DATE=3/13/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=YUGOSLAV WAR CRIMES (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-260131
BYLINE=LAUREN COMITEAU
DATELINE=THE HAGUE
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Prosecutors at the Yugoslav war crimes
tribunal in The Hague have started laying out their
case against a Bosnian Serb general charged with
genocide. They say General Radislav Krstic commanded
troops that murdered thousands of Muslims in 1995,
after the fall of the United Nations-declared safe
area at Srebrenica. Lauren Comiteau reports from the
Dutch capital.
TEXT: Radislav Krstic showed little emotion as
prosecutors said he gave the orders that led to the
crimes. Five years ago, Bosnian Serbs overran the
U-N-declared safe area of Srebrenica. What followed,
said Prosecutor Mark Harmon, was the abandonment of
all sense of humanity, with the Bosnian Serb army
committing atrocities of a type and scale not seen
since World War Two.
/// 1st HARMON ACT ///
This is the case about the triumph of evil, the
story about how officers and soldiers of the
Bosnian Serb army -- men who professed to be
professional soldiers, men who professed to
represent the ideals of a distinguished Serbian
past -- organized, planned and willingly
participated in genocide. Or stood silent in
the face of it.
/// END ACT ///
Prosecutor Harmon says the legacy of those foul deeds
has stained the reputation of the Serbian people and
shattered the lives of a generation of Bosnians. The
only way to eradicate that stain, he says, is to hold
individuals like General Radislav Krstic responsible.
/// 2ND HARMON ACT ///
He chose, instead, to violate with impunity
every fundamental duty imposed upon him as an
officer and a commander, and that is the reason
he sits before you today in judgment.
/// END ACT ///
Prosecutors estimate that more than seven-thousand-500
Muslim men and boys are missing and presumed dead as a
result of the Bosnian Serb's genocidal campaign. The
exact number will never be known.
General Krstic allegedly commanded the troops that
deported between 20-thousand and 30-thousand Muslims
over the course of two days.
Much of the prosecution's evidence will focus on
proving that the general was in a position of power,
able to stop the crimes or punish those who committed
them.
Judges got a glimpse of the evidence Monday morning.
Jean-Rene Ruez was the first witness to take the
stand. As the war-crimes investigator responsible for
the Srebrenica investigations, he explained to the
judges video footage taken by a Serb journalist. Much
of it eerily captured the scene leading up to the
massacres.
/// RUEZ ACT ///
All these men have been identified by face and
they are all missing. Someone will come and
testify about their identification. [fade after
courtroom sound...]
/// END ACT ///
Judges also got to see pictures of General Krstic
entering Srebrenica with General Ratko Mladic, the
commander of the Bosnian Serb army. General Mladic
has also been charged with genocide for the crimes at
Srebrenica, but has evaded arrest. Prosecutors expect
to call some 50 witnesses over the next four weeks of
the trial. (Signed)
NEB/LC/GE/WTW
13-Mar-2000 10:23 AM EDT (13-Mar-2000 1523 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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