Milosevic "trial" synopsis, November 1--15, 2003
1. LORD OWEN TESTIFIES AT THE MILOSEVIC "TRIAL" - November 5, 2003
2. DAVID HARLAND CONCLUDES HIS TESTIMONY AT THE MILOSEVIC "TRIAL" - November
6, 2003
3. MILOSEVIC "TRIAL" SYNOPSIS: NOVEMBER 11, 2003
4. MILOSEVIC "TRIAL" SYNOPSIS: NOVEMBER 12, 2003
5. DUTCHBAT COMMANDER SAW NO EXECUTIONS IN SREBRENICA - November 13, 2003
=== 1 ===
SYNOPSIS: LORD OWEN TESTIFIES AT THE MILOSEVIC "TRIAL"
www.slobodan-milosevic.org - November 5, 2003
Written by: Andy Wilcoxson
Lord David Owen, former chief negotiator of the European Union, and author
of the book ?Balkan Odyssey? testified at the so-called ?trial? of Slobodan
Milosevic on Monday and Tuesday of this week.
Lord Owen did not testify as a prosecution witness, in fact he refused
to testify as a prosecution witness, rather he testified simply as a witness
for the court.
He was examined first by Mr. Nice, then by President Milosevic, and finally
by the Amicus Curiae Mr. Kay.
Lord Owen as the E.U.?s chief negotiator was in frequent contact with Milosevic,
and he believed that President Milosevic was totally committed to the Vance-Owen
plan. Owen also said that President Milosevic insisted on a solution that
was equal to all three sides.
Owen testified that President Milosevic supported various peace plans.
For example President Milosevic supported: the Cutileiro plan in March
of 1992, the Vance-Owen plan in May of 1993, the Owen-Stoltenberg plan
(a.k.a. the ?invincible plan?) in September of 1993, the European Union
Action plan in December of 1993, the Contact Group plan in July of 1994,
and ultimately the Dayton peace plan in 1995.
Lord Owen also testified that President Milosevic entreated the Bosnian
Serb leadership to accept all of these plans. Owen also confirmed that
without the contribution of Serbia, and President Milosevic in particular
that Dayton never would have happened. In fact it was Slobodan Milosevic
who cast the deciding vote for peace at Dayton.
According to Owen the Bosnian Serb leadership was not a pack of mindless
automatons operating at the whim and will of Milosevic. First of all the
politics were different in Pale than in Belgrade, for example Slobodan
Milosevic is a communist and Radovan Karadzic is not a communist.
Indeed the Bosnian Serbs acted against the will of President Milosevic
when the Republika Srpska Assembly rejected the Vance-Owen plan, and also
the Contact Group plan. Lord Owen confirmed that President Milosevic traveled
to Pale and did everything he could, short of using force, to convince
the Bosnian Serbs to accept the Vance-Owen plan. And according to Owen
this episode damaged Milosevic politically and significantly reduced what
influence he did have in Pale.
According to Lord Owen, President Milosevic was ?very helpful? in the peace
negotiations. Owen explained that President Milosevic would use logic and
put forward arguments to try and influence the decisions made by Pale,
but that he would acquiesce and tell them that at the end of the day it
was up to them to decide what course they would take. This was Owen?s main
problem with Milosevic. Owen considered that Milosevic should have used
force with the Bosnian Serbs, and forced them to accept his point of view.
This is a rather dramatic blow to the prosecution?s case. Here is one of
the highest international officials to be on the scene in Bosnia during
the war and he is upset with Milosevic, because Milosevic *did not* control
the Bosnian Serb leadership.
Not only did Milosevic *not* control the Bosnian Serb leadership, but he
also did *not* control the Krajina Serb leadership. Owen had a low opinion
of Milan Martic, and explained that he saw on numerous occasions that Slobodan
Milosevic would also be frustrated and angry with Mr. Martic. It has been
said in the past that Milosevic controlled Martic. Owen?s account blows
that idea to pieces. Why would Milosevic be frustrated and angry with somebody,
if he was the one controlling them?
Owen considered that Milosevic was somewhat afraid of his nationalistic
political opposition in Belgrade; namely Seselj and Draskovic. If we follow
Lord Owen?s position then perhaps we can see what would have been done
to Milosevic if he had attempted to use force against the Serbs in Bosnia.
I emphasize that this is just hypothetical because Slobodan Milosevic would
never have used force against the Bosnian Serbs in the first place. The
point of this hypothesis is to demonstrate that even if he had wanted to,
President Milosevic could not have used force against the Bosnian Serbs,
because he would have been overthrown if he had tried.
President Milosevic did of course exert pressure; he blockaded the Drina
River when the Bosnian Serbs did not adopt the Contact Group plan.
Owen explained to a disappointed Mr. Nice that Slobodan Milosevic is not
a racist, and never was a racist. According to Owen, President Milosevic,
and his wife Mira Markovic are repulsed by ethnic racism. Owen said that
the ethnic make-up of Serbia proves that President Milosevic is not now,
and never has been a racist. As Owen explained there are Muslims, Croats,
and people of all ethnicities who lived and are still living freely in
Serbia. Indeed, Serbia is the most ethnically mixed part of the Balkan
Peninsula.
As for this business of a so-called ?greater Serbia? plan. According to
Owen, Milosevic was reconciled with the idea that Krajina Serbs would live
in Croatia, and Bosnian Serbs would live in Bosnia.
Owen said that he didn?t know what Milosevic?s position on ?greater Serbia?
was before he got there, so Milosevic reminded him of the fact that he
had supported both the Cutileiro plan and the Vance Plan. With that Owen
admitted that President Milosevic?s support for the plans indicated that
he never had any ideas about creating any ?greater Serbia.?
A document was exhibited in ?court? that was signed both by Slobodan Milosevic
and Franjo Tudjman. The document denied that the so-called ?Karadjordjevo
meeting? had ever taken place. According to the document, the two men had
never had any plan or conspiracy to divide Bosnia up between the two of
them, and indeed Owen confirmed that President Milosevic had never said
that he wanted even an inch of territory in Bosnia. But Owen said that
Tudjman openly claimed Herzeg-Bosna as Croatian territory and openly sent
troops into Bosnia from Croatia.
To completely and totally refute this ?greater Serbia? propaganda President
Milosevic presented the 1992 declaration of the FRY government stating
that the FRY made no territorial claims on any of the former SFRY republics.
Lord Owen denounced the so-called ?safe-areas? (Srebrenica, Zepa, Gorazde,
etc?) as a scam and a farce. The UN had inadequate troops and resources
to protect them, and the Muslims refused to demilitarize the safe areas
and indeed carried out attacks from them. The whole thing was a joke.
When President Milosevic examined Lord Owen one of the first things that
was established was that Belgrade did *not* control the VRS.
To drive the point home President Milosevic showed a report written by
former UN Secretary General, Butros Butros Ghali (exhibit D-91) to Lord
Owen. The report was dated 30 May 1992, and stated in no uncertain terms
that the VRS was not under the control of Belgrade.
The report said that the VRS was formed out of the JNA troops who were
originally from Bosnia-Herzegovina.
The report stated that on 4 May 1992 Belgrade authorities ordered the evacuation
of the JNA from Bosnia and that on 18 May 1992 all JNA personnel who were
not originally from Bosnia-Herzegovina were withdrawn from Bosnia Herzegovina,
except in limited cases when hostile forces prevented the JNA?s immediate
withdrawal, by measures such as the blockading of barracks.
Owen stated that he believed the Secretary General?s report to be accurate.
President Milosevic then noted that in spite of the Secretary General?s
report, which clearly placed the VRS outside of Belgrade?s control that
in spite of that on the same day as the report was issued that the Security
Council imposed sanctions on the FRY.
President Milosevic claimed that there was no aggression against Bosnia-Herzegovina
that it was a civil war, and to any normal person this can clearly be seen.
Slobodan Milosevic said that the JNA did not occupy Bosnia. The JNA had
always been in Bosnia, because Bosnia was part of Yugoslavia, and the JNA
was Yugoslavia?s national army. Lord Owen agreed.
Slobodan Milosevic observed that the Bosnian-Serbs were not occupying Bosnia.
They had always lived there, and that the VRS was made-up of Bosnian-Serbs,
and again Lord Owen agreed.
President Milosevic said that since there was no occupation, and the fighting
was between the people who lived in Bosnia then the war was a civil war
and not a war of aggression. Lord Owen disagreed.
The bottom line according to Owen was that Bosnia was the UN Security Council?s
creation. Owen had to explain that the UN Security Council had recognized
Bosnia as an independent country, and that it had recognized Alija Izetbegovic?s
government as the legitimate government. Therefore, anybody who was at
war with Izetbegovic and his regime was technically engaged in aggression,
even if they did live in Bosnia.
It is interesting to note here that in the beginning everybody supported
keeping Yugoslavia as one united country. The EC, the OSCE, and the United
States all initially supported keeping Yugoslavia as one united country.
Lord Owen indicated that this all changed when Clinton took office.
In the opinion of Lord Owen it would have been better had the SFRY not
dissolved. He said that the recognition of Bosnia was premature, and was
a catastrophic mistake. Lord Owen also said that Cyrus Vance shared his
opinion and viewed the premature recognition as being an absolute scandal,
and a tragic mistake.
The premature recognition of the secessionist Yugoslav republics was scandalous.
President Milosevic read out a quote from Lord Carrington in which it states
that they were near reaching a political solution with Croatia regarding
Slavonia and Krajina, but that the premature recognition of Croatia toppled
the peace process. Carrington considered that the recognition was ?a treacherous
act? by the Security Council.
As for the allegations that Serbia was arming the Bosnian Serbs, Owen said
that he had no proof of that. According to Owen the Bosnian Serbs had the
ability to produce their own weapons and their own ammunition.
Lord Owen spoke of the roll that the Washington D.C. based public relations
firm Ruder-Finn played on behalf of the Muslims and Croats. How Ruder-Finn
would pay people to write editorials and letters to the editor, how Ruder-Finn
would arrange for Western journalists and politicians to speak with Muslim
and Croat officials.
According to Lord Owen, Ejup Ganic was the mastermind behind Muslim propaganda.
Owen said that the strategy of the Muslim propaganda was to portray themselves
as the victims in the hopes that the United States would intervene on their
side militarily.
Indeed Owen confirmed that Ganic used all means to achieve his goals. He
even said that Ganic preferred to have Sarajevo under siege.
Owen also confirmed that Milosevic wanted the siege stopped. In fact Owen
acknowledged that President Milosevic wanted to send the International
Red Cross into Bosnia. So here we have Milosevic who wants to stop the
siege and bring in the Red Cross, and Ganic who wants the war to continue
because it helps him in his drive to portray the Muslims as the victims.
While there is no doubt that President Milosevic wanted peace. The United
States and the Clinton Administration in particular are a different story.
According to Lord Owen the United States was hostile to the Vance-Owen
Peace plan, and to the peace process in general. The United States would
encourage the Muslims to make absurd demands in order to derail the peace
process.
Lord Owen confirmed that the United States was pro-Croat. President Milosevic
read out a quote from Stoltenberg where he said that Tudjman was preparing
an offensive with the approval of the White House, and this was during
a cease fire when nobody was supposed to be mounting offensives. Of course
everybody knows, and it was confirmed by Lord Owen that the biggest ethnic
cleansing operation in all of those Balkan wars was the "operation storm"
that was perpetrated by Croatia against the Krajina Serbs.
All in all the testimony of Lord Owen was very interesting, and rather
educational. For the record I note that the full text of the Cutileiro
plan was exhibited, and its exhibit number is D-209.
