THE HAGUE/ZAGREB, Oct 28 (Hina) - Testifying against former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic before the Hague war crimes tribunal on Tuesday, French TV reporter Arte Michel Riviere described shooting a feature about the Red
Berets from Serbia in Pale, the Bosnian Serb stronghold outside Sarajevo, in July 1992.
THE HAGUE/ZAGREB, Oct 28 (Hina) - Testifying against former
Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic before the Hague war crimes
tribunal on Tuesday, French TV reporter Arte Michel Riviere
described shooting a feature about the Red Berets from Serbia in
Pale, the Bosnian Serb stronghold outside Sarajevo, in July 1992.
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Prosecutor Dermot Groome entered into evidence a written statement
by the witness and the footage, which was shown in the courtroom.
Shot at Pale and Serb positions above Sarajevo, the footage
features the units' commander introducing himself as commandant
Marko and saying that most Red Berets have come from Serbia to save
the endangered Serb population and fight against the invasion of
Islam.
Riviere came to Pale to check stories about ethnic cleansing in
eastern Bosnia he had heard in Hungary while making a feature about
Bosnian Muslim refugees from Kozluk near Zvornik. Some of about
15,000 people expelled from Zvornik Municipality had found refuge
in Hungary in the summer of 1992.
In a restaurant in Pale, Riviere spoke to two soldiers in camouflage
uniforms and red berets who said they were members of the White
Eagles.
"One of them, who was playing with a long knife, said they were done
in Kozluk and Zvornik, that they had slits the Muslims' throats,
that they had been slaughtered like pigs, and that now was the time
for the battle for Sarajevo," said the witness.
The two later took him to their HQ where the rest of the Red Berets
were getting ready for deployment above Sarajevo, which may be seen
in the footage.
Riviere shot the Serbs' cannons and sniper nests around Sarajevo as
well as demolished buildings in the city.
Cross-examining the witness, Milosevic contested the value of the
testimony and of the footage, saying he had talked to two drunk
men.
Milosevic dismissed evidence on the engagement of paramilitary
troops from Serbia in ethnic cleansing in eastern Bosnia and the
siege of Sarajevo by claiming those had been volunteers outside the
ranks of the Bosnian Serb army.
In the continuation of the hearing, the prosecution called
protected witness B-1345, who testified about the shelling of the
Markale open market from Serb positions and the Serb sniper
campaign during the siege of Sarajevo.
The witness said that his father and wife were killed by Serb
snipers at his house in Stari Grad Municipality in 1993, while his
mother was wounded.
During the cross-examination, Milosevic enumerated the Serbs
killed by Bosnian Muslim snipers, which the witness was unable to
verify.
The trial of Milosevic, accused of genocide in Bosnia-Herzegovina
and of crimes against humanity in Croatia and Kosovo, resumes on
Wednesday when another prosecutorial witness will be called.
(hina) ha