Star witness fails to link Milosevic to war crimes

An important "inside witness" at the trial of Slobodan Milosevic denied yesterday that he had received orders to carry out ethnic cleansing in Kosovo, and he failed to link the former Yugoslav president conclusively to atrocities there.

As the trial adjourned for a summer recess, Rade Markovic, the former head of the security services, left the witness stand without providing the "smoking gun" implicating Mr Milosevic.

Although brought from a Belgrade prison as a prosecution witness, only parts of his evidence helped the case against Mr Milosevic, while other elements backed his former boss.

Addressing the witness by his first name, Mr Milosevic seemed on cordial terms with his old ally during cross-examination. The expected high drama turned into a cosy chat between the two. Mr Markovic, dressed in a smart blue suit, spoke like a witness for the defendant, eager to give the best description of his former boss.

Any hopes that Mr Markovic would turn out to be the make-or-break witness for the prosecution disappeared when the security chief refused to implicate Mr Milosevic in the forced deportation of an estimated 800,000 ethnic Albanians. "I never got any order, nor did I hear about any order or plan to expel Albanians," Mr Markovic told the court.

Under cross-examination he implied that the former president had done nothing to precipitate the mass expulsions. "Our task was to preserve the life and security of civilians in Kosovo, both Serbs and Albanians," he said.

He vividly nodded his head and said "Yes, yes" after Mr Milosevic asked him if he remembered the latter's personal instructions about human treatment of civilians and respect of Geneva Conventions for Kosovo Liberation Army prisoners of war. Mr Markovic said Mr Milosevic "always insisted that the civilians had to be taken care of and protected".

The former president, who it emerged this week is suffering from a heart condition, faces 66 war crimes charges, including a count of genocide, for atrocities in Bosnia, Croatia and Bosnia. Speculation has surrounded the prosecution's ability to persuade former senior officials in Belgrade to testify.

Before his appearance, court officials were unsure about the extent to which Mr Markovic would cooperate with the prosecutor. On sensitive issues such as the massacre of ethnic Albanians at Racak, which galvanised Western opinion, the witness had no new insights.

Nor did Mr Markovic confirm claims that, at a meeting in March 1999, Mr Milosevic had discussed how to dispose of the corpses of victims of ethnic cleansing. The discussion had taken place but had been about how to clear battlefields of damaged machinery, munitions and the bodies of soldiers, he argued.

"The order to clean up the battlefields of Kosovo was a legal procedure related with removal of unexploded ordnance and corpses, treatment of sick and wounded and restoration of normal life," he said.

Nevertheless, Mr Markovic's earlier testimony did help prosecutors build up a picture of a president well-briefed on the situation on the ground, and intimately involved in the running of the security services.

"Reporting from Kosovo was on a daily basis," said Mr Markovic, who added that those to whom secret reports were sent included "the head of state" – Mr Milosevic.

With just three weeks to finish the Kosovo case, after the court returns on 26 August, the prosecution case is delicately balanced.

It has provided clear evidence that atrocities took place in the province and shown that Mr Milosevic received regular information and helped channel extra cash for equipment for specialist police forces operating there. Witnesses such as Paddy (now Lord) Ashdown and General Klaus Naumann, former chairman of Nato's military committee, have told the tribunal they confronted Mr Milosevic about atrocities. That may be enough to achieve a conviction on the grounds that Mr Milosevic bore command responsibility for events there.