SDA CONDEMNS MORILLON'S TESTIMONY AT MILOSEVIC TRIAL

MOSTAR, Feb 15 (Hina) - The Main Committee of the Party of Democratic Action (SDA) of Bosnia-Herzegovina on Saturday held a session in the eastern town of Srebrenica, at which it slammed the testimony of retired French general Philippe Morillon at the trial of former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic, in which, the party claims, Morrilon justified the genocide committed against Srebrenica Muslims with alleged crimes against Bosnian Serbs.#L# Morillon, a former commander of the U.N. protection forces in Bosnia (UNPROFOR), testified at the trial on Thursday about the circumstances of the massacre of Srebrenica Muslims by Serb forces in summer 1995. The massacre is considered the gravest mass crime in Europe since World War II. The SDA said in a statement that it would urge establishing the accountability of Morillon and other UN officials for the genocide in the UN safe zone of Srebrenica. Morillon said in his testimony that Milosevic had warned of a possible massacre in Srebrenica. At the same time, Morillon did not exclude the possibility that Bosnian army units, which at the time were commanded by Naser Oric, who was also indicted by the tribunal, had provoked the Serb attack on Srebrenica. He expressed regret at not having evacuated the residents of Srebrenica, but at the time, he said, he had completely believed in the Vance-Owen plan. He also agreed with Milosevic's claim that the Bosnian state presidency did not allow the evacuation of people from the enclave. (Hina) rml