STOP NATO: �NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --------------------------- ListBot Sponsor -------------------------- Have you visited eBayTM lately? The Worlds Marketplace where you can buy and sell practically anything keeps getting better. From consumer electronics to movies, find it all on eBay. What are you waiting for? Try eBay today. http://www.bcentral.com/listbot/ebay ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ["You've got the wrong man," he told a U.N. official after he was read the indictment on charges of crimes against humanity. "NATO is the right address, they are the villains. "The Hague tribunal is no court, it's a political circus set up to destroy the Serbian nation completely," added Milosevic] Defiant Milosevic held in isolation By Paul Gallagher THE HAGUE, June 30 (Reuters) - Slobodan Milosevic was under close supervision in an isolation unit at a Dutch jail on Saturday as he prepared to face prosecutors at the Hague war crimes tribunal for the first time next week. For a man who threatened to shoot himself in April rather than endure prison in Belgrade and who has a family history of depression and suicide, details emerging of the ex-president's departure from Serbia on Thursday painted a picture of defiance. "Brother Serbs, farewell," a Yugoslav magazine quoted him as saying as he boarded a police helicopter on Thursday on the first stage of his journey to face charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes at the United Nations tribunal. If convicted, it is likely to have been the arch-nationalist's last moment on his beloved Serbian soil. A special edition of Belgrade's well-connected Weekly Telegraf tabloid carried pictures of the ousted Yugoslav president's departure -- the first clear close-ups of him since Milosevic was jailed in Belgrade in April -- and described him as "dignified and arrogant." "You've got the wrong man," he told a U.N. official after he was read the indictment on charges of crimes against humanity. "NATO is the right address, they are the villains. "The Hague tribunal is no court, it's a political circus set up to destroy the Serbian nation completely," added Milosevic, tie-less and wearing a dark suit and white shirt, his familiar pudgy features staring straight at the camera. A MONTH IN ISOLATION Toppled last October after a decade of wars in which nearly a quarter of a million people died, Milosevic was arrested on corruption charges in Yugoslavia in April. Belgrade's new reformist leaders finally handed him over to the U.N. tribunal on Thursday, helping unlock $1.28 billion in aid conditionally offered by Western nations. The handover by Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic's government caused uproar in Belgrade, with Yugoslav federal premier Zoran Zizic resigning on Friday in protest. Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica rebuked other members of the ruling reformist alliance on Saturday for saying he had supported the transfer of Slobodan Milosevic to the U.N. Kostunica, a fierce critic of the tribunal, is now involved in an escalating feud with Djindjic's government. Kostunica reaffirmed that he opposed the handover and had not been informed in advance of the Serbian government's decision. But reformers vowed to cooperate with Western powers that went to war in 1999 to stop Serb ethnic cleansing in Kosovo. A Belgrade rally on Friday night attracted just a few thousand people in support of the man who was long feted at home as a national hero, despite international condemnation. Milosevic now faces at least a month in isolation in The Hague, kept apart from the 38 other war crimes suspects from the former Yugoslavia. He will hear the indictment originally issued in 1999 against him on Tuesday morning. "He has some privacy. They are keeping a close eye on him," tribunal spokesman Jim Landale told Reuters. His only visits had been from officials working for the tribunal. Landale said his isolation would end when officials were sure he was fit and healthy and that there was no danger in mixing with other detainees. SHOWDOWN ON TUESDAY The first head of state to be indicted for war crimes while in office, the 59-year-old lawyer was given three days by the U.N. tribunal to prepare for a first court appearance. If convicted on the four charges, including three of crimes against humanity in Kosovo, he faces a maximum of life in jail. Further charges relating to Bosnia and Croatia are also being considered as is the tribunal's gravest charge of genocide. Milosevic is set to appear in court early on Tuesday to hear the charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity against him and to enter a plea. Three judges will hear the case with England's Richard May presiding, flanked by colleagues from Jamaica and Morocco. If Milosevic is found guilty seven European countries -- Italy, Finland, Norway, Sweden, France, Austria and Spain -- have offered to imprison him. Milosevic has summoned a defence team from home and lawyers indicated he was likely to plead "not guilty." His lawyers say he wants them to defend him as a "political prisoner." He is not an easy client, however. "It's difficult to defend someone who doesn't want to hear the real truth, and that's the type of client Milosevic is," said one advocate late on Friday. (With additional reporting by Sean Maguire in Belgrade and Alastair Macdonald in The Hague) 12:11 06-30-01 ______________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
