BRITISH GENERAL TESTIFIES AT MILOSEVIC TRIAL AS EXPERT WITNESS

THE HAGUE/ZAGREB, Sept 4 (Hina) - The mass persecution of Kosovo Albanians could not have happened without the knowledge of all levels of command in the Yugoslav Army (VJ), Gen. Peter de la Billiere said at the trial of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic at the Hague-based UN war crimes tribunal on Wednesday. #L# It simply could not have happened without the knowledge, perhaps the support of or even orders from the highest-ranking military officials, and consequently without those in political control of the army, said de la Billiere, a former commander of British troops in the Gulf War. He was called to testify as an expert witness who analysed the doctrine in the VJ. Milosevic, who as Yugoslavia's President was also the VJ supreme commander, is charged with crimes against humanity committed by the VJ and the Serb police through the deportation of 800,000 Kosovo Albanians in 1999. Gen. de la Billiere said he did not believe that the moving of so many people could have taken place without the full knowledge of military commanders on the ground. He said he believed the activities were so extensive and included so many civilians that the forces in charge of such an operation had to be under military supervision and command. De la Billiere stated that the VJ, by attacking civilians, had betrayed its own standards of conduct and doctrine. During the cross-examination Milosevic claimed that VJ units abided by principles which he described as the Serbian and Montenegrin tradition of honourable warfare. Milosevic claims that military and police forces in Kosovo fought against Albanian extremists who acted within the Kosovo Liberation Army. The British general resumes his testimony on Thursday. (hina) ha sb