Milosevic begins defense

by Anthony Deutsch
The Associated Press

THE HAGUE, Netherlands – Slobodan Milosevic cross-examined the first witness in his war crimes trial yesterday, seeking to discredit a Kosovo Albanian politician who said the Yugoslav government imposed a form of apartheid in the Serbian province.

At times sarcastic and patronizing, Milosevic read from a stack of hand-written notes as he vigorously questioned the former head of the Communist Party in Kosovo, Mahmut Bakalli.

On Monday, Bakalli told the court that the Yugoslav leadership under Milosevic had planned to wipe out 700 Muslim settlements in Kosovo as part of a "scorched earth policy" but that the Serb security forces were unhappy with the plan.

After a week of opening statements from the defense and the prosecution, Bakalli's testimony and cross-examination initiated the evidentiary stage of the trial, which could last up to two years.

Milosevic, 60, is accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Kosovo and Croatia and of genocide in Bosnia during the 1991-99 Balkan wars. He could be sentenced to life imprisonment if convicted on any one of 66 counts.

In his 10-hour opening statement, he scorned charges he was responsible for thousands of murders and nearly a million deportations and accused Western countries of inflaming ethnic tensions to hasten the disintegration of Yugoslavia and assert their domination.

Milosevic confronted Bakalli on his testimony in which Bakalli said Milosevic had known of the 1998 killing of 40 members of the Jashari family. Under tribunal precedent, the defendant might be convicted of war crimes committed by subordinates if he was aware of the crimes and declined to prevent them or punish the perpetrators.

Describing one of his meetings with Milosevic in 1998, Bakalli said: "I told him: 'You are killing women and children,'" referring to the police action against the Jasharis in the village of Prekaz.

"He knew about the incident," Bakalli said.