THE HAGUE/ZAGREB, May 30 (Hina) - The former head of an OSCE mission to Kosovo, William Walker, should testify in the trial against former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic at The Hague in two weeks, prosecutor Dirk Reineveld,
said on Thursday.
THE HAGUE/ZAGREB, May 30 (Hina) - The former head of an OSCE mission
to Kosovo, William Walker, should testify in the trial against
former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic at The Hague in two
weeks, prosecutor Dirk Reineveld, said on Thursday. #L#
Milosevic juxtaposed Walker's claim that civilians were killed in
Racak with an OSCE report which said that members of the Kosovo
Liberation Army were also killed in that village.
Milosevic accused Walker of deception during a two-day cross-
examination of a member of the OSCE mission to Kosovo, Canadian
General Michel Maisonneuve, which wrapped up today. Milosevic
stated the OSCE mission deliberately suppressed facts about the
real situation in Racak, as well as the fact that KLA members
operated there.
Milosevic referred to a Jan. 16, 1998 OSCE report which said that
KLA members were killed in the village.
Forty-five Albanians were killed in Racak on Jan. 15, 1998, read the
ICTY indictment against the ex-Yugoslav leader.
Gen. Maisonneuve described how Serb forces shelled the village from
surrounding hills in January 1998, while Serb police combed every
house. During the cross-examination, he confirmed that the
response from the village to the attacks was minor.
The Canadian general said he saw some 20 corpses the day after the
massacre and that not one was that of a KLA member. They were mostly
elderly persons who appeared to have been killed at close range, he
said.
Milosevic claimed that autopsy reports showed that the victims had
been shot at from afar, during a clash between the Yugoslav army and
the KLA in Racak.
Kosovo politician Azem Vlasi is also to testify before the Kosovo
part of the Milosevic trial is over, as are former OSCE chairman
Knut Vollebaek and former NATO military committee chairman Klaus
Naumann.
The trial chamber decided that prosecutors must complete the
presentation of evidence pertaining to Kosovo by July 26. The
opening statements and presentation of evidence referring to
crimes in Croatia could begin on July 29. The Hague tribunal will
have a summer break between August 5 and 23.
Milosevic is charged with crimes against humanity in Kosovo and
Croatia and genocide in Bosnia.
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