THE HAGUE, July 25 (Hina) - The Hague war crimes tribunal's prosecution will start presenting evidence in the Croatian/Bosnian part of the trial against former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic on Sept. 30, the president of the
trial chamber in the Milosevic case, Richard May, announced on Thursday.
THE HAGUE, July 25 (Hina) - The Hague war crimes tribunal's
prosecution will start presenting evidence in the Croatian/Bosnian
part of the trial against former Yugoslav President Slobodan
Milosevic on Sept. 30, the president of the trial chamber in the
Milosevic case, Richard May, announced on Thursday. #L#
Judge May said the prosecution's announcement that it would call
275 witnesses would prolong the procedure for the next two to two
and a half years, which is not in keeping with a fair trial. The
trial chamber decided today the prosecution can call 177 witnesses,
of which 71 for the Croatian part of the trial, so that the
prosecution's presentation of evidence can be over by May 16, 2003.
This will be followed by Milosevic's defence.
"If the only question here is time (...) if this isn't a question of
a trial, or of rights, or of justice, but time, then why are you even
bothering with this," Milosevic said. Judge May, however, stopped
him short, explaining that he did not have the right to abuse the
court in this manner.
"I think I am the one being abused here, especially when it comes to
this trial, which you thought of ten years after the events in
Croatia," Milosevic responded.
The chief prosecutor in the case, Geoffrey Nice, announced the
prosecution intended to prove Milosevic's responsibility for the
crimes in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina as one case. He said the
prosecution would first present evidence relating to Croatia,
following the chronology of events, and that by Christmas or New
Year it would have called about 60 witnesses and covered most of the
evidence relating to Croatia.
Nice announced a very significant expert for propaganda and
psychiatry who will speak about the repercussions of rape in the
Croatian part of the trial.
Milosevic objected to the time limit in the trial in which, before
the start of the Croatian and Bosnian part of proceedings, he is
required to read 90,000 pages of material presented by the
prosecution and see over 500 cassettes. Judge Robinson accepted the
objection and asked the prosecution to work more on filtering the
material.
Milosevic stated the prosecution was deliberately inundating him
with material in an effort to wear him out, but Judge May overruled
this objection.
The trial against Milosevic began on February 12 this year with the
presentation of evidence referring to Kosovo.
Milosevic is also charged with genocide in Bosnia and for crimes
against humanity, serious violations of the Geneva conventions and
violations of laws and customs of war in Croatia, committed through
the forced expulsion of the majority of the Croatian and other non-
Serb population from about one-third of Croatian territory during
1991 and 1992, with the aim of annexing this territory to a new state
under Serbian domination.
The expulsion included the extermination or killing of hundreds of
Croats and other non-Serbs, the detention of thousands of Croats
and other non-Serbs within Croatia and in camps in Montenegro,
Serbia, Bosnia, and the creation of inhumane living conditions for
the population in Croatian territories under Serb control. He is
also charged with attacks on a series of towns.
The prosecution believes that at least 170,000 Croats and other
non-Serbs were expelled, including the deportation to Serbia of at
least 5,000 Ilok residents, 20,000 from Vukovar, and the expulsion
of 2,500 residents from Erdut to other locations in Croatia.
Amongst individual cases of murder or slaughter that Milosevic is
accused of are Ovcara, Vocin, Skabrnja, Celije, Nadin, Dalj, Lovas,
Erdut, and the shelling of Dubrovnik.
The prosecution announced that it would prove Milosevic's
responsibility for the crimes committed in Croatia and Bosnia with
countless secret recordings of his conversations with his closest
associates, a series of secret documents, official decisions by
Croatian Serb and Bosnian Serb institutions, as well as testimonies
by politicians who are yet to be named.
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