The main thing that was established by Lord Owen?s testimony is that President
Slobodan Milosevic is a man of peace. The prosecution is almost finished
presenting its case and it is clearer now than it ever has been that Slobodan
Milosevic is not a war criminal. After seeing the prosecution?s total lack
of evidence, and after observing the underhanded tactics that they employ
all I can say is: Congratulations Ms. del Ponte! If you wanted to convince
me that Slobodan Milosevic is a hero then you?ve certainly been successful.
=== 2 ===
SYNOPSIS: DAVID HARLAND CONCLUDES HIS TESTIMONY AT THE MILOSEVIC "TRIAL"
www.slobodan-milosevic.org - November 6, 2003
David Harland, the United Nations civil and political affairs officer in
Sarajevo was recalled at the ?trial? of Slobodan Milosevic on Wednesday.
Mr. Harland was the longest serving UN official in Bosnia. He had originally
begun his testimony on September 18th. He returned on Wednesday to complete
his cross examination.
First of all, here is a summary of Harland?s September 18th appearance
at the ?Tribunal.?
While speaking of ethnic cleansing, Mr. Harland confirmed that Radovan
Karadzic never challenged the rights of non-Serbs to live on Bosnian Serb
territory.
Harland did, however, confirm that ethnic cleansing did take place, and
that all three sides were guilty of perpetrating that crime.
Harland also affirmed that President Milosevic supported the Vance-Owen
plan, and that his goal and the goal of Serbia was ?for the Serb people
to be free and equal, not more, not less than that.?
President Milosevic?s words at the Bosnian Serb assembly in Pale confirm
that his aim in supporting the Vance-Owen plan was equality. President
Milosevic said in his speech to the Bosnian Serb Assembly that "With this
plan, the Serb people have restored their right to be treated equally as
a constituent nation and with this plan its fate will be in its hands,
as it will be in the hands of the other two peoples on an equal footing
and in freedom."
Harland tried to say that the Bosnian Serbs wanted 70% of Bosnia for themselves,
and so President Milosevic pointed out that the Bosnian Serbs had agreed
to the Cutileiro Plan and also to the Contact Group plan, and that neither
one of those plans envisioned 70% of the territory for the Serbs. Harland
then admitted that it was correct that the Bosnian Serbs had accepted those
plans and that neither of those plans called for 70% to go to the Serbs.
President Milosevic observed, and Harland grudgingly confirmed that Radovan
Karadzic was constantly trying to bring the Muslims to the negotiating
table.
When President Milosevic asked what goals that the Bosnian Muslims had
Mr. Harland said, ?I think that there was one group which felt that the
Muslims are the largest community in Bosnia and Herzegovina and therefore
they had an interest in keeping Bosnia and Herzegovina together as a single
state in which they would not be threatened in any way because they would
be almost a majority. And, in fact, of course there is -- there is language
in Mr. Izetbegovic's Islamic declaration which refers to the -- the role
that will be played by a Muslim community once they become a majority in
a -- in a given country.?
President Milosevic observed the contents of Izetbegovic?s Islamic Declaration
in which it says that "there can be neither peace nor coexistence between
the Islamic faith and non-Islamic social and political institutions" and
"the Islamic movement must and can, take over political power as soon as
it is morally and numerically so strong that it can not only destroy the
existing non-Islamic power, but also to build up a new Islamic one?.
In connection with what is stated in the Islamic Declaration of Alija Izetbegovic,
President Milosevic asked the following question of Mr. Harland: ?Do you
then consider that the Serbs could have accepted a state conceived along
those lines, the Serbs which had until then lived as a nation on a footing
of equality with everybody else in the area? Could they have accepted that??
Harland didn?t answer the question. Instead he decided to make accusations
against the Serbs because he realized that the Bosnian war was the Muslims
fault and he wasn?t ready to admit that. By then it was 1:45 and the September
18th session ended.
When Harland returned to finish his cross-examination last Wednesday president
Milosevic showed him an ethnic map of Sarajevo based on the 1981 census,
and it was observed that the Serbs did not ?occupy? Sarajevo. It could
be clearly seen on the map that the Serbs were indigenous to Sarajevo,
and Harland confirmed that the VRS positions around Sarajevo roughly confirmed
to the territory that the Serbs were shown to be living on already by the
1981 census.
It was also confirmed by Mr. Harland that the 40,000 Serb civilians who
were trapped behind Muslim lines in Sarajevo were not allowed to leave
the theatre of combat. It was observed that it is a serious violation of
international law to hold a civilian inside of a combat area against their
will.
President Milosevic brought up the Mt. Igman agreement. In the agreement
Ravovan Karadzic agreed to withdraw VRS troops from Mt. Igman and handover
control of 13 checkpoints to UNPROFOR.
Harland confirmed that Karadzic had indeed made this agreement in order
to get the Muslims to come to the negotiating table.
But what happened after Karadzic withdrew the VRS from Mt. Igman and the
13 checkpoints was that the Muslims moved in and took all of that over.
The agreement was for UNPROFOR to take over Mt. Igman and the 13 checkpoints,
but the Muslims violated the agreement and took it over for themselves.
Mr. Harland was in an unenviable position. He clearly wanted to attribute
all of the blame to the Bosnian Serbs, but Slobodan Milosevic kept on bringing
up facts that demonstrated that the Muslims were the ones who were prolonging
the war, by violating ceasefires and refusing to negotiate a political
settlement, and Harland had no option but to confirm those facts.
The Muslim side frequently and most often violated cease-fire agreements.
In fact had Harland had to admit that the Muslims violated 514 of the cease-fire
agreements that they had entered into with the Bosnian Serbs.
Harland also had to admit that the UNPROFOR Commander, General Michael
Rose, felt that the Muslim policy of violating cease-fires came from Izetbegovic?s
vice-president, Ejup Ganic.
Amazingly Harland tried to defend the Muslim policy of violating cease-fires.
According to Harland it was understandable for the Muslims to violate the
cease-fire because they didn?t want to freeze the confrontation lines.
In other words the Muslims wanted to prolong the war, and didn?t want a
cease-fire at all. They just wanted to exploit the good will of the Serbs
and use the ?cease-fires? as an opportunity to regroup and launch fresh
offensives in order to move the confrontation lines.
Another Muslim policy that Harland defended was their militarization of
the so-called ?safe areas.? Harland pointed out that the UNSC Resolutions
that created the ?safe areas? enshrined the rights of the Muslims to keep
arms there.
The ?safe area? idea has got to be one of the dumbest things that the UN
Security Council has ever come-up with, right behind the Hague Tribunal.
The Security Council prohibited one side from attacking the so-called ?safe
area,? while simultaneously allowing the other side to militarize the ?safe
area? and launch attacks out from it.
Harland also had to admit that he was aware of General Rose?s reports which
stated that the Muslims were firing mortars on their own people from a
mobile launcher and that they were carrying-out sniper attacks against
their own people for propaganda purposes.
Harland himself confirmed that most of the Serbian shelling of Sarajevo
was done in retaliation. Harland admitted that the Muslim strategy in Sarajevo
was to fire shells at the Serbs from built-up civilian areas in hopes of
provoking a Serb response that would be filmed by the media and presented
to the world as some sort of ?Serb aggression?.
He recounted one example when the Muslims fired mortars on Serbian artillery
positions from the Kasova Hospital. Obviously the objective here was to
get the Serbs to shell the position that the fire on them was emanating
from ? the hospital.
The Markale Market massacre was brought up and Slobodan Milosevic had the
UN report on the incident and it stated that the shell that fell on the
market was fired from a range of less than 2,000 meters, which means that
the shell came from inside - not outside of Muslim the lines.
In addition to killing their own people for propaganda, the B-H Army killed
for the purposes of ethnic cleansing. Harland recounted how the 5th Corps
of the B-H Army attacked the Serbs in Western Bosnia.
Harland did his best to try and help the prosecution, but he failed. In
a final blow to the prosecutor?s case Harland said that the Bosnian Serb
leadership in Pale was angry with Milosevic because he refused to provide
them with troops. At the same time Harland said that Croatia was openly
sending uniformed regular army troops into Bosnia.
Another witness was also heard on Wednesday. The secret witness B-1531,
who continued his testimony from Tuesday, concluded his testimony. Unfortunately,
because of the extensive use of private sessions, and the extensive use
of Rule 89(F) by the prosecutor I have no idea what he was getting on about.
B-1531 was appointed to some anonymous high office in Foca by the SDA,
and he was apparently somebody close to the B-H Defense Minister, Hassan
Chengic. Other than that I don?t know anything about him.
=== 3 ===
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/smorg111103.htm
MILOSEVIC "TRIAL" SYNOPSIS: NOVEMBER 11, 2003
www.slobodan-milosevic.org - November 11, 2003
Robert Donia, a so-called expert witness, returned to finish his cross-examination
today. Mr. Donia first testified on September 12, 2003 [http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/smorg091203.htm%5d.
Mr. Donia examined transcripts taken from the Republika Srpska assembly,
and then ?interpreted them? for the ?court.?
The most important thing that Mr. Donia analyzed was two speeches that
President Milosevic gave to the Republika Srpska assembly to convince
the Bosnian-Serbs to accept the Vance-Owen peace plan. To illustrate
the quality of Donia?s so-called ?analysis? I will re-publish the text
from President Milosevic?s two speeches and then I will tell you what
conclusions that Donia drew from them:
///START FIRST SPEECH///
Let me say straight away that I consider that there's no alternative
to a decision in favor of peace, a decision for peace and for the reinforcement
of the signature put by Radovan Karadzic in Athens is in the interest
of the Serbian people in Republika Srpska and in the interest of the
whole Serbian people. The basic issue which has been raised from the
very beginning - and we have jointly defined what the aim of the Serbian
people in the Balkans is - I would say quite briefly the aim of the Serbian
people in the Balkans has been and remains to be free and equal.
The offered proposal, in my opinion, for that very reason for the Serb
people to be free and equal should be viewed from the standpoint to what
extent that freedom and equality is ensured through such an approach.
In the provinces which will not be under the control of the Serb authorities
and there are still Serbs living there, it is explicitly stated that
access will be denied to the HVO and Green Berets and that they will
be accessed only by the UN, which means that they will provide a security
zone which will make it possible for no one to have to leave their homes,
which means that that freedom is guaranteed and a condition that has
been achieved in the proposed solution, but it also means that this is
a freedom that the Serbian people in Bosnia have won for themselves.
The plan also restores the status of a constituent people. You remember
well that the conflict started when the rights of the Serbian people
as a constituent people in Bosnia and Herzegovina were trampled upon,
when decisions started to be made without consulting them and without
their participation and against their will. This solution, the Vance-Owen
Plan, envisages such equality in rights so that the Serbian people in
BH can be said to have restored their position of a constituent people
through their struggle.
Therefore, it is fully and equally in the hands of the Serbian people,
as in the hands of other peoples. They have the right and ability to
make decisions that decisively affect their destiny.
If that main issue and main goal of the Serbian people in the Balkans,
that is, to be free and equal, is assessed from the standpoint of the
solutions offered, then we see that it has restored freedom and equality
and that after the struggle whereby it has won that freedom and equality,
it can decide not to reject its remaining demands but to try and address
those requests through peace and not war, at a conference table, through
political negotiations, and not by sacrificing more victims. Every sacrifice
has a justification if it achieves goals, but it has no justification
if the solution offered guarantees freedom and equality.
