Gotovina et al Judgement Volume I - ICTY

39280members of Croatian military forces or Special Police, the Trial Chamber inter aliaconsidered the number of persons present, the persons’ attire, the possession of certainweaponry and/or vehicles 134 , a certain behaviour such as “combing” the area, asking forthe male population, going from house to house or detaining people, and the existenceof hierarchies or a certain structure evidenced by some persons acting as guards orpersons receiving instructions from others. The Trial Chamber notes that due toevidence on the abundance of hand-held weapons in the Indictment area, it did notconsider the mere possession of such weapons an indicator of military or policeaffiliation. Similarly, the evidence indicated that the use of civilian vehicles could not initself warrant an inference that those using the vehicle were not affiliated with themilitary or the police. 135 The Trial Chamber considered possible case-specific indicatorswhich weighed against an inference that the perpetrators belonged to official armedforces.66. The evidence often contained qualifications of perpetrators such as “HVsoldiers” or “Croatian soldiers”. The Trial Chamber paid specific attention to the factualbases for any such qualifications. It considered that a qualification is often a mixture offactual observations and conclusions. A witness may explicitly relay his or her factualobservations, for instance, by referring to “HV soldiers” and stating that he or she sawthe letters “HV” on the uniform. However, a qualification of certain persons as “HV”can also be the result of an interpretation without a verifiable proper basis in factualobservations. 136 The Trial Chamber has taken a cautious approach with regard to anyqualifications by victims, witnesses or other observers where they do not expresslyprovide the factual basis for their qualifications. This cautious approach was borne outby the evidence, which established that in several instances certain qualifications hadbeen made without any or with only a vague factual basis. 137 The Trial Chamber notesthat such qualifications do not necessarily have to be incorrect but considered that ifthey cannot be verified they should be treated with great caution. In this respect, theTrial Chamber notes that the evidence did not sufficiently establish that internationalmilitary observers were always adequately trained in recognizing and distinguishing134 In particular vehicles with HV or VP license plates, military trucks or tanks.135 See e.g. T. 19452, 19459, 19544, 19548.136 Cf. Gotovina Defence final trial brief, paras 493, 495.137 See e.g. Witness 69’s reasoning for concluding “Croatian soldiers” in Chapter 4.2.9 or Berikoff’sinitial references to “Special Police” (see exhibit D735, p. 2 and T. 7590, 7835, 7838).35Case No.: IT-06-90-T 15 April 2011 `