Gotovina et al Judgement Volume I - ICTY

38872small tractors - out of the houses along the main road, and loaded these items either intoHV army trucks or personal vehicles or stored them on the side of the road. The TrialChamber further finds, based on Dawes’s testimony, that these persons also loaded farmanimals onto army trucks. The Trial Chamber understands the description of thesepersons as HV soldiers to mean that they wore military-type uniform. On the basis ofthis evidence, the Trial Chamber is unable to verify the factual basis for thisqualification as HV soldiers. The Trial Chamber, however, considers the evidence thatreport of HV presence in Kistanje town on 6 August 1995 (Marko Rajčić, Ivan Vukić’sorder P1128, Matko Kurtović’s report P2349, Ante Gotovina’s analysis P2585,Vladimir Gojanović, Milenko Hrstić’s interview, Pero Perković), as well as Dawes’stestimony that he saw 200-300 uniformed persons. Based on this evidence, the TrialChamber finds that the uniformed persons that Dawes and Gojanović saw weremembers of the HV. The Trial Chamber finds that Milenko Hrstić, a member of the HV15th Home Guard Regiment took a television set from a house that had just startedburning in Kistanje upon entering the town around 1 p.m. on 6 August 1995.818. The Trial Chamber further finds, based on the evidence of Gojanović, Perković,and D1547 that on 6 August 1995, a considerable number of the houses in Kistanje wereburning. In this respect, the Trial Chamber has also considered the evidence of Gušawho testified that a few days after approximately 5 August 1995, he saw a great part ofKistanje burning. The evidence does not link any perpetrators to the observed burnings.However, the Trial Chamber notes that Gojanović testified that he saw houses inKistanje that he believed were burning or had burnt down due to torching, and not dueto artillery fire. The Trial Chamber recalls the evidence underlying its findings withregard to the observations of Dawes and Gojanović above, and considering Dawes’s andPerković’s observations that on 6 August 1995 there were no civilians left in the town,the Trial Chamber finds that the burnings observed were caused by members of the HV.This is further corroborated by the SIS report of 8 August 1995 (P203), that referencesincidents of mass burning of houses and lack of organization within the HV units, andKurtović’s report of 11 August 1995 (P2349), which described that once the settlementswere occupied, the commanders lost control over the HV members, who torched anumber of houses, particularly in Kistanje and other places inhabited by Serbs.3287 P886 (Duty Log of the Joint VP Company in Knin from 11 August to 11 November 1995), p. 39.443Case No.: IT-06-90-T 15 April 2011 `