MESIC: JOVIC MADE NO MOVE WITHOUT CONSULTING MILOSEVIC

THE HAGUE, Oct 1 (Hina) - Borisav Jovic, president of the former Yugoslav state presidency, had never voted at presidency sessions without previously consulting Slobodan Milosevic, who at the time was Serbia's president, Croatian President Stjepan Mesic said at the trial of the former Yugoslav president before the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague on Tuesday. #L# "Jovic never acted independently. He did everything in consultation with Slobodan Milosevic," Mesic said and added that each time a vote was to take place and Jovic would briefly leave the session, he would tell him to "say hello to Milosevic". Mesic said that each time Jovic returned, he would ask him if he had conveyed his greetings to Milosevic. "He was a bit upset about this," Mesic said describing Jovic's reaction. During the vote, Mesic said, the Serbian bloc always voted the way Jovic did. Asked by the Prosecutor if Jovic had ever denied taking instructions from Milosevic, Mesic answered in the negative. He added that his associates had told him that each time "Jovic left the session, he always called Milosevic". Croatia's head of state also said that former Federal Defence Minister Veljko Kadijevic and Yugoslav Army Chief-of-Staff Blagoje Adzic had also been under Milosevic's control. He also described how the Yugoslav People's Army was gradually ethnically homogenised to become a Serbian army. Mesic said that the Serbian bloc in the former state presidency had been sabotaging for two months his attempts to assume the post of the president of the Yugoslav presidency, which he was to take over in May 1991. He also said that after he was no longer able to travel to Belgrade, he tried to convene presidency sessions outside the capital of the former state. Mesic said he had also been concerned about his safety. (hina) it rml