Milosevic opens war crimes defence
Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic opens his defence case at the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal today after months of delays due to his frail health.
Milosevic’s opening statement, scheduled to last four hours, marks the start of the second half of the trial which already has gone on for two and a half years.
Originally set for April, it was postponed five times when doctors determined that Milosevic’s blood pressure was dangerously high.
But the judges, anxious to put the trial back on course, put the launch of the defence case at the top of today’s agenda. Milosevic’s health, and the possible appointment of a defence lawyer against his will, may be discussed later, the judges ruled.
Milosevic, 63, faces 66 counts of war crimes for allegedly instigating three wars during the violent break-up of the Yugoslav federation in the 1990s when more than 200,000 people were killed.
Although he defends himself in the courtroom, he is assisted by a team of Yugoslav lawyers who prepare interviews with potential witnesses and help sift through hundreds of thousands of pages of documents filed by prosecutors.
Milosevic insists that the Yugoslav tribunal, created in 1993, is an illegal, anti-Serbian institution established by foreign political opponents.
The opening statement is intended for Milosevic to summarise his defence strategy, but he likely will use the platform for a political address aimed at his followers in Serbia.
A main issue for the three UN judges is whether the defence should be handed over to a court-appointed lawyer to avoid more months of postponements and to keep the proceedings professional. Milosevic studied law, but has never practised it. The trial is the most important war crimes case since World War II.
They also must decide whether his indictment – which covers alleged crimes committed during the wars in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo – should be broken into separate parts to speed up proceedings.
The first witnesses won’t be called before September 7, the tribunal said. Milosevic initially submitted a list of 1,400 names, but only a small portion can be called during the 150 days he has been given to present his case.
His lawyers say he wants to call former US President Bill Clinton, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, among many foreign politicians. The judges can refuse to call witnesses if they are considered irrelevant to the defence case.
Prosecutors closed their case in January after calling nearly 300 witnesses in 150 trial days.
Earlier this year, the judges dismissed a motion filed by a team of independent lawyers, who were appointed to ensure fair proceedings, to drop the most serious charge of genocide for Milosevic’s alleged role in the 1995 massacre of Muslims at Srebrenica, a town in eastern Bosnia.