Let me tell you in the end, don't tell us that you feel abandoned; we
shared all your worries throughout this period. Not only did we worry
for you, but we assisted you at the expense and sacrifice by 10 million
Serbs.
///END FIRST SPEECH///
[Note: Between these two speeches R.S. MP's made their own speeches and
debated whether or not to accept the plan.]
///START SECOND SPEECH///
I will try very briefly, but with the highest possible degree of responsibility
to say a few words. But before doing that, I wish to convey to you my
impressions. You spoke openly and from the heart. Most of what you said
related to the cruelties and injustices of war. In the Serbian people,
throughout their history, unfortunately there is too -- there are too
many truthful testimonies of the horrors of war. However, all that we heard
today regarding the testimony and the horrors of war, all of this can
be formed into one single argument and a single statement and message,
that the war should cease as soon as possible, that the war should cease
immediately.
However, let me go back to the question we are addressing today. The
question is not how much horrors -- how many horrors there were in this
war. This people has felt this on their own shoulders throughout their
history. The question today is whether we should consolidate what has
been achieved and through a peaceful process, under conditions of security,
achieve what remains to be done, what we call "outstanding matters."
There were many outstanding issues, but the plan envisaged that those
problems be addressed in negotiations.
So whether we should seek to address what we call 'outstanding problems'
through negotiation or should we destroy what has been achieved at the
expense of enormous sacrifice. That is the real issue that this Assembly
should decide. So the question, when talking about the plan, is not whether
we are departing from our goals. Of course not.
The question is whether that plan represents the path towards the ultimate
goal. The plan is not the final fulfillment of the justified demands
of the Serbian people, but it certainly represents the path towards the
ultimate goal. But now we must make much more effort through our wisdom
and less bloodshed. I think that should be an advantage, not a disadvantage.
And this Assembly must have the courage and self-confidence under these
circumstances on the basis of the plan, which must -- which is a sufficient
basis to achieve our goal, rather than committing a tragic error which
will cruelly cut across or put an obstacle on the way to success.
Will the Assembly opt for a reasonable or an unreasonable path? I think
no one needs to persuade this Assembly about. I think peace is the reasonable,
the sensible way. On the contrary, if the slogan is spread about that
the Serbs don't want peace, that could only justify crimes against the
Serbs, and this is something you should bear in mind. When the road towards
peace is being opened, you must explain to the people that they -- why
should they sacrifice their lives in even crueller ways up to now? You
cannot explain the reasons to the Serbian people in Bosnia or in Serbia.
And let me say finally, one must sacrifice everything for the people
except the people. You cannot sacrifice the people. You do not have the
right to do that as an Assembly or as anyone else.
///END SECOND SPEECH///
President Milosevic stated quite unequivocally that there was no alternative
to peace, that the war had to end immediately, that the aim is for the
Serbian people in the Balkans is to be free and equal, and that their
destiny will be in their hands, as it is in the hands of the other two
peoples if they accept the Vance-Owen plan, and that things should be
resolved by consensus and through negotiations.
Anybody with a brain can easily understand what President Milosevic was
saying. Donia, on the other hand, claimed that with those two speeches
President Milosevic was advocating ?greater Serbia? and that he wasn?t
seriously endorsing the Vance-Owen plan.
When Lord Owen testified he said quite unequivocally that Milosevic did
seriously endorse the Vance-Owen peace plan, so who are we to believe?
Should we believe Lord Owen who was one of the chief negotiators for
whom the plan was named? Or should we believe some jerk who was working
for Merrill-Lynch at the time?
This was typical for the quality of Donia?s analysis. The basic premise
that Donia operated on was that Serbs are an evil scheming bunch who
always mean the opposite of what they are actually saying.
Mr. Donia considered that eventhough the term ?greater Serbia? never
appeared in any of the transcripts that ?greater Serbia? was exactly what
the Serbs were trying to accomplish.
Mr. Donia only selectively analyzed RS assembly sessions, he didn?t even
look at any of the documents issued by the assembly, and he selectively
took quotes out of their proper context in order to misrepresent them
so that they would fit his anti-Serb thesis.
On another occasion Radovan Karadzic was speaking about finding a political
solution to the situation in Gorazde. Karadzic said quite literally in
the transcript that ?not a single shot should be fired.? And Donia interpreted
this as meaning that Karadzic wanted to incite an armed conflict around
Gorazde.
Mr. Donia, who was working for Merrill-Lynch in New York at the time,
stated that he knew that VJ troops were in Bosnia even though none of the
transcripts he that ?analyzed? reflected such a thing. But when he was
asked about Croatian troops all of the sudden he wasn?t a military expert
and wasn?t competent to testify about such things as whose troops were
where.
Mr. Donia was quick to defend Warren Zimmerman, saying that Zimmerman
didn?t tell Izetbegovic to withdraw from the Cutliero plan. But when asked
about the Cutlitero plan all of the sudden Donia remembered that it was
outside of his mandate as a witness.
But because this so-called ?expert witness? brought bits and pieces of the
transcripts to the ?court? with him some interesting things were established.
During the cross-examination by the Amicus Mr. Tapuskovic it was proven
that Belgrade did not command the VRS. In the 39th session transcript
of the Republika Srpska assembly of March 1994 Radovan Karadzic says,
?I am responsible to the people, and the commanders are responsible to
me. I sign the orders.?
It was brought out by Mr. Tapuskovic that Dr. Karadzic signed military 7
directives. The 7th directive stipulated that the VRS should thwart
enemy war plans and prevent a breakthrough at Srebrenica. Donia, of course,
misinterpreted this as meaning that Karadzic ordered a massacre at Srebrenica.
It was also brought out during President Milosevic?s cross-examination of
Donia that according to the transcripts it was only by the grace of the
R.S. Assembly that UN troops were allowed to deploy in Srebrenica, Gorazde
and Zepa.
A 1993 speech of Karadzic?s was also read out where Karadzic is saying that
it is good that UNPROFOR is in Srebrenica because if the VRS had taken
it then there could have been ?blood to the knees? because of the revenge
that might have been taken by the soldiers who had had their families
massacred by Muslim troops who were attacking out from Srebrenica.
Karadzic said that it was actually in the Republika Srpska?s strategic
interest to stay out of Srebrenica, because a massacre there could jeopardize
the very existence of Republika Srpska. Therefore, it is quite unlikely
that Karadzic would order a massacre 2 years later, because he was certainly
aware of what the consequences would be if there was one.
After Donia withdrew the secret witness B-1097 was recalled to finish his
cross-examination. B-1097 had originally testified on July 25th.
B-1097 claimed to have been taken prisoner at the Karakaj Technical School
in Zvornik where a large number of Muslims were apparently killed.
B-1097 could not identify his captors, except as ?Serbs.? He couldn?t
say which unit they were from, and he didn?t see any executions.
After he got away from the technical school he went to Serbia. He lived
freely in Novi Sad. Nobody mistreated him in Serbia, and he was even
issued a passport by the FRY authorities.
B-1097 did have some interesting things to say about Zvornik. First of
all he admitted that the Muslim paramilitary formation known as the Patriotic
League was active there.
He also admitted, or should I say was forced to admit, that the Muslim
T.O. in Zvornik had threatened to blow-up the hydroelectric dam. At first
he tried to deny this. The Amicus Mr. Kay asked him 4 times if this had
happened and B-1097 never answered the question, and so Mr. Kay pointed-out
paragraph 7 of the whiteness?s own statement where it said that the Muslim
T.O. had threatened to blow-up the dam.
After B-1097 was done, another secret witness came along. B-1399 was
apparently a survivor of the Srebrenica massacre, and most of B-1399?s
testimony was dealt with in secret - in so-called ?closed session.?
From what could be gathered in open session it can be concluded that B-1097
is a liar. B-1097 claimed that Srebrenica had been demilitarized and
that only UNPROFOR had weapons. B-1097 stated unequivocally that no Muslims
in Srebrenica had any weapons, because UNPROFOR had taken them all away.
B-1097 also stated that no Muslim-led attacks had emanated from Srebrenica.
B-1097?s testimony here is in direct contradiction of the UNPROFOR commander
Rupert Smith?s testimony. According to Smith?s testimony on October 9,
2003 ?UNPROFOR was not tasked with demilitarizing Srebrenica.? and the
Muslim forces of the 28th Infantry Division were, ?conducting raids out
from Srebrenica into the Serb-held territory.?
B-1097 is scheduled to finish his cross-examination tomorrow.
=== 4 ===
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/smorg111203.htm
MILOSEVIC "TRIAL" SYNOPSIS: NOVEMBER 12, 2003
www.slobodan-milosevic.org - November 12, 2003
B-1399 Finished his testimony at the Hague Tribunal. He recounted the story
of how he allegedly survived execution at Srebrenica. He says that he was
part of a group of men, that he was blindfolded, and that the executioners
opened fire on the group. The corpses fell on top of him and the dead bodies
shielded him from further gunfire. He later crawled out from the pile of
corpses.
According to B-1399 armed men saw him escaping and opened fire on him as
he ran away, but they missed.
He recounted that while he was at the execution site he saw trucks bringing
Muslims for execution every 10 minutes.
B-1399 has given numerous statements about his alleged experience. The
first statements that he gave were in 1995 and 1997, and in those statements
no mention was made about trucks bringing in people to execute, nor was
any mention made of the ?fact? that B-1399 was shot at as he was fleeing.
We established yesterday that B-1399?s account of the military situation
in Srebrenica was in direct contradiction of the UNPROFOR commander Rupert
Smith?s testimony, and now we have B-1399 coming up with this new ?evidence?
8 years after the fact.
It was obvious that B-1399 was lying. When asked about discrepancies between
his testimony and his written statements he got very defensive. At one
point he snapped at the Amicus Curiae, Mr. Tapuskovic, and told him that
he should not ask those sorts of questions.
The next witness was the Canadian Major Roy F. Thomas. Maj. Thomas was
the senior UN Military Observer in Sarajevo for 9 months spanning 1993
and 1994.
During Maj. Thomas?s tenure he did not see any attacks by the Serbs on
Sarajevo, he claimed that the Serbs were in a holding pattern around the
city, and did not try to take it.
Under cross-examination from President Milosevic, Maj. Thomas spoke of
some of the underhanded strategies that the Muslims would employ.
For example, Maj. Thomas testified that there were occasions when the Muslim
soldiers would open fire on the Serbs from behind the UNPROFOR position
in order that the UNPROFOR soldiers would provide a sort of shield for
their attack.
Maj. Thomas corroborated the testimony of David Harland (United Nations
civil and political affairs officer in Sarajevo) that Muslim forces were
using the Kosevo Hospital as a mortar plate. The Muslims were firing mortars
at the Serbs from the hospital in order to provoke the Serbs into firing
on the hospital.
On another occasion Maj. Thomas recounted that Muslims opened fire from
the PTT building at Serb positions, with a view to getting the Serbs to
fire on the PTT building. At the time, the PTT building was the UN headquarters
in Sarajevo. The Muslims were trying to get the Serbs to shoot at the UN.
Maj. Thomas recounted yet another occasion when Muslims disguised themselves
as Bosnian-Serb soldiers and tried to kill the UNPROFOR commander. Fortunately
according to Maj. Thomas they weren?t smart enough to pull it off and got
caught. So here we have Muslims plotting to kill the UNPROFOR commander,
and engaging in a conspiracy to make it look like the Serbs did it.
The Muslims would not always wear military uniforms. According to Maj.
Thomas he, the Senior UN Military Observer, had no idea who was a soldier
and who was a civilian, and so he had no choice other than to regard all
able bodied men as soldiers.
