She talks of life just before NATO started to blow the crap out of anything that moved . Her village was largely Kosovo Albanian.
Question: And did you know that because you talked to them?
Witness:Yes, yes. I have talked with many refugees who came there in my neighbourhood, and they told me about what was happening in their own villages.
)
And
Question: Thank you. You mentioned a man named [redacted]. So you said he was killed. How do you know that?
Witness: I know this because we heard it from our neighbours. They told us that [redacted] with his mother and son and his daughter were killed, and this is true.
)
Watson: Oh dear, it's the dreaded bloke in the pub starts blabbering.
Holmes: Note the following interesting exchange
Question: How did they do that? What kind of force did they use?
Witness:I remember very well that everyone came out in the street, and they said that, "You should leave your homes because this is not the place for you to stay." So we all left our homes.
Question:But, Witness, did the police or any soldiers come to your house and order you to leave?
Witness:The Serb police and army were a little bit away from my home, and they have forced the others to leave their homes. So we did not wait for them to come to our home, too, because we were afraid that something worse might happen to us. So we left the house ourselves.
Holmes: See how the witness says the police only said this village was nat safe - they didn't order the witness to leave - so the prosecutor asks a very leading question - and the witness says "we did not wait for them to come to our home" - i.e. she admits the police didn't order her to leave .
Watson: Isay Holmes, that's just crap-o-speak really
Holmes: It certainly does seem to be a browner shade of pale to be sure. Anyway, her family and other villages walked to a nearby village, waited there for a few hours, then moved on, saw some Serb armor, stayed the night nearby then moved on. She said of the Serb forces
Witness: On the way, we saw Pinzgauer there, too. We saw Pinzgauer going up and down, but they didn't stop us. We didn't have any problem
Question: What happened that you were forced to leave your house?
Witness: Because the Serbian army and police again started removing people from their homes.
Question: Did they go to your home?
Witness:They came to a neighbour, and this neighbour told us that the police were telling everybody to leave and this wasn't our place. So we, again, didn't wait
)
Holmes: They slept outdoors then guess what happens?
Question: So what did you do the next day?
Witness: The next day, at 4.00, I went outside and I saw a lot of people in the road, and they had -- I took the courage to go out and ask what was going on, and there were a lot of people with trucks, cars, tractors, who had gone out onto the road, and they had -- they said that they had been forced out of their homes because Serbian forces - police and army - had told them to leave Kosovo and to go to Albania.
)
Holmes: When asked how her family were mistreated she said that
(
( 1359 )
Question: Can you describe any of the mistreatments that you saw?
Witness: Yes. I saw cases of mistreatment of my family.
Question: Can you give us an example?
Witness: Yes. It's true that during the journey, Serbian forces stopped my uncle and grabbed him and asked for money, and then they separated his son. And he had no money to give them or anything, and then they mistreated him and beat him. And at one point, they released him. But because there were -- there were a lot of people who were mistreated by Serbian forces there.
)
(
Witness: On the 18th of April, we reached [redacted], and we waited there. They thought -- we thought they would let us go to Albania and leave Kosovo, but this didn't happen. We stayed there several hours, and a few -- after few hours, the police came and told us - who had been stationed in a place lower down - and they told us we couldn't go to Albania because the border was closed and we had to go back into Kosovo again
)
Holmes: She said that they turned back , some men in a car made her and another woman get in and they drove off . They raped the two women then let them go . They returned to the group , about 5,000 in a large warehouse . The Serbs bought bread for the Kosovo Albanians and filmed them , asking questions .
After a few days in the warehouse , they returned home.........
The men were separated from the others, put in prison, mistreated then told to go to Albania.
Question: Do you know what happened to your brothers?
Witness: We know that they were sent to the prison of [redacted]. And when we got together again after the war, they told us about what had happened. They told us that when they were separated from us, they were sent to the [redacted]prison, and they were being mistreated there, including children. All were being mistreated. All the Albanians were being mistreated. And after some time, they were taken to the prison of [redacted]. After holding them in the [redacted]prison, they were sent to Albania. They told us that they were sent to Albania on buses.
)
Holmes: She returned home then chose to go to Montenegro ( 1382 )
(
Witness: So we left our houses and we went to our uncle in the [redacted]neighbourhood, and they gave us some money and, from there, we went to [redacted].
Question: How much money did they give to you?
