Gotovina et al Judgement Volume I - ICTY

39261armed forces and certain crimes committed by civilians. 271 Pursuant to Article 55 of theVP Rules, the investigation and processing of crimes was carried out by authorized VPofficials ex officio, or by request of the state prosecutor or court. 272105. According to Laušić, Article 8 of the VP Rules clarifies that all VP units areorganizationally subordinated to the VP administration, whereas Article 9 states thatwhen performing regular VP tasks, VP units, in their daily operative command, aresubordinate to the commander of the respective MD or the highest commander byfunction in their area of responsibility. 273 This meant that the MD commanders couldissue orders to VP units within the framework of the VP tasks as further set out in therules. 274 Laušić testified that a military commander could direct VP units in his area ofresponsibility to conduct a VP task and would subsequently receive a report on thistask. 275106. Reynaud Theunens, a military expert, 276 testified that the operationalcommander is the one responsible for the units’ daily operational command by tellingthem, in very simple terms, what to do, while the professional chain will then determinehow to do it, which does not take place on a daily basis. 277 The witness furtherexplained that the VP Administration is the one which issues the regulations, since theoperational commander does not have the specialized knowledge for certain issues, andto allow him to take care of these issues himself would lead to a risk of incoherence inthe use of the VP. 278107. Boris Milas, (acting) Head of the Crime Prevention Service of the 72nd VPBattalion from about mid-September 1992 to the end of 1996, 279 testified that the VPsystem operated through a single, vertical command. A VP commander was answerableto the VP Administration. However, there was a need to have horizontal coordination271 P880 (VP Rules, February 1994), Article 53.272 P880 (VP Rules, February 1994), Articles 54-55.273 P2159 (Mate Laušić, witness statement, 11 August 2004), paras 28, 84; Mate Laušić, T. 15206-15209,15214, 15235, 15590; P880 (VP Rules, February 1994), Articles 8-9.274 P2159 (Mate Laušić, witness statement, 11 August 2004), paras 28, 84; Mate Laušić, T. 15206-15209,15214, 15235, 15590; P880 (VP Rules, February 1994), Articles 8-9.275 P2159 (Mate Laušić, witness statement, 11 August 2004), para. 25.276 Reynaud Theunens, T. 12170-12274; P1112 (Curriculum Vitae of Reynaud Theunens).277 Reynaud Theunens, T. 12599.278 Reynaud Theunens, T. 12599-12600.279 D1532 (Boris Milas, witness statement, 19 May 2009), p. 1, paras 1-4, 6, 8, 11, 31; D1533 (BorisMilas, witness statement, 22 June 2009), p. 1; Boris Milas, T. 19158, 19168-19169, 19227-19230, 19322;P2548 (Official note of MUP crime police interview with Boris Milas), p. 1.54Case No.: IT-06-90-T 15 April 2011 `