PROSECUTORS: MILOSEVIC DIRECTLY CONTROLLED JNA, CRO. SERB LEADERS

THE HAGUE, Feb 12 (Hina) - The UN war crimes tribunal prosecution will prove Slobodan Milosevic's control over events in Croatia on several levels, prosecutor Geoffrey Nice said on Tuesday, showing an outline of evidence indicating that Milosevic directly controlled the incomplete Yugoslav Presidency, which was the supreme commander of the military (JNA), on the one hand, and the Croatian Serb leadership on the other. In the afternoon part of his opening statement, the British lawyer said the prosecution would prove that Milosevic exerted a direct influence on JNA's actions in Croatia as well. The prosecution will also prove his direct responsibility for the actions of Serbia's defence and interior ministries, two institutions which assisted Croatian Serbs both in military and financial terms. Nice also announced evidence which will corroborate Milosevic's influence on troops like the special units of radical Serb politicians Vojislav Seselj, Zeljko Raznatovic Arkan, Milan Martic, or the Serbian Interior Ministry's Red Berets. Referring to a claim Milosevic recently made in the courtroom to the effect that Serbia only wanted to preserve the former Yugoslav federation, Nice asked why did crimes happen and the elderly and infirm had to die if that was the case. One of the arguments Nice used against Milosevic was the fact that during the war in Croatia he signed a truce instead of Croatian Serbs. Milosevic, who listened to the opening statement with a gloomy expression, looked away from the video screen when footage of the shelling of Dubrovnik was started being shown. Nice continued his opening statement with an outline of events in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The trial resumes tomorrow. (hina) ha sb