The TRIBUNAL (12 page)

    By the time Kevin began riding his bicycle over to the jail, it was about 4 p.m. Kevin was hungry, but he was anxious to meet with Draga now that Draga had chosen him as his counsel. Kevin hoped that Draga would at last begin speaking to him.

    When Kevin passed a pizza place, he got an idea. He remembered reading a news account of an interview with Draga from a few years ago. Draga had remarked that the only thing he liked about America was its pizza. Kevin stopped at the pizza place and ordered five pizzas to go. Thirty minutes later, he strapped them to his bike carrier and resumed his trip to the jail.

    When he arrived at the jail, Kevin gave the pizzas to the guard. “I brought some dinner for the crew, and one for me and my client, if you will allow it.”

    “You bet. Thanks!”

    Kevin was led into the interview room. A few minutes later, Draga was led into the room. The guard placed the box of pizza on the table. “I heard you like pizza,” Kevin said to Draga. “I thought we could have dinner together.”

    Draga looked at Kevin and said nothing. He opened the pizza box and helped himself to a slice. Then he sat down.

    Kevin did the same. “Look, I understand that you don’t want to participate in your defense. Why don’t we just talk about something else? Not as a Serb to an American, but as one human being to another.”

    Draga said nothing.

    Kevin started to launch into a monologue about the Tribunal’s procedures.

    Draga interrupted him. “The pizza is good,” he said.

    Kevin smiled. “I like it too. What kind of toppings do you like?”

    “Pepperoni.”

    “Me, too. Next time it will be pepperoni.”

    Kevin was starved, and had already downed two pieces.

    “Don’t eat so fast,” Draga told him, “It’s not good for you and it’s not polite.”

    Draga looked like he was savoring every bite.

    And so it began. Kevin and Draga talked about food, movies, and cars. Kevin said nothing about the case. After they had polished off the pizza, Draga said, “Thank you. This is the best meal I have had in months.”

    “What do you do all day?”

    “Play cards. Watch television. Work out on the exercise equipment. Write letters to my family.”

    “Do you get along with the other prisoners?”

    “Yeah. I knew some of them from before. They’re all afraid of me. I like it that way.” Draga smiled. Then he turned it around. “What do you do at night after work?”

    “Help my daughter with her homework. Then we play or read together before her bedtime. By that time, I’m usually ready for bed myself. It’s not too exciting.”

    “You are with your family. That’s the main thing.”

    “Yeah. You must really miss your family.”

    “I do. I was gone a lot, but when you’re locked up like this, you really wish you’d done things differently. I would give anything to help my children with their homework.”

    Kevin remembered having almost the same conversation with Nihudian. Two people on opposite sides of a war, and both wanting the same thing.

    “Help me with your case. Help me understand the facts. Maybe one day you can return to your family.”

    Draga laughed derisively. “They’ll never let you win my case. Not in a million years. Just get me a speedy trial. I don’t want to sit here for a year.”

    “Why did you choose me?” Kevin asked as the subject moved closer to the case.

    “I liked the way you wouldn’t take any crap off that old judge. Krasnic made me sick the way he sucked up to him. And I knew Krasnic would just delay my case so he could bill more hours and make more money. I don’t want any delays.”

    “What good is a speedy trial if you get a life sentence?”

    Draga didn’t reply.

    “Allow me to ask you something that many defense attorneys would never dream of asking their client.”

    Draga raised his eyebrows in interest.

    “Did you do what they have charged you with?”

    Draga took a deep breath. “I am a soldier,” he said. “Not a butcher.”

    “Well, that’s as good a place to start as any. I received three boxes of witness statements and reports from the prosecution today. When I get them organized, I’ll make a set for you and bring it here. There are over five thousand pages.”

    “Don’t bother. There’s plenty of fiction to read here in the library.”

    Kevin smiled. “Are you going to help me with your defense?”

    “No.”

    Kevin didn’t want to push it. “One more thing. I met your brother-in-law, Mr. Golic, last night. He’s offered to do some investigation for us. He’s also going to come and visit you.”