Maj. Thomas spoke of one occasion when the 10th Mountain Brigade of the
B-H Army, led by the notorious criminal Musan Topalovic - Caco, captured
a group of UNPROFOR soldiers, and stole their equipment and their money.
According to Maj. Thomas the media did not portray a balanced view of sniping
incidents in Sarajevo. He said that all sides engaged in sniper activity.
He said that the main objective of the Muslim snipers was to provoke the
Serbs into abandoning cease-fires. As a case in point he gave an example
where Muslim snipers shot and killed 3 pregnant Serb women during a cease-fire,
and that the following day the Serbs shot at every Muslim soldier they
saw.
Maj. Thomas accompanied General Rose (UNPROFOR commander) to the negotiations
at the Sarajevo Airport. At those negotiations the Serb side, led by Ratko
Mladic, proposed a general cease-fire throughout Bosnia. The Muslims, on
the other hand, did not want a ceasefire.
Gen. Rose supported the cease-fire idea, because as he says in his book,
and as Maj. Thomas confirmed that he said at the time, only with a ceasefire
can negotiations take place, and a solution be found that can end the war.
None the less, after the negotiations failed, because the Muslims refused
to agree to a ceasefire; NATO proceeded to bomb the Bosnian Serbs.
I believe that the prosecution brought Maj. Thomas to testify about the
Markale Market incident but he didn?t really do them any good. He said
that he couldn?t determine who had fired the shell at the market place.
There was however a document produced by one of Maj. Thomas?s men, and
president Milosevic read it out, and it said that a 120mm mortar launcher
on wheels was seen at a location in Muslim held territory from which it
could have fired the deadly shell.
It was also borne out by Maj. Thomas that UNMO?s were permitted to investigate
in the Serbian territory immediately after the incident.
In spite of evidence that the Muslims shelled their own people or at least
in view of the lack of evidence that the Serbs did it; NATO used the Markale
Market incident as a justification to bomb the Bosnian Serbs.
Maj. Thomas also corroborated David Harland?s testimony about the Muslim
violation of the Mt. Igman agreement, when Muslim soldiers illegally took
over positions on Mt. Igman that were supposed to be occupied by UNPROFOR.
After Maj. Thomas withdrew, Merced Kucanin a Muslim police officer from
Sarajevo took the witness stand.
Kucanin alleged that the Serbs fired shells on a number of targets in Sarajevo,
and he proceeded to enumerate them.
He also testified about Jusuf Prazina, called Juka. Mr. Kucanin confirmed
that Juka was a criminal and that he commanded an armed unit, but Kucanin
insisted that it was OK since Juka was working for the police!
So the Sarajevo police put a convicted criminal in charge of an armed unit,
and this guy thinks it?s OK. What sort of police employs criminals? Apparently
it is the sort of police that our gallant witness worked for.
When President Milosevic asked whether or not the Sarajevo authorities
prevented the civilian population from leaving Sarajevo this guy?s answer
was that he didn?t know if they did or not. He didn?t know? A man who, by
then, had been a police officer for 10 years didn?t know?! Or is it that
he did know, but he didn?t want to admit that civilians were prohibited
from leaving, and so he said that he didn?t know?
President Milosevic has 30 more minutes to cross-examine Kucanin tomorrow.
After Kucanin, apparently the witnesses B-1524 and Franken will be heard
from.
=== 5 ===
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/smorg111303.htm
MILOSEVIC "TRIAL" SYNOPSIS: DUTCHBAT COMMANDER SAW NO EXECUTIONS IN SREBRENICA
www.slobodan-milosevic.org - November 13, 2003
Merced Kucanin finished his testimony today at the Hague Tribunal. As you
remember from yesterday Kucanin was a Sarajevo police officer who testified
about shelling and sniping in Sarajevo.
He testified today about a certain Milo Vaselovic who had been shot by
a sniper in Sarajevo. Vaselovic was a Serb, and Kucanin testified that
he had been shot by Vojislav Seselj. He didn?t do any ballistic analysis
on the corpse or anything like that but he saw Seselj on Television that
night and so he concluded that Seselj must have been the gunman?impeccable
logic indeed.
Kucanin also retracted his previous assertion that he didn?t know if civilians
could leave Sarajevo or not. Today he confirmed that civilians were not
allowed to leave the city. He said that there was only one way out and
that a pass, issued by the B-H Interior Ministry, was required in order
to leave the city. He also confirmed that very few people actually received
this pass. But he only admitted that people couldn?t leave the city when
confronted with the fact that his witness statement said that people couldn?t
leave.
Kucanin, when asked by President Milosevic, also confirmed that the first
victims of the war in Sarajevo were the members of a Serb wedding party
who were fired on and killed while en route to the Orthodox Church in Sarajevo.
The next witness to testify was Col. Robert Franken. Franken was a DutchBat
Major, and he was the deputy UNPROFOR commander in Srebrenica in July of
1995.
First of all I should say that Col. Franken said quite unequivocally that
he saw no evidence which would indicate that there was any political or
military cooperation between Belgrade and the VRS units that came into
Srebrenica when the enclave fell. The Dutch Government conducted an exhaustive
investigation into the alleged events at Srebrenica and drew the conclusion
in point 10 of their report that Belgrade had nothing to do with any of
the events in Srebrenica.
This evidence exonerates Slobodan Milosevic personally, but since the Serbs
are on trial as a group at the Hague and President Milosevic is their foremost
defender. President Milosevic is none the less endeavoring to prove the
truth about what happened at Srebrenica even though it is totally outside
the realm of possibility that he could in any way be connected to the events
there.
According to Col. Franken Srebrenica was supposed to be demilitarized.
However Franken said that the Muslims did not demilitarize, in fact he
says the Muslims even received weapons at the airport and UNPROFOR was
unable to stop them.
Col. Franken confirmed that the Muslims had a whole division of troops
stationed in Srebrenica. He testified that the 8th Operation Group was
there, and that it later became known as the 28th Infantry Division. The
28th Infantry Division consisted of the 280th Brigade, the 281st Brigade,
the 282nd Brigade, the 283rd Brigade, the 284th Brigade, a Mountain battalion,
9 sabotage groups and a reserve police force. At a given time the 28th
Division had over 4,000 men under arms, and Franken confirmed that every
man in Srebrenica was at the disposal of the 28th Division. There was also
a special unit that Srebrenica?s notorious Muslim war-lord Nasir Oric had
at his own personal disposal. The 28th Infantry Division, according to
Franken, was a poorly trained and poorly disciplined group.
Col. Franken testified that there was heavy fighting around Srebrenica.
He testified that thousands of members of the 28th Infantry Division tried
to break-out of the enclave across Serbian territory towards Tuzla, and
that they took massive casualties in the process.
Franken also testified that there was internal Muslim fighting among the
members of the 28th Infantry Division in Srebrenica and that casualties
were inflicted by the Muslims on each other over the course of that fighting.
Franken also confirmed that Muslim soldiers attempted to attack the eastern
flank of the VRS near Srebrenica and that they took heavy casualties during
that offensive.
President Milosevic asked the obvious question. He asked if the members
of the 28th Infantry Division who died during combat operations were being
counted as the victims of the alleged ?massacre? at Srebrenica. Col. Franken
didn?t know.
An important point to observe here is that Col. Franken testified that
none of the UN soldiers who were in Srebrenica at the critical time saw
any executions taking place. In fact the only casualties they saw were
of people who had been killed in the fighting. Again, none of the DutchBat
personnel who composed the UNPROFOR battalion in Srebrenica saw any executions
or mass-killings taking place there.
Col. Franken also testified that before the break-out operation that the
Muslim Soldiers in Srebrenica would launch attacks out of the enclave onto
the surrounding Serbian villages. To bear this out President Milosevic
cited examples such as the time when Visnica was attacked by Muslim troops
from Srebrenica and many Serbs were killed, and he cited the example when
Muslim soldiers attacked and killed a group of Serbian woodcutters who
were just cutting down trees in a forested area near Srebrenica, and of
course there are many more examples.
Col. Franken testified that the only ones to kill a UNPROFOR soldier in
Srebrenica were the Muslims. The VRS did not kill a single UNPROFOR soldier.
Col. Franken testified that the Muslims in Srebrenica would position themselves
near UNPROFOR observation posts and then open fire on the Serbs in order
to make the Serbs think that UNPROFOR was firing on them, with the ultimate
objective being for the Serbs to retaliate and shoot at the UNPROFOR observation
post.
Col. Franken recounted one occasion when Muslim soldiers in Srebrenica
stole some UNPROFOR uniforms, disguised themselves as UNPROFOR members,
approached a UN observation post and opened fire on the real UNPROFOR personnel
who were there.
Lt. Col. Ton Karremans was Col. Franken?s commanding officer and President
Milosevic read from a briefing paper that Karremans provided to Franken.
Karremans negotiated the evacuation of the civilian population from Srebrenica
with Ratko Mladic. It should also be noted here that it was Akashi?s idea
that Srebrenica should be evacuated.
From the briefing paper we can see that Mladic wanted the evacuation of
Srebrenica to be voluntary. Mladic explained that the refugees could stay
because he didn?t have any problems with civilians since they were not
to blame for anything.
It was Mladic?s position that the wounded, the elderly, and the women and
children should be evacuated first. Mladic also wanted the Red Cross to
escort the refugees, according to the briefing paper.
Mladic wanted the men to be questioned before being allowed to leave, and
indeed men were questioned at a place near Potocari called the ?white house,?
an UNMO (UN Military Observer) was stationed at that location and saw as
many men leaving the white house as he saw going in.
President Milosevic?s cross-examination was cut short because of time restrictions
imposed by the so-called ?court.? Col. Franken was what the so-called ?tribunal?
calls a ?92-bis witness?. This means that a summary of his testimony is
read out by the prosecutor, followed by a very brief examination-in-chief.
President Milosevic then only has 1 hour for cross-examination. This practice
frequently means that President Milosevic is unable to fully cross-examine
important witnesses and that was again the case today.
After President Milosevic?s cross-examination, the Amicus Curiae Mr. Tapuskovic
was able to cross-examine Col. Franken for approximately 15 minutes.
Col. Franken told Mr. Tapuskovic that the Muslim forces inside of Srebrenica
were essentially using UNPROFOR as a cover for carrying out prohibited
military activities. In other words they were abusing the safe area.
Mr. Tapuskovic then embarked on an interesting line of questioning that
I feel needs to be explored much further.
One of Col. Franken?s subordinates named Van Duyn had testified at another
trial, I believe Tapuskovic said that it was at Obrenovic?s trial, but
I?m not sure. I?ll have to go back and look at the tape when it is available.
Apparently, this Van Duyn testified in that trial that the UNPROFOR battalion
in Srebrenica had been ordered to fire on Serbian artillery positions that
were just minding their own business on the mountain tops some 10 to 15
kilometers away from the enclave.
The objective was apparently to induce the Serbs to attack the enclave
itself and thereby provide a justification for NATO air strikes. Or could
the objective have been to suck the Serbs into the enclave so that they
could be accused of perpetrating a massacre there later on?
Unfortunately, Mr. Nice intervened, questioning the relevance, and Tapuskovic?s
cross-examination was abruptly ended.
After Col. Franken was finished with his testimony a secret witness called
?B-1524? was called to testify. B-1524 was allegedly a Serb from Zvornik
that the SDA had recruited to spy on the SDS. B-1524 was also allegedly
taken prisoner by Arkan.
B-1524?s cross-examination will take place next Tuesday.
__________________________________________________________________
Tiscali ADSL SENZA CANONE, paghi solo quando navighi!
