"THEATRE OF THE ABSURD"
Witness 9: Halit Barani
His testimony begins on page 1171
and continues into the next day .
Slobo begins his cross examination on page 1239
Holmes: Now , this guy got rave reviews in the MSM. He was a theatre director from Mitrovica
Watson: You mean he waxed lyrical like Shakespeare?
Holmes: Unfortunately not.Anyway The New York Times waxed and wooed "Albanian human rights activist Halit Barani says at Slobodan Milosevic's war crimes trial that he was on list of 66 Albanians who were to be killed by Serbs in Kosovo in 1999". However he was beaten to theatrical pulp by Slobo.
Watson: Was he pants?
Holmes: Yup. The usual nonsense. A complete lack of knowledge of KLA assassinations, torture, etc. Claims that contrdicted previous claims made by the same guy. He was different in that he produced three documents - I use the word "documents" in it's widest possible definition - As a taster, take a gander at this
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( 1262 )
President Milosevic: Do you know Salj Fehemi, commander of the Intervention Platoon of the KLA?
Witness: This is the first time that I've heard that name.
PM: I am asking you because he was located in Tamnik, and he was in charge of operations in Kosovska Mitrovica, and his house is right by the school called the 25th of May. It's sort of in your neighbourhood. It's impossible for you not to know him. Try to remember. Do you know him or not?
Witness: It's not true that he operated in Tavnik in uniform. It is also untrue that he is my neighbour because I know all my neighbours and people further off, too, but I've never heard this name, and I do not know him.
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Watson: I don't believe what I've just read.
Holmes: Yep, you read it straight. He claims no knowledge of a "Salj Fehemi", in fact it's the "first time he's heard of the name". President Milosevic says he must know him, it's simply impossible for him not to know him. So witness replies instantly about this guy - Mr Fehemi - the uniform he wore, or didn't wear, and then adds "I've never heard this name, and I do not know him"
Watson: That's class.
Holmes: Yup, even by the ICTY's lofty standards in Keystone Coppery. A large part of his testimony was divided into "Serb harrassment of Kosovo Albanians", three documents, one of which, he claimed was a "hit list" drawn up the Serb forces and the others were a list of Serb security personnel, with their addresses, the point of which he didn't elaboarte upon. BTW His definition of Serb paramilitary units is anyone who is a reservist, which essentially means every single male in Yugoslavia.
The Thespian and his Family
Holmes: Well, for starters, he admitted to links with the KLA
Watson: You mean the group who sell Semtex to the Real IRA, have links with Bin Laden and dominate the heroin industry in Europe?
Holmes: Yup.
The Oath of Loyalty
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( 1175 )
Witness: In 1990, 1991, the Serbian regime dismissed all the Albanians from their jobs forcibly, and they were forced to sign a statement in which Albanians had to declare that they recognised Serbia as their republic.
Question: Can you explain to us why it was you lost your job as a salesperson?
Witness: In order not to be forced to sign the declaration, I left my job of my own free will.
Question: Have you come to the Tribunal with a copy of the declaration that people were being asked to sign at the time?
Witness: Yes.
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Watson: So it does exist.
Holmes: Yup. You remember all those previous witnesses who spoke of this evil oath to the vile emperer, President Milosevic, and were promptly fired for not signing it? They were unable to show the court because they'd left it in Kosovo.
Watson: Ah! The hungry dog routine
Holmes: But our lad here, he's no fool, for he put it in his pocket BEFORE leaving for the ICTY.
Watson:That's smart that is.
Holmes:It says........
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( 1176 )
Prosecution Counsel: "By signing this declaration, I declare that I fully accept and will adhere to the decision on taking interim measures for the protection of self-government rights and public property in regards to employer of 30 Juli Medical Centre, basic organisation of associated labour, hospital service, basic organisation of associated labour, primary care work unit, joint service in Kosovska Mitrovica, reached at the People's Assembly of the Republic of Serbia at the session held on 24 October, 1991. I will also adhere to decisions taken by interim measures in all things. "I also declare that I accept that I will adhere to the provisions of the legal system of Republic of Serbia, and especially the law on employment under special circumstances, law on territorial organisation, law on the use of language and alphabet, and the other laws with regards to established territorial integrity and sovereignty of my Republic of Serbia where I live and work."Is that passage then followed by the note: "Unjustified failure to sign this statement implies liability pursuant to the provision of Article 8, paragraph 1, section 4 of the law on employment under special circumstances"?
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Watson: That's it?
Holmes: Yep, I kid you not, that's it.
Watson: All of it?
Holmes: Yup. Basically the workers have to abide by the laws of the country.
Watson: Sorry?
Holmes: Yup, that's it.
Watson: This is the so called oath they were forced to sign?
Holmes: Yup
Watson: What on Earth did the Kosovo Albanians expect to have to sign? A declaration whereby they'd obey the laws of Mongolia? Zanzibar?
Holmes: President Milosevic treats this with the contempt it deserves
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President Milosevic: Do you know that, in that medical organisation, everybody together, all the employees, Serbs, Albanians, took upon themselves the obligation to sign a declaration stating that they would carry out their work duties at the workplace?
Witness: Even if the Serb workers were offered this statement, they had the reason to sign it because they recognised Serbia as their own republic.
PM: So we have come to your main point now. This is, therefore, a declaration that is required by a hospital which is state owned; right?
Witness:It is state owned.
PM: In that declaration, it says that one should take upon the obligation that during working hours, working hours, "I shall abide by legal provisions, notably the law on labour relations."
Witness: But at the end, it writes that, "I recognise the Republic of Serbia as my own republic." This was why the Albanian staff refused to sign it, because they didn't consider it their own.
PM: It doesn't say here I admit or recognise or do not recognise something that is obvious. It says, "will abide by the regulations of the republic." "Abide by the regulations in their republic." Now, what is controversial about that?
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And
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( 1299 )
PM: "I also declare that during working hours, I shall abide by the provisions of system-based laws of the Republic of Serbia, notably the law on employment under specialcircumstances, law on territorial organisation, the law on the use of language and alphabet, and other laws that pertain to the established territorial integrity and sovereignty of my Republic of Serbia in which I live and work." Full stop. No more than that.
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Holmes: President Milosevic has to explain this to the court
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PM:Therefore, the republic, according to the Yugoslav Constitution and according to its own Constitution, is a state. It passes laws. There is not a single law that pertains only to Serbs or only to Albanians or only to Hungarians or only to Ruthenians, Romanians, Bulgarians, or anyone else for that matter. That is to say, laws that are passed by the republic - since you are legal people, you know this full well - they apply to all citizens, and this is an organisation per se that made --
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And finally
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PM: The question is: What's wrong with this document? What does the witness consider to be a problem in relation to this document?
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Holmes: The witness is from Mitrovica ( page 1172 ), he joined the Democratic League of Kosovo and became the chairman of a sub-branch for Mitrovica.
Watson: Anything else?
Holmes: He said he'd been arrested by the police 76 times and had "the police always interrogated me, and seven times I was seriously physically mistreated"
Watson: The poor chap. You heartless beast Slobo. I hope you rot in jail........Grrrrrrrrrrr!....( waves walking stick at a photo of Slobo ) ....I bet the photos of his beatings the witness showed the court must have produced gasps of horror at the suffering he went through.
Holmes: Erm. Not quite, in fact he he didn't show the court any injuries from being seriously physically mistreated, doctor's examinations etc
Watson: Gosh I wonder why
Holmes: Who knows? Certainly the prosecution move on pretty quickly. He goes on to tell the court of how the Serb authorities killed countless civilians, for no good reason. Of course it's nearly all hearsay, "bloke in the bar told me" kind of stuff.
He'd claimed that at a peaceful demo........
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( 1174 )
Witness:........on 27th of March, 1989, near the bus station in Mitrovica, five Albanians were killed and 24 were wounded and many were arrested by the Serbian police. They were killed by the Serbian police, by gunfire
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Also
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( 1179 )
Question: Very well. In 1998, were there some deaths of Albanians in villages in Mitrovica?