    “He was here this morning. Thank you for arranging that.”

    “He’s a big guy like you. How are you two related?”

    Draga hesitated for a moment. “He’s the husband of one of my sisters,” he finally replied. Then he changed the subject. “What’s on the menu for next week?”

    “Any requests?”

    “Oh, I don’t know. Why don’t we do some nice American steaks and mashed potatoes? I’m a meat and potatoes kind of guy.”

    “Well, I’ll see what I can do. I don’t know of any take-out steak houses in The Hague. But I’ll look into it.”

    “Now, what’s new with the Oakland Raiders?” Draga asked.

    Kevin laughed. It figured that Draga’s favorite team was the bad boys of American football. They talked sports for a while, then it was time to go.

    “Don’t forget the A-1 sauce,” Draga said as Kevin departed.

    Kevin spent the next week and a half organizing, and then reading, the prosecution’s disclosure. The reports were awful. According to over a hundred witnesses, members of the Black Dragons had murdered, tortured, beaten and raped Muslim men, women, and children in Bosnia. One witness reported seeing Draga personally murder a Muslim civilian. Draga had also made numerous public statements in which he threatened to kill Muslims who did not leave Bosnia. The prosecution’s case appeared overwhelming.

    When he finished reading the reports, Kevin had a copy service make two copies. The day they were ready, he drove to the Tribunal so he could deliver one copy to the detention center for Draga, and then to the Embassy and left a copy for Vacinovic to send to Mihajlo Golic.

    Kevin decided to remove the statements of the protected witnesses from Golic’s copies. Golic would have no need for those reports. The Muslim victims were not going to talk to a Serb from Belgrade. Kevin would need to find a Muslim investigator to interview the victims.

    Kevin wrote a cover letter to Golic asking him to interview as many members of the Black Dragons as he could find. He also instructed Golic not to copy or disseminate the contents of the reports to anyone else. Then he wrote out a log, showing that he was distributing one copy of the materials to his client and one to his investigator

    After stopping at the prison, Kevin headed over to the Serbian Embassy. It was just before lunchtime and he hoped Vacinovic would be there. He was. “I have the box of materials and a letter for Mr. Golic in my car,” Kevin said. “Perhaps we can have lunch together, and then I can leave them with you?”

    Vacinovic agreed. They left the Embassy and drove in Kevin’s car to the
Plein
, a square adjacent to the Dutch Parliament buildings where there were many excellent restaurants. Kevin got lost trying to find a parking lot, but after circling around a few times, he found a space on the street to park his car. The two men walked to a restaurant that Vacinovic recommended featuring Balkan food.

    During lunch, Vacinovic gave Kevin a long history of how the Serbs had been persecuted through the years by the Turks and Muslims, as well as the Croats, who had been on the side of Hitler in World War II.

    “But the Court won’t allow that as a justification for anything that Draga is charged with,” Kevin interjected. “What else can I use as a defense for Draga?”

    Kevin wondered if Vacinovic would say “his innocence,” but he did not. In fact, he didn’t try to answer Kevin’s question. “It is important to show that the Serbs were victims,” Vacinovic continued. “We were simply defending ourselves. Draga’s trial will put the Serbs in the world spotlight. We must use it to show the truth, once and for all.”

    Kevin politely nodded as he listened to Vacinovic’s point of view.

    He drove Vacinovic back to the Embassy, although not before getting lost again. He was used to his bicycle and unfamiliar with the auto routes around The Hague. When they arrived at the Embassy, Kevin gave Vacinovic the box of materials for Golic and drove home.

    He told Diane and Ellen about his day, and the important question he had asked Draga, and his client’s response.

    Diane looked as if she wanted to roll her eyes, but she didn’t.

    “Maybe people just dressed up to look like the Dragons,” Ellen offered. “You know, like how kids wear American camouflage stuff because it’s cool.”

    “I’ll have to look into that. I don’t have much more to go on right now. In fact, this case is pretty hopeless. Thousands of Bosnian Muslims were killed and beaten by men in Black Dragon uniforms and the only defense the guy from the Embassy can offer is that the other side started it 600 years ago. Draga says he didn’t do it, but he won’t cooperate in mounting a defense. I don’t think F. Lee Bailey could win this one.”

