THE HAGUE, July 26 (Hina) - Testifying before The Hague-based war crimes tribunal on Friday, one of Slobodan Milosevic's one-time closest associates corroborated the former Yugoslav President's claims that there never existed a plan
for the expulsion or killing of Kosovo Albanians, and that these were not ordered.
THE HAGUE, July 26 (Hina) - Testifying before The Hague-based war
crimes tribunal on Friday, one of Slobodan Milosevic's one-time
closest associates corroborated the former Yugoslav President's
claims that there never existed a plan for the expulsion or killing
of Kosovo Albanians, and that these were not ordered. #L#
Yugoslav and Serbian leaderships advocated protecting civilians
and treating prisoners humanely, said Serbia's former state
security chief Radomir Markovic, one of the prosecution's key
witnesses in the part of the Milosevic trial covering Kosovo.
Responding to Milosevic's questions during cross-examination,
Markovic said he never received a report or heard about an order to
expel Albanians from Kosovo
"You recall that, quite the contrary, we insisted on protecting
civilians?" said Milosevic.
"Certainly. The goal was to protect not only Serb civilians but
Albanians as well," the witness responded.
He also answered that reports from generals from Kosovo mentioned
several instances of Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) members using
civilians as a shield to avoid being shot at.
Markovic also said he recalled Milosevic saying at meetings the
Serbian people's tradition viewed prisoners-of-war and unarmed men
as sacred.
The witness also corroborated Milosevic's claims that Albanians
did not want a peaceful solution to the Kosovo issue, that police
defended citizens in Kosovo from terrorism, that many Albanian
civilians sought police protection from the KLA, that the arson of
Albanian houses in Kosovo was prohibited, that police and military
members were prosecuted for crimes committed in Kosovo, and that
prisoners were treated humanely.
As for a statement Markovic gave to the Serbian police in 2001,
which the prosecution considers a very important piece of evidence,
the witness said it had been the result of a liberal interpretation
by state security staff, and that it had been coerced.
In this statement, Markovic described how Milosevic at a 1999
meeting ordered the elimination of buried Albanian civilians from
Kosovo in order to remove all traces the Hague tribunal might be
interested in.
Today Markovic said Milosevic okayed the removal of bodies of
casualties and carcasses.
Responding to a question from Milosevic, the witness said that
nobody spoke about covering up crimes. He said he gave the 2001
statement under pressure from Yugoslavia's new government which
wanted to prosecute Milosevic. He added he signed the statement
without having read it.
The Milosevic trial resumes in late August after summer recess.
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