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Milosevic Now Faces Genocide Charges September 27, 2002 By MARLISE SIMONS THE HAGUE, Sept. 26 - The trial of Slobodan Milosevic, the Yugoslav leader blamed for plunging the Balkans into a decade of war, entered a new phase today in which he will face the most serious charge of all: genocide. After completing the first phase dealing with Kosovo, prosecutors at the United Nations war crimes tribunal here are focusing on the crimes they say took place in the Bosnian and Croatian wars from 1991 to 1995. In their opening statement today, prosecutors said that Mr. Milosevic was responsible for great bloodshed in his effort to create an enlarged Serbian state "by destroying or expelling non-Serbs" from large areas, above all in Bosnia. "Genocide was the consequence," said Geoffrey Nice, the lead prosecutor. "The accused intended to destroy the Bosnian Muslim population in part or in whole in order to achieve those aims." Mr. Milosevic, alone except for a single guard next to him, sat back, his arms folded, with a smirk on his face, occasionally smiling at his Serbian legal adviser in the public gallery. The defendant brought nothing to court except for some handwritten notes and a few videotapes. But the rows of binders in front of the three red-robed judges are getting larger. They are filled with thousands of pages of evidence against Mr. Milosevic, amassed since the trial began in February. Mr. Milosevic, 61, who at times has looked tired and strained, looked well today, appearing even in his element as he was allotted three hours to speak. Often turning to the crowded public gallery, he presented his own separate version of history. Yugoslavia did not fall apart because its people wanted civil war, he said, but because the Western powers fomented the breakup for their own strategic reasons. "I invested all my powers and strength in achieving peace," he said. Mr. Milosevic also showed an hour-long videotape, pulled together from Western newspaper accounts and interviews with Western analysts that supported his favorite thesis, namely that Serbs were not the aggressors but the victims of the bloodshed of the past decade. This court trying him, he said, "is part of the decade-long demonization of the Serbs." This court, he added, "does not exist in any legal framework but only in a media frame-work." But even as he continues to dismiss the court as illegal, Mr. Milosevic has fully engaged with it. In contrast to the start of the trial, he now abides more readily by the judges' decisions, has become less rude and even uses courtroom jargon. Remarkably, a group of visiting lawyers and judges from the Balkans said they were impressed with what looked like a tightly run and fair trial; it was not the "farce" they had read about in the Serbian media, they said. The coming months will confront Mr. Milosevic with atrocities that have shocked the world and which he has repeatedly disavowed. There is the siege of Sarajevo, the longest 20th-century siege in Europe, where for three and half years inhabitants were pounded by heavy Serbian artillery or cut down by sniper fire. Among the numerous assaults on towns and villages to drive out non-Serbs were a series of Serbian massacres of civilians, from Vukovar in Croatia in 1991 to Srebrenica in Bosnia in 1995. The pace of the trial, however, will be slowing down because doctors have warned that Mr. Milosevic has a severe heart condition and risks suffering a heart attack. Court officials said today that instead of the regime of daily sessions, Mr. Milosevic would get more days off and every other week spend three days in court, rather than five. Because he insists on conducting his own defense, he works long hours anyway to prepare for the cross-examinations he carries out himself. In this new phase of the trial, prosecutors are under great pressure to present a strong case against Mr. Milosevic. Some experts believe it may be more difficult than linking him to atrocities in Kosovo. As president of Yugoslavia, Mr. Milosevic was the commander in chief of the armed forces and therefore directly responsible for their military and police actions in the province of Kosovo. Lawyers following the trial widely believe that prosecutors have succeeded in demonstrating that Mr. Milosevic was fully informed of the atrocities in Kosovo, including the killings of hundreds and the deportations of about 800,000 ethnic Albanian civilians. To secure a conviction under the doctrine of "command responsibility," prosecutors need no direct evidence that he ordered atrocities. But they need to show that, as commander in chief, he knew about the misdeeds and did nothing to stop them or to punish those responsible. "In my opinion, prosecutors have adequately proved the command responsibility in Kosovo," said Goran Sluiter, a jurist at Utrecht University, in the Netherlands. "But now they will have to prove genocide in Bosnia, a country where Milosevic was not in command," he added. "And they must prove that forces active in Bosnia were directed by him. It may not be easy." Some lawyers believe that, on the contrary, the next portion of the trial may be easier for the prosecutors. This was the first time prosecutors had to deal with Kosovo, but they are more familiar with events in Croatia and Bosnia and have had much longer to prepare. Most crucially perhaps, judges may be willing to admit evidence or rely on facts established in earlier trials. Among the 32 Serbs and Croats who have already been tried for war crimes at the tribunal - and another 10 on trial now - many incidents have already been traced to Bosnian Serbs and to Serbian military, police and paramilitary groups. As Mr. Nice outlined his case in court today, he said evidence against Mr. Milosevic would include telephone intercepts and military and political documents to buttress the 61 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity against the defendant. But he cautioned against expecting star witnesses who could seal the case against Mr. Milosevic. "All the witnesses will provide different shafts of light," he said, "but it is unlikely there will be an individual who will be able to tell the whole truth about this man." Prosecutors plan to call 177 witnesses, including the president of Croatia, Stjepan Mesic, the former Yugoslav president, Zoran Lilic, military commanders and international figures. Pressed by the judges to condense their case, they have pruned down their witness list, which previously held 560 names. They must rest their case by next May, when it will be Mr. Milosevic's turn to present his side. Carla del Ponte, the tribunal's chief prosecutor, who appears in court only on special occasions, attended the hearing today to appeal for more government help. She complained that cooperation from Yugoslavia remained "fractious, difficult, unpredictable," and that Belgrade still refused access to civilian and military archives. But she also seemed to hint at the United States, which has been reluctant to allow former officials to testify in open court. "We call on all countries," she said, "to make witnesses available to us and to apply to international justice the same principles they hold dear in their own country." http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/27/international/europe/27MILO.html?ex=1034111338&ei=1&en=997fd982acbdebf9 HOW TO ADVERTISE --------------------------------- For information on advertising in e-mail newsletters or other creative advertising opportunities with The New York Times on the Web, please contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] or visit our online media kit at http://www.nytimes.com/adinfo For general information about NYTimes.com, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! 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