THE HAGUE/ZAGREB, Sept 9 (Hina) - The trial of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic before the UN war crimes tribunal at The Hague (ICTY) resumed on Tuesday with the testimonies of the war-time mayor of the north-eastern
Bosnian town of Brcko, Mustafa Ramir, and protected prosecutorial witnesses B-1058 and B-1610.
THE HAGUE/ZAGREB, Sept 9 (Hina) - The trial of former Yugoslav
President Slobodan Milosevic before the UN war crimes tribunal at
The Hague (ICTY) resumed on Tuesday with the testimonies of the war-
time mayor of the north-eastern Bosnian town of Brcko, Mustafa
Ramir, and protected prosecutorial witnesses B-1058 and B-1610.
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Ramic, who was the mayor of Brcko in 1990 and 1991, testified before
the ICTY in September 1999 at the trial of Goran Jelisic aka Adolf,
commander of the Serb concentration camp Luka near Brcko. His
testimony was introduced by the prosecution as evidence against
Milosevic.
In his written testimony and responses to the defendant's cross-
examination, Ramic described the events that took place in April
and May 1991 when Serb forces, led by the former Yugoslav People's
Army (JNA), occupied Brcko.
Several months prior to the war, the JNA started distributing arms
among Serbs and the Serb Territorial Defence (TO) was putting up
barricades, said Ramic adding that the Serb Democratic Party (SDS)
requested the division of the city.
The attack was launched on May 1, 1991 when 20 people from Serbia
blew up bridges on the Sava River, after which the JNA entered the
town.
The witness said he then went to Gornji Rahic, the free part of
Brcko, where he organised the defence.
In the cross-examination, Milosevic amnestied the JNA, claiming
that Brcko was attacked by paramilitary units and the Territorial
Defence. Ramic refuted Milosevic claims by saying that everything
was conducted in the organisation and under the command of the JNA.
Milosevic said that the war started also because of the arming of
Bosnian Muslims and other war preparations, as well as the setting
up of "a field hospital". The defendant submitted "official notes"
made by the Serb State Security Service from Brcko in 1995 to back up
his claims.
The witness said the notes were "fabricated and false", adding that
the notes were made by the Serb police after the war.
The indictment for genocide in Bosnia-Herzegovina charges
Milosevic with the killing of more than 50 Bosnian Muslims and other
non-Serb population in Brcko and the Luka camp, as well as with the
persecution of more than 16,000 non-Serbs from the town and the
area. The former mayor of Brcko will resume his testimony on
Wednesday.
Protected Witness B-1058 spoke of crimes committed by members of
Zeljko Raznatovic Arkan and Vojislav Seselj's troops during the
occupation of Zvornik in April 1992.
Protected witness B-1610 described the Serb occupation of Prnjavor
in northern Bosnia in April 1992. He described a Serb attack on the
Bosnian Muslim village of Lisina in which 76 houses were burned
down. The witness said he personally saw the killing of three
civilians.
B-1610 said he was detained for 45 days in the Sloga shoe factory
where the inmates were beaten and molested.
According to the indictment against Milosevic, eight Bosnian
Muslims were killed in Prnjavor. The indictment also says detention
centres existed in Sloga, Stari Mlin and Ribnjak and 3,490 non-
Serbs were expelled from the area.
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