E in più il modem e' GRATIS! Abbonati subito.
http://point.tiscali.it/adsl/index.shtml
1. LORD OWEN TESTIFIES AT THE MILOSEVIC "TRIAL" - November 5, 2003
2. DAVID HARLAND CONCLUDES HIS TESTIMONY AT THE MILOSEVIC "TRIAL" - November
6, 2003
3. MILOSEVIC "TRIAL" SYNOPSIS: NOVEMBER 11, 2003
4. MILOSEVIC "TRIAL" SYNOPSIS: NOVEMBER 12, 2003
5. DUTCHBAT COMMANDER SAW NO EXECUTIONS IN SREBRENICA - November 13, 2003
=== 1 ===
SYNOPSIS: LORD OWEN TESTIFIES AT THE MILOSEVIC "TRIAL"
www.slobodan-milosevic.org - November 5, 2003
Written by: Andy Wilcoxson
Lord David Owen, former chief negotiator of the European Union, and author
of the book ?Balkan Odyssey? testified at the so-called ?trial? of Slobodan
Milosevic on Monday and Tuesday of this week.
Lord Owen did not testify as a prosecution witness, in fact he refused
to testify as a prosecution witness, rather he testified simply as a witness
for the court.
He was examined first by Mr. Nice, then by President Milosevic, and finally
by the Amicus Curiae Mr. Kay.
Lord Owen as the E.U.?s chief negotiator was in frequent contact with Milosevic,
and he believed that President Milosevic was totally committed to the Vance-Owen
plan. Owen also said that President Milosevic insisted on a solution that
was equal to all three sides.
Owen testified that President Milosevic supported various peace plans.
For example President Milosevic supported: the Cutileiro plan in March
of 1992, the Vance-Owen plan in May of 1993, the Owen-Stoltenberg plan
(a.k.a. the ?invincible plan?) in September of 1993, the European Union
Action plan in December of 1993, the Contact Group plan in July of 1994,
and ultimately the Dayton peace plan in 1995.
Lord Owen also testified that President Milosevic entreated the Bosnian
Serb leadership to accept all of these plans. Owen also confirmed that
without the contribution of Serbia, and President Milosevic in particular
that Dayton never would have happened. In fact it was Slobodan Milosevic
who cast the deciding vote for peace at Dayton.
According to Owen the Bosnian Serb leadership was not a pack of mindless
automatons operating at the whim and will of Milosevic. First of all the
politics were different in Pale than in Belgrade, for example Slobodan
Milosevic is a communist and Radovan Karadzic is not a communist.
Indeed the Bosnian Serbs acted against the will of President Milosevic
when the Republika Srpska Assembly rejected the Vance-Owen plan, and also
the Contact Group plan. Lord Owen confirmed that President Milosevic traveled
to Pale and did everything he could, short of using force, to convince
the Bosnian Serbs to accept the Vance-Owen plan. And according to Owen
this episode damaged Milosevic politically and significantly reduced what
influence he did have in Pale.
According to Lord Owen, President Milosevic was ?very helpful? in the peace
negotiations. Owen explained that President Milosevic would use logic and
put forward arguments to try and influence the decisions made by Pale,
but that he would acquiesce and tell them that at the end of the day it
was up to them to decide what course they would take. This was Owen?s main
problem with Milosevic. Owen considered that Milosevic should have used
force with the Bosnian Serbs, and forced them to accept his point of view.
This is a rather dramatic blow to the prosecution?s case. Here is one of
the highest international officials to be on the scene in Bosnia during
the war and he is upset with Milosevic, because Milosevic *did not* control
the Bosnian Serb leadership.
Not only did Milosevic *not* control the Bosnian Serb leadership, but he
also did *not* control the Krajina Serb leadership. Owen had a low opinion
of Milan Martic, and explained that he saw on numerous occasions that Slobodan
Milosevic would also be frustrated and angry with Mr. Martic. It has been
said in the past that Milosevic controlled Martic. Owen?s account blows
that idea to pieces. Why would Milosevic be frustrated and angry with somebody,
if he was the one controlling them?
Owen considered that Milosevic was somewhat afraid of his nationalistic
political opposition in Belgrade; namely Seselj and Draskovic. If we follow
Lord Owen?s position then perhaps we can see what would have been done
to Milosevic if he had attempted to use force against the Serbs in Bosnia.
I emphasize that this is just hypothetical because Slobodan Milosevic would
never have used force against the Bosnian Serbs in the first place. The
point of this hypothesis is to demonstrate that even if he had wanted to,
President Milosevic could not have used force against the Bosnian Serbs,
because he would have been overthrown if he had tried.
President Milosevic did of course exert pressure; he blockaded the Drina
River when the Bosnian Serbs did not adopt the Contact Group plan.
Owen explained to a disappointed Mr. Nice that Slobodan Milosevic is not
a racist, and never was a racist. According to Owen, President Milosevic,
and his wife Mira Markovic are repulsed by ethnic racism. Owen said that
the ethnic make-up of Serbia proves that President Milosevic is not now,
and never has been a racist. As Owen explained there are Muslims, Croats,
and people of all ethnicities who lived and are still living freely in
Serbia. Indeed, Serbia is the most ethnically mixed part of the Balkan
Peninsula.
As for this business of a so-called ?greater Serbia? plan. According to
Owen, Milosevic was reconciled with the idea that Krajina Serbs would live
in Croatia, and Bosnian Serbs would live in Bosnia.
Owen said that he didn?t know what Milosevic?s position on ?greater Serbia?
was before he got there, so Milosevic reminded him of the fact that he
had supported both the Cutileiro plan and the Vance Plan. With that Owen
admitted that President Milosevic?s support for the plans indicated that
he never had any ideas about creating any ?greater Serbia.?
A document was exhibited in ?court? that was signed both by Slobodan Milosevic
and Franjo Tudjman. The document denied that the so-called ?Karadjordjevo
meeting? had ever taken place. According to the document, the two men had
never had any plan or conspiracy to divide Bosnia up between the two of
them, and indeed Owen confirmed that President Milosevic had never said
that he wanted even an inch of territory in Bosnia. But Owen said that
Tudjman openly claimed Herzeg-Bosna as Croatian territory and openly sent
troops into Bosnia from Croatia.
To completely and totally refute this ?greater Serbia? propaganda President
Milosevic presented the 1992 declaration of the FRY government stating
that the FRY made no territorial claims on any of the former SFRY republics.
Lord Owen denounced the so-called ?safe-areas? (Srebrenica, Zepa, Gorazde,
etc?) as a scam and a farce. The UN had inadequate troops and resources
to protect them, and the Muslims refused to demilitarize the safe areas
and indeed carried out attacks from them. The whole thing was a joke.
When President Milosevic examined Lord Owen one of the first things that
was established was that Belgrade did *not* control the VRS.
To drive the point home President Milosevic showed a report written by
former UN Secretary General, Butros Butros Ghali (exhibit D-91) to Lord
Owen. The report was dated 30 May 1992, and stated in no uncertain terms
that the VRS was not under the control of Belgrade.
The report said that the VRS was formed out of the JNA troops who were
originally from Bosnia-Herzegovina.
The report stated that on 4 May 1992 Belgrade authorities ordered the evacuation
of the JNA from Bosnia and that on 18 May 1992 all JNA personnel who were
not originally from Bosnia-Herzegovina were withdrawn from Bosnia Herzegovina,
except in limited cases when hostile forces prevented the JNA?s immediate
withdrawal, by measures such as the blockading of barracks.
Owen stated that he believed the Secretary General?s report to be accurate.
President Milosevic then noted that in spite of the Secretary General?s
report, which clearly placed the VRS outside of Belgrade?s control that
in spite of that on the same day as the report was issued that the Security
Council imposed sanctions on the FRY.
President Milosevic claimed that there was no aggression against Bosnia-Herzegovina
that it was a civil war, and to any normal person this can clearly be seen.
Slobodan Milosevic said that the JNA did not occupy Bosnia. The JNA had
always been in Bosnia, because Bosnia was part of Yugoslavia, and the JNA
was Yugoslavia?s national army. Lord Owen agreed.
Slobodan Milosevic observed that the Bosnian-Serbs were not occupying Bosnia.
They had always lived there, and that the VRS was made-up of Bosnian-Serbs,
and again Lord Owen agreed.
President Milosevic said that since there was no occupation, and the fighting
was between the people who lived in Bosnia then the war was a civil war
and not a war of aggression. Lord Owen disagreed.
The bottom line according to Owen was that Bosnia was the UN Security Council?s
creation. Owen had to explain that the UN Security Council had recognized
Bosnia as an independent country, and that it had recognized Alija Izetbegovic?s
government as the legitimate government. Therefore, anybody who was at
war with Izetbegovic and his regime was technically engaged in aggression,
even if they did live in Bosnia.
It is interesting to note here that in the beginning everybody supported
keeping Yugoslavia as one united country. The EC, the OSCE, and the United
States all initially supported keeping Yugoslavia as one united country.
Lord Owen indicated that this all changed when Clinton took office.
In the opinion of Lord Owen it would have been better had the SFRY not
dissolved. He said that the recognition of Bosnia was premature, and was
a catastrophic mistake. Lord Owen also said that Cyrus Vance shared his
opinion and viewed the premature recognition as being an absolute scandal,
and a tragic mistake.
The premature recognition of the secessionist Yugoslav republics was scandalous.
President Milosevic read out a quote from Lord Carrington in which it states
that they were near reaching a political solution with Croatia regarding
Slavonia and Krajina, but that the premature recognition of Croatia toppled
the peace process. Carrington considered that the recognition was ?a treacherous
act? by the Security Council.
As for the allegations that Serbia was arming the Bosnian Serbs, Owen said
that he had no proof of that. According to Owen the Bosnian Serbs had the
ability to produce their own weapons and their own ammunition.
Lord Owen spoke of the roll that the Washington D.C. based public relations
firm Ruder-Finn played on behalf of the Muslims and Croats. How Ruder-Finn
would pay people to write editorials and letters to the editor, how Ruder-Finn
would arrange for Western journalists and politicians to speak with Muslim
and Croat officials.
According to Lord Owen, Ejup Ganic was the mastermind behind Muslim propaganda.
Owen said that the strategy of the Muslim propaganda was to portray themselves
as the victims in the hopes that the United States would intervene on their
side militarily.
Indeed Owen confirmed that Ganic used all means to achieve his goals. He
even said that Ganic preferred to have Sarajevo under siege.
Owen also confirmed that Milosevic wanted the siege stopped. In fact Owen
acknowledged that President Milosevic wanted to send the International
Red Cross into Bosnia. So here we have Milosevic who wants to stop the
siege and bring in the Red Cross, and Ganic who wants the war to continue
because it helps him in his drive to portray the Muslims as the victims.
While there is no doubt that President Milosevic wanted peace. The United
States and the Clinton Administration in particular are a different story.
According to Lord Owen the United States was hostile to the Vance-Owen
Peace plan, and to the peace process in general. The United States would
encourage the Muslims to make absurd demands in order to derail the peace
process.
Lord Owen confirmed that the United States was pro-Croat. President Milosevic
read out a quote from Stoltenberg where he said that Tudjman was preparing
an offensive with the approval of the White House, and this was during
a cease fire when nobody was supposed to be mounting offensives. Of course
everybody knows, and it was confirmed by Lord Owen that the biggest ethnic
cleansing operation in all of those Balkan wars was the "operation storm"
that was perpetrated by Croatia against the Krajina Serbs.
