Former Nato chief ends testimony with 'petulant' Milosevic
US presidential hopeful Wesley Clark ended two days of testimony at Slobodan Milosevic’s war crimes trial today, saying the former Serb leader was the same argumentative and petulant man he faced over a negotiating table during the Balkan wars.
The evidence, which was given in closed session and will be released later this week, dealt with Milosevic’s command responsibility, Clark said outside the UN court in The Hague, including his alleged role in the 1995 massacre of Muslims in the Srebrenica enclave of eastern Bosnia.
“I saw no change in his demeanour, his stubbornness, his petulance, from the man who I believe was responsible for so much slaughter and victims in the Balkans,” Clark said after spending nearly 10 hours in the witness box.
Milosevic spent several hours cross-examining Clark, who said his high position in the military alliance gave him unrivalled insight into Milosevic’s ideas and policies.
It was the first time Clark, Nato’s top commander during the 1999 bombing campaign in Yugoslavia, had faced Milosevic since then.
The campaign was aimed at driving Serb forces under Milosevic from the southern province of Kosovo to end a crackdown on the majority ethnic Albanian population.
Clark, a retired four-star general, was taking a break in his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Milosevic is accused of 66 counts of war crimes, including genocide during nearly a decade of warfare in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo. He is defending himself before a panel of three judges.
