THE HAGUE, Feb 13 (Hina) - The ethnic cleansing of Kosovo was carried out in the form of organised deportations which followed the disarmament of Albanians and the mobilisation and arming of local Serbs with attacks on civilians,
prosecutor Geoffrey Nice said on Wednesday in his opening statement in which he described evidence the prosecution will be presenting to prove the responsibility of former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic for crimes in Kosovo. Nice recalled that the model of arming local Serbs had already been seen before, in Croatia and Bosnia, and was also followed by ethnic cleansing of areas of the states under Serb control. He announced that the prosecution would call numerous witnesses to testify how Slobodan Milosevic was, day after day, warned by the international community about grave violations of human rights in Kosovo, including crimes such as the slaughter of several dozens of civil
THE HAGUE, Feb 13 (Hina) - The ethnic cleansing of Kosovo was
carried out in the form of organised deportations which followed
the disarmament of Albanians and the mobilisation and arming of
local Serbs with attacks on civilians, prosecutor Geoffrey Nice
said on Wednesday in his opening statement in which he described
evidence the prosecution will be presenting to prove the
responsibility of former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic for
crimes in Kosovo.
Nice recalled that the model of arming local Serbs had already been
seen before, in Croatia and Bosnia, and was also followed by ethnic
cleansing of areas of the states under Serb control.
He announced that the prosecution would call numerous witnesses to
testify how Slobodan Milosevic was, day after day, warned by the
international community about grave violations of human rights in
Kosovo, including crimes such as the slaughter of several dozens of
civilians in Racak, as well as that he was called on to prevent
this.
Officials of the international community continuously warned
Milosevic about the disproportional use of force, but he turned a
blind eye, Nice said, adding that the prosecution did not question
the right of a country to protect itself from NATO's attacks or to
armed rebellion.
The trial against Milosevic will continue after a lunch break with
the prosecutor's continued opening statement describing crimes in
Kosovo.
After his statement, which could last until the end of the day,
Milosevic is expected to give his opening statement.
Milosevic's Belgrade attorney Zdenko Tomanovic, who is following
the trial from the gallery, told Hina the former Serbian and
Yugoslav president, with whom he had spoken over the telephone,
"dismissed all accusations so far laid out by the prosecution as a
pack of lies."
(hina) lml sb