Question: Very well. In 1998, were there some deaths of Albanians in villages in Mitrovica?
Witness: On the 15th, 16th, and 17th of September, 1998, the Serbian police and army undertook an offensive in the villages of Shala near Mitrovica, when they killed 16 Albanians of both sexes and expelled many from their homes and partly burned 12 villages . Precisely at this place in Stanterk, four Albanians were killed. And in these other villages; six in Kacandoll, and single murders in othervillages.
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Holmes: Of course he introduces no video evidence, etc. to the court and Nice quickly moves on which speaks volumes.
Watson: The fact that Mr Nice QC moves on so quickly does perhaps speak volumes.
Holmes: Indeed
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( 1190 )
Witness: From 5th to 7th March, 1999, in the village of Prekaz i Poshtem in Skenderaj municipality, the Serbian police and army killed 58 Albanians from this village, 20 of them the members of the family of Shaban Jashari. At the same time, they burnt all the houses, and in the end, took away all the bodies to Pristina, returning them to Skenderaj after the 10th. I myself saw smoke. I saw tanks moving from the munitions factory towards the house of Shaban Murat Jashari and in the opposite direction. I also heard explosions and shots from various kinds of weapons.
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Watson: So he saw nothing except smoke and tanks moving hither and thither?
Holmes: Yes. Hither and thither.
Watson: So it's just more of the same silliness we've seen from nearly all the witnesses?
Holmes: Indeed. And....
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( 1991 )
Witness: On 13th March, at 2.30 in the afternoon, at the Mitrovica market, it was also Saturday, which is market day, the army or the police, we don't know which, threw three bombs in the middle of the market. On this occasion, seven people died and more than 90 were wounded, and it's possible that there were more, but I didn't have evidence about them all, but these I have their first and last names. And six of the wounded have remained either without both legs or without one legs -- or without one leg and are permanently disabled.
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Watson: But he's not even claiming to have been there, so it's the usual "a guy in the pub told me".
Holmes: Yup. Awful evidence: He also claimed that the Serb police killed a.........
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( 1191 )
Witness: ........Latif Berisha ( who ) was the chairman of the Democratic League of Kosova, its Mitrovica branch, and a Professor of the University of Pristina
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Watson: Sounds good stuff.
Watson: Sounds good stuff.
Holmes: Erm. Not really for note a couple of things. The first is he wasn't there - guy in the pub - and secondly, note that this victim was a professor in a university. But remember that the prosecution told us that Kosovo Albanians couldn't get any work.
Watson: Aaaaaah! Of course! The prosecution, MSM, everyone had been saying how no Kosovo Albanians could get any kind of top job and here we have a prosecution witness talking about Kosovo Albanians in top jobs. Next.
Holmes: That's right. His evidence is hearsay and it contradicts all the donkey poop about apartheid in Kosovo. On page 1193 he claimed the the Kosovo Albanians were told to leave Kosovo and head for Albania. Note he wasn't told to leave Kosovo and go to Albania, he said that other people said to him that they were........( blah blah blah )
Watson: Ah! it's the "bloke in the pub said" nonsense.
Holmes: Yup. We've had eight Kosovo Albanian witnesses so far and not one has claimed that the Serbs told him/her to go to Albania.
Watson: Such silliness.
Holmes: Hilariously he claimed that he........
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Witness:........ went to see if I could record or shoot some of the cases of the expulsions, but it was impossible because it was very dangerous, fire shots everywhere. I saw the army forcibly evicting the Albanians from their homes, and returned to my office and wrote a report, which I have it here with me, the original copy of that report that I submitted to the information outlets
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Watson: So he witnessed the expulsion but was unable to record it. Why couldn't record it too, if he was able to see these terrible events? After all he talked of having a camcorder and it would have been relatively easy to switch the infernal contraption on and point it in the directions of Serb naughtiness.
Holmes: Well noted. It's wretched stuff.
He, at last, claimed to have seen the Serb police murder some civilians in cold blood.
Watson: At last, he saw something. HURRAH! ........( breaks out the bottle of bubbly )
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( 1197 )
Witness: On the 27th of March, at 8.30, near the bus station in Mitrovica, in the Ilirida neighbourhood, three policemen, one of them known as -- called Tofil Voinovic, killed two Albanians; Hajdin Xhani, 72, and Rahim Voca, 52 years old. The first a resident of Tavnik and the second a resident of Bair. On the same day, at ten past three in the afternoon, near the Haxhi Veselis mosque, the Serbian police killed -- and two Serbian security inspectors killed two Albanians. One of them I don't know, and his identity is still unknown, and the other was Eset Behrami Hajrizi, age 52, a resident of the Ilirida neighbourhood. There was the policeman Ratko Antonievic, and the policeman Dejan, and also the security service inspectors Dragan Djuric and Zarko Kosovac. And there were other policemen but I didn't know them.
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He claimed that the police burned down a house but was forced to admit that he........
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( 1201 )
Witness:........only saw the smoke, and I don't know who entered the house and burnt it. I merely saw the first house that had been burnt, the house and the restaurant. And the same team had gone off on the road and, at that moment, smoke emerged from Bislim Jashari's house.
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Watson: That's "the bloke in the pub told me" testimony
Holmes: Indeed. And the tortoise excrement continues
for example he claimed that........
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( 1201 )
Witness:........on the 28th of March, in the afternoon, I myself did not see it, but four Serbs entered the yard of the house of the -- of Alushi, where they killed his two sons, his brother, and his nephew, who were fixing a car and a tractor. This happened in the village of Sohidoll i Poshtem, near Mitrovica."
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And
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Witness: Looting and burning of houses and shops started on the 27th and went on until the end of May. We know that, beforehand, they would loot the shops and then set fire to them. Some I saw myself with my own eyes, and I told details to other people, but also in other cases, other people told me about them.
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Watson: But why didn't he record it. He'd spoken of having the equipment.
Holmes: Exactly. Of course he was unable to use his camera or video recorder to record any of this, we must just have to take his word for it, and later Slobo will show how much value should be placed on this witness's word.
Watson: Not a lot?
And again he witnesses the Serbs supposedly execute some Kosovo Albanians
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( 1213 )
Witness: On the 16th of April, at 10.30, in the Ura e Gjakut neighbourhood, nine young Albanians were taken out of the convoy, and they were taken out, identified by name, Momcilo Kokoric known as Mosa, and were handed over to the policemen who were there, and there was Ratko Antonievic and Dejan Savic, and the so-called local policeman Lulzim Ademi, and they pointed guns at them and put them in the yard of the house of Musa. ( I was ) between 50 to 70 metres away, in the burnt house of Shaban Shaqiri from the village of Lubavac. And then eight of these young Albanians were killed, and the ninth was wounded and managed to escape but was later arrested and nothing is known of his fate.They were taken out of the convoy by Momcilo Kokoric. And also present was Oliver Ivanovic as a paramilitary, and Lulzim Ademi, Ratko Antonievic, and Dejan Savic, and many other policemen, some of whom were masked, but I did not know them. When they put them in the yard of the of the house I mentioned, volleys of gunfire were heard, but I didn't see which of them did the shooting.
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Watson: So he's admitting he didn't see anything.
Holmes: Yup. He's actually lying when he claimed to have seen them being killed, he just heard gunshots.
Watson: Whoops-a-daisy.
Holmes: It's in fact the "bloke in the pub told me" argument.
Watson: How about some more "the bloke in the pub told me" evidence?
Holmes: Okey dokey.
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( 1203 )
Witness: On the 28th of March of Sohidoll i Poshtem and not Sohidoll i Eperm where, in the house of Alush Alushi four members of his family were killed while later, in the 7th of September neighbourhood, three friends of Alushi who had fled after the murder were, in their turn, killed.
