From: Miroslav Antic <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] I will defeat the west's puppets, vows Milosevic Lawyer tells Guardian of Serb leader's defiance Special report: war <http://www.guardian.co.uk/yugo> crimes in the former Yugoslavia Owen Bowcott Monday July 30, 2001 The Guardian <http://www.guardian.co.uk/> Slobodan Milosevic, the former Yugoslav president who is awaiting trial for war crimes at the Hague tribunal, is in good spirits despite 24-hour video surveillance in his solitary confinement cell, according to the Canadian lawyer who has offered to represent him. Christopher Black, an attorney from Toronto, is one of the few visitors allowed to meet Milosevic. His account over the weekend of a two-hour interview with Milosevic conducted inside the Scheveningen jail, near the Hague, gives a rare glimpse of the prisoner's state of mind and his determination to fight against what he sees as the west's injustice against him. Earlier this month, Mr Black persuaded the Hague tribunal to let him talk to the former president about legal representation. Milosevic has been charged with responsibility for the killings of more than 600 people and the displacement of 740,000 ethnic Albanians in Kosovo in 1999. "His morale is pretty good considering he's in jail," Mr Black said. "He's quite relaxed, clear-headed and very determined to continue the fight. He knows what he wants to do. "There are rumours about him being suicidal but he doesn't present as sad, let alone depressed. He's in a cell on his own with a small bathroom. For the first five days they kept the lights on all night. He complained about it and they fixed that. Now he can sleep." The cell is still illuminated - by a 24-hour, low light in the bathroom - to enable cameras to monitor the former Yugoslav leader constantly. Mr Black fears that reports of Milosevic feeling depressed are being circulated in case anything happens to him. During their meeting, Milosevic insisted that his actions had been designed to defend the integrity of Yugoslavia. "These guys are playing jokes. I'm here and suddenly I'm the worst thing ever," Milosevic told Mr Black. "They [Nato] have to look at everything they did. I didn't do anything wrong. They did." In a conference call to supporters of his Socialist party in Belgrade, Milosevic claimed to be the "moral winner" over "those puppets of the west". He is reported to have said he was "proud to again be placed in the most difficult spot of the battle". The Canadian lawyer's involvement began earlier this year when he met Milosevic in Belgrade. He then took a call from Milosevic's wife, Mira Markovic, asking if he would travel to the Hague. "No one wants this case in the sense of ambulance chasing," Mr Black said. "At the moment he hasn't retained me as counsel, and he may not." Mr Black represented defendants at the Rwandan war crimes tribunal. He is now vice-chairman of the International Committee to Defend Slobodan Milosevic, a campaign which claims that the trial will be no more than an exercise in "victor's justice": fixing in history the west's partisan version of events. The campaign is raising funds for a hearing in the Dutch courts alleging that Milosevic has been illegally detained and that the Hague tribunal did not have the jurisdiction to deport him to the Netherlands. Mr Black revealed what it was like for some Hague staff to meet an alleged war criminal with such a heinous charge sheet. "Though he speaks fluent English they sent in a woman interpreter who walked out four or five times she was so disgusted - but they kept sending her back in." Milosevic insisted during the interview with Mr Black that the Yugoslav army was a disciplined force. Anyone found "abusing prisoners" was reprimanded, he said. "If we found information that some groups were forming paramilitary groups," Milosevic told Mr Black, "we had them visited and said [to them] they should join the army." As Mr Black left the prison he says Milosevic was smiling. "He's got a slight heart problem but otherwise his health is good. He wasn't eating prison food in Belgrade, he didn't trust it. But he trusts the food at the Hague." The authorities at the Hague are now considering whether to allow him to leave solitary confinement, and a decision on whether he will be permitted to associate with other Serbian prisoners is also expected soon. Milosevic was offered the opportunity of meeting non-Serb detainees when he first arrived, a spokeswoman at the Hague confirmed, but he declined. ------------------------------------------------- This Discussion List is the follow-up for the old stopnato @listbot.com that has been shut down ==^================================================================ EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://TOPICA.COM/u/?a84x2u.a9spXC Or send an email To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] This email was sent to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================ _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. 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