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In a message dated 03/07/01 11:03:32 Eastern Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
writes:
What did he say this morning? I was watching CNN at 4:00 AM and they turned
off his microphone so I was supposed to depend on that anchors translation.
Cynthia
Milosevic Refuses to Enter Plea
By ROBERT H. REID
.c The Associated Press
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) - Facing his prosecutors alone, Slobodan
Milosevic refused to enter a plea to war crimes charges Tuesday, branding the
U.N. tribunal illegal and saying his trial was aimed at covering up NATO
crimes in Yugoslavia.
Chief Judge Richard May, who repeatedly admonished the former Yugoslav
president that the proceedings were not the time to make speeches, entered a
plea of innocent on Milosevic's behalf. The four charges against Milosevic
relate to ``crimes against humanity'' and other offenses committed by his
forces in Kosovo during the 1998-1999 crackdown on ethnic Albanians.
Generally controlled but with flashes of defiance, Milosevic, who wore a
slate blue suit, light blue shirt and tie, appeared calm during the 12-minute
arraignment.
However, the two security guards who flanked him had to nudge the
ex-president to stand when the three judges entered the room. He spoke firmly
as May asked if he wanted to reconsider his decision to appear without
counsel.
``I consider this tribunal false tribunal and indictments false
indictments,'' Milosevic replied. ``It is illegal, being not appointed by
U.N. General Assembly. So I have no need to appoint counsel to illegal
organ.''
Asked if he wanted the court to read the entire, 51-page indictment,
Milosevic snapped: ``That's your problem.''
May then asked him to enter a plea. Instead, Milosevic said in
Serbo-Croatian: ``This trial's aim is to produce false justification for the
war crimes of NATO committed in Yugoslavia.''
The judge then repeated his request.
``I have given you my answer,'' Milosevic replied. He began to speak about
``this so-called tribunal'' when the judge cut him off and entered an
innocent plea on his behalf.
``As I have said, the aim of this tribunal is to justify the crimes committed
in Yugoslavia,'' Milosevic, 59, responded. ``That is why this a false
tribunal, and illegitimate.''
May adjourned the proceedings until a procedural hearing the last week of
August. Milosevic was indicted in May 1999, the first head of state ever
charged with war crimes by a U.N. court.
The charges against Milosevic are: deportation, a crime against humanity;
murder, a crime against humanity; murder, a crime against the laws or customs
of war; and persecution on ethnic or religious grounds, a crime against
humanity. They relate specifically to alleged war crimes in Kosovo.
The United States and its allies also have accused Milosevic of orchestrating
the decade-long wars throughout the Balkans, and the tribunal hopes to indict
him by October for offenses in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina.
The crackdown on Kosovo ended after a 78-day NATO bombing campaign, which
forced Yugoslav troops and police to hand over the province to the United
Nations and a NATO-led peacekeeping force.
Milosevic has consistently maintained that his actions were to save his
country from Western domination and that the world has ignored NATO's
``crimes,'' including the bombing of civilian targets in and out of Kosovo.
Milosevic, who was ousted from power in October, was transferred to U.N.
custody on Friday by the pro-democracy government of Yugoslavia's republic of
Serbia, and is now being held in a Dutch prison. He was arrested in
Yugoslavia on April 1, after a chaotic standoff with police.
Pro-democracy forces had planned to charge him with offenses in Yugoslavia,
but so far had been unable to bring formal charges. Yugoslav officials
complained that evidence had disappeared and witnesses refused to cooperate.
Milosevic, who graduated from law school but never practiced, decided to
refuse counsel following a three-hour meeting Monday with two lawyers from
Belgrade. Afterward, they told reporters that Milosevic has refused to accept
the validity of the court, established in 1993 by the U.N. Security Council
to prosecute those believed responsible for crimes committed during Balkan
wars.
``Mr. Milosevic does not recognize The Hague tribunal,'' Zdenko Tomanovic
said. Milosevic believes the tribunal ``is part of a mechanism to commit
genocide on the Serb people.''
Milosevic's claim that his only crime was