Witness: On the 28th of March of Sohidoll i Poshtem and not Sohidoll i Eperm where, in the house of Alush Alushi four members of his family were killed while later, in the 7th of September neighbourhood, three friends of Alushi who had fled after the murder were, in their turn, killed.
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Holmes: And how did he learn of it? Why, later at the funeral
Watson: Brilliant.
Holmes: And he told the court about another murder. How did he hear of it?
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( 1204 )
Witness: The people who had fled from the villages told me about it.
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On it goes, the bloke in the pub is obviously a chatty guy, for he tells the witness so much.
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( 1206 )
Witness: Also from Koshtove, in April and May, and from May to March (? ) all the population was forcibly expelled from their houses, their homes, on which case 13 Albanians were killed and eight are considered as missing. The inhabitants of the village, the driver of Kosova Trans, named Dusko Velickovic, obtained from the passengers a hundred Deutschmarks and drove them to Ulqin.
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Watson: And how did he know?
Holmes: Simple, the bloke in the pub told 'im.
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Witness: I was told about these things by the people who were on board the bus and told me about the driver
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More "the guy in the bar told me"
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( 1211 )
Witness: On the 14th of April, 1999, in the Qandra neighbourhood and in the neighbouring neighbourhood Bair and in some other neighbourhoods like Ibri or the Bosnian quarter, the Qandra quarter and the 2nd of July quarter, all of the Albanian inhabitants were forcibly expelled from their homes by -- by military policemen and paramilitary Serbs, and they were recommended -- they were told to immediately leave for Albania. They then came to the Tavnik neighbourhood, now known as Ilirida, and informed me about what had happened. At about 11.00, the army and the police separated 30 males from the Qandra neighbourhood and Bair neighbourhood, and they were all later shot. And after they were shot, their bodies were dragged. And up until September 1999, they were considered as missing. In September 1999, a policeman who had earlier deserted from duty - he was a Muslim, and now he's in France, named Emin Ceshku - he informed the Albanians there that on the 14th 31 Albanians were killed and buried in a field between the villages of Vidimric and Sohidoll i Poshtem.Then we informed the OSCE and the Council for Human Rights, and after work, investigations, the French pathologists, together with myself -- together with them was also the investigator from ICTY known as Brigitte, the exhumation of 31 bodies took place of which five are still unidentified.
Witness: On the 14th of April, 1999, in the Qandra neighbourhood and in the neighbouring neighbourhood Bair and in some other neighbourhoods like Ibri or the Bosnian quarter, the Qandra quarter and the 2nd of July quarter, all of the Albanian inhabitants were forcibly expelled from their homes by -- by military policemen and paramilitary Serbs, and they were recommended -- they were told to immediately leave for Albania. They then came to the Tavnik neighbourhood, now known as Ilirida, and informed me about what had happened. At about 11.00, the army and the police separated 30 males from the Qandra neighbourhood and Bair neighbourhood, and they were all later shot. And after they were shot, their bodies were dragged. And up until September 1999, they were considered as missing. In September 1999, a policeman who had earlier deserted from duty - he was a Muslim, and now he's in France, named Emin Ceshku - he informed the Albanians there that on the 14th 31 Albanians were killed and buried in a field between the villages of Vidimric and Sohidoll i Poshtem.Then we informed the OSCE and the Council for Human Rights, and after work, investigations, the French pathologists, together with myself -- together with them was also the investigator from ICTY known as Brigitte, the exhumation of 31 bodies took place of which five are still unidentified.
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Watson: So why didn't the prosecution call this Emin Ceshku? After all it was he who had the vital information. Why talk about this so called massacre through a 3rd person?
Holmes:All valid qestions.
Watson and Watson: Hmmmmmmmmmm
Holmes: Now then , Mr Nice QC says something very interesting.
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Nice: Your Honour, I just pause to say that the witness has come with a number of documents and photographs which I don't seek to produce. It would be a very large exercise to add everything, but he has photographs of, amongst other matters, these should anybody wish to see them or challenge the events he's describing. That's photographs of the exhumations.
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Watson: So?
Holmes: Well, if the photos of the dead had tied in with what the witness had claimed - i.e. that they'd been lined up and executed - we'd have been shown the photos. But Nice makes sure the photos aren't shown.
Watson: Why?
Holmes: Because their deaths don't tally with what the witness had said and don't incriminate the Serbs at all perhaps?
Watson: Oh dear not a very good show then?
Holmes: Yup. Now, this witness talked about three lists of people he'd found. This, according to the MSM, was damning evidence.
Watson: Slobo's on the ropes, it's all over, the lad's all washed up, etc......... uncorks a bottle of bubbly .....
Holmes: Not quite, in fact it was the same giggle-inducing-gunge.
Watson:........ re corks bubbly....... brews a cuppa........
List Number One
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( 1207 )
Question: Now, the document that you found, where did you find it and when?
Witness: The document was found in this, so to speak, checkpoint where the police was stationed, in the neighbourhood Markaj and in the house where they stayed up until June 1999, that is, where the police was stationed. I found the document on the 20th of June, 1999, after the withdrawal of the police and after the entry of the peacekeeping forces in Kosovo.The documents were all in pieces. I collected them all. I collated them together, and I have produced the whole document as it is.
Question:Finally, before we turn to the document, if we may, you say you found it at a checkpoint or something. Where precisely did you find it?
Witness: In the Markaj neighbourhood. The name of the owner of the house I can't remember. It's, of course, in the Koshtove village. The document was outside the house, on the ground, and I collected all the pieces and collated them together as it is now.
Question: Did you make a photograph of where you found the document or not?
Witness: No. At that time, I did not have a camera, on the 20th of June.
Nice: Your Honour, the document in its original form, as reconstructed by the witness, is available, and I just hold it up to show the sort of paper it is. It's available for inspection. In its reconstituted form, may it become the next exhibit, with the English translation associated with it. I have the original here. I'll just hold that up. Which has, as the witness described, has been reconstructed by sticking together and celotaping over. That has then been photocopied so that what we'll see in the original is not as found but as reconstructed, and I have a translation of that.
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Nice explains the vital importance of this sheet , which was found by the witness and stuck together with sticky back plastic a la Blue Peter
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( 1210 )
Nice: And if the Chamber and others reading might be good enough to turn to the translation, the draft translation, we see a list of names going on the first sheet to 7 but thereafter going to 18, beginning with Miletic and underneath the heading "5th Platoon."
Nice: And if the Chamber and others reading might be good enough to turn to the translation, the draft translation, we see a list of names going on the first sheet to 7 but thereafter going to 18, beginning with Miletic and underneath the heading "5th Platoon."
Question: And there are 18 names, either with villages or village locations of the 5th platoon. Were any of those names familiar to you or not?
Witness: No.
Question: The list continues with the 2nd platoon, starting at Matkovic Dragan of the village of Vuca and then going on to number 17, Milisavljevic Dragoljub, with a telephone number and an address Kralj Petar. Are any of those names familiar to you or not?
Witness: No.
Question: We then have part of a list that is headed, "Command of the 1st Company," seven names, starting with Radovic and ending with Stanic. Any names familiar?
Witness: No, none.
Question: And then, finally, the 3rd Platoon, list of soldiers and addresses. We can certainly see, of these 17 names, some come from Mitrovica; number 5, number 7, number 10, as examples, number 14. But even so, any of these names familiar to you or not?
Witness: No, none of them.
Question: By the surnames, can you tell us anything about the ethnicity of the people concerned?
Witness: No, for no one of them.
Question: And then we -- we come back to that first document or that first sheet which you looked out which is out of place slightly in our copied form, which starts with 06-08 and ends with 05-06 and is said to be Isa Dibrani, submitted to the council. Does that make any particular sense to you? Can you interpret that for us or not?
Witness: No. This was found by Isa Dibrani in the location where the Serbian soldiers were staying, and it showed the times during which each of the persons was on duty. Other than that, no.
