MR. NICE LOSES HIS MIND AND ACCUSES MILOSEVIC OF “ALLOWING” THE NATO BOMBING
www.slobodan-milosevic.org - October 25, 2005

Gen. Milos Djosan completed his cross-examination at the trial of Slobodan Milosevic on Tuesday.

Mr. Nice asked the witness several questions about the publication “As Seen As Told.” The prosecutor observed that Gen. Djosan’s testimony differed significantly from the information contained in that book, especially with regard to events in Djakovica and Meja.

Gen. Djosan explained that he was on the spot and testified about what he had seen with his own eyes. The witness said that “As Seen, As Told” was flawed because one doesn’t know who did the seeing and who did the telling.

Mr. Nice attempted to answer Gen. Djosan’s point, but to no avail. The prosecutor explained that “As Seen As Told” is extensively footnoted and that it is based in large measure on the statements of witnesses. However, under pressure from Gen. Djosan, Mr. Nice admitted that there is no way for the reader to know who these witnesses are, because pseudonyms were used in the book. For all the reader knows, the witness being cited by the footnote is Jack the Ripper.

Mr. Nice extensively questioned the witness regarding the SCG Committee for Cooperation with the ICTY, and regarding his unit’s war diary, but to no avail.

Mr. Nice accused Gen. Djosan of being part of a conspiracy simply because he is a Kosovo-Serb. The prosecutor claimed that Kosovo-Serbs “hang together” because they’re “guilty of horrible crimes” against Kosovo-Albanians.

The witness explained that Kosovo-Serbs didn’t do anything against the Albanians. He repeated his earlier testimony that there wasn’t any mass-movement of refugees out of Kosovo until the NATO bombing.

Demonstrating that he had completely lost his mind, Mr. Nice claimed that Milosevic “allowed” NATO to attack Yugoslavia. Gen. Djosan actually had to respond to that and explain that the NATO bombing campaign wasn’t Milosevic’s idea.

The prosecutor, apparently unhappy with the way the cross-examination had gone, ended his questioning by attempting to enrage and humiliate the witness. Mr. Nice didn’t ask questions so much as he made statements about the Kosovo war. The prosecutor claimed that “the KLA defeated the Yugoslav Army” and that the Kosovo Albanians had “won their own country” (i.e. independence from Serbia).

Gen. Djosan kept his cool and refused to play Mr. Nice’s game. He simply pointed out that, with Mr. Nice’s speech, the prosecution has made it abundantly clear that it supports the KLA.

On that note, Milosevic began his re-examination of the witness. During the cross-examination Mr. Nice insinuated that the witness had been involved with the burial of Kosovo-Albanian corpses in Batajnica by virtue of the fact that he was stationed in Batajnica. It turns out that Gen. Djosan was stationed at the Batajnica airport (not the Batajnica SAJ base) prior to the war. In other words, he was stationed at a completely different facility at a time predating the war.

Milosevic asked the witness which was more probable: that corpses had been transported to the Batajnica SAJ base and buried during the NATO bombing, or that the corpses had been taken there and buried after the war.

The witness said that it was more probable that this happened after the war because transportation was severely interrupted by the bombing.

During the cross-examination Mr. Nice attempted to challenge Gen. Djosan’s assertion that Kosovo-Albanian witnesses are prone to testifying against the Army and Police because their lives are at risk from Albanian nationalists who will kill them or their family members if they testify in a manner that damages the KLA’s cause.

To prove that Mr. Nice’s was lying when he said that Kosovo-Albanians are free to testify favorably towards the Army and police, Milosevic quoted a confidential prosecution filing appealing the Tribunal’s decision to grant provisional release to Ramush Haradinaj. According to the OTP’s own admission, Kosovo-Albanians face severe danger if they testify in a manner not deemed to be helpful by the KLA.

Milosevic will conclude Gen. Djosan’s re-examination when the trial resumes tomorrow.


# # #