LITUCHY CONCLUDES HIS TESTIMONY

www.slobodan-milosevic.org - March 14, 2005

Written by: Andy Wilcoxson

Barry Lituchy concluded his testimony at the trial of Slobodan Milosevic on Monday. The witness, a history professor from New York, had been called to give evidence regarding interviews given to him by Kosovo refugees in August 1999.

Last week Mr. Lituchy gave evidence regarding interviews given to him by three Albanian refugees, unfortunately most of that evidence was given in closed session.

Mr. Lituchy also interviewed Roma refugees and that evidence was given in open session today. The Roma told him that they were chased out of Kosovo by armed Albanians. They said that their homes and property were stolen from them and that the Albanians tortured, and even killed, some of them.

The refugees said that the Yugoslav Army had protected them and that they were only forced to flee after the Army left Kosovo.

Mr. Lituchy said that Egyptians were persecuted by the Albanians if they were openly Egyptian. Lituchy said that Egyptians, who are Albanian-speaking Muslim gypsies, could only be safe in Kosovo if they claimed to be Albanians.

Lituchy testified that the Western NGOs were providing humanitarian aid exclusively to Albanians. He said that Roma and other non-Albanian refugees had to fend for themselves.

Following the examination-in-chief, the witness was cross-examined by Mr. Nice. Mr. Nice spent the balance of his time trying to damage the credibility of the witness.

Mr. Lituchy has published transcripts of the interviews he conducted. Unfortunately, the transcripts are not faithful to what was actually said in the interviews. It appears as if the people translating, compiling, and editing the transcripts altered them to obtain a political effect. Mr. Nice spent most of his cross-examination driving that point home.

However, the unfaithfulness of the transcripts is not an issue in the trial since the transcripts were never introduced as exhibits by the defense. It was Slobodan Milosevic who first pointed out that the transcripts were not faithful. What was exhibited by the defense were the raw videotapes of the interviews, and Mr. Nice never called the authenticity of the tapes into question.

The only real point that Mr. Nice scored against the witness happened when Mr. Lituchy gave an over-the-top answer to the following question: Mr. Nice asked Lituchy if he considered Bill Clinton to be worse than Adolph Hitler. Lituchy responded, "At least Hitler didn't commit any sex offenses."

At one point Mr. Nice's cross-examination bordered on racism. Mr. Nice insinuated that Mr. Lituchy was an unreliable witness because his grandparents are Serbian. Of course that is nothing more simple racism on Mr. Nice's part.

Last week, Mr. Nice claimed to have spoken to one of the Albanians that Lituchy interviewed. The name of the Albanian can not be revealed because of protective measures, but Mr. Nice claimed that the Albanian told him that plain-clothed Serbian police were present during Lituchy's interview.

In court today, Mr. Nice produced a written statement from the Albanian in question. The statement conflicted with what Mr. Nice had said before. The Albanian did not say that the police were present during the interview; he said that they were at the hotel, but not in the same room where the interview was being conducted.

Mr. Nice had also claimed that the Albanian was not standing by what he had said during the interview. Mr. Nice said that the Albanian preferred that the video of his interview be played in closed-session on the grounds that he no longer stands by the things he said in the interview.

During Lituchy's re-examination, Milosevic read from the written statement given to Mr. Nice and the Albanian said that he would prefer a closed session, not because he denied what he had said on the tape, but because he has returned to Kosovo and is concerned for his family’s safety.

The bottom-line is that the Albanian left Kosovo and went to Belgrade after NATO occupied Kosovo. That fact alone shows that the Albanian had nothing to fear from the Serbian Government. If the Serbian Government was such an awful boogieman, then the Albanian would have stayed in Kosovo - he would not have gone to Belgrade.
 

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