    “Oh, Daddy, you’re
so
much better than him.”

    Ellen came over and climbed into his lap. It was her turn to tell him about her day.

    That night, Kevin decided to read something to get his mind off of the case for a while. He picked up a novel and stretched out on the couch. When Diane came down from putting Ellen to bed, the phone rang. It was just before 9 p.m.

    “Mr. Anderson, this is Zoran Vacinovic.”

    “Yes, Mr. Vacinovic,” Kevin replied.

    “A group of investigators from the Tribunal were just here.” Vacinovic sounded agitated. “They searched the Embassy looking for the materials that you gave me today.”

    “What?” Kevin was stunned.

    “They claimed that you and I had conspired to violate some protective orders of the Court.”

    Kevin was speechless.

    “This is an outrageous breach of diplomatic procedures. We have never heard of an Embassy being searched. My country will be protesting this in the strongest possible way.”

    Kevin felt shaky. Had he broken some Tribunal rule? He was just giving the materials to Vacinovic to send to the investigator. He had even taken out the reports from the protected witnesses.

    Just then, Kevin heard a loud banging at the front door.

    Someone shouted: “Police, open up!”

    

    

    Kevin dropped the phone and raced to the front door. He opened it only a crack, and immediately a half-dozen armed men and women in blue United Nations police uniforms burst past Kevin, fanning out in the house.

    “What’s going on here?” Kevin demanded.

    A tall man in a dark suit and Colombo rain jacket came in behind the police. “I’m John Wells, Chief Investigator for the Office of the Prosecutor at the Tribunal,” he said in clipped English. “We have a court order to search these premises.”

    Wells directed Kevin to sit on the couch next to Diane. The color had drained from her face; she looked as if she expected her family to be dragged into the streets.

    “Please,” she said, “our daughter is asleep on the third floor – ”

    A few seconds later, a sleepy Ellen, in her pajamas and carrying her bathrobe, staggered down to the living room escorted by a police officer. She ran for her parents, her eyes like those of a frightened fawn caught in the headlights of an oncoming vehicle.

    “What’s happening, Dad? Who
are
these people?”

    “They’re police from my work. Everything’s going to be okay.”

    A uniformed officer picked up the phone that Kevin hadn’t hung up. “Is anyone there?” the officer asked. “Who is this, sir?” After a pause, the officer said, “Mr. Anderson is unavailable. I suggest you call him in the morning.”

    The officer hung up the phone and turned to Wells. “He was on the phone with Vacinovic from the Serbian Embassy.”

    Wells looked disapprovingly at Kevin.

    “May I see the court order?” Kevin asked.

    Wells handed some papers to Kevin. “Read it and weep,” he said sarcastically. Kevin began to read the documents, with Diane and Ellen looking over his shoulder. The top page was indeed an order, signed by Judge Davidson, authorizing the search of Kevin’s home, his office at the Tribunal, the Serbian Embassy, and a box held by Dutch postal authorities. He flipped the page and began reading the attached affidavit of Chief Investigator John Wells:

    As counsel for Dragoljub Zaric, Kevin Anderson was provided with reports and witness statements, which were governed by a protective order issued by the court. The order provided that because of danger to the witnesses, copies of materials concerning protected witnesses were not to be distributed to third parties other than the accused and persons working directly for the defense.

    This morning, I observed Anderson loading boxes into a car at the Tribunal. Thinking that Anderson might be distributing materials covered by the protective order, I followed Anderson and observed him travel to the Tribunal detention center. Inquiry with the jail indicated that Anderson had delivered three boxes of discovery materials for his client.

    Thereafter, I followed Anderson to the Embassy of Serbia and Montenegro, where he exited in the company of Zoran Vacinovic. Vacinovic is a former officer in the Yugoslavian secret police and a long-time confidant of former President Slobodan Milosevic. Vacinovic is believed to have been assigned to The Hague to monitor the activities of the War Crimes Tribunal.