The terrorists were taken by surprise because they

25 thought they had their own men in the trenches, and they opened heavy

1 fire, targeting the police members of the pursuit group in the trench, and

2 most of the terrorists were killed in that operation. So between 7.00 and

3 7.30, eight terrorists were killed in the northern side of the trenches

4 behind the village of Racak.

5 From 7.00 --

6 JUDGE BONOMY: Why does this now deal with from 7.00 to 7.30 when

7 it bears to be from 8.30 until 10.00?

8 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] This map shows the time line and how

9 the blockade was narrowed down by the PJP. The positions that were taken

10 were taken from 3.00 a.m., and the position of the pursuit group did not

11 change to the end of the operation. The people who were --

12 JUDGE BONOMY: These deaths don't appear on the previous one

13 you've just gone through.

14 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] They don't appear, but they're here

15 on this map.

16 JUDGE BONOMY: And what's your source of knowledge of these events

17 that you're now describing?

18 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] A report by the late Miro Mekic.

19 JUDGE BONOMY: So these aren't things that you were hearing going

20 on. These are the result of a written report by your inferior officer.

21 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Yes.

22 JUDGE BONOMY: From whom we're not going what hear; is that right?

23 JUDGE ROBINSON: You just described him as late.

24 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Unfortunately, yes. He was killed

25 in an operation on the 19th of January. Warrant officer.

1 Here we don't have the time intentionally or the movement of the

2 unit because this was a stationary unit, which from 6.30 a.m. took up

3 their positions and remained there until the end of the operation. It was

4 just the group of policemen that moved around under the command of Lecic.

5 The 6th Police Company which narrowed down and tightened the blockade. So

6 that's why it's not clear, these deaths and casualties are not quite clear

7 here.

8 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]

9 Q. Very well. Is that all in relation to that map?

10 A. Well, let me just explain how many people were killed there. From

11 7.30, on the northern side, eight persons were killed. On the southern --

12 or, rather, northern side of the trench. Six were killed at the bunker

13 between 7.00 and 7.30, and seven were killed in the central part of the

14 trenches. And from 7.00 to 7.30 or 7.35, other -- the others were killed

15 in the bunker above the village, five others.

16 PJP units until 10.00, the green lines there, from the western

17 side. The west is here.

18 Q. West of Stimlje, you mean?

19 A. Yes, west of Stimlje from Racak.

20 Q. I don't understand that. Could you give me an explanation.

21 Explain it to me. To the right we should have east. We should be looking

22 east on the right.

23 A. Yes, you're quite right. At the same time, around 10.00, the

24 terrorists were regrouping and re-organising from Petrovo. They sent

25 reinforcements towards Hadzovici and the Red Road, as it was called, or

1 the wall. And a group from the village of Luzak were moving towards the

2 Krcine feature and above. On the left-hand side -- it reached the

3 left-hand side at about 10.00 a.m. Then there was a clash and sporadic

4 shooting or, rather, heavy shooting. There was shooting of greater

5 intensity, and that went on until the end of the operation.

6 All this was observed by the verifiers from their positions, the

7 ones that I indicated earlier on, and these are the positions. On the

8 map, I think this would be one position, and another one would be over

9 here, near this Kostanje military police position.

10 I don't know if I've made myself clear enough.

11 Q. Sufficiently clear. I think we can move on to the third map now,

12 which shows us the situation up until 1530 hours.

13 A. The legend is the same as the one that applied on the previous

14 map. On this map here we see the situation between 10.15 and 10.30 hours.

15 During that period of time, the police took control of almost the entire

16 village of Racak. Between 10.30 and 1200 hours, two more terrorists were

17 killed in the middle of the village, in a bunker that we didn't know

18 about, didn't know existed, or we can -- it wasn't actually a bunker. It

19 was a shelter of some sort.

20 At 10.30, or, rather, between 10.30 and 12.30, two more lost their

21 lives around their staff headquarters, and with that, the operation was

22 completed.

23 From 1100 hours until 1530 hours, the police that were moving

24 forward in the village had heavy attacks from the Hadzovici and Luzak

25 villages. And Luzak. That is to say the terrorists launched an all-out

1 attack with all the weapons they had at their disposal, and they shelled

2 the oncoming police with 60-millimetres mortars and hand-held rocket

3 launchers of 500 millimetres. Several vehicles were damaged, and one

4 policeman was killed -- was wounded in the clash.

5 At 1530 hours, a team -- or, rather, a little before 1530, an

6 on-site investigation team led by Danica Marinkovic went on site, together

7 with the Urosevac SUP team as well as the deputy public prosecutor --

8 As soon as this started from all sides --

9 Q. Mr. Janicevic, you didn't enunciate the name of the deputy public

10 prosecutor so we see an empty space in the transcript, and I must --

11 A. Ismet Sufta.

12 Q. Yes. Could you be clearer when pronouncing the names, please.

13 Thank you.

14 A. He was the deputy public prosecutor, district public prosecutor.

15 As soon as the investigation started, it had to be interrupted for

16 security and safety reasons. At a meeting before the operation was

17 launched, it was agreed and it was provided that a group should stay at

18 the positions reached until a Special Police Unit platoon arrived, which

19 would take up its positions until the investigation was completed.

20 However, at around 1530 hours, the leader of the operation, Goran

21 Radosavljevic, appeared and ordered the Operative Pursuit Group to leave

22 the trench and the positions adopted to go to the village, although the

23 policemen who were in charge of taking over those positions had not yet

24 arrived at the trenches to take up their positions there.

