Lies at the Hague tribunal

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

The New York Times
September 26, 2003, Friday, Late Edition - Final

A Chilling Tale at The Hague: How 6 Muslims Died in Bosnia

By MARLISE SIMONS

The narrative of evildoing takes many shapes at the Yugoslav war crimes 
tribunal, but sometimes a small fragment or a single story stands out.

One such story appeared this week, a short and chilling tale of revenge 
in which a United Nations vehicle became a decoy and led a group of men 
to their deaths.

The narrator was retired Capt. Momir Nikolic, 48, former chief of 
intelligence in a Bosnian Serb army brigade. He was testifying at The 
Hague against his former commander, Col. Vidoje Blagojevic, who glared 
at him across the room. Mr. Nikolic had pleaded guilty to war crimes, 
Mr. Blagojevic not guilty.

Mr. Nikolic was speaking, calmly and precisely, of July 13, 1995, when 
his and other Serbian brigades were organizing the execution of 7,000 
unarmed boys and men, Europe's greatest modern massacre, near 
Srebrenica. Serbian troops had overrun the area and the 300 or so United 
Nations soldiers in charge of safeguarding it. Some 30,000 refugees had 
massed in utter panic around the United Nations compound.

The situation, Mr. Nikolic said, was horrendous. "Many people were 
exhausted. They looked bad. There were sick men, children and old 
people. They were scared. The men were being separated from their 
families." He saw many being beaten.

The day before, Mr. Nikolic said, his superiors of the Drina Corps had 
told him that all the Muslim men of the area were to be executed. His 
task was to coordinate units of different brigades and help prepare the 
operation. Buses were needed to take away women and children, Muslim men 
had to be rounded up and put under guard in schools and hangars; he and 
two other officers discussed sites suitable for the executions.

On July 13, he said, he and two fellow officers set out in an armored 
personnel carrier, one of a number seized from United Nations troops.

"It was a white vehicle with the letters U.N. in bold capitals," he 
said. "Mirko Jankovic was driving, Mile Petrovic used the megaphone and 
I sat on the top." They drove toward the town of Bratunac, passing 
clusters of dead bodies.

Along the road, Mr. Petrovic, a military police commander, took the 
megaphone and began calling for the Muslims in the nearby woods to come 
out and surrender. When the vehicle stopped, "about six Muslim soldiers 
surrendered," Mr. Nikolic said. They boarded the vehicle, which drove 
them to another town, Konjevic Polje.

There, he went on, "I told Petrovic to take the prisoners to the 
building where some 250 other prisoners were already being held." 
Meanwhile, he sat down under the eaves of a burned-out house. After some 
10 minutes, he said, he heard bursts of gunfire coming from the banks of 
the Jadar River.

Shortly afterward, he said, Mile Petrovic returned. "He told me, 'Chief, 
I've taken revenge for my brother. I have killed them.' "

The prosecutor, Peter McCloskey, asked Mr. Nikolic, "And what did you do?"

Mr. Nikolic, "I didn't do anything."

===

(From the Institute of War and Peace Reporting, a Soros-backed outfit)

http://www.iwpr.net/index.pl?archive/tri/tri_327_1_eng.txt

Key Srebrenica Witness Apologises for Lies

Defence lawyer presses Bosnian Serb officer on admission that he lied.

By Chris Stephen in The Hague (TU 327, 04 October 2003)

A key Srebrenica prosecution witness apologised to the Hague tribunal 
this week about lying in a statement to prosecutors.

Momir Nikolic, a former Bosnian Serb army intelligence officer, made 
history after he gave evidence against his former colleagues about the 
Srebrenica killings in a plea agreement deal with prosecutors, reached 
in May this year.

In exchange for pleading guilty to crimes against humanity, and for 
cooperating, prosecutors are pressing for a lighter sentence limited to 
20 years.

Nikolic, 48, originally gave a signed statement telling prosecutors he 
ordered the worst massacre at Srebrenica – the slaughter of 1,000 
unarmed Muslims at a warehouse in Kravica, as well as a second execution 
at Sandici.

