The TRIBUNAL (34 page)

    “Yes, Madam President. And I am pleased to inform the Court that we have consolidated matters so that this will be our final witness. We call Allen Jacobson.”

    A young, thin man with light brown hair came forward from the back of the courtroom. He read the oath and began answering questions on his background. Jacobson was from Israel, and had graduated from military college with honors. He had been an investigator with the Israeli Army for six years before being detailed to the United Nations to work as an investigator for the prosecution at the Tribunal. Three years ago he was assigned to the investigation of Draga, and had worked on the case ever since.

    “How familiar are you with the activities of the accused and his Black Dragons?” Stone asked.

    “Very familiar. During the course of our investigation, I have interviewed hundreds of witnesses and reviewed thousands of documents.”

    “Have you collected and organized these materials over the past three years?”

    “Yes, I have.”

    “Can you show the court how you have done that?”

    “Certainly.” Jacobson appeared proud to show off the thoroughness of his work. He pushed a button and the terminals in the courtroom displayed what was on the screen of Jacobson’s laptop computer. “I created a number of different directories for the evidence.” He moved the mouse and double clicked on a file. The terminals showed an alphabetical list of directories with such headings as Foca, Omarska, and Prijedor.

    “Can you show us an example of how you stored the data that was collected on the accused?”

    “Yes, I can.” Jacobson scrolled his mouse to the file labeled “Srebrenica” and double clicked. Another directory appeared with names of victims or incidents that had occurred in the city of Srebrenica. He chose the directory for “July 11, 1995” and double clicked. More directories appeared. He double clicked on one of them and a report of a witness to the murder of Muslim civilians on that day in Srebrenica appeared on the screen.

    “Using these directories, have you been able to compile a complete picture of the activities of the accused and his Black Dragons during the entire war in Bosnia?”

    “Yes, I have.”

    “Objection, Madam President,” Kevin shouted as he rose to his feet. “He’s referring to materials which may not have been disclosed to the defense.”

    Stone answered before even being called upon. “To the contrary, defense counsel is quite incorrect. All of the materials have been disclosed to the defense months ago.”

    Kevin was in no position to question this, since he did not know what was in the various directories on Jacobson’s computer. He sat down.

    “Objection overruled. Please continue, Mr. Stone.”

    Stone’s face broke into his smug smile, his pursed lips showing only a bit of white teeth. “Thank you, Madam President.” he bowed slightly. Turning to Jacobson, Stone continued. “Now, as part of your investigation, have you had occasion to collect and review public statements made by the accused during the war in Bosnia?”

    “I have.”

    “Have you selected a number of those statements and made a composite videotape of them?”

    “Yes, I have.”

    Turning to Judge Orozco, Stone asked for and received permission to play the videotapes. Kevin and Diane looked at their computer terminal as Draga’s picture in full Black Dragon uniform appeared on the screen. For the next three hours, Stone played excerpts of interviews Draga had given to CBS’ 60 Minutes, the BBC, CNN, and other media. He also played Serbian television news coverage of speeches Draga had given to civic groups, at military functions, and even in an address to the Serbian Parliament. The English translation streamed across the bottom of the screen like a stock market ticker.

    Draga’s message had been consistent. Using inflammatory rhetoric, he called for the creation of a greater Serbia through military action. He insisted that the Muslims must leave the Serb areas of Bosnia. He promised to kill anyone who resisted.

    Stone finished his direct examination with a flourish. “Did your investigation reveal that the accused had in fact trained his men to kill?”

    “Yes, he did.”

    “How many men were under his command in total during the war?”

    “About 500.”

    “And how many people did they kill?”

    “About 20,000.”

    “I have no further questions,” Stone announced with a triumphant smile as he sat down.

    “That stuff is awful,” Diane said after the court adjourned for lunch. “These judges are ready to hang him. You’d better use that CIA evidence. It may be Ellen’s only chance.”

    Kevin was silent.