25 Q. Well, explain this to me. He appeared. Where was -- where had he

1 been up until then? How did he appear?

2 A. I don't know where he was before that. I didn't have any radio

3 communication with him nor did I see him, but according to information I

4 gathered later on, information coming to me from my associates and the

5 late Miro Mekic, for example, the company commander, he appeared at the

6 point in time when the operation had been completed, to all intents and

7 purposes, and issued orders that the pursuit group withdraw without the

8 previous arrival of the police group that wants to take their place.

9 At the same time, the terrorists who were nearby, near these

10 positions, stormed the trenches and all hell broke loose. There was

11 shooting from all available weaponry, and in five minutes' time the entire

12 team had to pull out the investigation team confronted with this

13 onslaught.

14 So there was an error made in the commands issued. Otherwise, the

15 investigation would have been completed, and there would have been no

16 space for any kind of manipulation. And I stand -- state with full

17 responsibility that the verifiers observed the entire course of this

18 operation, of all these events. There was not a single point in Racak

19 that they could not see from their one position or their second position

20 or their third position. And the television crews that were on the spot

21 filmed the entire course of the operation. I think there were two

22 television crews, in actual fact. A moment ago you said there was the

23 Reuters crew. I didn't know about Reuters, but I did know about

24 Associated Press, that they were there on the spot. Associated Press

25 filmed the entire course of the operation.

1 Q. Did you see any of them personally, contact them in any way?

2 A. I saw the representative of the Associated Press when we were

3 getting the investigation team out of the village of Racak.

4 Q. Unfortunately, we don't have their film.

5 A. I think that the Court can obtain their film too.

6 Q. Thank you, Mr. Janicevic. Just now you described the chronology

7 on these maps. As for this chronology, did you compile some kind of

8 official document about it; and, if so, when? I'm talking about the

9 chronology.

10 A. An official document about the anti-terrorist action in Racak and

11 everything that happened after that was what I compiled, I think on the

12 19th of January, and the development of the chronology of events in Racak,

13 and that was sent to the district public prosecutor's office, describing

14 or, rather, in line with their request. I also submitted it to the MUP

15 staff. One copy stayed in my office. At the request of the working group

16 of the Ministry, I had to hand over that copy of the report to them, and

17 unfortunately, I don't know what happened to it. But what remained in the

18 file is just a part or, rather -- no. The entire chronology is there

19 except for this one page, the last page that is missing.

20 Q. All right. Let me just have a look at something.

21 JUDGE BONOMY: Can I ask, Mr. Nice, is it news to you that there

22 is film in the hands of two news agencies of the actual events in Racak?

23 MR. NICE: Yes.

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

25 JUDGE BONOMY: Is there anything you can do to ascertain whether

1 there's any more material available?

2 MR. NICE: My machinery is intermittent.

3 You can be quite confident that I will do everything that I

4 possibly can, and the -- no. You can be quite sure I will do -- but these

5 things take some time, especially as we're now on a Friday.

6 Incidentally, while I'm on my feet, I did raise with the legal

7 officer at the beginning of the week whether the collection of Racak

8 materials that we put together for earlier witnesses had been retained by

9 the Court. I don't know whether it has. I would be helped by knowing

10 that because presentation of such material as I may use for asking

11 questions might depend on whether I know there's an existing file that I

12 could add pages to.

13 JUDGE ROBINSON: We'll have that checked out.

14 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]

15 Q. Mr. Janicevic, this chronology that you're talking about just now,

16 is that contained in tab 71?

17 A. Yes. That's the chronology compiled on the 19th of January.

18 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Mr. Robinson, that was already

19 exhibited as D299, tab 397. It was already admitted into evidence. But I

20 just wish to clarify a few things. I want to have them clarified by

21 Mr. Janicevic because he explained a moment ago that he wrote that

22 chronology.

23 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]

24 Q. So could you please first explain to me this missing page. You

25 mentioned a while ago that the last page is missing.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12 Blank page inserted to ensure pagination corresponds between the French and

13 English transcripts.

14

15

16

17

18

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25

1 A. Yes, just one page is missing, the last one, at that.

2 Q. All right. Are you sure that it's your document?

3 A. I'm absolutely sure that it's my document, a document I compiled

4 and sent on to the institutions in charge and to my superior officers.

5 Q. So on that last page we could otherwise see the date, your

6 signature, et cetera?

7 A. That's right.

8 Q. When did you compile this?

9 A. On the 19th of January, 1999.

10 Q. Let me just have a look. I think it's on page 5 of this

11 chronology of yours, somewhere around the middle of the page. You say

12 that this analysis pertains to the period from the 15th until the 19th.

13 So this chronology covers the period from the 15th to the 19th.

14 A. That's right.

15 Q. All right.

16 A. The 19th is the last day when there was fierce fighting in the

17 area.

18 Q. All right. All right. Since you compiled this chronology, do you

19 think that there is something of particular significance that should be

20 indicated, something that has not been mentioned so far in your evidence

21 concerning Racak?

22 A. I think that I've spoken about everything very exhaustively until

23 now, everything that has to do with these events.

24 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Mr. Robinson, my request is that

25 these tabs that we looked at just now be admitted into evidence.

1 JUDGE KWON: You referred to tab 70.1, 2, and 3.

2 THE ACCUSED: [Interpretation] Yes. Since 71 has already been

3 exhibited. And I've mentioned the number.

4 JUDGE ROBINSON: Yes, they're admitted, Mr. Milosevic.

5 MR. MILOSEVIC: [Interpretation]

6 Q