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Milosevic complains of time constraints at trial

The United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague, The Netherlands, today resumed its questioning of former Serb president …

Tue Jan 13 2004 - 00:00

The United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague, The Netherlands, today resumed its questioning of former Serb president Mr Slobodan Milosevic after a three-week recess.

Today, he complained his time for cross examination was being limited because prosecutors are "aware their time is running out and trying to push through witnesses with masses of accompanying material in great haste."

"They've been wasting their time for two years, and now they're under pressure," Mr Milosevic said.

They've been wasting their time for two years, and now they're under pressure
War crimes defendant Slobodan Milosevic

Mr Milosevic clashed with the first witness this morning,

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Voice of America

reporter Mr Nenad Zafirovic, whose testimony linked the former Serb leader to the Bosnian Serbs who ordered the massacre of over 7,000 Muslims in Srebrenica in 1995.

Mr Zafirovic was a long-time anchor for Voice of America'sSerbian news service and recently worked for the BBC in Washington. During the early stages of the Balkan Wars, he was an employee of Belgrade-based radio station B-92.

The journalist recounted a closed session of the parliament of the breakaway Serb Republic in Bosnia he attended in 1993. He said Milosevic said "we, not you," while addressing the Bosnian Serbs, indicating his close ties to leaders who oversaw the Srebrenica killings.

Mr Zafirovic said it was noteworthy because in public Mr Milosevic always maintained a distinction between Serbs in Bosnia and Serbia, "claiming that Serbia [was] not involved in the war".

Mr Milosevic, ousted as president of Serbia by a popular uprising in 2000, was elected to the Serbian parliament last month, but will not receive a seat because he is in United Nations detention for the duration of his trial.

After two years of hearings in The Hague, prosecutors have 17 days of hearings to conclude testimony relating to 66 counts of war crimes against Mr Milosevic including genocide, allegedly committed during the Balkan wars in the 1990. A three-month break will follow the for Mr Milosevic to prepare his defence.

He faces life in prison if convicted of a single count.

AP