THE HAGUE/ZAGREB, May 3 (Hina) - Serbia wanted to destroy Kosovo with war and violence, and the Serbian parliament's decision of 1989 abolishing the province's autonomy paved the way for that, Kosovo President Ibrahim Rugova said on
Friday at the beginning of his testimony at the trial of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic before the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague.
THE HAGUE/ZAGREB, May 3 (Hina) - Serbia wanted to destroy Kosovo
with war and violence, and the Serbian parliament's decision of
1989 abolishing the province's autonomy paved the way for that,
Kosovo President Ibrahim Rugova said on Friday at the beginning of
his testimony at the trial of former Yugoslav President Slobodan
Milosevic before the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague. #L#
"Belgrade wanted to destroy Kosovo with violence and war," Rugova
said, commenting on the policy which made Milosevic end up in The
Hague.
"The abolishment of Kosovo's autonomy was followed by the
establishment of Serbian authorities, some institutions were
dismantled, and police control was introduced," Rugova said.
Speaking about the confirmation of the abolishment of Kosovo's
autonomy by the province's parliament, Rugova said that deputies
"were pressured into voting for it".
"There were tanks around the (parliament) building, plain-clothes
police were in the building," Rugova said, adding that a dozen
deputies who had voted against lost their jobs or were imprisoned.
Rugova said that almost all ethnic Albanian police officers had
been sacked by 1991, while those with other jobs were laid off by
1993.
"Around 150,000 Albanian workers were laid off at the time," Rugova
said, reminding that at the time there had been around 230,000
unemployed people. Those who kept their jobs were mostly Serbs or
people of other nationality, he said.
The Kosovo president also spoke about violence against Albanians in
a series of demonstrations.
Rugova's questioning, after ten days during which he was questioned
by other members of the prosecutor's team, was conducted by the
chief prosecutor in the case, Geoffrey Nice. Chief Prosecutor Carla
del Ponte also attended.
A grin flew across Milosevic's face as he saw Rugova enter the
courtroom, wearing his trademark - a scarf.
Rugova also spoke about the repression which accompanied the
establishment of his party, the Kosovo Democratic Alliance, the
closure of the Albanian media, and the repression which followed
the referendum of September 1991, at which around 99 percent of
voters supported Kosovo's independence.
The Kosovo president then described the gradual establishment of
Albanian authorities, which was provoked by open repression by
Belgrade - from the adoption of the constitution and the
establishment of a coalition government, which mostly worked
abroad, to the establishment of the parliament and his election as
Kosovo president.
Although he was careful about his movement, Rugova said that he,
too, had been detained or arrested and taken to the police station
in Pristina a number of times.
Milosevic is indicted for crimes against humanity committed in
Kosovo in 1999, the deportation of 800,000 Kosovo Albanians, the
killing of civilians and destruction of their villages and
religious and cultural monuments.
(hina) rml