Ex-Yugoslav presidents face off in The Hague
Two former Yugoslav presidents faced off at a UN war crimes tribunal today with genocide suspect Slobodan Milosevic arguing that Croatian leader Stipe Mesic was the real criminal.
Milosevic, defending himself against charges of genocide in Bosnia and war crimes in Croatia, laughed as he cross-examined Mesic, who was the last president of a united Yugoslavia in 1991.
He accused him of having a “criminal past” and of ordering the murder of two Serbs when he was a town mayor in the 1970’s.
Mesic is the first head of state to testify at the trial in The Hague.
The 67-year-old calmly said he had served a year in jail in 1975 for demanding more democracy under Yugoslavia’s former communist rule.
But he denied knowledge of the murders Milosevic accused him of.
“That is a product of someone’s fantasy,” Mesic said. “I had as much influence (on the men’s murder) as I had on Lincoln’s assassination.”
Mesic testified yesterday how he watched helplessly as Milosevic – then Serbian president – took control of the Serb-dominated Yugoslav army and methodically set about creating a “greater Serbia”.
Mesic said Milosevic went on to use the army to purge non-Serbs from Serb-dominated areas within Bosnia and Croatia in 1991-1995.
Milosevic completely denied Mesic’s description of events.
“If I had had control of the Yugoslav army, Yugoslavia would not have fallen apart, but sadly that was not the case,” he said.
And in an attempt to discredit Mesic, he asked him if he knew of crimes allegedly committed by Croatian troops in the Bosnian war.
But presiding British Judge Richard May broke interrupted the 61-year-old and warned him to focus on his own defence.
“Perpetrators of war crimes should be prosecuted,” Milosevic argued back at one point.
“I think we can quickly agree about one thing, and that is about which of us here is on trial,” Mesic fired back.
