WITNESS ACCUSED OF CONTEMPT OF COURT

THE HAGUE/ZAGREB, June 4 (Hina) - The panel of judges conducting the trial of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic at the Hague war crimes tribunal on Tuesday proclaimed a witness for the prosecution, whose identity remained confidential, in contempt of court and ordered initiating proceedings against him. The witness has refused to testify for the past two days. #L# The president of the panel of judges, Richard May, said that witness K-12, who spoke in Serbian but whose identity and face were disguised, was deliberately obstructing justice. Within a month's time, the court will discuss his refusal to testify, after which it will decide on his punishment, May said. May told the witness that if he desired so, he would be assigned a defence attorney. For the past two days, witness K-12 has refused to reply to questions posed by the chief prosecutor in the case, Geoffrey Nice. An excited witness just said he could not explain why he could not testify if the prosecution could not understand it on its own. The only few questions he did respond to disclosed the fact that he was from Serbia and that he was a driver. "I've had enough of this psychological treatment these past two days - it's as if they want me to go crazy. I am just confused. I can't testify to anyone's benefit," he said. Milosevic requested that he be allowed to cross-examine the witness given that he began making a formal statement. He also asked the judges to explain what it meant that the prosecution was "handling witnesses". Witness statements cannot be extorted, Milosevic said. May rejected this theory, stating that it was the legitimate right of the prosecution to speak to witnesses prior to their testimony. The Milosevic trial continued with the testimonies of Albanian victims from Kosovo. (hina) sp sb rml