Milosevic takes on 'unreliable' witness in four-hour tussle

In a four-hour court battle yesterday, Slobodan Milosevic dismissed the first witness against him in his war crimes trial as a liar and defended Serb police actions in Kosovo as a fight against terrorism.

In cross-examination, Mr Milosevic sought to discredit as "unreliable" Mahmut Bakalli, an ethnic Albanian politician who claimed the former Yugoslav president destroyed Kosovo and was responsible for thousands of deaths there.

Mr Milosevic, the first former head of state to be charged with war crimes while in office, is accused of 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.

Although a law graduate, Mr Milosevic has never practised law until now. He has refused to recognise the court, claiming it is an instrument of Western powers who wish to destroy him and his nation. At times sarcastic, Mr Milosevic engaged in heated exchanges with Mr Bakalli, trying to catch him in contradictions. He also highlighted his links with Kosovo Albanian rebels, arguing that he was too biased to be a reliable witness.

Mr Milosevic's cross-examination drew praise from some legal experts. "What we have seen this morning was a very, very forceful, vigorous cross- examination," said Richard Dicker, of the New York-based Human Rights Watch. He said Mr Milosevic's ability to undermine a witness's credibility is "a benchmark of fair trial life for any accused in any court".

In his most damaging testimony, Mr Bakalli told the court on Monday that when he met Mr Milosevic in 1998, the then-president admitted knowing about a Serb massacre of more than 40 members of an ethnic Albanian family in the village of Prekaz. He said Mr Milosevic defended the police action as a fight against terrorists.

Trying to shake that evidence, Mr Milosevic fired a series of questions about the killings. Mr Bakalli said he did not have details but that he knew women and children were among the victims. Mr Bakalli accused Mr Milosevic of responsibility for the deaths of thousands of people under the pretext of fighting terrorism in Kosovo.

Mr Bakalli told the court on Monday that the Yugoslav leadership under Mr Milosevic had planned to wipe out 700 Albanian villages in Kosovo as part of a "scorched earth policy," but that Serb security officers were unhappy with the plan.