Members of Serb Forces Supplied KLA with Weapons: KLA logistics officer testifies to purchase of weapons

In what was expected to be a routine examination of a '92bis witness,' Milosevic was confronted with testimony that his soldiers and police had supplied the KLA (Kosovo Liberation Army) with about 80% of its weapons. In answer to Milosevic's question about the weapons at his disposal, Mr. Mehemet Aliu, a member of the KLA's logistics unit and the first member of the KLA to testify, responded, 'We had light weapons. A large portion was supplied by the police and army of your regime.' When Milosevic demanded how he got it, Mr. Aliu replied, 'We bought it with money.'

In a further surprise, Mr. Aliu produced a fax he had received from one of his Serbian weapons' suppliers. Milosevic himself translated the document, which included a listing of weapons and their agreed prices, including machine guns, rifles and ammunition, as well as a notation of a 'gift' for Mr. Aliu of a 9 mm gun. The fax was dated 20 March 1999. Milosevic demanded to know who sent the paper and provided the weapons, but Mr. Aliu refused to answer for 'security reasons.'

The Court then engaged in a discussion with Amici, the Prosecutor and Milosevic himself about the relevance of the identities of Mr. Aliu's suppliers. Though Amici proposed treating the names as protected witnesses, the Court was not convinced there was any evidential value and none that overrode the potential danger to these men who remain in Serbia.

Stating it was an important issue, Judge May explained the Court's reasoning. While the Court has the power to protect witnesses and to order witnesses to answer proper questions put to them in court, there 'first must be demonstrated some relevance' to the information sought to be disclosed. In this case, Judge May stated, there 'is no relevance at all.' The Court found the significance of Mr. Aliu's testimony was the way in which the weapons were obtained, not who supplied them. Further, even if the suppliers' names were relevant, the Court held, 'the danger would be enough for us to rule that the identities not be given.'

Milosevic protested that a crime had been committed, the names of criminals are relevant and the Tribunal was constituted to try crimes on the territory of the former Yugoslavia. Judge Robinson explained that the only relevant crimes in this proceeding were those charged in the indictment.

Further irritating Milosevic, Mr. Aliu described an incident in early 1999 where 'Arkan's men' brought a truckload of arms to Kosovo. During a lengthy conversation, the men said they didn't give a s--- about Milosevic or Rugova, that Arkan didn't like Milosevic and would replace him in the long run. Arkan was shot and killed in a Belgrade hotel after the war.

Milosevic couldn't have been any happier with the reply he received when he pressed the witness about his participation in 'intelligence matters.' Mr. Aliu then testified that he intercepted a call on the radio where the regional chief of police advised authorities in some of the villages that word had come from Belgrade that all residents of the villages were to be driven out of their homes in the direction of Pristina, which subsequently happened. In a response to Amici, Mr. Aliu testified overhearing another radio transmission where a commander told his superior ' we will make the waters of Lake [unclear in court] red with the blood of Albanians.' The testimony is significant as it supports the Prosecution's claim of a plan for deportation and ethnic cleansing of the civilian population of Kosovo.