SECRECY BENEFITS THE PROSECUTION
www.slobodan-milosevic.org - March 10, 2005

Written by: Andy Wilcoxson

Due to a late start, and extensive use of closed sessions, only a few minutes of the Milosevic trial could be seen by the public on Thursday.

The witness, Barry Lituchy, was called to give evidence regarding interviews he conducted with Kosovo refugees following NATO's 1999 attack on Yugoslavia.

Unfortunately, the witness has insisted on keeping the identities of the Albanians that he interviewed a secret. The behavior of the witness is puzzling given that he published the transcripts of the interviews five years ago, together with the names of the people he interviewed. His insistence on secrecy now, five years after the fact, is bewildering.

Mr. Lituchy is the first defense witness to take so much time in closed session. Secrecy like this has not been seen since the prosecution presented its case.

Mr. Nice quickly managed to exploit the secrecy surrounding Mr. Lituchy's interviews. Mr. Nice claimed to have contacted one of the Albanians that Lituchy interviewed. Of course Mr. Nice is barred from identifying the Albanian he spoke with, due to the protective measures surrounding Mr. Lituchy's testimony.

According to Mr. Nice, the Albanian (whose identity can't be revealed) said that the interview conducted by Lituchy was arranged by the Serbian government for propaganda purposes, and that it was given in the presence of plain-clothes Serbian police in Belgrade.

It is entirely possible that Mr. Nice did not speak to anybody. But since he is prohibited from identifying the Albanian that he allegedly spoke to, he is free to say anything he likes. Given that the identity of the Albanian is a secret, Mr. Nice does not have to worry about getting caught in any lies by the person he claims to have spoken to.

After Mr. Nice's submissions, the witness resumed the examination-in-chief for a few minutes. During these few moments of open session, Mr. Lituchy told the court that the Albanians he interviewed had been terrorized by the KLA.

After only a few minutes of open session testimony, the tribunal went into closed session and stayed there for the rest of the day.

Mr. Lituchy's decision to give testimony in closed session is as unfortunate as it is irrational. This secrecy has given Mr. Nice a free pass to put words into the mouths of the Albanians that Lituchy claims to have interviewed.

Up until this witness, the defense has been completely open and transparent with no protected witnesses, and very few closed sessions. The longest closed session in the defense case, prior to Lituchy's testimony, was only two minutes long.

Secrecy only benefits the prosecution. Secrecy gives the prosecution a cloak that it can hide behind. From such a cloaked position the prosecution can tell any lie that it wants without worry of getting caught.

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