THE HAGUE, Oct 4 (Hina) - Croatian Serbs' fears, which dated back to WWII, and the suppression of their rights in the late 1980s were the reason for their "spontaneous resistance" to Croatian authorities and the "defence war imposed
on them in both Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina," Slobodan Milosevic said at the Hague war crimes tribunal on Friday.
THE HAGUE, Oct 4 (Hina) - Croatian Serbs' fears, which dated back to
WWII, and the suppression of their rights in the late 1980s were the
reason for their "spontaneous resistance" to Croatian authorities
and the "defence war imposed on them in both Croatia and Bosnia-
Herzegovina," Slobodan Milosevic said at the Hague war crimes
tribunal on Friday. #L#
The former Yugoslav President backed his claims through a Serb
politician from western Slavonia, a prosecution witness whose
identity was protected.
Presiding Richard May told Milosevic that his questions regarding
the suffering of Serbs during WWII were irrelevant.
The defendant said the relevance lay in the fact that in the late
1980s and early 1990s, WWII fascism had resurfaced, "manifesting
itself not only through WWII symbols and rhetoric, but through
large-scale persecutions of the Serb population... exclusion from
the Constitution, unlawful arrests, killings, dismissals from
work..."
The suppression of those rights continued even later, Milosevic
said, citing Croatian constitutions under which Serbs had been a
constituent people, a status he said was lost in the 1990s, which
the witness confirmed.
By asking questions about the suffering of Serbs, Milosevic tried
to prove that their spontaneous resistance had been the result of
merciless persecution.
"In western Slavonia in '91 and '92 several hundred Serbs were
killed, several hundred were injured, several thousand houses were
set afire, and 27 Orthodox churches were destroyed? You say it, you
are the witness for the prosecution," said Milosevic.
"In western Slavonia 500 people were killed... and several thousand
houses were mined and set on fire... I know that many churches were
demolished," the witness said.
The witness also confirmed that he had seen an order issued by the
western Slavonia crisis headquarters to ethnically clean 24 Serb
villages in the area.
Due to Judge May's intervention, Milosevic was unable to make the
witness claim that the war in western Slavonia had been caused by
the Croatian side and that it constituted a "spontaneous
resistance" on the local population's part.
The witness said that an armed incident had preceded conflicts only
in Okucani.
"The conflicts were started by the commanders of the Territorial
Defence," said the witness, stating that "there was fear, but there
was no danger."
"Unfortunately, all the events after 1995 proved that the fear had
been justified," the witness confirmed Milosevic's claim that "the
loss of confidence had not been unjustified" and that "the fears had
been justified."
Milosevic was interested in what the witness knew about "the
activities of Mercep, Glavas, and Seks", whom he placed in the
context of the squadrons of death. The witness said he had "heard
about those things from Serbs," referring to abductions and
killings.
Judge May cautioned Milosevic that he could not defend himself by
proving that the other side had committed crimes.
May said that Milosevic was the one on trial for war crimes, and that
the trial must deal with the acts described in the indictment.
Milosevic denied any responsibility for and connection with the
crimes committed in Croatia, reiterating that the indictment was
false.
The testimony of the Serb politician from western Slavonia was held
in a virtually empty court-room.
(hina) ha sb