    “Are you going to put Draga on the stand?” she asked.

    “No way. There’s no way a judge would believe a word he said. If we use the CIA evidence, I’ve got to do it through William Evans’ reports and the tapes I made.”

    Kevin decided to stay inside the courtroom during the lunch recess and prepare his cross-examination of Jacobson. He walked over to the witness box and saw that Jacobson’s laptop was still there. He sat down in the witness chair. He was alone in the courtroom. He wondered if he would get in trouble if he looked at some of those files.

    They claimed he already had the stuff anyway, so what difference did it make?

    Kevin played around with the directories for a while, and then decided to look in the computer’s recycle bin. He wondered what had recently been deleted from the computer. His heartbeat quickened when he saw the files. But before he could examine them, he heard a door open down at the prosecution’s end of the courtroom and the voices of prosecutors Bradford Stone and Charles Oswald.

    “What do you think you’re doing?” Stone demanded when he saw Kevin sitting in the witness box.

    The prosecutor rushed over.

    Kevin quickly closed the screen for the recycle bin. “Nothing.”

    “You’ve got no business snooping in that computer. I’m going to report this to the Court.” Straightening his tie, Stone sneered, “This may very well be your third strike that we’ve been so anxiously anticipating.”

    “I thought I heard Mr. Jacobson testify that everything in the database had been disclosed to the defense. If that’s true, what’s your problem?”

    “I have a problem whenever I’m dealing with unethical defense counsel,” Stone huffed. “You’ve proven yourself capable of just about any transgression.”

    Kevin got up and walked back to his defense table. “I’m sorry you feel that way.”

    “Where are your witness list and witness statements?” Stone demanded, following Kevin over to the defense side of the courtroom. “We’re entitled to them now.”

    “You’re entitled to them after you rest your case.”

    “Well, this is our last witness.”

    “Then you’ll have the disclosure you’re entitled to when he is done.”

    “How many weeks will your defense case take?” Stone persisted.

    “I’ll let you know when you rest your case.”

    “What a bloody
ass
!” said Stone, turning his back on Kevin and rejoining Oswald at the prosecution table.

    Court reconvened a few minutes later.

    “Mr. Jacobson,” Judge Orozco said, “You’re still under oath. Go ahead with your cross-examination, Mr. Anderson.”

    Kevin stood up and leaned on the podium. “That’s a neat database you’ve created Mr. Jacobson,” Kevin began.

    “Thank you.”

    “Would you mind displaying your main directory on the screen for us?”

    Without a word, Jacobson moved the mouse on his laptop and the main directory screen appeared.

    “What order are the directories listed in?”

    “They’re in alphabetical order, sir, as you can see.” A smug smile played on his lips.

    “Could you just scroll down the list from A to Z so we can get an idea of the names of the directories?”

    “Madam President,” Bradford Stone interrupted. “This is a waste of the court’s time. Mr. Anderson has had this material for many months. If he has a question about a particular document, he should get on with it.”

    “I take it that is an objection, Mr. Stone?” Judge Orozco inquired.

    “Yes, I object to this line of questioning as irrelevant.”

    Jacobson, however, ever the efficient investigator, had started scrolling his directories while Stone voiced his objections. Kevin watched the screen intently, hoping to spot something specific that he could ask about.

    “Objection sustained. Mr. Anderson, you’ll have to be more specific.”

    “Yes, Madam President.” One of the directories had caught Kevin’s eye. “Mr. Jacobson, could you move to the A’s?”

    Jacobson complied. Stone looked ready to object again.

    “I see a directory labeled ‘Anderson’. What does that directory contain?”

    “That contains pleadings that you have filed, correspondence you have sent us, and,” Jacobson couldn’t resist, “some of the court orders concerning your misconduct.” A wide smile broke across his thin face. Kevin decided Jacobson had been spending too much time with Bradford Stone.

    “Would you mind double clicking on that so we can see the sub-directories?”

