THE HAGUE: In a first victory for Mr Slobodan Milosevic, the UN war crimes tribunal yesterday barred evidence from the prosecution's senior investigator, saying it was based on inadmissible hearsay.
But Mr Milosevic faced incriminating testimony from an ethnic Albanian witness who said 16 members of his family were killed by Serb troops in 1999, and that he was forced to flee his village in Kosovo.
Mr Agim Zeqiri (49), was the first of dozens of victims which the prosecution intends to call to testify that Serb forces, formally under Mr Milosevic's command, were responsible for the murder of thousands and deportation of 800,000 Kosovo Albanians during the Serb crackdown in the province.
Mr Zeqiri, a peasant from Celine, said that in March 1999, during the NATO bombardment of Yugoslavia, Serb troops rounded up the villagers, separated women and children from men, and deported thousands to neighbouring Albania.
The village was burned, and several ethnic Albanians were killed or badly beaten in the sweep, Mr Zeqiri said. "I have not seen my family since then. They were all killed," he added.