Slobodan Milosevic began his cross-examination of his bitter adversary Croatian President Stipe Mesic at his war crimes trial in the Hague today.
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Milosevic: question-and-answer session
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The former Yugoslav leader set off on a rapid-fire question-and-answer session which left court translators breathless, and presiding Judge Richard May had to intervene to request that both men speak more slowly.
Mr Milosevic quizzed Mr Mesic about his time in prison and asked whether he had subsequently ordered the murder of state security officers.
He then launched into a series of questions concerning specific killings. Each time Mr Mesic denied any involvement, in one case saying: "I had about as much influence as I had in Lincoln's assassination."
When Mr Milosevic tried to pin the blame on him for the torching of Serb villages in Croatia, he retorted: "That is just the figment of someone's imagination."
Mr Mesic is the first head of state to testify against Mr Milosevic, who is in the dock on more than 60 charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity for his involvement in the 1990s wars in Kosovo, Croatia and Bosnia.
AFP