THE HAGUE, June 12 (Hina) - Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, who has been charged with war crimes by the UN tribunal at The Hague, on Wednesday tried to discredit and question the authenticity of claims by William Walker,
a former head of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Mission to Kosovo.
THE HAGUE, June 12 (Hina) - Former Yugoslav President Slobodan
Milosevic, who has been charged with war crimes by the UN tribunal
at The Hague, on Wednesday tried to discredit and question the
authenticity of claims by William Walker, a former head of the
Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Mission
to Kosovo. #L#
Walker, who informed the world public about a 15 January 1999
massacre of 45 Kosovo Albanians in the village of Racak, dismissed
Milosevic's claims that the Racak crime had been staged.
Milosevic showed the witness a series of photographs of the Racak
victims in which no traces of blood can be seen. He asked Walker
where those "puddles or traces of blood" the US diplomat had spoken
to reporters about were.
Walker said he had seen traces of blood on the ground, surrounding
the bodies.
Milosevic showed two photographs of the same victim. In one a puddle
of blood is seen on a stone near the victim's head, but in the other
the blood is absent.
Pictures are taken from various angles, said Walker.
Milosevic replied the photo with no blood indicated that the scene
had been staged.
The Racak massacre, which was the motive for NATO's raids on
Yugoslavia, is one of the counts of an indictment charging
Milosevic with crimes against humanity committed in Kosovo.
Belgrade's official explanation of the events in Racak three years
ago says that the Serbian police entered the village in order to
deal with members of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) in the wake of
the murder of a policeman. The police retreated from the village in
the afternoon. Before the arrival of OSCE officials the next day,
the KLA changed the bodies' uniforms with civilian clothing and
made it look like a massacre, Belgrade claimed.
Walker said that what he had seen and the survivors from Racak told
him confirmed that Yugoslav troops killed the residents of Racak,
including many elderly persons.
Milosevic complained that the trial chamber had limited his cross-
examination of the witness to only three hours while Walker's
subordinates in Kosovo, generals John Drewienkiewicz and Michel
Maisonneuve, testified two days each.
(hina) ha sb