ZAGREB/THE HAGUE, April 10 (Hina) - The Hague-based international war crimes tribunal decided on Wednesday that the prosecution must present its evidence against former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic, accused of war crimes on
Kosovo, Croatia and Bosnia & Herzegovina, within 14 months, the president of the tribunal's Trial Chamber, Richard May, reported.
ZAGREB/THE HAGUE, April 10 (Hina) - The Hague-based international
war crimes tribunal decided on Wednesday that the prosecution must
present its evidence against former Yugoslav president Slobodan
Milosevic, accused of war crimes on Kosovo, Croatia and Bosnia &
Herzegovina, within 14 months, the president of the tribunal's
Trial Chamber, Richard May, reported. #L#
During a discussion on the length of the trial and the conditions in
which the defender has to prepare his defence, Chief Prosecutor
Geoffrey Nice said that at the time being, the prosecution intended
to bring out 126 witnesses to prove Milosevic's crimes in Croatia.
The prosecutor will, in addition to crimes in Vukovar and
Dubrovnik, present evidence relating to killings in 20 locations,
17 concentration camps and deportations from three areas.
To prove the crimes committed in Bosnia, it is intended to present
566 witnesses and this is the largest subject of the accusations. A
total of 97 witnesses will be involved in the trial relating to
Kosovo of whom 17 have already testified, Nice added.
Seeing that during the proceedings Milosevic denied that any crime
was committed in Kosovo, or he assigned them to others and not those
forces that were under his command, the prosecutor has to first
prove that a crime in fact did occur. Only after witnesses have been
brought out in this regard, can the prosecution present witnesses
and evidence to prove Milosevic's connection to these crimes.
Milosevic once again reiterated his already known objections that
he was being exposed to a "false indictment and presented with false
witnesses" at a "trumped up trial".
He objected that two months after the beginning of the trial, he had
not been able to contact his associates assisting him in the trial
and had only been given 45 minutes to meet with his attorney, Zdenko
Tomanovic, and only in the presence of a tribunal official in jail.
Milosevic is accused of genocide in Bosnia and war crimes against
humanity in Kosovo and Croatia. Currently the prosecution is
involved with the Kosovo section of the trial.
The morning session on Wednesday ended with the testimony of the
Principle of the Harvard Institute for Islamic Architecture,
Andras Riedlmayer - an expert in Ottoman heritage - who conducted an
analysis of the destruction of monuments in Kosovo during 1998 &
1999, three years ago.
Even though Yugoslav authorities claim that Serbian religious
complexes in Kosovo were destroyed during NATO attacks, Riedlmayer
could not find any evidence that these buildings had been destroyed
from the air.
According to the results of Riedlmayer's investigation, numerous
Albanian ancient buildings - such as towers, inns and religious and
cultural monuments were destroyed in deliberate attacks.
Of the 607 mosques in Kosovo, more than 200 were destroyed or
damaged. The majority of these were damaged as a result of arson,
explosive devices or mortar fire.
Milosevic is also charged with the destruction of Albanian cultural
and religious buildings.
A member of the OSCE mission, John Drewienkiewicz, will testify at
the trial Thursday and Friday.
(hina) sp sb