Plavsic refuses to testify at Milosevic trial

Plavsic refuses to testify at Milosevic trial: sources

FoNet - February 13, 2004

THE HAGUE -- Friday – Former Bosnian Serb president and convicted war criminal Biljana Plavsic has refused to testify at the trial of Slobodan Milosevic, having been transferred to The Hague from prison in Sweden, according to sources close to her family.

“I didn’t like Slobodan Milosevic, and he hated me,” sources quoted Plavsic as saying, adding that the former Republika Srpska president was not among Milosevic’s close associates and was unable to shed any light on his actions.

Plavsic, who is serving an 11-year sentence, was transferred to the war crimes tribunal in The Hague earlier this week, though it has not been confirmed why she was called to testify.

A prosecutor in the Milosevic trial told the Trial Chamber today that one of the prosecution’s final witnesses would not be testifying, without specifying who.

Sources close to the tribunal say Plavsic was also due to testify at the trial of former Bosnian Serb parliament speaker Momcilo Krajisnik. Her testimony at this trial is also now in doubt, B92 was told.

Plavsic, 72, was sentenced at the tribunal in February 2003, after she admitted playing a leading role in the campaign of persecution against Bosnian Croats and Muslims during the 1992-95 war.

She is currently serving her sentence in Sweden.