THE HAGUE/ZAGREB, Nov 27 (Hina) - Ex-Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, who is standing trial at the UN war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, on Thursday tried to challenge claims by prosecutorial witness Miroslav
Deronjic, who stated that the order to kill all captured men in Srebrenica in July 1995 had come from the Bosnian Serb leadership, including the then Bosnian Serb president Radovan Karadzic.
THE HAGUE/ZAGREB, Nov 27 (Hina) - Ex-Yugoslav President Slobodan
Milosevic, who is standing trial at the UN war crimes tribunal for
the former Yugoslavia, on Thursday tried to challenge claims by
prosecutorial witness Miroslav Deronjic, who stated that the order
to kill all captured men in Srebrenica in July 1995 had come from the
Bosnian Serb leadership, including the then Bosnian Serb president
Radovan Karadzic. #L#
"The idea to kill those people was crazy, that's why it seems
unbelievable that Karadzic could have said that," Milosevic said
while cross-examining the witness, who is an indictee of the UN war
crimes tribunal himself.
Deronjic pleaded guilty to persecution of Muslims, committed
during the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1992.
The witness, who started his testimony on Wednesday, stuck to his
claim that Karadzic had told him at Pale on July 9, 1995 that all men
from Srebrenica had to be killed.
Cross-examining the witness, Milosevic introduced as evidence an
order of Bosnian Serb army commander Zdravko Tolimir of 9 July 1995
whereby he ordered his forces, referring to Karadzic, to provide
for the safety of civilians and UNPROFOR staff in Srebrenica and
respect the Geneva conventions.
Deronjic said that he had not heard of such an order.
Milosevic is charged with genocide in Bosnia-Herzegovina,
including the massacre of 7,000 Srebrenica Muslims in July 1995.
(hina) rml sb