All in all the testimony of Lord Owen was very interesting, and rather
educational. For the record I note that the full text of the Cutileiro
plan was exhibited, and its exhibit number is D-209.
The main thing that was established by Lord Owen?s testimony is that President
Slobodan Milosevic is a man of peace. The prosecution is almost finished
presenting its case and it is clearer now than it ever has been that Slobodan
Milosevic is not a war criminal. After seeing the prosecution?s total lack
of evidence, and after observing the underhanded tactics that they employ
all I can say is: Congratulations Ms. del Ponte! If you wanted to convince
me that Slobodan Milosevic is a hero then you?ve certainly been successful.
=== 2 ===
SYNOPSIS: DAVID HARLAND CONCLUDES HIS TESTIMONY AT THE MILOSEVIC "TRIAL"
www.slobodan-milosevic.org - November 6, 2003
David Harland, the United Nations civil and political affairs officer in
Sarajevo was recalled at the ?trial? of Slobodan Milosevic on Wednesday.
Mr. Harland was the longest serving UN official in Bosnia. He had originally
begun his testimony on September 18th. He returned on Wednesday to complete
his cross examination.
First of all, here is a summary of Harland?s September 18th appearance
at the ?Tribunal.?
While speaking of ethnic cleansing, Mr. Harland confirmed that Radovan
Karadzic never challenged the rights of non-Serbs to live on Bosnian Serb
territory.
Harland did, however, confirm that ethnic cleansing did take place, and
that all three sides were guilty of perpetrating that crime.
Harland also affirmed that President Milosevic supported the Vance-Owen
plan, and that his goal and the goal of Serbia was ?for the Serb people
to be free and equal, not more, not less than that.?
President Milosevic?s words at the Bosnian Serb assembly in Pale confirm
that his aim in supporting the Vance-Owen plan was equality. President
Milosevic said in his speech to the Bosnian Serb Assembly that "With this
plan, the Serb people have restored their right to be treated equally as
a constituent nation and with this plan its fate will be in its hands,
as it will be in the hands of the other two peoples on an equal footing
and in freedom."
Harland tried to say that the Bosnian Serbs wanted 70% of Bosnia for themselves,
and so President Milosevic pointed out that the Bosnian Serbs had agreed
to the Cutileiro Plan and also to the Contact Group plan, and that neither
one of those plans envisioned 70% of the territory for the Serbs. Harland
then admitted that it was correct that the Bosnian Serbs had accepted those
plans and that neither of those plans called for 70% to go to the Serbs.
President Milosevic observed, and Harland grudgingly confirmed that Radovan
Karadzic was constantly trying to bring the Muslims to the negotiating
table.
When President Milosevic asked what goals that the Bosnian Muslims had
Mr. Harland said, ?I think that there was one group which felt that the
Muslims are the largest community in Bosnia and Herzegovina and therefore
they had an interest in keeping Bosnia and Herzegovina together as a single
state in which they would not be threatened in any way because they would
be almost a majority. And, in fact, of course there is -- there is language
in Mr. Izetbegovic's Islamic declaration which refers to the -- the role
that will be played by a Muslim community once they become a majority in
a -- in a given country.?
President Milosevic observed the contents of Izetbegovic?s Islamic Declaration
in which it says that "there can be neither peace nor coexistence between
the Islamic faith and non-Islamic social and political institutions" and
"the Islamic movement must and can, take over political power as soon as
it is morally and numerically so strong that it can not only destroy the
existing non-Islamic power, but also to build up a new Islamic one?.
In connection with what is stated in the Islamic Declaration of Alija Izetbegovic,
President Milosevic asked the following question of Mr. Harland: ?Do you
then consider that the Serbs could have accepted a state conceived along
those lines, the Serbs which had until then lived as a nation on a footing
of equality with everybody else in the area? Could they have accepted that??
Harland didn?t answer the question. Instead he decided to make accusations
against the Serbs because he realized that the Bosnian war was the Muslims
fault and he wasn?t ready to admit that. By then it was 1:45 and the September
18th session ended.
When Harland returned to finish his cross-examination last Wednesday president
Milosevic showed him an ethnic map of Sarajevo based on the 1981 census,
and it was observed that the Serbs did not ?occupy? Sarajevo. It could
be clearly seen on the map that the Serbs were indigenous to Sarajevo,
and Harland confirmed that the VRS positions around Sarajevo roughly confirmed
to the territory that the Serbs were shown to be living on already by the
1981 census.
It was also confirmed by Mr. Harland that the 40,000 Serb civilians who
were trapped behind Muslim lines in Sarajevo were not allowed to leave
the theatre of combat. It was observed that it is a serious violation of
international law to hold a civilian inside of a combat area against their
will.
President Milosevic brought up the Mt. Igman agreement. In the agreement
Ravovan Karadzic agreed to withdraw VRS troops from Mt. Igman and handover
control of 13 checkpoints to UNPROFOR.
Harland confirmed that Karadzic had indeed made this agreement in order
to get the Muslims to come to the negotiating table.
But what happened after Karadzic withdrew the VRS from Mt. Igman and the
13 checkpoints was that the Muslims moved in and took all of that over.
The agreement was for UNPROFOR to take over Mt. Igman and the 13 checkpoints,
but the Muslims violated the agreement and took it over for themselves.
Mr. Harland was in an unenviable position. He clearly wanted to attribute
all of the blame to the Bosnian Serbs, but Slobodan Milosevic kept on bringing
up facts that demonstrated that the Muslims were the ones who were prolonging
the war, by violating ceasefires and refusing to negotiate a political
settlement, and Harland had no option but to confirm those facts.
The Muslim side frequently and most often violated cease-fire agreements.
In fact had Harland had to admit that the Muslims violated 514 of the cease-fire
agreements that they had entered into with the Bosnian Serbs.
Harland also had to admit that the UNPROFOR Commander, General Michael
Rose, felt that the Muslim policy of violating cease-fires came from Izetbegovic?s
vice-president, Ejup Ganic.
Amazingly Harland tried to defend the Muslim policy of violating cease-fires.
According to Harland it was understandable for the Muslims to violate the
cease-fire because they didn?t want to freeze the confrontation lines.
In other words the Muslims wanted to prolong the war, and didn?t want a
cease-fire at all. They just wanted to exploit the good will of the Serbs
and use the ?cease-fires? as an opportunity to regroup and launch fresh
offensives in order to move the confrontation lines.
Another Muslim policy that Harland defended was their militarization of
the so-called ?safe areas.? Harland pointed out that the UNSC Resolutions
that created the ?safe areas? enshrined the rights of the Muslims to keep
arms there.
The ?safe area? idea has got to be one of the dumbest things that the UN
Security Council has ever come-up with, right behind the Hague Tribunal.
The Security Council prohibited one side from attacking the so-called ?safe
area,? while simultaneously allowing the other side to militarize the ?safe
area? and launch attacks out from it.
Harland also had to admit that he was aware of General Rose?s reports which
stated that the Muslims were firing mortars on their own people from a
mobile launcher and that they were carrying-out sniper attacks against
their own people for propaganda purposes.
Harland himself confirmed that most of the Serbian shelling of Sarajevo
was done in retaliation. Harland admitted that the Muslim strategy in Sarajevo
was to fire shells at the Serbs from built-up civilian areas in hopes of
provoking a Serb response that would be filmed by the media and presented
to the world as some sort of ?Serb aggression?.
He recounted one example when the Muslims fired mortars on Serbian artillery
positions from the Kasova Hospital. Obviously the objective here was to
get the Serbs to shell the position that the fire on them was emanating
from ? the hospital.
The Markale Market massacre was brought up and Slobodan Milosevic had the
UN report on the incident and it stated that the shell that fell on the
market was fired from a range of less than 2,000 meters, which means that
the shell came from inside - not outside of Muslim the lines.
In addition to killing their own people for propaganda, the B-H Army killed
for the purposes of ethnic cleansing. Harland recounted how the 5th Corps
of the B-H Army attacked the Serbs in Western Bosnia.
Harland did his best to try and help the prosecution, but he failed. In
a final blow to the prosecutor?s case Harland said that the Bosnian Serb
leadership in Pale was angry with Milosevic because he refused to provide
them with troops. At the same time Harland said that Croatia was openly
sending uniformed regular army troops into Bosnia.
Another witness was also heard on Wednesday. The secret witness B-1531,
who continued his testimony from Tuesday, concluded his testimony. Unfortunately,
because of the extensive use of private sessions, and the extensive use
of Rule 89(F) by the prosecutor I have no idea what he was getting on about.
B-1531 was appointed to some anonymous high office in Foca by the SDA,
and he was apparently somebody close to the B-H Defense Minister, Hassan
Chengic. Other than that I don?t know anything about him.
=== 3 ===
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/smorg111103.htm
MILOSEVIC "TRIAL" SYNOPSIS: NOVEMBER 11, 2003
www.slobodan-milosevic.org - November 11, 2003
Robert Donia, a so-called expert witness, returned to finish his cross-examination
today. Mr. Donia first testified on September 12, 2003 [http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/smorg091203.htm%5d.
Mr. Donia examined transcripts taken from the Republika Srpska assembly,
and then ?interpreted them? for the ?court.?
The most important thing that Mr. Donia analyzed was two speeches that
President Milosevic gave to the Republika Srpska assembly to convince
the Bosnian-Serbs to accept the Vance-Owen peace plan. To illustrate
the quality of Donia?s so-called ?analysis? I will re-publish the text
from President Milosevic?s two speeches and then I will tell you what
conclusions that Donia drew from them:
///START FIRST SPEECH///
Let me say straight away that I consider that there's no alternative
to a decision in favor of peace, a decision for peace and for the reinforcement
of the signature put by Radovan Karadzic in Athens is in the interest
of the Serbian people in Republika Srpska and in the interest of the
whole Serbian people. The basic issue which has been raised from the
very beginning - and we have jointly defined what the aim of the Serbian
people in the Balkans is - I would say quite briefly the aim of the Serbian
people in the Balkans has been and remains to be free and equal.
The offered proposal, in my opinion, for that very reason for the Serb
people to be free and equal should be viewed from the standpoint to what
extent that freedom and equality is ensured through such an approach.
In the provinces which will not be under the control of the Serb authorities
and there are still Serbs living there, it is explicitly stated that
access will be denied to the HVO and Green Berets and that they will
be accessed only by the UN, which means that they will provide a security
zone which will make it possible for no one to have to leave their homes,
which means that that freedom is guaranteed and a condition that has
been achieved in the proposed solution, but it also means that this is
a freedom that the Serbian people in Bosnia have won for themselves.
The plan also restores the status of a constituent people. You remember
well that the conflict started when the rights of the Serbian people
as a constituent people in Bosnia and Herzegovina were trampled upon,
when decisions started to be made without consulting them and without
their participation and against their will. This solution, the Vance-Owen
Plan, envisages such equality in rights so that the Serbian people in
BH can be said to have restored their position of a constituent people
through their struggle.
Therefore, it is fully and equally in the hands of the Serbian people,
as in the hands of other peoples. They have the right and ability to
make decisions that decisively affect their destiny.
If that main issue and main goal of the Serbian people in the Balkans,
that is, to be free and equal, is assessed from the standpoint of the
solutions offered, then we see that it has restored freedom and equality
and that after the struggle whereby it has won that freedom and equality,
it can decide not to reject its remaining demands but to try and address
those requests through peace and not war, at a conference table, through
political negotiations, and not by sacrificing more victims. Every sacrifice
has a justification if it achieves goals, but it has no justification
if the solution offered guarantees freedom and equality.
