Posted on 05/30/2002 11:57:30 PM PDT by Spar
Thursday May 30, 10:58 PM
Survivor of Racak massacre testifies in Milosevic trial
The trial of former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic heard testimony from a survivor of the Racak massacre in Kosovo which triggered NATO's 1999 air war against Yugoslavia.
Avdiu Bilal, a slight man in his fifties wearing a traditional Albanian black skullcap, has lived in Racak all his life and was in the town on January 15th, 1999 when over 40 ethnic Albanian civilians were allegedly massacred by Belgrade's forces.
His testimony was presented as a short prosecution summary before he was cross-examined by Milosevic, who is defending himself.
The prosecution told the court that, at the time of the massacre, Bilal was hiding in a barn with around 20 other inhabitants of Racak when the Serb police came and ordered the men out.
They were beaten and ordered to climb a nearby hill, where police opened fire, the prosecution said, adding that Bilal feigned death for five hours to survive and spend the night on the hill with other survivors.
The Racak massacre is one of the most serious incidents named in the Kosovo indictment against Milosevic.
The massacre outraged the international community and set off the NATO bombing campaign against Yugoslavia in March 1999.
Milosevic claims the Racak dead were all rebel fighters from the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) killed in a legitimate Serb police action. The former president claims the massacre was staged by the KLA and the Western powers to provide an excuse for what he calls "the NATO aggression" against Yugoslavia.
In his cross-examination, Milosevic focussed again on his theory the village was a KLA stronghold and the fighting was in legitimate retaliation.
Bilal told the court there had been some sort of KLA headquarters in the village but they only stayed for a short time.
When Milosevic asked him if villagers ever helped the KLA launch attacks on Serb forces the witness was adamant.
"No, they didn't attack ever," the Kosovo Albanian told the court.
"They provoked us, the Serb police, they fired at us in the village," he said.
The Hague court is trying Milosevic over atrocities committed during the wars in Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo during the 1990s. If convicted, the onetime Serb strongman could face life in prison.
Besides testimony about the Racak massacre, the court also heard legal argument about the time constraints placed on the prosecution. The court has given the prosecution until April 2003 to present its case.
Prosecutor Geoffrey Nice sought to have a war crimes investigator allowed to take the stand who would summarise the testimony of Racak witnesses who could not be called because of time constraints.
The judges ruled against the prosecution and even suggested that Nice restructure his case.
"You seek to prove a case in detail that is essentially a case of command responsibility," presiding judge Richard May said.
His colleague, judge Patrick Robinson, agreed that the scope of the prosecution case was at the centre of the problems with the timetable.
"The lesson that is to be learned from this tribunal is that there has to be a limit to cases brought in case of mass violations of international humanitarian law," he said.
The judge suggested the prosecution could select a sample of cases to focus on.
On Friday the court will resume Bilal's cross-examination.
Racak Witness Prepares Testimony (But gets all the facts wrong-A Lie Caught)
... The former president claims the massacre was staged by the KLA and the Western powers to provide an excuse for what he calls "the NATO aggression" against Yugoslavia ...We can't keep terrorists out of our flight schools, but we can stage whole massacres to discredit foreign heads of state?
Anyway, the CIA is not involved on the domestic front.
Sad, but we have to include Bush senior and 'vocal' loser Bob Dole, who were on the 'ground floor' framing this stupid strategy of giving away other peoples land and sovereignty.
The previous testimony with the 'Canadian General' may be a turning point for Milosevic, where towards the end he accused the 'other side' of staging a 'massacre' as an excuse to 'bomb'.
Judge May, then said 'Where is this guy Walker, when will he be here to 'testify'? That statement is bad news for the prosecution.
This from the article is interesting. During his 'cross' of the 'Canadian General', Milo asked why some report 40 killed and others report 45 were killed? Then he 'hinted' at who the 5 missing were and was cut off by Judge May.
Were there 'mercenaries' involved?
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