First Prosecution Witness Called: Bakali tells Court of warning Milosevic over killing women and children

The Prosecution called Mahmut Bakalli as the first of approximately 90 witnesses in the Kosovo segment of its case against Slobodan Milosevic for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Mr. Bakalli was Communist Party chief in Kosovo from 1970 to 1981, and is now a member of the Kosovo Parliament. Mr. Bakalli testified about an open letter he wrote after hearing Milosevic's 1989 Gazimestan speech commemorating the 600th anniversary of the Battle of Kosovo. He felt the speech was a project for war instead of a peaceful solution to problems in Kosovo. Following the speech, Mr. Bakalli said, Kosovo lost its autonomous status and a situation of apartheid prevailed in the province.

Mr. Bakalli also testified about learning of a 'scorched earth' policy for Kosovo, involving the planned destruction of 700 settlements, from Serbian officials in 1997. In April 1998, after the Drenica massacre in which the entire Jashari family, save one young boy, was killed by Serbian forces, Mr. Bakalli was part of a Kosovo Albanian delegation that met with Milosevic. He testified that during the meeting he told Milosevic 'You are killing women and children,' to which Milosevic replied, 'We are fighting against terrorists.' Mr. Bakalli repeated, 'But you are killing women and children.' Milosevic responded, 'But we gave them two hours to get away.'

Mr.Bakalli further testified that the Serbian delegation appointed to negotiate a political solution in the spring of 1998 consisted of extreme nationalists who had no intention of negotiating a political solution.

In three and a half hours of sharp cross examination that one observer compared to police interrogations under Milosevic's regime, Milosevic expounded on his view of history and the recent war in Kosovo. Though Mr. Bakalli vehemently denied it, Milosevic attempted to paint Kosovar Albanian resistance to Serbian rule in the 1980s and 1990s as the latest stage in a century long struggle for a Greater Albania. He also challenged Mr. Bakalli's testimony that Albanians lost significant rights after he came to power and initiated a change in the constitution that effectively revoked Kosovo's autonomous, self-governing status.

Attacking the credibility of the witness, Milosevic demanded specific information that Mr. Bakalli did not have, such as the names of Albanian political prisoners before the Kosovo war and the text of a loyalty oath alleged to have been required of workers in Serbian government controlled enterprises. In questioning that Judge May later indicated went way beyond matters raised in Mr. Bakalli's direct examination, the prosecutors sat silently, raising no objections. Judge May intervened on several occasions when he felt the questioning was repetitive or not designed to elicit an answer. For example, on the Jashari family killings by Serbian police in 1998, Milosevic began, 'You said they (the Jashari family) had two hours to surrender,' only to be interrupted by Judge May who reminded him that Mr. Milosevic said that, not Mr. Bakalli.

At the conclusion of Milosevic's cross examination, the prosecutor, Geoffrey Nice, asked just four questions of Mr. Bakalli on redirect examination. Redirect is designed to allow the witness to explain matters that might have been confusing or misunderstood under cross examination and to 'rehabilitate' the witness, i.e. to reestablish his credibility. For now, the Prosecution seems content to have Milosevic participating in a trial he has thus far refused to legitimate. Milosevic, for his part, is not arguing his case to the court, but to a wider audience back home in Serbia, and possibly to history itself.