gelatik
09.03.02, 00:54
The former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic has told his war crimes trial in
The Hague that al-Qaeda members assisted Balkan rebels in their fight for
independence from Serbia.
The former president made the allegations while cross-examining Sabit Kadriu, a
Kosovan human rights worker who testified on Thursday about seeing Serb
massacres in Kosovo in 1999.
Mr Milosevic quoted from an alleged FBI report which he said proved that al-
Qaeda had established a terrorist network in Kosovo to help the Muslim
population.
The former president focused on specific massacres of Kosovo Albanian families,
alleging they fell victim to Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) clashes with Serb
forces.
The prosecution aims to show Mr Milosevic bore direct responsibility for
atrocities carried out by Serb forces.
The former Yugoslav leader said the document, which he identified as a
Congressional statement from the intelligence service dated last December,
proved the existence of al-Qaeda and mujahideen support for Muslim fighters in
Kosovo, Bosnia and Chechnya.
But Mr Kadriu said he knew nothing of activity by al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin
Laden in Kosovo, where a Serb crackdown on ethnic Albanians triggered Nato
strikes in 1999.
It's not true there were mujahideen in Kosovo. That is a figment of your
imagination," Mr Kadriu said.
There were often heated exchanges between the accused and the witness, and
judges had to intervene to bring them back to dealing with the charges
themselves.
"The KLA was a liberation army and you were mutilating and killing civilians,"
said Mr Kadriu, the 14th prosecution witness.
"We know whose speciality this is," Mr Milosevic retorted. "It is the al-Qaeda
branch in Kosovo."
Clearly frustrated by the tribunal's efforts to rein in his questioning, Mr
Milosevic snapped back at Presiding Judge Richard May: "I'd like to ask you not
to give me instructions, please."
