THE HAGUE, Oct 3 (Hina) - A witness, called C-037 as his identity is completely protected, on Thursday said he had no knowledge that defendant Slobodan Milosevic, a former Serbian and Yugoslav President, or Serbia had any connection
with crimes committed in Croatia during the war.
THE HAGUE, Oct 3 (Hina) - A witness, called C-037 as his identity is
completely protected, on Thursday said he had no knowledge that
defendant Slobodan Milosevic, a former Serbian and Yugoslav
President, or Serbia had any connection with crimes committed in
Croatia during the war. #L#
"I do not know that you personally or Serbia had any connection with
the crimes," witness C-037 said while being cross-examined by
Milosevic.
At the time when the crimes were perpetrated Milosevic was Serbian
President.
The witness, one of the former leaders of the Serb Democratic Party
(SDS) in western Slavonia, started testifying last week as the
first witness in the Croatian and Bosnian section of the trial of
Milosevic before the International Criminal Tribunal for the
former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague.
Today, the witness said he had heard of the crimes cited in the
Milosevic indictment referring to Croatia, but he had not seen any
of them.
The former SDS leader, who during the cross-examination appeared
more as the witness for the defence than for the prosecution, said
he had no knowledge that Serbia had offered any kind of assistance
to the SDS in Croatia, or that Serbia had provided the local forces
of the then Territorial Defence with arms, equipment, or
financially.
He said Belgrade played no role either in the organisation of a
referendum on the independence of Croatian Serbs or in ties between
Croatian and Bosnian Serbs, or in the persecution of the Croatian
population from areas held by Serb rebels (the so-called Krajina).
Asked by Milosevic about the Karlovac-Karlobag-Virovitica line,
presented during the trial as the western line of a Greater Serbia,
the witness said this was something mentioned by the leader of Serb
radicals, Vojislav Seselj.
Asked by Milosevic whether the witness had ever heard
representatives of the then Serbian authorities, including
Milosevic, speaking about the plan as mentioned on the map (shown in
the courtroom referring to a Greater Serbia), the witness answered
in the negative, and explained that at the time Seselj was an
opposition member of the parliament.
Such testimony evidently improved the mood of the defendant
Milosevic who said that the line was a part of the evidence used to
accuse him.
As regards the Serb-run camps, the witness said all what he knew
about them was from reports broadcast by the Croatian television.
Asked by Milosevic about Croat-run camps, he in detail spoke about
such camps in Croat-controlled areas.
The testimony of this witness was several times interrupted by
closed-door sessions so as to protect his identity. Other measures
taken for his protection, such as voice distortion, and technical
snags made it more difficult for reporters to cover his testimony.
Last week, the trial chamber's president, Richard May, orally
warned the journalists that they were not allowed to give any form
of identification of this witness, and later they were given a
transcript of his decision with a copy of the rule book of the
tribunal which stipulates a sentence of up to seven years of
imprisonment and a fine of up to 100,000 euros for contempt of the
court, if they disclose his identity. This actually presented self-
censorship of reporters who cover open sessions.
(hina) ms sb