Question: The words, "submitted to the council," do they refer to your council?
Witness: Yes.
Question: To that extent, those words have been added to the document by the person submitting the document to you?
Witness: Yes.
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Watson: So that's it?
Holmes: Yup, that's it. A list of Yugoslav soldiers names, none of which the witness knows, on a piece of paper that the witness stuck together with sticky back plastic a la John Noakes
Scully: Down Shep, down
Mulder: All mind boggling bizarre. Any suggestions? Pretty please. As Slobo pointed out
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( 1318 )
Slobo:Let us move on to another document now that was found underneath some boards, and it was presented here as a revelation, something that was discovered under very special circumstances, and these are very plain lists of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th Platoons, and the addresses and the telephones of these persons are provided and that is only logical for, say, the company commander to have if somebody gets killed or something happens to such a person that the family can be identified. These are the names of soldiers in the 1st and 2nd and 3rd Platoons respectively.
Judge: Mr. Milosevic, what is the question?
Slobo: What is the value of this document that they had such difficulty in obtaining? This document contains soldiers' names and their home addresses. What is the value of this document?
Judge:That's a matter which we will have to decide in due course. But have you got any questions for the witness about it?
Slobo: Well, it has to do with the fact that he brought it as some kind of proof. What does this prove other than, for example, that John Doe lives in such-and-such a street and that his telephone number is such-and-such and they're going to call his mother there and notify her at that address that he got killed if he gets killed. In any army anywhere in the world, every soldier would give his address if something happens to him so that his next of kin may be notified. So what do you prove by this name and address?
Judge: Yes. Now, what's the question?
Slobo: My question is: What is the value of this document in the opinion of the witness? Because he's the one who brought it.
Judge: That's not a question for the witness.
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Watson: ARF! The witness hides behind the judge.
Holmes: Yes. Arf galore.
List Number Two
Watson: Is this a giggle too?
Holmes: Well, not mind boggling silly but quite pithy, in the crude forgery a la Keystone Cops kindaway.
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( 1216 )
Witness: In Frasher i Madh and Frasher e Vogel - these are adjacent villages - police and soldiers, Serbian police and soldiers were stationed in the church of the village, and from these two villages, all the Albanians were expelled and some of their houses were burned. And here, too, in June 1999, after the war and after the entry of the peacekeeping forces into Kosova and Mitrovica, I found a list of 64 names written in Cyrillic. I -- written by themselves in the place where these troops that I had mentioned had been staying.
Question: Whereabouts did you find this list exactly?
Witness: I found it inside the checkpoint. It was covered by a lot of different things, and it was inside, under planks.
Question: This is the list of reservists that you found; is that correct?
Witness: That's what it says at the top of the list.
Question: Sorry. I may have to come back to that one later then. I'll try to return to that later. Did you get any other lists in relation to this event while you were there? Of the 68 names written in Cyrillic of reservists, did you get any other lists from anybody else in relation to these events of burning houses?
Witness: There is also a list from the village of Sohidoll i Poshtem, which was brought by Ibis Ibisi to the council by the chairman of the village. And there is another list from the neighbourhood of Kroni i Vitakut with 33 names of Serbs who committed different crimes in houses against Albanians, and with those 33 -- for these 33 names, there are 48 Albanianwitnesses to these names who have given their names.
Question: I'm going to ask you to avoid confusion and look first at this document. Perhaps on this occasion before you could be asked to look at that document. Just look at this document first before distribution. Now, the list before you, what is that list?
Witness: It's from the village of Sohidoll, handed over by Ibis Ibisi. ( And it relates to ) arson, forced expulsion of Albanians from their homes, and other crimes in the villages of Sohidoll i Poshtem and Sohidoll i Eperm, Vinarc, and partly in the 7th of September neighbourhood.
Question: This is not an original document that you suggest was left behind by soldiers. This was the document provided by others relating what they had seen.
( Mr Nice QC asks the court for the document to be admitted however the judge refuses to accept it so Nice embarrassingly has to withdraw it )
Nice: We'll withdraw that one. Thank you very much.
Witness: On the 19th of April, 1999, at the mountain called Dreth in Zubin Potok municipality, the Serbian army arrested 23 Albanians of a group of 25, and even today nothing is known of what happened to them.
Question: Those males, were they identified or connected in some way, have some common characteristic?
Witness:They included my brother and my brother-in-law, and almost all of them, apart from four of them, were intellectuals from Mitrovica and Skenderaj municipality.
Question: And is it known what they were doing together in the place where you say they were dealt with, from which they were taken, never to be seen again?
Witness: They had set out to save their lives, save themselves from certain death at the hands of Serbian delinquents and had set off for Montenegro. As I said before, there were 25 of them and two survived. And at the moment when they were ambushed, and it was their fate that they managed to hide in bushes and stayed all day there until night fell, and then they managed to make their escape, and after three days, they reached the village of Kotorr, where other people tell me the group that set off for Montenegro, their names are listed, were arrested by the Serbian army. Then I received statements from a man who survived this incident, Xhafer Behrami from Kotorr in Skenderaj municipality, and he explained in detail what happened from the time when they left to the time when the entire group was ambushed.
Question: Did you receive a list from Ramadan Kelmendi?
Witness: Yes. Ramadan Kelmendi was deputy chairman of the Democratic League of Kosova, the Mitrovica branch. And I received this document from him towards the end of June, after the war, and he said that he found it in the Mitrovica municipal building. And this includes the names of 66 people who, according to the Serbs, were to be shot.
( Mr Nice QC introduces document )
Question: Is the heading of the list "List of Siptars in Kosovska Mitrovica who need to be summarily liquidated"? Is there then a list of 66 names, including, at 21, your own?
Witness: Yes.
Question: Now, we see the list is dated February 1999, but in fact is there included on this list the name of any person or persons who was already dead by that date, who died earlier?
Witness:Yes.
Question: If we look at the foot of the document in the original version and over to the second page of the draft translation, the translation, I beg your pardon, we see that the document ends: "Implementation," then Dejan Zone 1, Ratko Zone 2, Kasalovic Zone 4, and Ajeti Zone 5, special unit Commander Colonel Markovic," with, in the original, a signature following it, and then a reference to, "Other and additional details available from Commander M. M.," and indeed we can see on the original an official stamp at the bottom of the document.
Witness: This is the stamp of a Serbian organisation. I can't tell which one.
)
Holmes: It's Slobos turn and it's not going to be pretty
(
( 1326 )
Slobo: Are you conscious of the fact that this document is a forgery?
Slobo: Are you conscious of the fact that this document is a forgery?
Witness:No, I don't know.
Slobo: Do you speak Serbian well?
Witness:No.
Slobo:Well, then, you probably aren't in a position to know that this document could not have been written by a Serb. I'm going to ask you a few questions now about it. attention in particular to the fact that in the translation, these obvious, blatant facts -- there are blatant facts that indicate that the document was not written by a Serb but you can't see this because it's been translated without going into those facts.
Slobo explains why it's a forgery. A very very very bad forgery too
(
Slobo: You have the original in the Cyrillic script. First, no Serb says "specialno" -- but says "specijalnu." And when he goes to a doctor, a specialist, everybody knows that he's going to a "specijalist" with a "j" and not to a "specialist" just "i-a". And this is a mistake that no Serb would ever make but it is a mistake that many foreigners make, especially Albanians. They make that particular mistake. Secondly, when you say "specialno jedinici" for -- referring to a unit, no Serb would say that. He would just say "specijalnu jedinicu." But most Albanians would say for a "specialno jedinici." Now what it should have said is "specijalna jedinica," with a "j" and not without a "j". All the mistakes that have been made in these few words are so obvious that there is no child going to elementary school which would make the same spelling mistakes in the Serbian language as have been made in this document. Secondly, it says, "List of Siptars Who Should be Summarily Liquidated." First, the word "pod" has been translated as "po," meaning "accordingly." The word "p-o-d," "pod" and "p-o," "po" have two quite different meanings, and once again, no Serb would write this. "Pod," the word "pod" means "underneath" and not "po," which is "accordingly"... "summarily." The "p-o" would be a different word. So there's just one difference between those two words. Like the difference between the sounds in lawyer and liar. The difference is just in one sound or letter, too. Just one more flagrant example, referring to this text that you have submitted as an exhibit. It says "likfidirati". That is something -- it is common knowledge that only somebody speaking German would use the "v" -- the "f" instead of a "v." In this case, it was an Albanian-speaking German. There is not one singleSerb who would write "likvidirati" with an "f" instead of a "v."
