THE HAGUE/ZAGREB, Sept 11 (Hina) - The international war crimes tribunal's prosecution on Wednesday wrapped up the first stage in the trial against Slobodan Milosevic, with the testimony given by an expert witness for military issues,
Philip Coo.
THE HAGUE/ZAGREB, Sept 11 (Hina) - The international war crimes
tribunal's prosecution on Wednesday wrapped up the first stage in
the trial against Slobodan Milosevic, with the testimony given by
an expert witness for military issues, Philip Coo. #L#
After the presentation of the evidence on the Kosovo section of the
indictment issued against the former Yugoslav President, the trial
is adjourned for two weeks until 26 September, when the
presentation of the evidence about Milosevic's crimes in Croatia
and Bosnia-Herzegovina should start. The prosecutors expect that a
major part from the Croatian section of the indictment will be
presented by the Christmas and New Year holidays.
Under the decision of the trial chamber in the Milosevic process,
the presentation of the evidence for the entire indictment should
be completed by May 2003, and after that Milosevic can defend
himself.
During the presentation of the evidence for the Kosovo section
which started on 12 February this year, prosecutors called a total
of 124 witnesses, while another 71 are expected for the Croatian
section.
Since the start of the trial, of 124 questioned witnesses, about 90
were victims of crimes in Kosovo. Those ethnic Albanians described
the pattern of attacks launched by Yugoslav Army that managed to
evict 800,000 Albanians at the beginning of 1999.
According to the witnesses, after the attacks of the army, ethnic
Albanians had to flee Kosovo trying to find a shelter in Albania or
Macedonia. During mass exoduses, their documents were taken from
them by the Serbian authorities in order to make impossible for them
to prove their citizenship and return to Kosovo.
The prosecution called several international diplomats and
representatives in Kosovo such as the head of the OSCE mission in
Kosovo, William Walker, a former president of NATO's military
committee, Klaus Nauman, and diplomats Wolfgang Petritsch, Knut
Vollebaek and Paddy Ashdown. They asserted that Milosevic had been
warned and notified of the crimes committed in Kosovo and reminded
of his duty to investigate and punish perpetrators. They also said
that Milosevic had a final say in the decision-making in Belgrade.
A few insiders, i.e. witnesses from inside Serbian troops and
institutions, described the chain of command for Yugoslav crimes
which actually avoided the formal chain and ended with Milosevic.
The current Kosovo President, Ibrahnim Rugova, and other
outstanding Kosovo public figures, took the witness stand as well.
Milosevic is indicted for crimes against humanity in Kosovo.
The Bosnian section of indictment charges him with genocide, and
the Croatian section with crimes against humanity, serious
breaches of the Geneva conventions and violations of the law and
custom of war.
The indictment reads that Milosevic is held responsible for the
implementation of a plan of the forcible persecution of Croat and
other non-Serb residents from a third of Croatia's territory in
1991 and 1992 with the aim to annex the ethnically-cleansed areas to
a new Serb-dominated state.
The prosecution of the Hague-based UN tribunal maintains that at
least 170,000 Croats and other non-Serbs had been forced from their
homes in those areas.
The incumbent Croatian President Stjepan Mesic on Tuesday
announced that he would testify in the Milosevic trial.
(hina) ms