“I did not tell the truth when I said that,” he told the court on 
September 29. “Afterwards I said I had made a mistake, I had lied.”

“I apologise. All I can do is confess and say that the discussion about 
the crime is a very difficult situation to be in.”

He admitted to the lies on May 6, in a statement to prosecutors which 
was released to the public last week. He also said he had lied about a 
second claim that he had been the man in a photograph shown him by 
prosecutors. His guilty plea statement to the court, also dated May 6, 
did not contain these untruths.

Nikolic is now giving evidence against Vidoje Blagojevic and Dragan 
Jokic, two fellow Bosnian Serb officers accused of crimes against 
humanity and violation of the laws and customs of war.

The issue of Nikolic’s earlier lies came up under cross-examination from 
the defence this week.

”You took some information which you knew to be true, and incorporated 
that information into the falsehood in order to give your story more 
believability?” said defence lawyer Michael Kavanas.

“No,” said Nikolic.

In his May statement to prosecutors, Nikolic said, “I initially falsely 
stated that I was the person in a photograph depicting a soldier in the 
area of Sandici, when in truth I was not the person depicted in the 
photograph.”

“In addition I initially falsely stated to the prosecution that I had 
ordered executions at Sandici and the Kravica warehouse on July 13, 
1995, when in fact I had not issued such orders.”

“Shortly after making these false statements – and as discussions with 
the prosecution continued – I voluntarily informed my lawyers and the 
prosecution that I had made false statements,” said his statement.

“I think we should call it for what it is, a bald-faced lie,” said 
Karnavas, an American lawyer.

In the original statement, Nikolic said he had seen former army officer 
Ljubomir Borovcanin at the Kravica warehouse.

“You needed to give him [the prosecutor] something he did not have, 
right?” said Karnavas. “You wanted to limit your time of imprisonment to 
20 years, that was part of the arrangement, yes? Quid pro quo?”

“I’m still a little bit confused,” continued Karnavas. “How is it that 
you thought by admitting to one of the most horrendous executions in 
this area, that this would help you in getting the kind of sentence that 
you are hoping and praying for?”

“I wanted the agreement to succeed,” said the witness.

Karnavas pressed on, “Did you think that by falsely admitting to having 
ordered this execution that you were solving a question-mark in the 
prosecutor’s case as to who had ordered that murder?”

Nikolic told the court that although he was not present, he was sure 
Borovcanin had been there.

“You implicated Borovcanin in your falsehood in order to make your story 
move convincing so that the prosecutor would buy it?” said Karnavas. 
“You needed to give him [the prosecutor] some more facts to sweeten the 
deal, that’s why you provided false information about Kravica?”

Nikolic went on to deny that anyone but himself had been involved in the 
fabrication.

“Your lawyers had a laundry list of factors that the prosecutor was 
expected to agree to?” asked the lawyer.

“The prosecution did not exert any influence on me,” replied Nikolic. 
“What I did is my own mistake.”

He told the court that although he was a captain, he would sometimes 
claim to be a major when attending meetings with United Nations troops 
in the Srebrenica area.

“You stated that part of your profession required you to use deceptive 
measures as an intelligence officer,” said Karnavas.

“Do you understand how critically important it is for you to tell the 
whole truth? That had been part of the agreement that you had reached 
with the prosecutors – that you would testify truthfully and tell the 
whole truth?”

Karnavas then asked the witness about his past employment record. 
Nikolic said he had left the army and became an official with a local 
company, but was made redundant when it was privatised.

“Do you wish to supplement any more regarding that?” said Karnavas, who 
showed the court a document in which Nikolic’s employer declared that 
Nikolic’s employment was terminated on November 25, 2000.

“What I’m interested to know is why you have failed to inform us that 
you were fired. Not that after privatisation you were unemployed but 
that you were fired.”

“That is absolutely not true,” said Nikolic.

The case continues.

Chris Stephen is IWPR’s tribunal project manager.


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