Witness: One ticket to go to [redacted]cost a hundred marks. And they gave money for all of us; 400 marks altogether.
Question: So you bought the ticket and you went to Montenegro?
Witness: Yes. Yes.
)
Watson: So that's it?
Holmes: Well said. Now it's time for Slobo to have his time. It wasn't pretty. He does the usual. Points out numerous inconsistencies in the witness's testimony, etc. Sad stuff really considering what the woman had been through. Slobo immediately catches the woman on a point
Slobo:In the statement you made -- in your testimony a moment ago, you said that you went to Montenegro because -- and prior to that you had taken some money from your uncles on both sides, your mother's side and your father's side. So neither of your uncles, that means, were in prison because you were able to go to them to get the money; is that right?
Witness: No, I didn't say that. I said I went to my uncles on my mother's side, and I found there only their wives, because even my grandfather, who is 70, and all my uncles were taken to the prison. And it's not true that I took the money from my uncle but from his wife, because the uncles were all in gaol, my grandfather too.
Slobo: All right. That seems to be a new point but I seem to have heard that you went to your two uncles to get the money from them and they gave you the money
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Watson:Indeed it is a new point . The witness changed her story . Hmmmmmm
Holmes: She also had to admit that not all men were put in prison as she'd earlier testified to
Question: All right. But your brother did go to Montenegro with you when you left; is that right?
Witness: Yes, the youngest one did.
)
Watson: About the mistreatment?
Witness: Yes. They questioned them also about the KLA. But the fact is that my brothers were not KLA members.
Slobo:You said that the last time you came, according to the statement, when you came to [redacted], to your own house, that it had been destroyed by shelling. And in your original statement, it says that it was damaged after a NATO attack, including the roof of the house.
Witness: My house, in fact, was destroyed as a result of NATO bombs because our house was not situated so close to the military barracks and station, but the blast was so powerful, and my house was very sold, so it was all ruined as a result of the shelling.
Slobo: Yes, as the result of NATO bombing of facilities in the neighbourhood, in the environs.
Witness: No. In my neighbourhood they did not bomb because the barracks, military barracks, were located in [redacted], in [redacted], but not close to my house. And there was no NATO bombing there.
Slobo: But as you yourself said, nevertheless it was destroyed and damaged as a consequence of the bombing; is that right?
)
Holmes: Slobo points out that the Serbs never shelled the village. She doesn't dispute this.
Witness: No. I don't know. I can't give you an answer. I don't simply
14 understand.
)
Watson: Yes folks, a new twist to that ole family favourite. "The KLA and amnesia" was such a hit, it's been expanded to include NATO.
(
( 1389 )
Slobo: Do you know about the bombing of the centre of [redacted] by NATO?
Witness doesn't know
Slobo: Do you know about the bombing of [redacted], above [redacted], also by NATO?
Witness doesn't know
Slobo: What bombing do you know about? The bombing that, in fact, destroyed your house, what bombing was that then? Did you see any shelling yourself?
Witness doesn't know
)
Watson: Sad really.
THE KLA AND AMNESIA
Holmes: Yes, the old family fave is back and stronger than ever
Watson: Aaaaaaah! Mr Amnesia returns.
(
( 1389 )
Slobo: Do you know that the police searched houses, looking for members of the KLA?
Witness doesn't know
Slobo: Do you know of any incident in which the police were shot at from houses in [redacted]?
Witness doesn't know
Slobo: Do you know that the police searched houses, looking for members of the KLA?
Witness doesn't know
Slobo: Do you know of any incident in which the police were shot at from houses in [redacted]?
Witness doesn't know
)
Watson: Sad. Really really sad.
Holmes: Oh, now this is funny. Slobo with a humdinger of truly humdingeresque proportions.
(
( 1390 )
Slobo: At the beginning of your statement, that is to say, in the written statement you made, you said that when the bombing started, you were very frightened because your house was very old and that you didn't think it would survive.
Witness: Yes, because it was very old. But we went to the neighbour's house to spend the night, to be together with others. But we were very happy at NATO airstrikes. But it's a fact that our house was very old indeed, and it was kind of very fragile.
Slobo: You were very frightened, but you were very happy. Am I to understand your answer in that way?
)
Holmes: She was very frightened, but she was also very happy.
Watson: A classic
Holmes: She doesn't deny it either.
"Yes, I was very happy, but it is also true that I had kind of premonition. I felt sad. I felt that something bad would happen to me."
