After a nearly month long break the so-called "trial" of Slobodan Milosevic again resumed on Tuesday. With only 16 hearing days remaining to present their case the prosecution called a former journalist of the Belgrade radio station B-92 to testify.

Nenad Zafirovic worked for Radio B-92 covering the Bosnian and Croatian wars. Mr. Zafirovic is a member of the Democratic Party (DS) of the slain former Serbian prime minister, Zoran Djindjic.

According to Mr. Zafirovic, the atrocities committed in Bosnia and Croatia were mainly committed by locals against other locals. President Milosevic pointed out that the phenomenon Zafirovic was describing is known as a civil war.

Even though Mr. Zafirovic was a 92-bis witness, it took the prosecutor, Mr. Groome, the better part of an hour to examine him, and even after the examination in chief there were still inaccuracies in his witness statement that had to be corrected.

In Mr. Zafirovic's witness statement it said that Slobodan Milosevic, Biljana Plavsic, and Radovan Karadzic had entered into a conspiracy to provoke fighting in Bijeljina. According to Mr. Zafirovic this must have been some sort of a mistranslation, because it simply wasn't true. That is certainly one amazing mistranslation, and it highlights the reason why testimony should never be admitted under Rule 89(F).

The fact of the matter is that you simply can not trust the prosecutor to write an accurate witness statement on behalf of the witness. All of the evidence should be given live by the witness in the presence of the accused. Evidence should not be given in the prosecutor's office for them to manipulate as they please for the purpose of their case.

Mr. Zafirovic did his best to be a good witness for the prosecution. He said that he saw Gen. Mladic and Mr. Krajisnik in Belgrade in the area of Milosevic's office. Of course he didn't know what they were doing there.

There was another time when he says he was in Radovan Karadzic's office when Milosevic called, of course he was asked to leave, and so he didn't know what the purpose of the call was.

Mr. Zafirovic claimed that President Milosevic was the man "in charge of the Bosnian Serb delegation" at the Geneva talks. Of course his claim wasn't based on any facts. He told Mr. Tapuskovic that all decisions ultimately had to be made by the Bosnian Serbs themselves, and that Karadzic was officially the one in charge. Zafirovic said that he didn't know whether Milosevic could issue orders or make decisions on behalf of the delegation or not. On the basis of what then is he testifying? Apparently, as is typical of so many prosecution witnesses, he's testifying on the basis of nothing.

In response to questions from President Milosevic, Mr. Zafirovic confirmed that Milosevic only attended the meetings in Geneva at the requests of Lord Owen, Mr. Vance, and Mr. Stoltenberg. President Milosevic did not impose himself on those meetings. He was asked to attend by the representatives of the international community so that he could help to find a way to stop the war.

Even though Mr. Zafirovic didn't actually witness anything. He did manage to directly contradict the testimony of Sead Omeragic. Apparently Mr. Omeragic was lying when he claimed that Radio Bijeljina had blocked the transmission of Fikret Abdic's speech. Because according to Mr. Zafirovic that speech was broadcast, and the aim of the speech was to calm down the population.

Some interesting information also came out about the infamous Ljubisa Savic "Mauzer." Apparently, Mauzer was a member of the Democratic Party. In fact he was even the president of the Democratic Party in Republika Srpska.

The prosecution is fond of saying that Mauzer was "Milosevic's man." In reality, Mauzer was opposed to Milosevic. Mauzer told the Belgrade newspaper Vreme that when he was finished in Bosnia he would cross the Drina and "take care of the communists."

At one point Mr. Groome asked Mr. Zafirovic if he was free to report honestly and objectively about the events he observed in Bosnia and Croatia. Mr. Zafirovic said that he was free to file honest and objective reports and broadcast them in the media. At one point he even broadcast reports calling Milosevic a liar with respect to the war in Bosnia. It is worth noting here that if Slobodan Milosevic was a real dictator that Mr. Zafirovic wouldn't have lived to see the next day. Fortunately for Mr. Zafirovic Serbia had a free press and Slobodan Milosevic was not a dictator.

Mr. Zafirovic trod over some old ground in his testimony. He had a tape recording of President Milosevic's second speech to the Republika Srpska assembly in Pale when Milosevic was trying to convince them to accept the Vance-Owen plan. We have already seen this speech before, President Milosevic gave this speech in response to objections to the plan that had been raised by some of the deputies in the assembly. Here is the text of the speech:

[START SPEECH]

I will try very briefly, but with the highest possible degree of responsibility to say a few words. But before doing that, I wish to convey to you my impressions. You spoke openly and from the heart. Most of what you said related to the cruelties and injustices of war. In the Serbian people, throughout their history, unfortunately there is too -- there are too many truthful testimonies of the horrors of war. However, all that we heard today regarding the testimony and the horrors of war, all of this can be formed into one single argument and a single statement and message, that the war should cease as soon as possible, that the war should cease immediately.

