THE HAGUE/ZAGREB, July 9 (Hina) - The former president of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY), Zoran Lilic, on Wednesday completed his testimony against his successor, Slobodan Milosevic, who is on trial before the UN war crimes
tribunal in The Hague for genocide and war crimes.
THE HAGUE/ZAGREB, July 9 (Hina) - The former president of the
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY), Zoran Lilic, on Wednesday
completed his testimony against his successor, Slobodan Milosevic,
who is on trial before the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague for
genocide and war crimes. #L#
Lilic, who was president of the then FRY from 1993 to 1997,
testified under subpoena. During the cross-examination he
frequently changed his role as a prosecution witness to that of a
defence witness, corroborating Milosevic's allegations that he had
played a peacemaking role during the war.
The accused questioned Lilic about documents that the Office of the
Prosecutor has received from Belgrade in the meantime, including a
transcript of his secretly monitored telephone conversations with
Lilic and the then Yugoslav Army chief of staff, Momcilo Perisic,
regarding a crisis over French pilots captured in Republika Srpska
in December 1995.
Lilic confirmed the authenticity of the transcript, saying that
Bosnian Serb commander Ratko Mladic feared being handed over to the
Hague Tribunal and that, with Milosevic's approval, he gave him
written guarantees that he would not be extradited.
On Milosevic's orders, Lilic offered Mladic guarantees from French
President Jacques Chirac, who was concerned about the fate of the
pilots and who also frequently called the accused during
negotiations in Dayton.
"Write him a letter saying that we won't hand him over to the
Tribunal and that he should release the pilots (...) and tell him
that Slobodan and Chirac guarantee that he won't be extradited,"
the transcript says.
"That's not an issue at all and that's still my opinion. At that time
we didn't hand anyone over to this illegal tribunal," Milosevic
said.
In the transcript, both Lilic and Milosevic referred to Mladic as an
idiot.
Presiding Judge Richard May granted the motion filed by the accused
that the transcripts be admitted as evidence of the defence.
Milosevic argued that the transcripts showed that he was critical
of the leadership of Republika Srpska and their refusal to
cooperate.
Other documents cited in the trial chamber included transcripts of
sessions of the Supreme Defence Council and the Council for the
Coordination of Government Policies of the FRY.
During the cross-examination, Milosevic referred to parts of the
transcripts that corroborated his alleged support for peace talks
and the Vance-Owen peace plan for Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Milosevic claimed that his only political goal at the time was to
ensure freedom and equality for Serbs in the Balkans.
Lilic corroborated such allegations, saying that leaders of Serbia
and the FRY did not advocate the idea of a greater Serbia.
Lilic shared Milosevic's suspicion regarding the information about
concentration camps in Serbia in 1992 that was revealed by the
former US ambassador to Croatia, Peter Galbraith, during his recent
testimony at the trial.
Lilic reverted to his role as a prosecution witness at the end of his
testimony when, in response to questions put by Prosecutor Geoffrey
Nice, he confirmed the authenticity of documents on crimes
committed by Serbian police against Kosovo Albanians in 1999.
Lilic confirmed that Milosevic was indirectly superior to the Red
Berets, the special purposes unit of the Serbian State Security
Service. This unit is suspected of committing numerous war crimes
in Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo.
(hina) vm sb