ZAGREB/THE HAGUE, July 10 (Hina) - A former British military attach? to Belgrade, Colonel John Crossland, said on Wednesday at the trial of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic before the Hague war crimes tribunal that the
Yugoslav army had a parallel chain of command which Milosevic used to conduct criminal operations in Kosovo.
ZAGREB/THE HAGUE, July 10 (Hina) - A former British military
attach? to Belgrade, Colonel John Crossland, said on Wednesday at
the trial of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic before
the Hague war crimes tribunal that the Yugoslav army had a parallel
chain of command which Milosevic used to conduct criminal
operations in Kosovo. #L#
The chain of command went from General (Nebojsa) Pavkovic directly
to (Nikola) Sainovic and Milosevic, the British attach? said at the
trial, with his face being disguised.
The Kosovo region was under the control of the Third Yugoslav Army
commander, General Pavkovic, while political control was entrusted
to the then Yugoslav Deputy Prime Minister, Nikola Sainovic, by
Milosevic himself.
Crossland said that this was a way of bypassing the formal chain of
command that included General Momcilo Perisic as the 1998 Chief-of-
Staff, and General Aleksandar Dimitrijevic, the then chief of the
counter-intelligence service. Perisic and Dimitrijevic were
dissatisfied with the way the army was being manipulated, the
witness said.
The British colonel described how during 1998, contrary to its
constitutional powers, the Yugoslav army offered support to police
forces in the cleansing of Kosovo and how General Dragoljub
Ojdanic, appointed Chief-of-Staff in late 1998, claimed that the
army was not involved in operations in Kosovo.
During 1998 and 1999 Crossland visited Kosovo on several occasions
to monitor the activities of the Yugoslav army.
He described how in the summer of 1998 he personally saw not only the
build-up of Yugoslav forces in western Kosovo but also their
artillery support to police in attacks on civilians.
This was unreasonable use of force against villages and towns,
Crossland said, saying that wheat fields were openly set on fire,
Albanian business facilities destroyed, and entire sections of
Albanian quarters in Pec, Djakovica, and Decani set alight.
He said that upon the return of refugees to their villages, the
Yugoslav forces would return and once again burn their villages.
Colonel Crossland described seeing green army vehicles painted in
blue to disguise the army's presence in Kosovo.
Prior to Crossland's testimony an Albanian woman from Kosovo
testified that Serbian police in Suva Reka had killed her husband
and four children - the youngest of whom was under the age of two - as
well as many other members of her family in a single day.
Milosevic refrained from cross-examining the witness due to her
loss.
The former Yugoslav president is charged with deportation and other
crimes against humanity committed against Kosovo Albanians during
1999.
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