    “Certainly not, counselor.”

    Kevin studied the screen as a new group of directories were listed. He felt nervous as he frantically looked for something with which to continue his line of questioning. He feared another relevancy objection was seconds away. Then he saw something odd.

    “I see a subdirectory called ‘search’. Could you please double click on that so we may see what files are contained in that subdirectory?”

    “Madam President,” Stone bellowed. “This is absurd. Are we to sit here all afternoon looking aimlessly through the computer?”

    Jacobson, however, had once again forged ahead and displayed the contents of the “search” sub-directory on the screens throughout the courtroom. When he saw that, Stone rose again. “I’m instructing the witness not to respond to Mr. Anderson’s requests until the Court has ruled on my objection.”

    Jacobson quickly clicked back out of the “search” sub-directory.

    Judge Orozco looked over at Kevin. “Mr. Anderson?”

    Kevin looked up from the screen. “You asked me to be specific, Madam President. I am being specific. I have asked for a specific sub-directory and I am about to ask for a specific file.”

    “Very well. Objection overruled. You may continue.”

    Kevin breathed a sigh of relief. Once again he had spotted something in his frantic scanning of the file names. “Please reopen the ‘search’ subdirectory, and then open the file called ‘memo1’.”

    Jacobson complied. A document appeared on the courtroom screens. It was a memo from Kevin to Draga, outlining their pretrial strategy. It had been seized during the search of Kevin’s house when he had been suspected of delivering confidential material to Zoran Vacinovic.

    “Where did this document come from?”

    “Objection!” Stone shot to his feet. “This is irrelevant. It’s a pure fishing expedition.”

    “Where are you going with this Mr. Anderson?” Judge Orozco asked, a touch of impatience in her voice.

    “If you will let the witness answer this one question, I think you will see.”

    “All right. The objection is overruled, for now.”

    All eyes turned to Jacobson. “It came from the search of your residence, Mr. Anderson. You ought to know that.”

    “Have you reviewed the documents that came from that search as part of your thorough preparation of this case?”

    “Of course. Mr. Stone and I have reviewed every document in this computer in preparation for trial.”

    “Thank you.” Turning to the judges, Kevin continued. “Your Honors, when I challenged the search of my residence, the prosecution represented to this Court that it had erected a `Chinese wall’ and that none of the material seized from that search would be seen by any members of the prosecution team in this case. Judge Davidson ordered the material and all copies returned to me. Now we have found out that they violated your order.”

    Kevin looked at Judge Davidson. “Remember?”

    Judge Davidson leaned forward. “There’s nothing wrong with my memory, counsel.” He shifted his glare towards the prosecutor. “What about this, Mr. Stone?”

    Stone was whispering furiously to Charles Oswald. “Your Honors,” Stone rose hesitatingly from his seat, “I don’t recall exactly what Mr. Anderson is referring to. He’s filed several pretrial motions, all of them without merit.”

    Stone looked disdainfully at Kevin, then at Judge Davidson.

    “I remember it,” Judge Davidson said, his voice rising in volume. “You represented that no one on the prosecution team would have access to the materials which were seized. I ordered you to return those materials. This document on the screen looks like it’s covered by the attorney-client privilege. And now we hear that you and your investigator have retained it and reviewed it.”

    “Your Honor, perhaps there was a glitch in our office procedures. But we have not introduced any of these documents into evidence, so there is no harm to the accused. It’s his counsel who has chosen to now display this document to the public.”

    Judge Davidson’s face got red. “Mr. Stone, I’m sick and tired of hearing you shift the blame to defense counsel whenever you are called to account. This is a serious matter and you have apparently acted improperly.”

    Turning to Kevin, Judge Davidson was equally gruff. “On the other hand, Mr. Anderson, no materials from the search have been brought in to this trial except by you just now. So I don’t see how your case is prejudiced by the misconduct of the prosecution. Go on to another line of questioning.”