Watson: ARF! So she was very frightened yet very happy AND very happy yet feeling sad. ARF
Holmes: In her statement Slobo points out that she wrote "nobody actually ordered us to go or told us to go" . About the terrible crime, Slobo scores a telling point
(
( 1395 )
Slobo: Then you go on to describe the crime that was committed against you personally. You said that the perpetrator of the crime had a scarf over his head, or on his head.
Witness: Yes.
Slobo: So that means that he was neither a soldier nor a policeman.Do you know that the army and police wears either helmets or caps?
)
He also asks the witness about the car
(
( 1395 )
Slobo: You said that he forced you to go into a small Yugo-type car, white. Was it a civilian vehicle or a military vehicle? Was it a civilian vehicle?
Witness: It was a civilian car
)
And
(
Slobo: So that time when they took you, there was no regular police nearby?
Witness: No. I didn't see any nearby.
)
Slobo also noted that the witness had said "Then the police came. Some policemen were good to us, and had it not been for them, today we probably wouldn't be here."
Also
(
( 1396 )
Slobo: You said that a truck came with bread. You said in your statement that a truck came with bread and milk. Here this morning, you said that they brought bread to you with the following motive in mind: That you should think kindly of them.
Witness: Yes.
)
She also admitted the Serb police asked any of the Kosovo Albanians if they needed a doctor
(
( 1397 )
Slobo: All right. Do you think the same of the following, when you said that they brought this truck with bread and they also asked whether somebody needed a doctor?
Witness: Yes, they asked about doctors. It's true they asked.
Slobo: So they brought a truck with bread, they asked you whether you needed a doctor. Do you think these people came there to help you?
)
Watson: So, it's pretty obvious what happened. She was taken by civilians, put in a civilian car, taken to a remote location and raped. The Serb police with the convoy were, on the other hand, kind, gave out bread and asked if anyone needed medical help.
Holmes: Succintly put. In fact the rapist could well have been KLA for as Slobo remarked
(
Slobo: I am sorry that this young girl was the victim of rape, of course, if it is all true, and I'm not going to ask her any questions with respect to those events, but I would like to ask her something with respect to the other things that were said. As far as rape is concerned, it wasn't done certainly by the army and police but by criminals. The army and the police arrested criminals of that kind even for attempted rape. Gentlemen, I would like to suggest, otherwise, that you take a look at the latest report of the British Helsinki committee, describing the present situation in Kosovo as catastrophic; and they say that particularly young Albanians are saying that the worst things that they can see every day is rape and that they themselves say that, under the Serbs, there was no rape. But rape is a speciality of Albanian criminals that they used in 1987 and 1988.
)
Watson: Interesting.
Holmes: There's a chuckle
(
( 1360 )
Question: And during the four days that you walked in this convoy, did you stop any time to eat or to rest?
Witness: I remember at the front of the convoy, we stopped before night fell, where a Serbian soldier said, "You can't stop. You should keep going. Get to Albania
)
Watson: Is she really claiming that she had to walk for a full four days without rest or sleep? What a silly billy
Watson: So, are you telling me that
- She admitted that it was NATO that destroyed her house.
- A lot of her testimony was hearsay
- She claimed ignorance about a great many NATO targets that got splattered
- She claimed ignorance about a graet manyKLA victims who got splattered
- Her testimony contradicted her earlier statements
- She admitted the Serb police were kind to the column as they made their way to Albania
- The Serbs wouldn't let the Kosovo Albanians leave Kosovo.
- Her brothers were released from prison the moment the Serbs were satisfied they weren't KLA
- The Serb forces didn't shell her village at all yet she admitted that many left because of the shelling which means they left because of the NATO bombing.
- It is obvious that the rapists were not Serb forces as they used a civilian car, didn't have uniforms and only appeared when the escort disappeared.
- She was happy yet, at the very same time, sad.
- As rape and torture was a part of the KLA's strategy in the years before and after the witness's experience, the rapists could well have been KLA terrorists.
- She admitted that the Serbs had doctors to treat anyone who fell ill in the column
- She made the slightly silly claim that the Serbs wouldn't let her take a rest for a whole four days as she made her way to the border
Holmes: Yup. Slobo wins a weekend in the Savoy hotel: the ICTY? a weekend in Bate's motel.
Holmes and Watson: Arf.
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