Subject: Milosevic Attacks Hague Tribunal For British Bias HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --------------------------- http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,630237,00.html Milosevic attacks Hague tribunal for British bias Ian Black in Brussels Thursday January 10, 2002 The Guardian Slobodan Milosevic launched a blistering attack on Britain yesterday as the Hague war crimes tribunal finalised arrangements for his historic trial, due to start next month. Checking his watch to display contempt as the UN court discussed witnesses and evidence relating to charges over Kosovo, the former Yugoslav president complained that the fact he was facing a British judge was evidence of bias. Judge Richard May, presiding over the three-man bench with colleagues from Korea and Jamaica, cut off Mr Milosevic's microphone and left the courtroom, saying: "This is not the time for speeches. We have listened to you patiently." Making his fifth appearance since being handed over last year, Mr Milosevic also accused prosecutors of following British intelligence reports about ethnic cleansing in Kosovo. "Look at this court," he said. "Courts should be impartial. The indictment has been raised according to what the British intelligence service has said. The judge is an Englishman." Tribunal sources said they were pleased Mr Milosevic finally appeared to be engaging positively in his own defence. Lawyers for Mr Milosevic said that he now wanted to call witnesses, which would include the former US president Bill Clinton, the prime minister, Tony Blair, the former foreign secretary Robin Cook, and Madeleine Albright, the US secretary of state at the time of the Kosovo conflict. However, no formal request has been made to the court. The court has entered not guilty pleas on his behalf to all three indictments and appointed three international lawyers as "friends of the court" to ensure a fair trial. Mr Milosevic is due to go on trial on February 12, accused of responsibility for the Serb campaign of killings and expulsions of Kosovo Albanians in 1999. Unless prosecutors change the court's mind in the next few weeks, he will then face a separate trial on charges of crimes against humanity and genocide in Croatia in 1991 and in Bosnia from 1992-95. The Kosovo indictment accuses Mr Milosevic and four other senior Serbs of responsibility for the murder of 900 Kosovo Albanians and the expulsion of 800,000 civilians from their homes. Mr Milosevic did his best to look bored and uninterested, but attacked as soon as Judge May gave him the floor, insisting that Nato, not Belgrade, should be in the dock. "All this is geared towards a construed justification for the crimes committed during the Nato aggression on my nation," Mr Milosevic said. "Quite obviously the intention is to [portray] those who defended their families... and country as criminals and evil people." Prosecutors asked judges to withhold witnesses' identities before they testify to avoid any possibility of intimidation. Judge Patrick Robinson refused the request in the interests of ensuring proceedings were consistently transparent. He added: "We have to make sure he gets a fair trial - that is our fundamental obligation." _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki Phone +358-40-7177941 Fax +358-9-7591081 http://www.kominf.pp.fi General class struggle news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe mails to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Geopolitical news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] __________________________________________________
