Farmer tells Milosevic trial of Serb atrocities

Serb forces pillaged Kosovar Albanian villages in 1999, Mr Slobodan Milosevic's war crimes trial has heard.

Serb forces pillaged Kosovar Albanian villages in 1999, Mr Slobodan Milosevic's war crimes trial has heard.

The former Yugoslav president's trial in The Hague moves into a third week as prosecutors call more witnesses to testify about atrocities and more than 800,000 deported from their homes.

Retired farmer Mr Halil Morina has told the UN court Serb soldiers ransacked his property and burned homes in the southern Kosovar village of Landovice. Among the dead were many of his friends and relatives, including an 18-month-old baby girl and an elderly paralysed woman, Mr Morina said.

Mr Milosevic has put up a fierce defence, extensively cross-examining every witness while trying to build a case that Serb troops were defending themselves against Kosovo Albanian rebels.

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Mr Milosevic spent around an hour cross-examining the Albanian peasant, asking him if he had seen Albanian rebels in the village or if the inhabitants had suffered during 78 days of Nato bombing.

Mr Milosevic said the witness must have seen crimes against the Serbs committed by the KLA independence fighters.

But Mr Morina said he was "just a farmer" and couldn't tell him about the KLA (Kosovo Liberation Army). He said he had not seen NATO bombers on their raids or the damage they had inflicted.

"All right, quite obviously you know nothing of what I am asking you," Mr Milosevic said. He told the prosecution: "You are obviously bringing in witnesses of this kind to ill treat me".

PA