THE HAGUE/ZAGREB, Nov 20 (Hina) - Borislav Jovic used his three-day testimony against ex-Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic before the Hague war crimes tribunal to defend the war-time policy of the Serbian leadership he was part
of, and to help the defendant's defence, confirming virtually all Milosevic said concerning responsibility for the wars in Croatia and Bosnia.
THE HAGUE/ZAGREB, Nov 20 (Hina) - Borislav Jovic used his three-day
testimony against ex-Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic before
the Hague war crimes tribunal to defend the war-time policy of the
Serbian leadership he was part of, and to help the defendant's
defence, confirming virtually all Milosevic said concerning
responsibility for the wars in Croatia and Bosnia. #L#
The chief prosecutor in the case, Geoffrey Nice, told Jovic he had
accepted most of what the accused had said and had acquitted
everyone except Croatian leaders for what had happened in Croatia.
Jovic did not answer when asked about Admiral Miodrag Jokic's
admission to the shelling of Dubrovnik.
The prosecution subpoenaed the 75-year-old Jovic, a member of the
former Yugoslav federation's presidency and one of Milosevic's
closest associates in the early 1990s, to testify so that it could
enter his "The Last Days of the SFRY" diaries into evidence,
according to Nice.
Jovic said on Thursday that Milosevic and Serbia's authorities had
condemned the shelling of Sarajevo and the ethnic cleansing during
the war in Bosnia.
"We were absolutely against the shelling of Sarajevo and
obsessively in favour of a peaceful solution in Bosnia based on the
equality of the peoples," he said.
"My clear stance and that of Serbia's leadership at the time was the
most vehement condemnation of ethnic cleansing. Remember that?"
Milosevic asked the witness, who answered in the affirmative.
The two, who according to the accused had met hundreds of times,
also agreed that Serbia's authorities had done everything for the
war in Bosnia to end as soon as possible, accepting every peace
plan.
They ascribed the responsibility for the war to the wrong decision
of the European Union that all Bosnian citizens should hold a
referendum instead of each of the three peoples separately.
Milosevic quoted from Jovic's diaries parts about then Croatian
President Franjo Tudjman's preparations for the secession of
Croatia from the ex-Yugoslavia and the intention of the U.S. to
topple communism in the former federation at the cost of its break-
up.
Milosevic pointed to Germany's determination in 1991 to recognise
Croatia and Slovenia as independent countries despite opposition
in the rest of the EU. Germany even threatened withdrawing from the
agreement on the joint EU foreign policy, the accused said and the
witness confirmed.
The two disagreed only at the end of the cross-examination, when
Milosevic wanted to refute the claim Jovic made in his book about
Milosevic's autocratic rule and personality cult.
Jovic confirmed that Milosevic had played a key role, had authority
and power during his 11-year rule, and that his decisions had been
accepted by party and state bodies without debate.
He described a brief session in October 1995 at which he was
replaced as vice president of the Socialist Party of Serbia because
of his book, as well as Milosevic's control over the media.
Milosevic decided against further cross-examining the witness.
The trial resumes on Tuesday.
(hina) ha sb