THE HAGUE, July 24 (Hina) - The former leader of Serbia's State Security Service (SDB), Radomir Markovic, one of the most significant witnesses for the prosecution in the Kosovo part of the trial against former Yugoslav President
Slobodan Milosevic, began his testimony before the Hague-based UN war crimes tribunal on Wednesday afternoon.
THE HAGUE, July 24 (Hina) - The former leader of Serbia's State
Security Service (SDB), Radomir Markovic, one of the most
significant witnesses for the prosecution in the Kosovo part of the
trial against former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, began
his testimony before the Hague-based UN war crimes tribunal on
Wednesday afternoon. #L#
Markovic arrived at the Hague tribunal's prison last week after
spending more than a year in custody in Yugoslavia for being charged
with organising the assassination of Serbian politician Vuk
Draskovic.
Markovic claimed at the trial that he was directly responsible to
the then Serbian Interior Minister Vlajko Stojiljkovic, who
appointed him to that position.
Asked whether he reported to Milosevic, Markovic said that
Milosevic received daily reports from both the SDB and the Public
Security Service.
The chief prosecutor in the hearing, Geoffrey Nice, then introduced
a document dated 21 April 1997, in which Milosevic, the then
president of Serbia, placed the SDB directly under his control.
The Hague tribunal's prosecution charges the Serbian SDB and its
subordinate units for participating in the persecution of 800,000
Kosovo Albanians.
Markovic's name was mentioned this week by a senior Serbian
Interior Ministry official, Dragan Karleusa, who said in his
testimony he had seen a statement written by Markovic in which the
latter mentioned attending a meeting with Milosevic which had
addressed the need in Kosovo of "eliminating all traces in which the
Hague tribunal might be interested in."
Markovic's testimony is to continue after the tribunal debates the
Croatia and Bosnia parts of the Milosevic trial on Thursday.
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