JOVANOVIC CONCLUDES HIS EXAMINATION IN CHIEF

www.slobodan-milosevic.org - February 16, 2005

Written by: Andy Wilcoxson

Slobodan Milosevic concluded his examination of Vladislav Jovanovic on Wednesday. The last part of his examination-in-chief dealt with Kosovo and the NATO aggression against Yugoslavia.

Jovanovic, who was a Yugoslav diplomat serving at the UN, testified that the KLA was defined as an international terrorist organization before the war. To bear this out he made reference to Robert Gelbard, the U.S. Special Envoy for Kosovo’s, statement that the KLA was “without question a terrorist group.” [See: AFP, Feb. 23, 1998]

Jovanovic said that Kosovo had been put on the agenda of the Security Counsel because the Contact Group had taken an interest in it. Normally the internal affairs of a country would not have been placed on the Security Counsel’s agenda.

Milosevic attempted to introduce the White Books as exhibits through the witness, since the witness worked in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and was responsible for their distribution to the UN.

The White Books are collections of police reports, photographic evidence, and judicial findings of fact that detail crimes committed against civilians by the NATO aggression on Yugoslavia. The documents contained in the White Books were collected and compiled by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and distributed to the international community by the witness personally.

In spite of the witness’s direct involvement with the White Books, the tribunal would not allow them to be tendered into evidence on the grounds that the witness did not personally compile each document.

Milosevic offered to exhibit each and every document contained in the White Book individually through various witnesses if the tribunal would give him time to do so. This drew a rebuke from Judges Robinson and Bonamy, who accused him of not taking the trial seriously, and thereby wasting the court’s time.

In spite of Judge Robinson’s stern admonition to take the trial seriously, he engaged in some tomfoolery of his own about ten minutes later.

Milosevic was discussing the definition of aggression with the witness, and sought to introduce the UN document that defines aggression as an exhibit. Judge Robinson remarked that he had helped to draft that document, and quipped that Milosevic should call him as a witness. Robinson’s remark was met with boisterous laughter throughout the court room.

Milosevic dismissed Robinson’s offer, and Robinson again offered saying, “do you want to call me as a witness or not?” Of course being the presiding Judge in the trial, Robinson can not testify as a witness, obviously he only made that remark because he’s a smartass. One wonders how Robinson can expect Milosevic or anybody else to take the trial seriously when he is cracking smartass jokes from the bench during the middle of the proceedings?

After the examination in chief was concluded, Mr. Nice began his cross-examination. Mr. Nice’s cross-examination did not bear any fruit for him.

Mr. Nice had obtained stenographic notes from meetings that Jovanovic had attended with officials from the FR Yugoslavia, Serbia, and Republika Srpska.

In these stenographic notes they discussed a phenomenon that was occurring during the Bosnian war. Namely that the war was causing an ethnic homogenization to take place. Serbs were migrating to areas under Serb control, Muslims were migrating to areas under Muslim control, and Croats were migrating to areas under Croat control.

In relation to the phenomenon of ethnic homogenization, ethnic cleansing was discussed. Nobody in these stenographic notes advocated ethnic cleansing, and Jovanovic explicitly condemned the practice.

What Jovanovic did was suggest that an organized exchange of populations should take place so that nobody on any side would be subjected to violent ethnic cleansing by any of the opposing military factions.

Jovanovic was floating ideas, in a private discussion, on how to stop the practice of violent ethnic cleansing, which was an unfortunate component of the Bosnian war. His idea was to establish a program whereby people who wished to migrate could do so in an organized fashion by exchanging property with peoples of other ethnicity, without fear of violent action being taken against them.

Mr. Nice saw things differently. Mr. Nice said that Jovanovic’s proposal was proof that Serbia advocated an ethnically pure greater-Serbia. Jovanovic denied this, pointing out Serbia is the only part of the former SFRY to retain its multi-ethnic character, and that Serbia’s position was that the SFRY should have been preserved as a single state with all of the ethnicities living together in it.

Mr. Nice will continue his cross-examination next Tuesday.
 

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