TRNOPOLJE WAS ONE OF THE CAMPS WHERE YOU HAD A PRETTY GOOD CHANCE OF STAYING ALIVE; ONLY ABOUT 400 PEOPLE WERE KILLED THERE."
TEXT: ALMIN'S FATHER WAS TAKEN EARLIER THAT YEAR TO THE NEARBY CAMP OF KERETERM, WHICH WAS LATER CALLED A 'DEATH CAMP' BECAUSE SO MANY ARE REPORTED TO HAVE DIED THERE. BUT ALMIN SAYS HIS 45-YEAR-OLD FATHER WAS LUCKY:
TAPE: // OPT // CUT # 2 HADZIC RUNS [:35]
"THE SERBS, THEY, YOU KNOW, BEAT HIM. HE LOST HIS TEETH; HIS RIBS ARE IN BAD CONDITION NOW. THEY HAD BASEBALL BATS, THEY HAD MANY KINDS OF DIFFERENT TOOLS TO BEAT PEOPLE. IT WAS HORRIBLE. IN THAT SITUATION, YOU THINK THEY'RE JUST GOING TO COME AND THEY'RE GOING TO KILL YOU. MY MOM, SHE WASN'T RAPED, THANK GOD. SHE WAS VERY LUCKY. BUT TWO OF MY RELATIVES, THEY WERE RAPED AT THE CONCENTRATION CAMP, VERY BADLY ACTUALLY." // END OPT //
TEXT: (IN FACT), ALMIN THINKS HIS WHOLE FAMILY WAS LUCKY DESPITE THE FACT THREE UNCLES WERE KILLED, AS WELL AS OTHER RELATIVES AND MANY OF THE NEIGHBORS ON HIS STREET. HE SAYS IT IS THANKS TO THAT "GOOD SERB" THAT HIS FAMILY WAS RELEASED AND EVENTUALLY REUNITED. BUT THERE WAS ALSO A "BAD SERB" AT TRNOPOLJE -- ANOTHER KARATE COACH WHOM ALMIN REMEMBERS WELL. HIS NAME WAS DUSAN TADIC [DOO-SHAN TAH-DITCH], THE MAN INDICTED BY THE WAR CRIMES TRIBUNAL LATE LAST YEAR FOR HIS ACTIONS AT TRNOPOLJE. HE IS CURRENTLY BEING HELD IN A GERMAN JAIL AND IS EXPECTED TO BE HANDED OVER TO STAND TRIAL SOMETIME IN MARCH [WATCH FOR UPDATE]:
TAPE: CUT # 3 HADZIC RUNS [:60]
"I SAW HIM ONCE AT THE CONCENTRATION CAMP WHEN I WAS THERE. I AM NOT SURE IF HE WAS DRUNK OR NOT BUT HE CAME TO TRNOPOLJE AND HE WAS LOOKING FOR SOMEONE. HE WANTED TO KILL HIM BUT HE COULDN'T FIND HIM. WHAT USUALLY HAPPENED, THEY CAME, TOOK SOME GUYS, ASKED SOME QUESTIONS -- YOU KNOW, LIKE, 'WHERE DID YOU LEAVE YOUR GUNS?'. YOU KNOW, STUPID QUESTIONS. AND IF YOU DIDN'T HAVE ANSWERS, THEY BEAT YOU. IF YOU START TO CRY, THEY START TO SWEAR AND THEY BEAT YOU MORE. SOMETIMES THEY CAME AND TOOK A GUY AND HE NEVER CAME BACK. DURING THE NIGHT, THEY CAME AND TOOK THE PEOPLE AWAY; YOU HEARD LATER, 'BANG!' AND THEY NEVER CAME BACK. THAT'S HOW I KNOW THEY KILLED THEM. BECAUSE YOU KNOW DURING THE NIGHT THEY WOULD USUALLY GET DRUNK OR IF THEY WERE NOT HAPPY WITH WHAT WAS GOING ON AT THE FRONT, IN ANOTHER PART OF BOSNIA WHERE THEY ARE LOSING. AND IF THEY ARE NOT HAPPY WITH THAT, THEY WOULD GET ANGRY AND JUST COME AND KILL PEOPLE."
TEXT: ALMIN SAYS HE HID BEHIND A GROUP OF MEN, FEARING DUSAN TADIC WOULD RECOGNIZE HIM. HE REMEMBERS HIS FORMER KARATE COACH BEFORE THE WAR AS A GOOD ATHLETE AND INSTRUCTOR, BUT RECALLS A CONVERSATION HE OVERHEARD SEVERAL MONTHS BEFORE THE WAR BROKE OUT:
TAPE: CUT # 4 HADZIC RUNS [:24]
"HE WAS AN EXCELLENT, EXCELLENT ATHLETE. HE WAS THE BEST KARATE (INSTRUCTOR) IN MY TOWN, IN MY COUNTRY. HE WAS STRONG, HE WAS A GREAT ATHLETE. THE FIRST TIME I NOTICED SOMETHING, WAS AT MY KARATE CLUB, THERE WERE A COUPLE OF MORE SERBS AND THEY WERE TALKING TOGETHER AND WHEN I REALLY STARTED TO THINK ABOUT HIM (WAS) WHEN HE SAID ' YOU KNOW, WE SHOULD DESTROY SARAJEVO'."
TEXT: ALMIN WAS IN WASHINGTON, D.C. RECENTLY, WHERE HE ATTENDED A CONFERENCE ON BOSNIA AT WHICH A LAWYER INVOLVED WITH THE WAR CRIMES TRIBUNAL SPOKE. IN RESPONSE TO A QUESTION FROM ALMIN, THE ATTORNEY SAID EUROPEAN GOVERNMENTS HAD OBJECTED TO IMPOSING A DEATH PENALTY FOR WAR CRIMINALS, SO THE MOST SEVERE SENTENCE THE TRIBUNAL COULD IMPOSE WOULD BE LIFE IMPRISONMENT:
TAPE: CUT HADZIC RUNS [:34]
"I REMEMBER I ASKED THE QUESTION IF THE DEATH PENALTY WAS POSSIBLE AND THEY SAID 'NO, THEY WILL ONLY GET LIFE IMPRISONMENT'. IT'S NOT FAIR. IT'S NOT FAIR. YOU KNOW, THOSE PEOPLE KILLED SO MANY PEOPLE, THEY DESERVE THE DEATH PENALTY, THOSE PEOPLE LIKE DUSAN TADIC. I KNOW THAT MY NEIGHBOR ACROSS THE STREET, HE LOST FOUR SONS. DO YOU THINK EVEN IF THEY PUT DUSAN TADIC IN JAIL AND HE'S GOING TO BE HAPPY WITH THAT? NO WAY. I DON'T THINK HE (TADIC) IS GOING TO WALK ON THE STREETS ACTUALLY. I'M PRETTY SURE THERE ARE SOME PEOPLE ARE GOING TO KILL HIM SOMEWHERE ON THE STREET."
TEXT: IT IS TO CONCERN ABOUT SUCH ACTS OF RETALIATION AND RETRIBUTION THAT MAKES THE WORK OF THE TRIBUNAL ALL THE MORE IMPORTANT. CHIEF PROSECUTOR, JUDGE RICHARD GOLDSTONE OF SOUTH AFRICA IS ACUTELY AWARE THAT NO ONE IS WATCHING HIS WORK MORE CLOSELY THAN THE VICTIMS OF BRUTALITY THEMSELVES --WHETHER THEY BE FROM BOSNIA, LIKE ALMIN HADZIC -- OR FROM OTHER INFAMOUS WAR ZONES, LIKE RWANDA.