Judge:Mr. Milosevic, I think it's time for a question. The suggestion appears to be that an Albanian -- I'm sorry. Yes, an Albanian-speaking German wrote this document. Now, Mr. Barani, can you help as to that or not?
Witness: First of all, I said I don't know the Cyrillic language, and the document was found by Ramadan Kelmendi in the communal house of Mitrovica after the war. I can't give any other explanation.
Slobo has one last comment:And there are not only these points but there are essential contradictions which illustrate the fact that this is a forgery. But never mind. You can judge this anyway you want. All I want to say is that I'm impressed with the triumphant attitude with which this was presented by the Prosecution.
)
And finally adds
(
Slobo: Where, when, and to whom did you make statements about this whole case? Because -- these are three questions. Would you answer each individually. Where, is the first one, when, and to whom, the three questions, did you make statements about what you have been testifying? ( judge ) When did you first make a statement about this particular case and to whom and where?
)
Watson: What a most lamentable excuse for evidence. It's actually quite embarrassing.
Holmes: The witness said the moment he saw this document he told the Pristina authorities, then the ICTY came and got a statement in 2001 on the 25th and 26th of August, and the statement was signed on the 1st of September of last year.
Watson: So he found this "devastating document" yet nothing happened to it for 2 years before making a statement?
Holmes: Yup. Which just adds to the list of suspicions that this was a forgery. To say the least.
Document Number Three
(
( 1222 )
Witness: This is a document with the names and last names, birth dates, and the place of birth, the place where he worked for every one of the persons listed here. It was found in the police checkpoint of Frasher i Madh, Mitrovica municipality.
Nice: This document is headed, "RPO, Reserve Police Station," with a reference number "Ke-NV-06", then it has, one to two, names starting Mirko Mihajlovic with the date of birth and the unit in which he was, or the title of the unit in which he was employed. It runs down through several other lists of the 2nd Platoon on the second page and the 2nd Platoon again on the third page. And apart from names and dates of birth, we also see such employment locations as the tobacco depot, the post office, hospital, public accounting service, and matters of that sort . This document, you say, was left behind in the place where the destruction of property had occurred that you told us about.
)
Watson: Wow! A list of reservists with their names, d of b, employment address. Who knows, maybe the blood type too.
Holmes: WOW indeed.
Watson: And the prosecution and this witness simply can't fathom why on Earth an army would want such information about it's soldiers? For the paranoid and consipiracy minded prosecution there must be more to this, surely there must be.
Holmes: I know. It's all a little silly. And bizarre. Anyway. So that's it. Two lists of names, two of them of Yugoslav soldiers with such info as d of b, etc.
Watson: It's bewildering why on Earth the prosecution thought this suggested a war crime. And they didn't explain the significance either?
Holmes: No they didn't bother.
Watson: It's sort of like the Twilight Zone. All a bit strange and cheezy
Holmes: The first list was a "hit list" a la "A Team", supposedly drawn up by the evil Serbs to knock off heroic Kosovo Albanians. The second list was of reservists in the Serb army. And now we come to the third list which was like the second list. Except sillier. Slobo in his cross examination, slugs this out of the ground, then bowls a beamer straight at the witness, yorkers him for good measure and finally knocks a full blooded six off the witless witness's lame long hop. Slobo's starts his run up
(
( 1315 )
Slobo: Where does it say that this is a list of paramilitaries?
Slobo: Where does it say that this is a list of paramilitaries?
Witness: From the very start, it writes that it's a list of the paramilitaries, and we consider paramilitaries those who -- who you call reservists, military reservists.
Slobo: A person remains speechless in face of this, but let us clarify one point: Do you know that every Yugoslav citizen who had done his military service was a military reservist?
Witness: However, the list was found in the place where the Serb paramilitary were stationed in the village of Frasher, where all the Albanian houses were burned down.
Slobo:Please, I would like to clarify this list which you consider to be a document. So could you please answer my questions. Do you know that every citizen of Yugoslavia who had done his military service is a military reservist and is registered in military records as a military reservist according to the profession that he was involved in while doing his military service?
Witness: The list was found at a place where serious crimes were committed.
Slobo: Well, you could have found John Galsworthy's books at the crime site. So how can you bring the two together? I don't understand what this means, this list of reservists from the village of Svinjar. Please, every citizen of Yugoslavia who had done his military service is a reservist and is registered in the list of military reservists in the register. Here it says on the top, "List of reserve force from the village of Svinjar." In the English translation, it says "Reserve forces." There is nothing to do with reserve forces. This is not correct. These are reservists. This is a list of military conscripts who may be mobilised but do not have to be mobilised.
)
Watson: HOWZAT !!!!
Holmes: The rest of the witnesses testimony is the usual drivel a la ICTY. It gets really bad, though it does at least raise a chuckle
Watson: This rath C minus show being put on by the prosecution does raise some questions does it noe Holmes?
Holmes: It does indeed
(
( 1236 )
Witness:After the offensives and the massacres of Albanians at the hands of the Serbian army, police, paramilitaries, and civilians, the ranks of the KLA grew from day-to-day so that people could defend themselves who were faced with extermination.
Witness:After the offensives and the massacres of Albanians at the hands of the Serbian army, police, paramilitaries, and civilians, the ranks of the KLA grew from day-to-day so that people could defend themselves who were faced with extermination.
)
Watson: The words "overblown" and "bombastic" come to mind !!!!
Holmes: Language Timothy. Now, this the following exchange is funny and very revealling, for the witness now talks about Izbica. Remember the witness, Ms. Ajmane Behramaj, talked about how dozens of men from a small village were executed
(
( 1236 )
Witness: After the NATO bombing started on the 24th of March, 1999, many parts of Kosovo, especially Drenica, very strict and harsh offensives were undertaken by the Serbian military, police, and paramilitaries where many Albanians were killed irrespective of their age or gender, or sex. If need be, I can mention the case of Izbica.
Nice: Well, at the moment, generality will do. As to Izbica, were you there yourself or is this something you learned of from others?
Witness: About this case, I learned from others, but then I went there and I counted all the corpses, not only in Izbica but in several villages around that.
Nice:I shan't trouble you for the detail of that at the moment, in any event.
)
Holmes: Notice that Mr Nice QC wants nothing to do with this.
Watson: Now why is this? After all, according to the prosecution witness, he saw the corpses for himself. My, he even counted 'em. Counted 'em all 'e did by gum. So why didn't Nice want anything to do with it? Answer please?
Holmes: Because Nice knows the witness is talking complete Scrappy Doo here. Mr Nice QC quickly moves on. It's the turn of President Milosevic Firstly, the witness's family. Some would say a colourful gaggle of rogues, others perhaps not
(
( 1240 )
Slobo: You have Blerim and Xhevdet as your cousins; right? Yes. Do you know that they are the main drug dealers in Mitrovica?
Slobo: You have Blerim and Xhevdet as your cousins; right? Yes. Do you know that they are the main drug dealers in Mitrovica?
)
Holmes: Guess what the witness replies.
Watson: Well, if someone made that accusation about a member of my family, I'd either laugh it out of court or get really angry and demand an apology.
Holmes: Course you would. As would anyone else. But not our intrepid witness.
Watson: He doesn't laugh it out of court?
Holmes: No, course not.
