THE HAGUE, 22 July — Evidence from a trio of key witnesses to appear before the international war crimes tribunal in The Hague this week could make or break the prosecution case against the former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.
Zoran Lilic, Milosevic’s predecessor as Yugoslav president until 1997, Rade Markovic the former head of the notorious Serbian secret police and Dragan Karleusa a senior figure in the Serb police force are already in Holland, with Lilic and Markovic preparing to give first hand accounts on how Kosovo was run under Milosevic.
The testimonies of the three could provide the chief prosecutor Carla Del Ponte with the testimony she needs to convince the court that Milosevic was aware of war crimes committed in Kosovo, that he had control over those responsible for repression in the province and did nothing to prevent or punish war crimes. Lilic was Milosevic’s predecessor at the post of Yugoslav president in the 1993-97 period. (The Independent)