However, let me go back to the question we are addressing today. The question is not how much horrors -- how many horrors there were in this war. This people has felt this on their own shoulders throughout their history. The question today is whether we should consolidate what has been achieved and through a peaceful process, under conditions of security, achieve what remains to be done, what we call "outstanding matters." There were many outstanding issues, but the plan envisaged that those problems be addressed in negotiations.

So whether we should seek to address what we call 'outstanding problems' through negotiation or should we destroy what has been achieved at the expense of enormous sacrifice. That is the real issue that this Assembly should decide. So the question, when talking about the plan, is not whether we are departing from our goals. Of course not.

The question is whether that plan represents the path towards the ultimate goal. The plan is not the final fulfillment of the justified demands of the Serbian people, but it certainly represents the path towards the ultimate goal. But now we must make much more effort through our wisdom and less bloodshed. I think that should be an advantage, not a disadvantage. And this Assembly must have the courage and self-confidence under these circumstances on the basis of the plan, which must -- which is a sufficient basis to achieve our goal, rather than committing a tragic error which will cruelly cut across or put an obstacle on the way to success.

Will the Assembly opt for a reasonable or an unreasonable path? I think no one needs to persuade this Assembly about. I think peace is the reasonable, the sensible way. On the contrary, if the slogan is spread about that the Serbs don't want peace, that could only justify crimes against the Serbs, and this is something you should bear in mind. When the road towards peace is being opened, you must explain to the people that they -- why should they sacrifice their lives in even crueler ways up to now? You cannot explain the reasons to the Serbian people in Bosnia or in Serbia.

And let me say finally, one must sacrifice everything for the people except the people. You cannot sacrifice the people. You do not have the right to do that as an Assembly or as anyone else.

[END SPEECH]

Mr. Zafirovic's point in playing the tape of the above speech was that Milosevic used the word "we." Milosevic speaks in the first person plural. The normal person would think that Milosevic uses the term "we" because he is speaking to other Serbs that he is together in the assembly hall with. "We" in the assembly hall, and "we" as Serbs. It is very simple, because peace is in the interest of all Serbs, President Milosevic used the term "we."

Rather than seeing what is obvious to anybody who reads the speech, Mr. Zafirovic saw a conspiracy. Zafirovic said that Milosevic used the word "we" because he was directly involved in the war together with the Bosnian Serbs.

Only at the Hague "Tribunal" could a speech calling for the ending of a war, and the adoption of a peace plan be used as "evidence" that the man who gave it is a war criminal.

After Mr. Zafirovic concluded his testimony, which amounted to basically nothing, Mr. Nice brought up some administrative matters.

Mr. Nice has found his much sought after constitutional expert. He found a German citizen who is working in Croatia to testify as an "expert" about matters pertaining to the Constitution of Yugoslavia, i.e., the legality of the succession of Bosnia, Croatia, and Slovenia, the constitutionality of the changes to Kosovo's status in the late 80s, etc...

It is worth noting that these matters have already been dealt with by the Constitutional Court of Yugoslavia. The successions were illegal, and the changes to Kosovo's status were in line with the Serbian and Yugoslav constitutions. These are matters that the real courts have already decided. It isn't for some German testifying in a phony "court" to second guess the decisions made by the legitimate legal authorities in Yugoslavia.

Mr. Nice is also trying to exploit the fact that he is running out of time to present his case, by trying to get the "judges" to impose strict time limits on President Milosevic's cross-examinations. Mr. Nice wants to call a maximum number of witnesses in a short amount of time, while simultaneously trying to limit the time available for cross-examination.

Maybe if Mr. Nice hadn't been already presenting his case for two years one could understand his claims that he doesn't have enough time, and maybe if Mr. Nice hadn't wasted so much time with witnesses like Mr. Zafirovic he would have time now for the "important witnesses" that he says he still has to call.

After Mr. Nice finished the "tribunal" took a recess and upon completion of the recess immediately went into closed session to hear "testimony" from a secret witness.

There is no hearing on Wednesday, but the "tribunal" will sit an extra day on Friday to make up for the missed day.