Watson: He doesn't get angry about such an outrageous suggestion for a couple of pillars of the local community.
Holmes: No, don't be silly. He replies "I don't believe that they do such a thing".
Watson: Arf
Holmes: Same with another relative, a Nuhri Barani, who President Milosevic says is selling drugs in Germany
Watson: What does he reply?
Holmes: This time all he can muster is a "I know that he is abroad, but I don't know what he does there."
Watson: Arf
Holmes: Another relative....
(
Slobo:What about Azem Barani, your relative? Are you aware that he fled to Turkey after having raped a pupil of the secondary school?
Witness: Yes, I know.
)
The KLA and Amnesia
Watson: Ah! Mr Amnesia returns.
Holmes: Yup, it's that time of the day, time for the brain's memory function to pack up completely, a vacant stare to enter the witness's face etc etc you get the picture by now
(
Slobo: Are you aware that Tamnik was the centre of the KLA, this entire neighbourhood in Mitrovica?
Witness says it's not true
Slobo: And do you know how many warehouses of ammunition and weapons of the KLA were discovered in Tamnik, in that same neighbourhood of Tamnik?
Witness doesn't know
)
Watson: And so it goes on
Holmes: Anyway, to be brief and kind to the witness let's just summarise President Milosevic's cross examination.
- He denies he was a founder of the KLA in Kosovska Mitrovica.
- When told that he held meetings in the organisation of the OVK at an elementary school called the 25th of May, he bizarrely claimed there was no military school in Ilirida. And how about the price of tomatoes while you're at it?
- He denied any knowledge of the murder of a policeman called Dejan Prica.
- He admitted though that he'd met the murderer on many occasions, though.
- He admitted to having met many of the KLA commanders of the area, of having his photo taken with them, etc. for example Ismet Hoxha, Dibrani Jetullah
- He admitted that he attended many drills where the KLA would show their prowess at ransacking non Kosovo Albanians houses and attacking police stations.
- He denied that any of his non Kosovo Albanian neighbours houses were torched by the KLA or forcibly taken over, but later admitted that "Albanian families live in and admitted that for the majority no money was paid to the rightful non Kosovo Albanian owners". So, the Serb houses were forcibly taken over.
- He'd put up a list of Serbs who should be liquidated. He said they deserved to die but didn't do any research as to their guilt or innocence. They were guilty because he said so. He heard they were guilty so that was that.
Watson: Brilliant.
Holmes: Yup. Brilliant stuff.
As President Milosevic rightly pointed out "You mentioned names that you had heard of. Is that sufficient?" and "And you consider that you have the right to judge?"
The witness admitted that loyalist Kosovo Albanians were targeted by the KLA. For example Lulezim Ademi ( 1251 ) who the KLA tried to murder on two occasions. In addition, the father of Lulezim Ademi, the policeman who was shot at, who was a forester, was killed by the KLA?
The witness's comeback to all of this was the brilliant
(
Witness: What do you mean? Who was killed by KLA? I'm not clear.
)
Watson: Oh what a learned debater and scholar the ICTY brought to court.
Holmes: To be fair to the lad he did admit that the forester's brother, by the name of Skender, was abducted and almost certainly tortured to death.
(
( 1252 )
Slobo: Let's go back to your particular neighbourhood, the neighbourhood of Tamnik. In Tamnik in April 1999, when tens of houses were discovered with ammunition storages and the hospital itself, there was fighting in the Tamnik neighbourhood itself. Do you remember that?
Slobo: Let's go back to your particular neighbourhood, the neighbourhood of Tamnik. In Tamnik in April 1999, when tens of houses were discovered with ammunition storages and the hospital itself, there was fighting in the Tamnik neighbourhood itself. Do you remember that?
Witness: Regarding the fighting, in April when the entire population of the neighbourhood was gathered, where all the inhabitants of Mitrovica were, they were driven to Zhabar fields, the males were separated from the females and got on trucks, then some members of the KLA came and started to fire in order to save the parents from -- with their children and the population in general from what was happening.
Slobo: All right. You claim that there was no fighting, that it was the police and army that attacked the innocent civilians. Am I reading you correctly?
Witness affirms there was no fighting
Slobo: You claim that in April, in Tamnik there was no fighting at all between the army and the police on the one side and the KLA on the other but that what was happening in fact was that there was an attack launched on innocent civilians. Is that what you're saying? Is that what you claim?
Witness repeats there was no fighting
Slobo: And who was the fighting between in Zhabar in Donja Mitrovica? Between whom?
Witness repeats there was no fighting
)
Holmes: He then says however that........
(
Witness:........shots were heard. And these fire shots came from some members of the KLA and they aimed to scare the police and to make them withdraw and let the population alone and not massacre them
Slobo: So you're claiming that the KLA shot to frighten the police and the army. Is that it?
Witness: Yes, that's right, because nobody was injured or killed. There were no casualties then.
Slobo: And I can tell you that in Tamnik, in that fighting, I have a name, Nejbosa Kocic, a soldier from Belgrade, he lost his life and a large number of soldiers were wounded. Do you happen to be aware of that fact?
)
Holmes: Witness parries this with the slightly overused conversational gambit "I do not know"
Watson: So to recap, the witness says there was no fighting at all, but later changes that to the KLA were firing but only into the air, and then that changes when he's told that the Serb forces suffered many casualties in the battle that supposedly had never occurred.
Holmes: About Tamnik
(
( 1255 )
Slobo: I'm talking about April 1999. That was one particular operation when the army and the police took over the warehouses of the ammunition belonging to the KLA, and when it came into conflict with the KLA in Tamnik in April 1999, a number of soldiers were wounded and Nejbosa Kostic, a soldier from Belgrade, was killed in those operations. That's what I'm talking about.
Slobo: I'm talking about April 1999. That was one particular operation when the army and the police took over the warehouses of the ammunition belonging to the KLA, and when it came into conflict with the KLA in Tamnik in April 1999, a number of soldiers were wounded and Nejbosa Kostic, a soldier from Belgrade, was killed in those operations. That's what I'm talking about.
)
Holmes: The witness claims that there was no fighting but can't explain how so many Serb soldiers got injured or killed.
Watson: Hmmmmm. There was no KLA and all the victims were Kosovo Albanians, according to the witness, but by some strange reason, the Serb forces suffered many casualties.
Holmes: Well put that doctor. Some more amnesia
(
( 1255 )
Slobo: At Bajgora, the Shala Operative Zone with two brigades had approximately 4.000 KLA fighters. Is that correct or not?
Slobo: At Bajgora, the Shala Operative Zone with two brigades had approximately 4.000 KLA fighters. Is that correct or not?
Witness: I don't know the numbers of the KLA in any zone
)
Watson: What about the fisty cuffs at the bus stop where, according to the witness, the Serbs fired into a crowd of civilians?
Holmes: Hmmmmm. It seems the lad was being less than honest
Holmes: Hmmmmm. It seems the lad was being less than honest
(
( 1242 )
Slobo:Are you linked with the killing at the bus station on the day of St. George, that is, the 6th of May 1998, when a policeman was killed, Darko Nikolic, and then Darko Ivaz, another policeman, and then Joca Jovic, also a policeman was wounded? This was a terrorist attack, as you recall. And they link your name to this terrorist attack. What have you had to do with that terrorist attack?
Witness: I know very well this case, and it was not a terrorist attack, but the Serb police attacked Jashari in the street after they tried to raid his place, and then he fired in defence and then he was killed. But I have no connection with this killing except for the following day. The following day, I said, I went to the scene of the killing. I photographed the scene. I took notes without knowing who was involved. Later, I understood that the student Hartim Jashari was killed, and I took part in his funeral.
President Milosevic: So at the bus station, where two policemen were killed and one policeman was seriously wounded, you claim that it was the police that attacked this terrorist Hartim Jashari.
Witness: I said that they tried to -- to raid him, and he happened to be carrying a weapon and fired, and later he was wounded and died of his wounds.