Let me tell you in the end, don't tell us that you feel abandoned; we
shared all your worries throughout this period. Not only did we worry
for you, but we assisted you at the expense and sacrifice by 10 million
Serbs.
///END FIRST SPEECH///
[Note: Between these two speeches R.S. MP's made their own speeches and
debated whether or not to accept the plan.]
///START SECOND SPEECH///
I will try very briefly, but with the highest possible degree of responsibility
to say a few words. But before doing that, I wish to convey to you my
impressions. You spoke openly and from the heart. Most of what you said
related to the cruelties and injustices of war. In the Serbian people,
throughout their history, unfortunately there is too -- there are too
many truthful testimonies of the horrors of war. However, all that we heard
today regarding the testimony and the horrors of war, all of this can
be formed into one single argument and a single statement and message,
that the war should cease as soon as possible, that the war should cease
immediately.
However, let me go back to the question we are addressing today. The
question is not how much horrors -- how many horrors there were in this
war. This people has felt this on their own shoulders throughout their
history. The question today is whether we should consolidate what has
been achieved and through a peaceful process, under conditions of security,
achieve what remains to be done, what we call "outstanding matters."
There were many outstanding issues, but the plan envisaged that those
problems be addressed in negotiations.
So whether we should seek to address what we call 'outstanding problems'
through negotiation or should we destroy what has been achieved at the
expense of enormous sacrifice. That is the real issue that this Assembly
should decide. So the question, when talking about the plan, is not whether
we are departing from our goals. Of course not.
The question is whether that plan represents the path towards the ultimate
goal. The plan is not the final fulfillment of the justified demands
of the Serbian people, but it certainly represents the path towards the
ultimate goal. But now we must make much more effort through our wisdom
and less bloodshed. I think that should be an advantage, not a disadvantage.
And this Assembly must have the courage and self-confidence under these
circumstances on the basis of the plan, which must -- which is a sufficient
basis to achieve our goal, rather than committing a tragic error which
will cruelly cut across or put an obstacle on the way to success.
Will the Assembly opt for a reasonable or an unreasonable path? I think
no one needs to persuade this Assembly about. I think peace is the reasonable,
the sensible way. On the contrary, if the slogan is spread about that
the Serbs don't want peace, that could only justify crimes against the
Serbs, and this is something you should bear in mind. When the road towards
peace is being opened, you must explain to the people that they -- why
should they sacrifice their lives in even crueller ways up to now? You
cannot explain the reasons to the Serbian people in Bosnia or in Serbia.
And let me say finally, one must sacrifice everything for the people
except the people. You cannot sacrifice the people. You do not have the
right to do that as an Assembly or as anyone else.
///END SECOND SPEECH///
President Milosevic stated quite unequivocally that there was no alternative
to peace, that the war had to end immediately, that the aim is for the
Serbian people in the Balkans is to be free and equal, and that their
destiny will be in their hands, as it is in the hands of the other two
peoples if they accept the Vance-Owen plan, and that things should be
resolved by consensus and through negotiations.
Anybody with a brain can easily understand what President Milosevic was
saying. Donia, on the other hand, claimed that with those two speeches
President Milosevic was advocating ?greater Serbia? and that he wasn?t
seriously endorsing the Vance-Owen plan.
When Lord Owen testified he said quite unequivocally that Milosevic did
seriously endorse the Vance-Owen peace plan, so who are we to believe?
Should we believe Lord Owen who was one of the chief negotiators for
whom the plan was named? Or should we believe some jerk who was working
for Merrill-Lynch at the time?
This was typical for the quality of Donia?s analysis. The basic premise
that Donia operated on was that Serbs are an evil scheming bunch who
always mean the opposite of what they are actually saying.
Mr. Donia considered that eventhough the term ?greater Serbia? never
appeared in any of the transcripts that ?greater Serbia? was exactly what
the Serbs were trying to accomplish.
Mr. Donia only selectively analyzed RS assembly sessions, he didn?t even
look at any of the documents issued by the assembly, and he selectively
took quotes out of their proper context in order to misrepresent them
so that they would fit his anti-Serb thesis.
On another occasion Radovan Karadzic was speaking about finding a political
solution to the situation in Gorazde. Karadzic said quite literally in
the transcript that ?not a single shot should be fired.? And Donia interpreted
this as meaning that Karadzic wanted to incite an armed conflict around
Gorazde.
Mr. Donia, who was working for Merrill-Lynch in New York at the time,
stated that he knew that VJ troops were in Bosnia even though none of the
transcripts he that ?analyzed? reflected such a thing. But when he was
asked about Croatian troops all of the sudden he wasn?t a military expert
and wasn?t competent to testify about such things as whose troops were
where.
Mr. Donia was quick to defend Warren Zimmerman, saying that Zimmerman
didn?t tell Izetbegovic to withdraw from the Cutliero plan. But when asked
about the Cutlitero plan all of the sudden Donia remembered that it was
outside of his mandate as a witness.
But because this so-called ?expert witness? brought bits and pieces of the
transcripts to the ?court? with him some interesting things were established.
During the cross-examination by the Amicus Mr. Tapuskovic it was proven
that Belgrade did not command the VRS. In the 39th session transcript
of the Republika Srpska assembly of March 1994 Radovan Karadzic says,
?I am responsible to the people, and the commanders are responsible to
me. I sign the orders.?
It was brought out by Mr. Tapuskovic that Dr. Karadzic signed military 7
directives. The 7th directive stipulated that the VRS should thwart
enemy war plans and prevent a breakthrough at Srebrenica. Donia, of course,
misinterpreted this as meaning that Karadzic ordered a massacre at Srebrenica.
It was also brought out during President Milosevic?s cross-examination of
Donia that according to the transcripts it was only by the grace of the
R.S. Assembly that UN troops were allowed to deploy in Srebrenica, Gorazde
and Zepa.
A 1993 speech of Karadzic?s was also read out where Karadzic is saying that
it is good that UNPROFOR is in Srebrenica because if the VRS had taken
it then there could have been ?blood to the knees? because of the revenge
that might have been taken by the soldiers who had had their families
massacred by Muslim troops who were attacking out from Srebrenica.
Karadzic said that it was actually in the Republika Srpska?s strategic
interest to stay out of Srebrenica, because a massacre there could jeopardize
the very existence of Republika Srpska. Therefore, it is quite unlikely
that Karadzic would order a massacre 2 years later, because he was certainly
aware of what the consequences would be if there was one.
After Donia withdrew the secret witness B-1097 was recalled to finish his
cross-examination. B-1097 had originally testified on July 25th.
B-1097 claimed to have been taken prisoner at the Karakaj Technical School
in Zvornik where a large number of Muslims were apparently killed.
B-1097 could not identify his captors, except as ?Serbs.? He couldn?t
say which unit they were from, and he didn?t see any executions.
After he got away from the technical school he went to Serbia. He lived
freely in Novi Sad. Nobody mistreated him in Serbia, and he was even
issued a passport by the FRY authorities.
B-1097 did have some interesting things to say about Zvornik. First of
all he admitted that the Muslim paramilitary formation known as the Patriotic
League was active there.
He also admitted, or should I say was forced to admit, that the Muslim
T.O. in Zvornik had threatened to blow-up the hydroelectric dam. At first
he tried to deny this. The Amicus Mr. Kay asked him 4 times if this had
happened and B-1097 never answered the question, and so Mr. Kay pointed-out
paragraph 7 of the whiteness?s own statement where it said that the Muslim
T.O. had threatened to blow-up the dam.
After B-1097 was done, another secret witness came along. B-1399 was
apparently a survivor of the Srebrenica massacre, and most of B-1399?s
testimony was dealt with in secret - in so-called ?closed session.?
From what could be gathered in open session it can be concluded that B-1097
is a liar. B-1097 claimed that Srebrenica had been demilitarized and
that only UNPROFOR had weapons. B-1097 stated unequivocally that no Muslims
in Srebrenica had any weapons, because UNPROFOR had taken them all away.
B-1097 also stated that no Muslim-led attacks had emanated from Srebrenica.
B-1097?s testimony here is in direct contradiction of the UNPROFOR commander
Rupert Smith?s testimony. According to Smith?s testimony on October 9,
2003 ?UNPROFOR was not tasked with demilitarizing Srebrenica.? and the
Muslim forces of the 28th Infantry Division were, ?conducting raids out
from Srebrenica into the Serb-held territory.?
B-1097 is scheduled to finish his cross-examination tomorrow.
=== 4 ===
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/smorg111203.htm
MILOSEVIC "TRIAL" SYNOPSIS: NOVEMBER 12, 2003
www.slobodan-milosevic.org - November 12, 2003
B-1399 Finished his testimony at the Hague Tribunal. He recounted the story
of how he allegedly survived execution at Srebrenica. He says that he was
part of a group of men, that he was blindfolded, and that the executioners
opened fire on the group. The corpses fell on top of him and the dead bodies
shielded him from further gunfire. He later crawled out from the pile of
corpses.
According to B-1399 armed men saw him escaping and opened fire on him as
he ran away, but they missed.
He recounted that while he was at the execution site he saw trucks bringing
Muslims for execution every 10 minutes.
B-1399 has given numerous statements about his alleged experience. The
first statements that he gave were in 1995 and 1997, and in those statements
no mention was made about trucks bringing in people to execute, nor was
any mention made of the ?fact? that B-1399 was shot at as he was fleeing.
We established yesterday that B-1399?s account of the military situation
in Srebrenica was in direct contradiction of the UNPROFOR commander Rupert
Smith?s testimony, and now we have B-1399 coming up with this new ?evidence?
8 years after the fact.
It was obvious that B-1399 was lying. When asked about discrepancies between
his testimony and his written statements he got very defensive. At one
point he snapped at the Amicus Curiae, Mr. Tapuskovic, and told him that
he should not ask those sorts of questions.
The next witness was the Canadian Major Roy F. Thomas. Maj. Thomas was
the senior UN Military Observer in Sarajevo for 9 months spanning 1993
and 1994.
During Maj. Thomas?s tenure he did not see any attacks by the Serbs on
Sarajevo, he claimed that the Serbs were in a holding pattern around the
city, and did not try to take it.
Under cross-examination from President Milosevic, Maj. Thomas spoke of
some of the underhanded strategies that the Muslims would employ.
For example, Maj. Thomas testified that there were occasions when the Muslim
soldiers would open fire on the Serbs from behind the UNPROFOR position
in order that the UNPROFOR soldiers would provide a sort of shield for
their attack.
Maj. Thomas corroborated the testimony of David Harland (United Nations
civil and political affairs officer in Sarajevo) that Muslim forces were
using the Kosevo Hospital as a mortar plate. The Muslims were firing mortars
at the Serbs from the hospital in order to provoke the Serbs into firing
on the hospital.
On another occasion Maj. Thomas recounted that Muslims opened fire from
the PTT building at Serb positions, with a view to getting the Serbs to
fire on the PTT building. At the time, the PTT building was the UN headquarters
in Sarajevo. The Muslims were trying to get the Serbs to shoot at the UN.
Maj. Thomas recounted yet another occasion when Muslims disguised themselves
as Bosnian-Serb soldiers and tried to kill the UNPROFOR commander. Fortunately
according to Maj. Thomas they weren?t smart enough to pull it off and got
caught. So here we have Muslims plotting to kill the UNPROFOR commander,
and engaging in a conspiracy to make it look like the Serbs did it.
The Muslims would not always wear military uniforms. According to Maj.
Thomas he, the Senior UN Military Observer, had no idea who was a soldier
and who was a civilian, and so he had no choice other than to regard all
able bodied men as soldiers.
