It was another acrimonious exchange between the two foes but it did appear to shed some light on the political wrangling in the Kosovo conflict during the 1990s.

The two men gave sharply contradictory accounts of their meetings in 1999 as the Kosovo conflict took place.

Mr Milosevic, who is conducting his own defence, is charged with responsibility for crimes against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo in 1999, but he claims his forces were fighting Albanian rebels who carried out terrorist attacks.

Mr Rugova, you came to me asking me to save you and your family from a possible assassination perpetrated by the KLA. Look me in the eyes and tell me whether that is true or not Slobodan Milosevic

On the first day of Mr Milosevic's questioning, on Friday, the judge was forced to intervene as the two men exchanged claim and counter-claim.

Murder fears

Mr Rugova - who was the moderate, political leader of Kosovo's Albanians under the Milosevic regime - said Mr Milosevic's forces had kept him under house arrest in the Kosovo capital Pristina in April 1999 and he had feared they would murder him.

Mr Milosevic said he had been protecting Mr Rugova from assassination by Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) separatist guerrillas.

Milosevic claimed he was protecting Rugova

"Mr Rugova, you came to me asking me to save you and your family from a possible assassination perpetrated by the KLA. Look me in the eyes and tell me whether that is true or not," Mr Milosevic said.

"That is not true. That is not true," replied Mr Rugova.

"Mr Rugova, as you know the police saved your life. They protected you. I did not arrest you," Mr Milosevic insisted.

Escape to Italy

Mr Milosevic also said he had helped Mr Rugova to escape to Italy in 1999 when his life was under threat.

Mr Rugova said that he actually left for his temporary exile in Rome because he feared Mr Milosevic's forces would kill him.

"I wanted to leave so that I would not be killed or that a plot would not be staged to kill me someday by the regime. At any moment we were living in dread lest they kill us," Mr Rugova told the court.

The court must prove Milosevic knew of the Kosovo atrocities

Mr Rugova continued to avoid eye contact with his old enemy but the two sparred over contentious issues, including the retraction of Kosovo's autonomy in 1989 and the failed Rambouillet peace deal 10 years later which led to Nato's bombing campaign on Yugoslavia.

The political context of the war in Kosovo is only the background to the charges against Slobodan Milosevic.

Mr Rugova claims Mr Milosevic knew Serb forces were committing atrocities.

If the prosecution can prove this he faces life in prison.