THE HAGUE/ZAGREB, Sept 10 (Hina)- During his trial in the Hague Tribunal (ICTY), former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic on Wednesday accused witness Mustafa Ramic of war crimes against Serb nationals in Brcko in 1992 which the
witness rejected as a farce.
THE HAGUE/ZAGREB, Sept 10 (Hina)- During his trial in the Hague
Tribunal (ICTY), former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic on
Wednesday accused witness Mustafa Ramic of war crimes against Serb
nationals in Brcko in 1992 which the witness rejected as a farce.
#L#
Continuing his cross examination of the witness who was the mayor of
Brcko during 1990/91, Milosevic cited an indictment that
prosecutors of the Bosnian Serb entity issued against Ramic in
1994-95. The indictment alleges that Ramic committed crimes
against Serbs in a village in the Brcko region.
The defendant presented court documents from that entity and
claimed that the witness ordered the murder of "many Serbs" and
abduction of many more Serbs and imprisonment of them in
concentration camps for which he was sentenced by Serbs to 15 years
imprisonment.
These accusations were rigged. The aggressor attempted to portray
the victims of war crimes as criminals themselves. There was no way
I could have even theoretically ordered attacks on any village
because the Bosnian Army had already been formed and I was excluded
from its line of command. The accusations are a farce, Ramic
claimed.
Milosevic claimed that Bosnian Muslims in Brcko had armed
formations prior to the conflicts in May 1992. He presented
official documents supporting his arguments.
The accused presented several documents about the formation,
distribution and arms of Muslim forces in local communities in that
town on the right bank of the Sava river.
Ramic did not deny the existence of these units however, he insisted
that these were formed after attacks by the Yugoslav Peoples' Army
(JNA), on the town on May 1, 1992 in the region known as "Free
Brcko", which they managed to defend the entire time of the war.
Ramic also warned that not one document presented by Milosevic
contained a date.
Milosevic tried to prove that two bridges in Brcko towards Croatia
were not destroyed on May 1, 1992 by Serbs, as previously claimed by
Ramic but rather Croatian sabotage units. The witness remained
steadfast to his initial statement that the bridges were destroyed
by special army units from Serbia on the basis of statements by
local police charged to guard the bridges and that perpetrators
were captured before the bridges were actually blown up.
The trial against Milosevic continues on Thursday.
(hina) sp ms