gelatik
03.03.02, 01:48
The first Kosovo Albanian victims of Slobodan Milosevic's alleged crimes
testify against the former President There have been three of them now: all
men, all farmers, all Kosovo Albanian Muslims from small villages testifying
against the former leader whom they hold responsible for the burnings,
lootings, murders and deportations that defined Kosovo in 1999 — and still
define their lives. They refuse to look at the once omnipotent Milosevic; in a
show of disrespect, they turn their backs on the man they never considered
their leader.
The first victim to testify was 49-year-old Agim Zeqiri. He described how Serb
forces attacked his village on March 25, 1999, the day after NATO began bombing
Yugoslavia. After Serb forces started torching neighborhoods, Zeqiri says he
fled with his family and some neighbors to a nearby stream. He and another man
left the women and children hiding in a ravine. That, he says, was the last
time he saw them. After being severely beaten in the head and kidneys by men
with painted black faces, Zeqiri says he was forced to flee to Albania. It was
there, he said, that he heard the news. "My cousin in Germany called and told
me to be brave because your family and my family have all been killed," he
testified. Zeqiri lost his entire family — four daughters, a son, his wife and
10 other relatives. The youngest, he said, was just a year-and-a-half old.
Zeqiri is one of the so-called "deportation" witnesses. Prosecutors say that
Milosevic used his forces to terrorize 800,000 ethnic Albanians into leaving
Kosovo. Zeqiri told the court he never intended to leave his village. "It was
my hometown, the place of my fathers and forefathers," he said. "We left to
save the children . . . We didn't know things would come to that pass. Who knew
that they would kill 75 persons from my village?"
Milosevic never questioned Zeqiri about the killings. Instead, he focused on
the 300 Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) members who Zeqiri says were given food
and clothing by people in his village. Milosevic attempted to paint his troops
as defending themselves against Albanian terrorists. "So where was this KLA you
supported at the time your village was surrounded?" he asked Zeqiri. Time and
again, Zeqiri said he did not know, that he only saw Serb forces shooting
civilians.
If Milosevic was planning to ask him about the murder of his family, he never
got the chance. Returning to the witness stand Thursday morning, Zeqiri said he
was too sick to continue. To this day, he says he still suffers from his kidney
injuries. Judges dismissed him, prompting Milosevic to accuse the court of
purposefully "having the witness removed, who were unsuccessful and told
untruths." Zeqiri didn't hear that; he'd already left the courtroom.
"It was really ridiculous that somebody who lost his entire family had to
answer the questions of the person who he thinks is responsible for that
crime ... Really awful to see how Milosevic was, in a way, raping him again and
asking the questions," says Augustine Palakoj, a Kosovo Albanian journalist. "I
think this tribunal really wants to show it is impartial and is fair to
Milosevic, but I think they have to care a little bit more, be fair also, to
the witness, especially to the victims."
The next one to testify was Fehim Elshani, a 67-year-old accountant who says he
became a farmer after he refused to sign a loyalty oath to the Serbian state
and was fired from his job. He recounted how his village was shelled, torched,
and looted by Milosevic's troops. After being grilled by Milosevic, Elshani
accused the former President of provoking him. He insisted that Milosevic's men
killed civilians. Pointing his finger but still not looking at Milosevic, he
said, "How can you say nothing happened? You burned three elderly women. It is
unimaginable the things that you have done."
Elshani testified that Serb forces stole their money and took away all their
identification before letting them flee to Albania. The Serbs, he said, were
making good on their promise, repeated often in Milosevic's own media, to seek
revenge on Kosovo's Albanians in the event of NATO air strikes. When Milosevic
suggested that his troops were simply protecting fleeing ethnic Albanians from
NATO's bombs and from fights between the Yugoslav army and the KLA, steering
them away from combat areas, Elshani smiled. "If that is what you call help,
what would the other be?"
