VOJISLAV SESELJ - DAY 7: ROBINSON SAYS THERE'S NO BASIS FOR THE INDICTMENT IF MILOSEVIC ONLY ACTED WITHIN HIS POWERS
www.slobodan-milosevic.org - September 1, 2005

Written by: Andy Wilcoxson

Vojislav Seselj continued to testify at the trial of Slobodan Milosevic on Thursday. The leader of the Serbian Radical Party reiterated his testimony that neither Serbia nor Slobodan Milosevic controlled the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA). He said that Milosevic bitterly opposed paramilitary formations and that Serbia prosecuted scores of illegal paramilitary fighters.

The prosecution claims that the JNA imprisoned POWs and tortured them at camps inside Serbia. Seselj testified that he never heard of a single case of the JNA torturing POWs. He also denied that the JNA forcibly deported people.

Judge Robinson made an interesting remark during Seselj's testimony today. He said that it was not enough for Seselj to testify about Milosevic's de-jure position, but that he must testify about the de-facto position. Robinson admitted that if Milosevic acted within the limits of his office, then there would be no basis for the indictment. Seselj guaranteed Robinson that Milosevic did only act within the limits of his office. He said that Milosevic could not exceed his authority even if he had wanted to.

Seselj explained that the JNA was commanded by the Yugoslav Presidency - not by Slobodan Milosevic. He said that the Bosnian Serb Army (VRS) was commanded by Radovan Karadzic - not by Slobodan Milosevic. He said that Serbia did not provide direct military assistance to the VRS - although there was indirect assistance such as the payment of certain officers salaries by the 30th personnel center. He said that the meager assistance that Serbia gave the Bosnian-Serbs paled in comparison to the massive amount of assistance that the Croats and the Muslims were receiving from the West and the Islamic countries.

According to Seselj, and several previous witnesses, 70,000 Bosnian-Muslim refugees came to Serbia during the war. The obvious question is why would these people would come to Serbia if Serbia was behind a scheme to commit genocide against them? Seselj also noted that there were several Muslim members of the VRS; the same army that the prosecution says committed genocide against Muslims.

Seselj denied that the VRS or the Republika Srpska leadership had or carried out a policy of ethnic cleansing. To bear this point out Milosevic read passages from orders issued to the VRS by Radovan Karadzic. These orders explicitly forbade any act that could constitute ethnic cleansing.

Seselj pointed out that hundreds of Serbs had been killed by Muslims during the months before the war began in Bosnia. In particular he mentioned the massacres in Bosanski Broad and Kupres. Obviously the Serbs had something to defend themselves from, and it is not unreasonable to assume that their war objective was self-defense, rather than the expansion of Serbia's borders - especially since it was the Muslims who started killing people first.

Seselj offered testimony about the events during the war in Vukovar. He said that war operations began in Vukovar after the Croatian ZNG attacked the JNA barracks there.

Regarding the killings at the Ovcara farm, Seselj said that the JNA was not involved. He said that all of the killings were carried out by locals who took people they believed to be Croatian war criminals out of the Vukovar Hospital. He said that Gen. Aleksandar Vasiljevic should be questioned about this event because he was in the area, but failed to report that the killings had taken place. Seselj vehemently denied accusations that volunteers from the Serbian Radical Party had been involved.

Seselj testified about Dubrovnik saying that the Croats fired at the JNA from inside of the old city in an attempt to goad the JNA into attacking the old city, which the JNA did not do.

Jovan Dulovic and Dejan Anastasijevic both testified as witnesses for the prosecution and Seselj came to court today armed with information that effected their credibility. Both of these witnesses had been newspaper reporters and Dulovic had even testified at another trial in Belgrade. Seselj had documented several discrepancies between the testimony that they gave against Milosevic and what they had written in their newspaper reports and what Dulovic had said during his testimony in Belgrade. Unfortunately, the Trial Chamber refused to admit this material.

Seselj had been expected to complete his examination-in-chief today, but things went slower than expected. Milosevic says that Seselj will likely complete his examination-in-chief when the trial resumes next Monday afternoon.

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