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Prosecutor to Press Charges of Genocide in Bosnia
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Reuters
Thursday, August 30, 2001; 7:29 AM
THE HAGUE, Aug 30—Slobodan Milosevic staged a second showdown with the Hague
war crimes court on Thursday, forcing judges to silence a sneering tirade
against charges he called "false" and a tribunal he said was illegal. The ousted Yugoslav leader, charged with crimes against humanity for Kosovo
atrocities in 1999, was fiercely combative as he faced the court alone. He has
refused to appoint defence counsel in a display of contempt for the U.N.
tribunal. "I am not recognising this tribunal, having a clear opinion which is proved
by legal facts that this tribunal is illegal. I don't see why I have to defend
myself in front of a false tribunal from false indictments," the 60-year-old
former Serb strongman spat out in accented English. It was the second court appearance by Milosevic, the most prominent European
to face an international war crimes court since Nazi leaders were tried in
Nuremberg after World War Two. "I am discriminated against all the time from the first day I got in," the
defendant said. He complained he was denied access to his family and
lawyers. Chief U.N. prosecutor Carla Del Ponte told reporters after the hearing that
she would sign further indictments against Milosevic for alleged crimes in
Bosnia and Croatia on October 1, and he would be indicted on the tribunal's
gravest charge -- genocide—for Bosnia. "It will be for genocide in Bosnia. Croatia is still open," Del Ponte told
reporters. The Hague court broke new ground this month with its first conviction for
genocide, jailing former Bosnian Serb general Radislav Krstic for 46 years for
the 1995 Srebrenica massacre. Judges on Thursday ordered the appointment of a so-called "amicus curiae"
lawyer—or "friend of the court"—to assist the court in securing a fair trial for
Milosevic despite his lack of counsel. They rejected a prosecution request to impose a lawyer for Milosevic, saying
he had made plain his desire to defend himself and it would be wrong to force
counsel on him. Spirited out of Serbia two months ago by the reformers who deposed him in
October, Milosevic made a defiant first tribunal appearance on July 3, refusing
to plead and forcing judges to enter not guilty pleas for him. Now, as then, presiding Judge Richard May cut off the accused's microphone to
silence a stream of invective. "Mr Milosevic, we are not going to listen to these political arguments," said
May, adjourning the so-called status conference after around half an hour. Judge May said the next status conference—a standard pre-trial hearing to
allow lawyers, judges and accused to review the progress of the case—would be
held on October 29. A date should be fixed early next year for the start of the trial, May told
the court. Del Ponte said the trial itself might not begin for another year. He stressed the time that had elapsed since Milosevic was indicted in May
1999, as NATO bombed military targets in Yugoslavia following a Serb crackdown
in Kosovo. Milosevic faces three charges of crimes against humanity, including mass
murder and deportation, and one of violations of the laws or customs of war
during Serb "ethnic cleansing" against Kosovo Albanians. "It's important that this indictment, two years old, is tried," May said. Milosevic eagerly took up the theme. "I was indicted the 26th of May—the 60th day of NATO aggression against
Yugoslavia, when I was defending my country. There are 2-1/2 years from that day
and we have just heard that they have no evidence, that they cannot complete an
indictment," he said. The tribunal rejected Milosevic's complaints about his access to lawyers and
to his family. He has been visited twice by his wife Mira Markovic. Tribunal spokesman Jim Landale told Reuters Milosevic had seen at least six
lawyers. "He has had over 45 hours of visiting time with his wife, and over 20
hours from other family members," Landale said. Richard Dicker, director of the international justice programme at Human
Rights Watch, said Milosevic's showman style would not help him when the trial
began. "The ability to make this into a circus, to demean the process, by seeming to
be obstructionist, will be harder to do in the face of the facts," Dicker told
Reuters. "Ten thousand people were slaughtered in Kosovo in a few months
time." (Additional reporting by Paul Gallagher and Eric Onstad)
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