August 5
The court was not in session.

August 6
The prosecution started to present evidence of alleged war crimes committed by Dusko Tadic inside the Trnopolje and Keraterm prison camps.

Vasif Gutic, a former medical student, continued his testimony about the horrid conditions inside the Trnopolje camp. He explained that the majority of those held in the camp were women and that rape was a common occurrence. He said he even treated a rape victim who was only 12 1/2 years old.

On August 11, 1992, Gutic testified, that the International Red Cross camp to the camp and "circumstances there changed radically." The Red Cross brought "food, medicine and hope of rescue from the hell we were living in," he said. On October 1, the Red Cross organized a relocation of the prisoners out of the camp. Gutic said the prisoners, however, were required to sign an agreement relinquishing their property and promising not to return to Republica Srpska.

Gutic testified that at some point (he did not know the date) he saw Tadic at the camp. He said Tadic was standing in front of the building in which the Red Cross was housed, talking to the camp's deputy commander Slavko Puhalic. Gutic said Tadic and Puhalic were looking over piece of paper which the witness believed was a list of Muslims from Kozarac being sought by the Serbs.

On cross-examination, defense attorney Steven Kay challenged Gutic's identification of Tadic and the piece of paper. Gutic admitted that he was some distance away from Tadic at the time.

"What I suggest is that this simply isn't true. You didn't see Tadic looking at anything," Kay said. Gutic disagreed.

The tribunal also heard from Sefik Kesic, a survivor of all three prison camps -- Omarska, Keraterm and Trnopolje. While he was at Keraterm, he said Tadic interrogated and beat him.

August 7
Several witnesses testified about instances in which Dusko Tadic demonstrated a deep-seated antagonism toward Muslims. But none of the witnesses connected Tadic to any crime with which he is charged. Two other witnesses placed Tadic in the prison camps and testified that he was considered by his Serb allies to be the chief commander of the special police force in his hometown of Kozarac.

August 8
The prosecution continued to present evidence about Dusko Tadic's actions at the Trnopolje detention camp.

Mustafa Mujkanovic, a Muslim from the village of Trnopolje who was detained in the camp, saw he saw Tadic near the camp on two occasions. He also said a Serb friend of his in the village told him Tadic was known to hold tow positions: secretary of the local commune of Kozarac and police commander.

On cross-examination, the witness admitted he did not see Tadic inside the camp nor did he see him beat anyone. Defense attorney Steven Kay also suggested that Mujkanovic's identification of Tadic outside the camp was tainted by his having viewed a video documentary about prison camps in which Tadic appears.

Another witness, Jusaf Arifagic, said he saw Tadic in police uniform in the camp when it was being dissolved in late September 1992. But Arifagic, a Muslim from Kozarac who knew Tadic, did not connect the defendant to any crime.

August 9
The tribunal judges continued to hear testimony about the horrors of ethnic cleansing. But none of the witnesses identified Dusko Tadic as the man who committed what the world now calls war crimes.

So why all the testimony about someone else's crimes? First, the prosecution is trying to preempt the expected alibi defense. Tadic is expected to say he wasn't in the prison camps. It was someone else. So, the more witnesses who say they saw him at the Omarska, Keraterm and Trnopolje camps, the better for the prosecution.

The witnesses corroborated the various atrocities at the camps -- camps which the prosecution claims Tadic helped to run. And, the witnesses said, Tadic was armed, he was wearing camouflage and he was hanging out with the guards when Muslims were forced out of Prijedor and into the camps. The evidence may support the prosecution's claim that Tadic was in a superior position to the guards and perhaps even the commanders.

Another reason for the testimony may be because the prosecution must show that at the time of Tadic's alleged crimes there was a "systematic attack directed against a civilian population" -- and that Tadic knew he was participating in the attack. The witnesses said Tadic watched them board the buses to take them out of Prijedor, he was at the camps, he knew he was watching ethnic cleansing and he participated.

Bahrija Denic, a Muslim from Kozarac, said he saw Tadic in the village shortly before the Serb attack on the town. Denic said he also saw Tadic on October 1, 1992, when he was leaving the Trnopolje camp. Tadic, he said, was wearing a solid blue police uniform. He did not testify that he saw Tadic engage in any criminal activity.

Eniz Besic said he was in front of his home when the Serbs attacked Kozarac on May 24, 1992. He and his neighbors retreated to the forest for a few days before surrendering three days later.

Besic eventually was detained in the Trnopolje camp, where he was interrogated on three separate occasions and beaten if his inquisitors did not like his answers. As a result of the beatings, he suffered broken ribs and kidney damage.

Besic said he had known Tadic for 10 years. "He was a man who was well respected in Kozarac," he said. While in the Trnopolje camp, Besic saw Tadic on two separate instances. Once, about a month after he arrived at the camp, Besic saw Tadic in a "multi-colored military uniform" talking to a guard outside the grounds of the camp. Tadic was carrying an automatic rifle, he said. The second time Besic saw Tadic was about a week later, again in the company of guards just outside the camp. This time, Besic said, Tadic was in civilian clothes.

On cross-examination, he admitted he was never a friend of Tadic's and when he saw the defendant in Kozarac, it was juts in passing. He also conceded that when he said he saw Tadic outside the camp, he looked at him for only a brief period of time.

Samic Hodzic, a 26-year-old from a hamlet just outside of Trnopolje, said he knew Tadic as a karate instructor and cafe owner but never socialized with him. Hodzic said he saw Tadic just a few days before the attack on Kozarac.

On July 9, 1992, Hodzic, his father and his uncle were forced to join a column, the members of which were taken to the Trnopolje camp. His uncle was called out of the column and he never saw him again.

Hodzic was then transferred to the Omarska camp where he was held in the "white house." While there, a fellow prisoner twice was called out of his room. The prisoner, Hakija Elezovic, is listed in the indictment as one of Tadic's victims.

At some later point, Hodzic was outside the "white house" when he saw a group of guards including Tadic. The guards, he said, required him to turn over a pile of bodies lying face down near the "white house." One body, Hodzic said, may have been Sejad Sivac, another one of Tadic's alleged victims. Another was Elezovic's son, Salih. However, Hodzic said he did not see Elezovic behind the "white house" with the other dead men.

On cross-examination, attorney Steven Kay questioned Hodzic about not seeing Elezovic. The testimony is important because Elezovic testified on July 30 that he had been beaten and left for dead behind the "white house." He also said he was there when Hodzic turned over the bodies. In fact, Elezovic said he passed out from a beating and that was why he wasn't killed. He also described Hodzic taking Salih's shoes and said he first asked Elezovic's permission.

But Hodzic testified that he did take the shoes but did not see Elezovic there and did not discuss with him taking the shoes.

With this testimony, the defense may have undermined Hodzic and Elezovic's testimony.