ZAGREB, Aug 25 (Hina) - The trial of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic before the Hague tribunal for war crimes committed in Kosovo, Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina resumes on Monday with the testimony of the last group of
witnesses in the Kosovo part of the trial, including former Yugoslav President Zoran Lilic.
ZAGREB, Aug 25 (Hina) - The trial of former Yugoslav President
Slobodan Milosevic before the Hague tribunal for war crimes
committed in Kosovo, Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina resumes on
Monday with the testimony of the last group of witnesses in the
Kosovo part of the trial, including former Yugoslav President Zoran
Lilic. #L#
After a three-week summer recess, in the next two to three weeks of
the Kosovo trial the prosecution should call Milosevic's
predecessor Zoran Lilic. During his testimony, the secrecy of
information considered to be of national interest for Yugoslavia
will be protected. The Yugoslav authorities claim the information
could otherwise be used by Sarajevo and Zagreb in their suits
against Yugoslavia before the International Court of Justice for
the violation of the Convention on Genocide through aggression on
the two countries.
Although it has not been officially confirmed, two US officials -
the creator of the peace agreements for Bosnia and Kosovo, Richard
Holbrooke, and former NATO Commander Wesley Clark - should testify
at the end of the Kosovo trial. The prosecution has announced a
number of testimonies by expert witnesses.
The Kosovo trial is to be followed by Bosnia and Croatia trials, to
begin on September 30, following a two-week break during which
Milosevic and the prosecution will prepare three-hour opening
statements for the Croatian and Bosnian parts of the trial.
The prosecution informed the trial chamber that most of the
evidence for crimes committed in Croatia should be presented by the
end of the year.
The Hague prosecution has so far called 100 witnesses, including 70
victims who described the pattern according to which, through mass
attacks and individual crimes, the Yugoslav Army expelled 800,000
Kosovo Albanians to Albania and Macedonia in early 1999,
confiscating their personal documents so that they could not prove
their citizenship and return from those countries.
The prosecution also called a number of international officials,
including the head of the OSCE Mission to Kosovo, William Walker, a
former chairman of the NATO military committee, Klaus Nauman, and
diplomats Wolfgang Petritsch, Knut Vollebaek, and Paddy Ashdown.
The witnesses said that Milosevic had been warned about crimes in
Kosovo and his obligation to investigate them and punish the
perpetrators. They also said that Milosevic had the last say in
official decisions.
Several prominent Kosovo Albanians also testified at the trial,
including Ibrahim Rugova and Mahmut Bakali, as well as several
"insider" witnesses, who described a parallel chain of command on
top of which was Milosevic.
The Hague tribunal tomorrow also resumes the trials of Bosnian
Croats Mladen Naletilic Tuta and Vinko Martinovic Stela and three
Bosnian Serbs accused of genocide - Radoslav Brdjanin and Momir
Talic (accused of war crimes in the Banja Luka area) and Milomir
Stakic (accused of crimes in the Prijedor area).
(hina) rml