Case against Milosevic fails to make vital link

Prosecutors will finish the first stage of Europe's biggest war crimes trial since the Second World War today without producing an insider to link the former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic with atrocities.

After 95 days in court and the presentation of 124 witnesses in public – and others behind closed doors – the case against Mr Milosevic for crimes in Kosovo is finely balanced.

Drama has rarely been absent. Proceedings in The Hague began in February with a spectacular display of defiance from Mr Milosevic, and have been delayed several times by his poor health. A report from UN doctors said the 61-year-old defendant was at risk of a heart attack.

Carla Del Ponte, the chief prosecutor, has submitted more than 300 exhibits including statements, videos, maps and charts. The prosecution has tried a painstaking approach, building a picture which, it says, proves Mr Milosevic must have known of the murder and deportation of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo, and he therefore bears command responsibility.

He has remained defiant, and often appeared the victor of exchanges, but he faces an uphill battle if he is to persuade judges he knew nothing of the war crimes by Serb forces.

Prosecutors have presented harrowing testimony from witnesses that provides ample evidence of atrocities, and spent hours outlining the Yugoslav military and political structures, illustrating Mr Milosevic's role. In March, the Balkans expert Lord Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hamdon told the tribunal he warned Mr Milosevic in Belgrade in 1998 that he could face an international backlash and war crimes charges.

Since the trial opened, Mr Milosevic has refused to accept the authority of the tribunal or to plead to 66 counts of war crimes in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo, although judges entered a not-guilty plea for him. Mr Milosevic maintains the Nato bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999 was illegal and that his trial is politically motivated.

There will be a two-week delay before the prosecutor outlines the case against Mr Milosevic for crimes in Croatia and Bosnia, for which he is charged with genocide, and the accused responds. The prosecution case is expected to end next May, with the trial likely to last a further two years.

Yesterday the prosecution again tried to show Mr Milosevic was in control of events, presenting Philip Coo, a Canadian military expert, as a witness. Mr Coo said the Yugoslav army structure was "relatively simple" and Yugoslav documentation "clearly states command begins at the level of the FRY [Federal Republic of Yugoslavia] president."

Mr Milosevic tried to discredit Mr Coo's testimony, claiming he lacked a formal military education and was too inexperienced to comment on the Yugoslav army's activities. Mr Coo conceded he was not a specialist on the Yugoslav army, but said he considered himself qualified enough to offer a broader military analysis.

* A DNA laboratory opened in Belgrade yesterday. Its staff hope to resolve the cases of 40,000 Bosnians, Croats, ethnic Albanians and Serbs still missing after the conflicts.