FORMER INMATE TESTIFIES AT MILOSEVIC TRIAL ABOUT CRIMES AT OMARSKA CAMP

THE HAGUE/ZAGREB, Jan 20(Hina) - Kerim Mesanovic, prosecution witness at the trial of former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic before the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague, on Tuesday spoke about the ethnic cleansing campaign in Prijedor in 1992 and crimes committed in the Serb-run prison camp of Omarska.#L# The witness, who in the spring of 1992 worked at the town department for national defence and was in charge of mobilisation, said that Serb forces in late April took over control of Prijedor and carried out the ethnic cleansing of non-Serbs from Prijedor and surrounding villages. He spoke about the torture and killing of prisoners at the Omarska camp outside Prijedor, where he was held from June to August 1992 along with another 3,000 Muslims. Cross-examining the witness, Milosevic again spoke about the "pre-emptive, defensive character" of the armament of Serbs, their take-over of authority and attacks on Muslim villages, avoiding questions about the crimes committed at Omarska, although this was what the testimony was about. (Hina) rml