PM: So you believe that when the police approaches someone at a bus station, asking him to show his ID, that this is an attack and therefore he has the right to kill a policeman; right?
Witness: On the night when this incident happened, Hartim, according to the witnesses, was on his own, was alone. He was not accompanied by anyone but he was on his way home. And he knew that if he were to be arrested, he would be gaoled, and in order to escape the situation, he fired his gun.
PM: And killed three policemen.
Witness: On this occasion, I know that there was one killed and two injured. This is original -- my original evidence which I got on the 6th of May.
PM: Darko Nikolic and Darko Ivaz were killed and Jom Surjoric [phoen] was wounded. I have already said that. Two were killed, one was wounded. Do you consider this to be a terrorist attack, this -- that Hartim Jashari did?
)
Watson: So the witness is in effect admitting that this was a terrorist attack on some policemen?
Holmes: Yup. President Milosevic then says that the witness was involved in the attack.
(
President Milosevic: I'm asking you whether you fled there because you were involved in this killing. Just give me an answer, yes or no.
Witness: This is not true. I can't say yes or no. I need an explanation, because when I took the notes, I went to my office and then I prepared a report, a daily report, which I submitted to the information media and have with me the copy, the original copy of that report. When I say about information, I mean I have daily reports about everything that happened over a period of three years, with the dates, the place where everything happened, and the circumstances in which it happened.
)
So the witness replies he "can't answer yes or no"
Watson: A prosecution witness with links to terror groups and can't give a definitive answer when accused of being involved in the murder of some policemen. Where does the prosecution get 'em from?
Holmes: Where indeed? And so it carries on
(
( 1256 )
Witness: When you say "terrorist attacks," I am not clear which attacks you call terrorist.
Witness: When you say "terrorist attacks," I am not clear which attacks you call terrorist.
President Milosevic:Well, for example, when three men come and shoot down a whole cafe full of children. I consider that to be a terrorist attack. Or when they shoot at a vehicle belonging to the Red Cross, for example, or a diplomatic vehicle belonging to an observer, or a car belonging to journalists, or when they kill civilians, that kind of thing.
Witness: I have no awareness of any attacks of this kind, and I can say there were none.
)
Watson: My!
And
(
( 1257 )
Presdient Milosevic: Excellent. You said that the bombing was of no importance at all, and you know full well that, during the war, the centre of Mitrovica was bombed and not only the SUP building but that the mosque was hit in the centre of Mitrovica, too, and that there was a great deal of panic in Mitrovica. For example, when the Mitrovica centre was hit, including the SUP building, including the targeted mosque and everything else, do you consider that this had absolutely no effect on the population? Just give me a yes or no answer, please.
Presdient Milosevic: Excellent. You said that the bombing was of no importance at all, and you know full well that, during the war, the centre of Mitrovica was bombed and not only the SUP building but that the mosque was hit in the centre of Mitrovica, too, and that there was a great deal of panic in Mitrovica. For example, when the Mitrovica centre was hit, including the SUP building, including the targeted mosque and everything else, do you consider that this had absolutely no effect on the population? Just give me a yes or no answer, please.
)
Holmes: In this instance the judge saved the witness from giving an answer. The witness insists and says that NATO's bombing was wonderful for the "people were not scared but were delighted"
Watson: Brilliant. I'm going to drop some cluster bombs on your kiddies and you'll be "delighted", of course you will be. You'd be chuckling and guffawing.
Holmes: The witness claimed that NATO bombings only hit one building in the town. ONE. BUILDING. Singular. Presdient Milosevic responds
(
( 1257 )
Slobo: Do you know that in the area of Kosovska Mitrovica, 116 or 117 - I can just be wrong in that one figure - bombs were thrown during the NATO strike, the NATO bombing?
Slobo: Do you know that in the area of Kosovska Mitrovica, 116 or 117 - I can just be wrong in that one figure - bombs were thrown during the NATO strike, the NATO bombing?
)
Holmes: Guess what the witness replied to this was ?
Watson: "I don't know"?
Holmes: That's right. "I don't know". And on it goes
(
President Milosevic: Do you know Radomir Pantovic?
Witness:Yes. Yes and no. Yes, I know him.
PM:He worked in the same shop with you in different shifts.
Witness: Yes.
PM: And his relative, Todor Zivkovic, on July 1999, in July 1999, the KLA took him from the cemetery and he was at the cemetery by the grave of his son, and the KLA took him to the building of the social insurance where the KLA headquarters was. Radomir Pantovic, whom you know, who you worked with in different shifts, asked you to intervene so that they would not liquidate his relative.
)
Watson: Charming.
And
(
( 1306 )
President Milosevic: Let me go back to another question. You claimed that the demonstrations were peaceful ones, and I said that they were destructive ones. And at those, as you yourself said, peaceful demonstrations in 1989, a policeman was killed by the name of Miroljub Tanaskovic precisely at the gas station, the petrol station, that you were at. Now, how can those demonstrations then be referred to and called non-destructive, peaceful demonstrations ?
President Milosevic: Let me go back to another question. You claimed that the demonstrations were peaceful ones, and I said that they were destructive ones. And at those, as you yourself said, peaceful demonstrations in 1989, a policeman was killed by the name of Miroljub Tanaskovic precisely at the gas station, the petrol station, that you were at. Now, how can those demonstrations then be referred to and called non-destructive, peaceful demonstrations ?
)
And
(
( 1307 )
President Milosevic:You spoke yesterday about the 13th of March, in particular, when, at the marketplace, bombs exploded. You even, as I jotted down, said that the Serb policemen threw bombs at the marketplace. And now I'm going to ask you the following: Do you remember that on that occasion in the marketplace in Mitrovica, a bomb exploded and that at the same time the same type of bomb exploded in Podujevo? And as far as the victims are concerned, four citizens were killed and 30 others were wounded in Kosovska Mitrovica, seven of them seriously wounded. The victims were both Serbs and Albanians. So at the same time, these bombs were planted in the marketplace in Mitrovica and Podujevo, and according to thefindings of the Verification Mission of the OSCE --
President Milosevic:You spoke yesterday about the 13th of March, in particular, when, at the marketplace, bombs exploded. You even, as I jotted down, said that the Serb policemen threw bombs at the marketplace. And now I'm going to ask you the following: Do you remember that on that occasion in the marketplace in Mitrovica, a bomb exploded and that at the same time the same type of bomb exploded in Podujevo? And as far as the victims are concerned, four citizens were killed and 30 others were wounded in Kosovska Mitrovica, seven of them seriously wounded. The victims were both Serbs and Albanians. So at the same time, these bombs were planted in the marketplace in Mitrovica and Podujevo, and according to thefindings of the Verification Mission of the OSCE --
Witness: I have no knowledge about other places, only about Mitrovica.
)
And
(
President Milosevic: You mentioned Fadil Kurti, that he was killed by the Serbs. Fadil Kurti was a policeman. He worked at the MUP. A policeman from the village of Cabra. He worked at the MUP in Zubin Potok; is that correct?
Witness: This is not true, and I didn't mention him at all.
PM: Do you know of him?
Witness: This is the first time that I've heard this name.
)
And
(
President Milosevic: So you do not know about Zumur Aljickaj, his brother-in-law, who called him to come to the village of Llaushe to pick up his wife and then he massacred him there, killed him. You don't know anything about that?
Witness:I have no knowledge of this incident at all.
)
It seems that our heroic witness likes to poke fun at the deaths of policemen .What a noble upstanding lad he is
(
( 1259 )
President Milosevic: In 1996, did you direct a play in which you glorified the killing of a policeman by Adem Jashari?
President Milosevic: In 1996, did you direct a play in which you glorified the killing of a policeman by Adem Jashari?
)
Holmes: It seems that our witness is suspected in the disappearence of a lot of people.
(
( 1260 )
President Milosevic: Do you know Skender or did you know Skender Ademi?
