THE HAGUE, Sept 26 (Hina) - Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic played the key role in a criminal operation during the war in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina in which the activities, just as later in Kosovo, were a part of the
same pattern, the chief prosecutor in the Milosevic trial before the U.N. war crimes tribunal, Geoffrey Nice, said on Thursday.
THE HAGUE, Sept 26 (Hina) - Former Yugoslav President Slobodan
Milosevic played the key role in a criminal operation during the war
in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina in which the activities, just as
later in Kosovo, were a part of the same pattern, the chief
prosecutor in the Milosevic trial before the U.N. war crimes
tribunal, Geoffrey Nice, said on Thursday. #L#
Nice said in his opening that activities in Croatia and Bosnia were
a part of the same pattern based on a very clear strategy which
fitted the ultimate goal -- to occupy a large part of the territory
of the former state, under the excuse that peoples wanted to stay in
Yugoslavia.
The Croatian and Bosnian stage of the trial against ex-Yugoslav
president who is accused of genocide in what the Hague-based war
crimes tribunal calls Europe's worst human rights violations since
World War Two, started before the ICTY on Thursday.
Milosevic is charged with genocide in Bosnia-Herzegovina and
crimes against humanity, violations of the laws and customs of war
and grave breeches of Geneva conventions in Croatia.
In his opening, Nice spoke about the events which took place in
early 1990's first in Croatia and then in Bosnia, for which
Milosevic is believed to be responsible. Nice said that a large
number of the gravest crimes committed in Croatia took place at the
very end of the fighting which is a clear proof that operations had
nothing to do with military goals, but they were "pure crimes".
Speaking about Bosnia, Nice pointed to crimes committed in
Visegrad, Brcko and Prijedor. He pointed out the U.N protected area
of Srebrenica, which former Bosnian Serb leaders Radovan Karadjic
and Ratko Mladic decided to destroy. The defendant was linked to the
Srebrenica case, Nice said.
The ICTY prosecutors will have to prove Milosevic's leading role in
the persecution of Croatian, Muslim and other non-Serb population
in Bosnia and Croatia.
Prosecutors will call 177 witnesses, 106 on Bosnia and 71 for
Croatia, its spokeswoman Florence Hartmann said on Wednesday.
After this Milosevic will present his defence.
Milosevic's trial started on February 12.
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