Untitled

Podujevo 1999 – Beyond Reasonable DoubtThe court makes the followingRulingThe trial panel will adjourn for 30 minutes because the court has a breakand it will resume at 11:45.At 11:45The main hearing resumesThe court informs the defendant that he gave two statements before theinvestigative judge in the investigative procedure. The first one was on 24May 1999 and the second was on 18 July 2001.The court points to the inconsistence of these two statements. The courtalso points to the inconsistence of these two statements with the one hegave today. The defendant replied:“The presiding judge read to me today a part of my statement regardingthe killing of civilians in Podujevo that I am charged with. In relation to this,I would like to give the following statement:After I returned to Novi Sad I lived on 6 Radnička Street with my family,actually my family lived in Veternik. Of course, I stayed in touch with thepeople I was with in the unit, with the SAJ members; we were going outfor drinks, to cafes, all in all we were hanging out together. Then, one daysome major, a member of the Province Ministry of Interior in Novi Sad,came and he proposed to me to create a unit. That was supposed to be aunit for special purposes, I assume. I started thinking about this and makinga list of people suitable for that unit. In the meantime, I refused to goin the field again because of the earlier experience in Podujevo.In the morning of 21 May 1999, while I was sitting in a cafe with some ofmy friends, two civilians suddenly approached me. They pulled their pistols,pointed them at me without showing any identification documentsand without any warning, and they said, “Freeze. Do not resist, or we will65