President Milosevic: Do you know Skender or did you know Skender Ademi?
Witness: I have known him and I spoke about him before.
PM: How did he lose his life?
Witness: I said before; he is counted missing and how he died or whether he died, I do not know.
PM: But I have information that you were directly connected to his kidnapping and that you
killed him in the village of Sukovac.
)
Some more amnesia
(
President Milosevic: All right. In the neighbourhoods of Tamnik and Bair that we've been mentioning, there were about 100 members of the KLA from Vaganice and Osljani, from the village of Vaganice and the village of Osljani. Yes or no.
)
Holmes: Okay. What does our witness answer?
Watson: That he has no idea?
Holmes: Yup, the witness has no idea. About the rights of the Kosovo Albanians
(
( 1303 )
Slobo: Within the frameworks of one theatre house there was the section for Serb plays, a Serb play section and Albanian play section. That was what I meant.
Slobo: Within the frameworks of one theatre house there was the section for Serb plays, a Serb play section and Albanian play section. That was what I meant.
Witness: There were three sections operating in the same building; Albanian, Serbian, and Turkish
)
Watson: So he's admitting that the Kosovo Albanians had the use of theatres. The same rights as the Serbs.
Holmes: That's right. The witness had previously claimed that practically all the Kosovo Albanians had been fired
(
( 1303 )
President Milosevic:Next , you said that all Albanians except for the leadership, during the blockade of the work posts, supported the strikers, and I have received the following information: Not even in Mitrovica, where the strike was the largest, the post office, the health institutions and services, or the courts or the state administration, none of these stopped functioning, along with a series of other public services where the Albanians worked as a majority. I am speaking about the large majority of Albanians in all public services - the post office, banks, and all the other things that I mentioned - that they did go to work. They were working. Now, do you recall that the director of the bank in Mitrovica was also an Albanian? His name was Jusuf Gjosha and the SDK social accounting service director was Jashar Ismaili, also an Albanian?
President Milosevic:Next , you said that all Albanians except for the leadership, during the blockade of the work posts, supported the strikers, and I have received the following information: Not even in Mitrovica, where the strike was the largest, the post office, the health institutions and services, or the courts or the state administration, none of these stopped functioning, along with a series of other public services where the Albanians worked as a majority. I am speaking about the large majority of Albanians in all public services - the post office, banks, and all the other things that I mentioned - that they did go to work. They were working. Now, do you recall that the director of the bank in Mitrovica was also an Albanian? His name was Jusuf Gjosha and the SDK social accounting service director was Jashar Ismaili, also an Albanian?
)
Watson: What about the witness's evidence in chief, the killing of a group of intellectuals on Dren mountain?
Holmes: Well the witness said that according to those who survived and escaped arrest, one of them is Xhafer Behrami, from the village of Kotorr in Skenderaj municipality, who was a member of this group. Note he saw nothing.
Watson: His evidence is hearsay
Holmes: Yup! The bloke in the pub strikes.
(
President Milosevic: Do you think it's logical for the army or the police to set up an ambush for 20-odd civilians? Does that seem to you to be logical? I claim that it was an armed group of the KLA,that they bore arms ( because ) you said a group of intellectuals, and now we have from 17, 20, 12 27, 21, 17, 17, 31 and so on and so forth. So apart from two or three persons, all of them were military-able men, and they were all males. That's obvious, I think.
)
Watson: They're all military age. But I thought the witness claimed they were "intellectuals"?
Holmes: Yes all of military age. My! what a coincidence.
Holmes: About the so-called infamous prison
(
( 1312 )
President Milosevic: Do you know that the capacity of that prison, whose warden was an Albanian, and, as you say, it was an infamous one, notorious one, as you said, that the capacity of prisoners was 300 to 400 inmates at most?
Witness: I know that very well, but that -- you have in the statement the period between which the number I quoted, over 5.000 of Albanians were imprisoned there.
)
Quote of the Encounter
(
( 1317 )
President Milosevic: A short while ago, you explained that everybody who was mobilised from the reserve force was a paramilitary, in your opinion; is that right?
President Milosevic: A short while ago, you explained that everybody who was mobilised from the reserve force was a paramilitary, in your opinion; is that right?
)
Holmes: A cheeky second
(
( 1320 )
President Milosevic: Do you know how many Serb houses, shops, and all the rest that you have registered in respect of the Albanian victims were burned down, destroyed, and looted? Do you have figures in that connection?
President Milosevic: Do you know how many Serb houses, shops, and all the rest that you have registered in respect of the Albanian victims were burned down, destroyed, and looted? Do you have figures in that connection?
Witness: We don't have figures related to these facts because some Serbs, as they left their houses, they set them on fire, whereas we got evidence from people whose families, members of families have been killed and their houses were burnt down.
PM:You claim, therefore, that the Serbs, as they were leaving their houses, set fire to their own houses by themselves; right?
Witness: Partly
PM: So again, through your witnesses, you are proving that Serbs set fire to their own houses and to Albanian houses in Kosovo.
)
Holmes: Third
(
( 1322 )
President Milosevic:All right. And does the witness know -- do you know how many colleagues of yours, officials of the political party DSK that is headed by Ibrahim Rugova, were the victims of political clashes and were the victims of the terrorists of Hashim Thaci, to put it more precisely? Do you know that?
President Milosevic:All right. And does the witness know -- do you know how many colleagues of yours, officials of the political party DSK that is headed by Ibrahim Rugova, were the victims of political clashes and were the victims of the terrorists of Hashim Thaci, to put it more precisely? Do you know that?
Witness: I said even earlier that I think that all the victims or such mystery cases of murders have been perpetrated by the secret Serb police.
PM:Excellent. Then you can answer my following question: How come Rugova's functionaries are being killed now since there are no more Serbs from June 1999?
Witness refuses to answer
PM: But how come after June 1999 , who is it that is killing Rugova's functionaries? Do you consider that it is still the Serbs who are doing that? Do you still consider that?
Judge: Now, do you -- wait a moment. Do you accept this or not?
Witness: Some were killed
PM: I'm going to read out a few names: Raci Ismet from Klina, president of the municipal board of Rugova's party in Klina. Then Shaban Manaj from Istok, the president of the municipal board of Rugova's party in Istok. So that means local party heads, the heads of the Rugova party in Klina and in Istok, those two examples. Then we go to Ismet Hajderaj from Pec, member of the Presidency. Mustafa Xhemail is the next one, from Pristina, member of the main leadership of Rugova's party. Then we have Xhemail -- Xhevat Makolli, a close associate of Rugova's, also killed. Muharem Jakupi, also a functionary in Rugova's party, the DSK, who was also killed. Do you know that this is being done by Hashim Thaci to weaken Rugova and to frighten his supporters?
Judge:A list has been put to you, Mr. Barani, and it's suggested that these -- the names on it are the names of people who have been killed, and it's also suggested that they were functionaries of Mr. Rugova's party. Now, there are two questions there. Perhaps you can deal with them. If you don't know, just say so.
Witness: Partially.
)
Holmes: Fourth
(
( page 1324 )
President Milosevic: Do you know that, during the war, an assassination attempt was made on life of Rugova himself?
President Milosevic: Do you know that, during the war, an assassination attempt was made on life of Rugova himself?
Witness doesn't know
Witness: doesn't know
Witness doesn't know
Notes in the Margin
The witness has a controversial life, and his version of the truth is colourful
About the Trepca mines claims ?
And about the pogrom in 94 ?
Among the first to be arrested and subsequently released was Halit Barani, the head of the Committee for the Protection of Human Rights in southern Mitrovica, who informed Pristina media of the drowning of the Albanian boys. Barani, who was active in the Kosovo Liberation Army in 1998 and 1999 in the region of Salja and Bajgora, has also been a Hague tribunal witness in the Milosevic trial.
Watson: So, are you telling me that....
Holmes: Yup. The quality somehow deteriorates.