Maj. Thomas spoke of one occasion when the 10th Mountain Brigade of the
B-H Army, led by the notorious criminal Musan Topalovic - Caco, captured
a group of UNPROFOR soldiers, and stole their equipment and their money.
According to Maj. Thomas the media did not portray a balanced view of sniping
incidents in Sarajevo. He said that all sides engaged in sniper activity.
He said that the main objective of the Muslim snipers was to provoke the
Serbs into abandoning cease-fires. As a case in point he gave an example
where Muslim snipers shot and killed 3 pregnant Serb women during a cease-fire,
and that the following day the Serbs shot at every Muslim soldier they
saw.
Maj. Thomas accompanied General Rose (UNPROFOR commander) to the negotiations
at the Sarajevo Airport. At those negotiations the Serb side, led by Ratko
Mladic, proposed a general cease-fire throughout Bosnia. The Muslims, on
the other hand, did not want a ceasefire.
Gen. Rose supported the cease-fire idea, because as he says in his book,
and as Maj. Thomas confirmed that he said at the time, only with a ceasefire
can negotiations take place, and a solution be found that can end the war.
None the less, after the negotiations failed, because the Muslims refused
to agree to a ceasefire; NATO proceeded to bomb the Bosnian Serbs.
I believe that the prosecution brought Maj. Thomas to testify about the
Markale Market incident but he didn?t really do them any good. He said
that he couldn?t determine who had fired the shell at the market place.
There was however a document produced by one of Maj. Thomas?s men, and
president Milosevic read it out, and it said that a 120mm mortar launcher
on wheels was seen at a location in Muslim held territory from which it
could have fired the deadly shell.
It was also borne out by Maj. Thomas that UNMO?s were permitted to investigate
in the Serbian territory immediately after the incident.
In spite of evidence that the Muslims shelled their own people or at least
in view of the lack of evidence that the Serbs did it; NATO used the Markale
Market incident as a justification to bomb the Bosnian Serbs.
Maj. Thomas also corroborated David Harland?s testimony about the Muslim
violation of the Mt. Igman agreement, when Muslim soldiers illegally took
over positions on Mt. Igman that were supposed to be occupied by UNPROFOR.
After Maj. Thomas withdrew, Merced Kucanin a Muslim police officer from
Sarajevo took the witness stand.
Kucanin alleged that the Serbs fired shells on a number of targets in Sarajevo,
and he proceeded to enumerate them.
He also testified about Jusuf Prazina, called Juka. Mr. Kucanin confirmed
that Juka was a criminal and that he commanded an armed unit, but Kucanin
insisted that it was OK since Juka was working for the police!
So the Sarajevo police put a convicted criminal in charge of an armed unit,
and this guy thinks it?s OK. What sort of police employs criminals? Apparently
it is the sort of police that our gallant witness worked for.
When President Milosevic asked whether or not the Sarajevo authorities
prevented the civilian population from leaving Sarajevo this guy?s answer
was that he didn?t know if they did or not. He didn?t know? A man who, by
then, had been a police officer for 10 years didn?t know?! Or is it that
he did know, but he didn?t want to admit that civilians were prohibited
from leaving, and so he said that he didn?t know?
President Milosevic has 30 more minutes to cross-examine Kucanin tomorrow.
After Kucanin, apparently the witnesses B-1524 and Franken will be heard
from.
=== 5 ===
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/smorg111303.htm
MILOSEVIC "TRIAL" SYNOPSIS: DUTCHBAT COMMANDER SAW NO EXECUTIONS IN SREBRENICA
www.slobodan-milosevic.org - November 13, 2003
Merced Kucanin finished his testimony today at the Hague Tribunal. As you
remember from yesterday Kucanin was a Sarajevo police officer who testified
about shelling and sniping in Sarajevo.
He testified today about a certain Milo Vaselovic who had been shot by
a sniper in Sarajevo. Vaselovic was a Serb, and Kucanin testified that
he had been shot by Vojislav Seselj. He didn?t do any ballistic analysis
on the corpse or anything like that but he saw Seselj on Television that
night and so he concluded that Seselj must have been the gunman?impeccable
logic indeed.
Kucanin also retracted his previous assertion that he didn?t know if civilians
could leave Sarajevo or not. Today he confirmed that civilians were not
allowed to leave the city. He said that there was only one way out and
that a pass, issued by the B-H Interior Ministry, was required in order
to leave the city. He also confirmed that very few people actually received
this pass. But he only admitted that people couldn?t leave the city when
confronted with the fact that his witness statement said that people couldn?t
leave.
Kucanin, when asked by President Milosevic, also confirmed that the first
victims of the war in Sarajevo were the members of a Serb wedding party
who were fired on and killed while en route to the Orthodox Church in Sarajevo.
The next witness to testify was Col. Robert Franken. Franken was a DutchBat
Major, and he was the deputy UNPROFOR commander in Srebrenica in July of
1995.
First of all I should say that Col. Franken said quite unequivocally that
he saw no evidence which would indicate that there was any political or
military cooperation between Belgrade and the VRS units that came into
Srebrenica when the enclave fell. The Dutch Government conducted an exhaustive
investigation into the alleged events at Srebrenica and drew the conclusion
in point 10 of their report that Belgrade had nothing to do with any of
the events in Srebrenica.
This evidence exonerates Slobodan Milosevic personally, but since the Serbs
are on trial as a group at the Hague and President Milosevic is their foremost
defender. President Milosevic is none the less endeavoring to prove the
truth about what happened at Srebrenica even though it is totally outside
the realm of possibility that he could in any way be connected to the events
there.
According to Col. Franken Srebrenica was supposed to be demilitarized.
However Franken said that the Muslims did not demilitarize, in fact he
says the Muslims even received weapons at the airport and UNPROFOR was
unable to stop them.
Col. Franken confirmed that the Muslims had a whole division of troops
stationed in Srebrenica. He testified that the 8th Operation Group was
there, and that it later became known as the 28th Infantry Division. The
28th Infantry Division consisted of the 280th Brigade, the 281st Brigade,
the 282nd Brigade, the 283rd Brigade, the 284th Brigade, a Mountain battalion,
9 sabotage groups and a reserve police force. At a given time the 28th
Division had over 4,000 men under arms, and Franken confirmed that every
man in Srebrenica was at the disposal of the 28th Division. There was also
a special unit that Srebrenica?s notorious Muslim war-lord Nasir Oric had
at his own personal disposal. The 28th Infantry Division, according to
Franken, was a poorly trained and poorly disciplined group.
Col. Franken testified that there was heavy fighting around Srebrenica.
He testified that thousands of members of the 28th Infantry Division tried
to break-out of the enclave across Serbian territory towards Tuzla, and
that they took massive casualties in the process.
Franken also testified that there was internal Muslim fighting among the
members of the 28th Infantry Division in Srebrenica and that casualties
were inflicted by the Muslims on each other over the course of that fighting.
Franken also confirmed that Muslim soldiers attempted to attack the eastern
flank of the VRS near Srebrenica and that they took heavy casualties during
that offensive.
President Milosevic asked the obvious question. He asked if the members
of the 28th Infantry Division who died during combat operations were being
counted as the victims of the alleged ?massacre? at Srebrenica. Col. Franken
didn?t know.
An important point to observe here is that Col. Franken testified that
none of the UN soldiers who were in Srebrenica at the critical time saw
any executions taking place. In fact the only casualties they saw were
of people who had been killed in the fighting. Again, none of the DutchBat
personnel who composed the UNPROFOR battalion in Srebrenica saw any executions
or mass-killings taking place there.
Col. Franken also testified that before the break-out operation that the
Muslim Soldiers in Srebrenica would launch attacks out of the enclave onto
the surrounding Serbian villages. To bear this out President Milosevic
cited examples such as the time when Visnica was attacked by Muslim troops
from Srebrenica and many Serbs were killed, and he cited the example when
Muslim soldiers attacked and killed a group of Serbian woodcutters who
were just cutting down trees in a forested area near Srebrenica, and of
course there are many more examples.
Col. Franken testified that the only ones to kill a UNPROFOR soldier in
Srebrenica were the Muslims. The VRS did not kill a single UNPROFOR soldier.
Col. Franken testified that the Muslims in Srebrenica would position themselves
near UNPROFOR observation posts and then open fire on the Serbs in order
to make the Serbs think that UNPROFOR was firing on them, with the ultimate
objective being for the Serbs to retaliate and shoot at the UNPROFOR observation
post.
Col. Franken recounted one occasion when Muslim soldiers in Srebrenica
stole some UNPROFOR uniforms, disguised themselves as UNPROFOR members,
approached a UN observation post and opened fire on the real UNPROFOR personnel
who were there.
Lt. Col. Ton Karremans was Col. Franken?s commanding officer and President
Milosevic read from a briefing paper that Karremans provided to Franken.
Karremans negotiated the evacuation of the civilian population from Srebrenica
with Ratko Mladic. It should also be noted here that it was Akashi?s idea
that Srebrenica should be evacuated.
From the briefing paper we can see that Mladic wanted the evacuation of
Srebrenica to be voluntary. Mladic explained that the refugees could stay
because he didn?t have any problems with civilians since they were not
to blame for anything.
It was Mladic?s position that the wounded, the elderly, and the women and
children should be evacuated first. Mladic also wanted the Red Cross to
escort the refugees, according to the briefing paper.
Mladic wanted the men to be questioned before being allowed to leave, and
indeed men were questioned at a place near Potocari called the ?white house,?
an UNMO (UN Military Observer) was stationed at that location and saw as
many men leaving the white house as he saw going in.
President Milosevic?s cross-examination was cut short because of time restrictions
imposed by the so-called ?court.? Col. Franken was what the so-called ?tribunal?
calls a ?92-bis witness?. This means that a summary of his testimony is
read out by the prosecutor, followed by a very brief examination-in-chief.
President Milosevic then only has 1 hour for cross-examination. This practice
frequently means that President Milosevic is unable to fully cross-examine
important witnesses and that was again the case today.
After President Milosevic?s cross-examination, the Amicus Curiae Mr. Tapuskovic
was able to cross-examine Col. Franken for approximately 15 minutes.
Col. Franken told Mr. Tapuskovic that the Muslim forces inside of Srebrenica
were essentially using UNPROFOR as a cover for carrying out prohibited
military activities. In other words they were abusing the safe area.
Mr. Tapuskovic then embarked on an interesting line of questioning that
I feel needs to be explored much further.
One of Col. Franken?s subordinates named Van Duyn had testified at another
trial, I believe Tapuskovic said that it was at Obrenovic?s trial, but
I?m not sure. I?ll have to go back and look at the tape when it is available.
Apparently, this Van Duyn testified in that trial that the UNPROFOR battalion
in Srebrenica had been ordered to fire on Serbian artillery positions that
were just minding their own business on the mountain tops some 10 to 15
kilometers away from the enclave.
The objective was apparently to induce the Serbs to attack the enclave
itself and thereby provide a justification for NATO air strikes. Or could
the objective have been to suck the Serbs into the enclave so that they
could be accused of perpetrating a massacre there later on?
Unfortunately, Mr. Nice intervened, questioning the relevance, and Tapuskovic?s
cross-examination was abruptly ended.
After Col. Franken was finished with his testimony a secret witness called
?B-1524? was called to testify. B-1524 was allegedly a Serb from Zvornik
that the SDA had recruited to spy on the SDS. B-1524 was also allegedly
taken prisoner by Arkan.
B-1524?s cross-examination will take place next Tuesday.
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