Milosevic case witness breaks down

Despite refusing to recognise the court, Milosevic has vigorously grilled witnesses

THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- The war crimes trial of Slobodan Milosevic took a new unexpected turn when a key witness said he was too ill to finish his testimony.

Farmer Agim Zeqiri, who had been giving evidence about "ethnic cleansing" killings, was excused by the court before the former Yugoslav president was able to complete his cross-examination.

Milosevic was clearly irritated by the early dismissal, lifting his hand in a gesture of frustration as the witness left the courtroom on day eight of the trial.

U.N. tribunal presiding judge Richard May said the circumstances would be taken into consideration in judging the testimony.

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Milosevic is accused of crimes against humanity in Kosovo. He faces similar charges for Croatia in 1991-2 and is charged with genocide, the gravest of all crimes, during the 1992-5 Bosnian war.

Zeqiri, 49, had told the U.N. court on Wednesday that Serb attackers killed 16 members of his family as forces allegedly under Milosevic's control plundered, raped and burned Albanian villages throughout the region.

Zeqiri told the court he had hidden in a ditch while police squads destroyed his village, Celina, and he later escaped across the border to Albania.

Although he survived, Serb police and soldiers beat him so badly he needed dialysis treatment for a damaged kidney in a Dutch hospital, he said.

Milosevic had already cross-examined Zeqiri, the first eyewitness of Kosovo crimes to come to the tribunal, for about 30 minutes on Wednesday.

The former president sought to show that Serb police were only protecting themselves from Kosovo rebels. After persistent questioning, Zeqiri admitted that up to 300 rebels frequently passed through the village and received food and clothing, despite the presence of police at the outskirts.

During Thursday's morning session, May asked the witness if he was well enough to continue for 10 minutes.

"No I'm not well at all," he said, his back turned to Milosevic. "I have my own problems, my own worries to deal with."

Milosevic attempted to question Zeqiri, but the witness -- who kept his back turned toward the defendant and never looked at him -- said he couldn't answer.

Milosevic objected after the witness left, calling it "impermissible" to allow a "witness removed who told lies."

Another farmer told harrowing tales to the court on Thursday of panic, murder and house-burning during Serb "ethnic cleansing" in 1999.

"The aim of the Serbs was clear beforehand. They wanted to commit genocide, to exterminate the population," farmer Fehim Elshani, 67, said.

Elshani told how he sent his immediate family to take shelter with over 20,000 others on a nearby mountain. He stayed in his village of Nogavac with two older brothers.

He told how he hid in his cellar with his brothers before fleeing outside for fear of being burned alive below ground.

"I saw everything burning around me," he said, adding that he had heard officers telling their troops in Serbian, which Elshani understands: "Go back, burn that house."

Elshani said some villagers had given money to Serb troops, to coax them to help the Albanians escape "a worse evil." One man gave 24,000 German marks, another 12,000.

He told how he, his wife and three acquaintances had hid in his cellar early on April 2 after being awakened by huge explosions he attributed to Serb shelling.

A Serb wearing a police camouflage uniform and a bandana entered the cellar and told the terrified Kosovars: "Now I will cut your throats like sheep."

The group were all saved, however, when a policeman who knew Elshani came in. Seven corpses lay in Elshani's yard.

Around 90 witnesses are due to give evidence for the prosecution in a trial which could take two years.

Despite Milosevic's failure to recognise the legitimacy of the U.N. tribunal, he has played an active role in his case.

His cross-examinations of the first three prosecution witnesses pointed out inconsistencies in testimony as he attempted to defend the actions of the Serb forces acting in Kosovo.