Milosevic seeks to turn tables on enemies at start of his war crimes defense

Milosevic seeks to turn tables on enemies at start of his war crimes defe=
nse
By Toby Sterling, Associated Press, 8/31/2004 14:22
http://www.boston.com/dailynews/244/world/Milosevic_seeks_to_turn_tables:=
.shtml

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) Slobodan Milosevic launched a defiant=20
defense Tuesday of his conduct during the Balkan wars, accusing his=20
enemies of conspiracies against the Serbs and insisting his countrymen=20
acted in self-defense.

The former Yugoslav president sought to shift blame for atrocities and=20
portray the U.N. war crimes tribunal as the tool of a U.S.-supported=20
plot to bring about the violent breakup of Yugoslavia in fighting that=20
left more than 200,000 people dead.

Seated alone at the defense table, Milosevic spoke with his customary=20
swagger and sarcasm. But at times his face reddened as he rushed to=20
complete his statement in the allotted time, leaving translators=20
breathless as they tried to keep up with his rapid Serbian. Judges=20
granted him an additional 90 minutes Wednesday to complete the statement.

''Accusations leveled against me are an unscrupulous lie and also a=20
tireless distortion of history. Everything has been presented in a=20
lopsided manner in order to protect those who are truly responsible,''=20
Milosevic asserted.

It was the first time he was allowed to speak without interruption since=20
his trial began 2=BD years ago, and he signaled he would mount a highly=20
political rather than legal defense.

He unleashed a stream of invective against those he held responsible for=20
Serbia's torment: Croatia, which he accused of genocide against its Serb=20
minority; the United States and Europe for allegedly seeking=20
Yugoslavia's destruction; Islamic fundamentalists for supporting Muslim=20
''terrorists'' in Bosnia and Kosovo; and the Vatican, which he said=20
sought the supremacy of Roman Catholicism in the Balkans over the=20
Orthodox church.

''They call themselves the 'international community,' but in the=20
territory of Yugoslavia Bosnia, Croatia, Kosovo they supported a=20
totalitarian chauvinist elite, terrorists, Islamic fundamentalists,=20
neo-Nazis, whose objective was an ethnically pure state. That is to say,=20
a state without any Serbs,'' he said.

Milosevic, who was extradited to U.N. authorities in The Hague by Serbia=20
in June 2001, faces 66 counts of war crimes allegedly committed in=20
Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo during the 1990s. He could be jailed for life=20
if convicted on any charge.

Prosecutors accuse Milosevic of orchestrating or condoning murder, the=20
destruction of towns and places of worship and the expulsion of hundreds=20
of thousands of people in an effort to create an ethnically pure=20
''greater Serbia'' stretching across Yugoslavia's former republics.

Milosevic said allegations he conspired to create a Serbian superstate=20
were a myth ''created by Austro-Hungarian propaganda as far back as the=20
latter half of the 19th century.''

Presiding Judge Patrick Robinson allowed Milosevic to have his say, but=20
warned him against wasting his limited time. ''You have to be careful.=20
It is questionable whether a lot of what you are saying is relevant to=20
the case and certainly it would not be admissible in evidence,'' the=20
judge said.

Milosevic was to have opened his defense following the conclusion of the=20
prosecution's case in February. But it was postponed five times as=20
doctors warned that stress was raising his blood pressure to dangerous=20
levels.

''He is in a good mood because he has waited for more than three years=20
for this moment,'' said Zdenko Tomanovic, one of Milosevic's legal aides.

Denying the legitimacy of his judges, Milosevic said the U.N. Security=20
Council acted illegally when it created the Yugoslav tribunal in 1993,=20
calling it another tool of Western powers who were aligned against him.

''The fratricidal war in Yugoslavia was instigated and supported=20
precisely by those who established this court of yours,'' Milosevic told=20
the panel of three U.N judges hearing his case.

He spent only a few minutes addressing the accusations against him.=20
Instead, he aired his version of the wars and the tortuous history of=20
the Balkans during which he alleged the Serbs were consistently victimize=
d.

Milosevic maintained that in the 1991 war in Croatia he came to the aid=20
of ethnic Serbs who were under threat from an armed rebellion against=20
Yugoslavia.

Later in Bosnia, Muslim fighters came from Iran, Saudi Arabia,=20
Afghanistan, Lebanon and Morocco ''to support the first Islamic state in=20
Europe'' some of them bearing arms that had been supplied by the CIA for=20
the war in Afghanistan, Milosevic maintained.

Tomanovic, the legal aide, said Milosevic awaited responses from=20
Washington and London to requests to call former President Clinton,=20
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and British Prime Minister Tony=20
Blair as witnesses.

He apparently wants to confront them with accusations they were=20
responsible for Serb civilian deaths.

After Milosevic concludes his statement Wednesday, the judges may rule=20
on a prosecution motion to require Milosevic to have a defense attorney.=20
Milosevic has said he would not cooperate with a court-appointed lawyer.

The judges have said they need to balance Milosevic's right to defend=20
himself against the requirements of a speedy trial, which so far has=20
been repeatedly interrupted by Milosevic's illnesses.
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