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AFP (with additional material by BBC). 26 September 2002. Facing genocide charge, Milosevic says "I was peacemaker." THE HAGUE -- Slobodan Milosevic insisted Thursday he had worked for peace in the Balkans as prosecutors opened their genocide case against him in Europe's biggest war crimes trial since World War II. Prosecutors at the UN court in The Hague said the former Yugoslav president was the leading figure behind the bloodshed as his trial moved on after seven months from Kosovo to deal with the wars in Bosnia and Croatia. The 61-year-old Serb, facing the most serious charge of genocide, again rejected the accusations and painted himself as a man who worked to stop the violence, which left at least 225,000 people dead. "I personally invested all my powers in achieving peace," said Milosevic, who was dressed as usual in a dark blue suit and red tie in the Yugoslav national colours. The prosecution maintains that Milosevic was part of a "joint criminal enterprise" in which he had great influence over Serb leaders and their forces in Croatia and Bosnia, but Prosecutor Geoffrey warned against casting him as the "sole architect" of the bloodshed. "This may be the reality of the accused's personal history -- he, being a man committed to the plan, whom others looked to for leadership," Nice said. But Milosevic, who gave a boisterous and impressive performance in the first part of the trial as he carried out his own defence, told the court he had "worked for peace (and) not as a protagonist of war" in the Balkans. Milosevic opened his defence with a video tape portraying Croatia's post-independence leaders as direct successors of the pro-Nazi regime in place there during the Second World War. "I am not challenging that Serbs helped the Serbs to survive in Bosnia and Croatia," he told the court, which began his trial in February after he was extradited by Belgrade last year. He also again went on the attack, saying that the Serbian people had suffered a "decade-long demonisation" in which economic sanctions were slapped against Yugoslavia in what can "only be qualified as genocide." Milosevic faces life in prison if convicted by the UN tribunal, which he again called "illegal" and "part of the war" he claims has been waged against the Serbian people. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ProletarianNews http://www.utopia2000.org ################################################################# ################################################################# ################################################################# ##### ##### ##### ################################################################# ################################################################# ################################################################# --------------------------- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: [email protected] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.bacIlu Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
