Milosevic dismisses genocide claims as ‘unscrupulous lies’

SLOBODAN Milosevic began his long-delayed defence against war crimes charges yesterday, denouncing the accusations as “unscrupulous lies”.

The former Yugoslav president instead blamed Western powers for the Balkan wars of the 1990s.

Milosevic, who is acting as his own lawyer, angrily attacked the UN court for Balkan war crimes as “an illegal institution”.

He said in his opening defence statement that the international community was “the main force for the destruction” of Yugoslavia.

The 63-year-old told the three-judge tribunal sitting in the Hague: “The accusations against me are unscrupulous lies and a tireless distortion of history in order to protect those who are truly responsible.”

Milosevic faces more than 60 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity for his alleged role in the 1991-95 war in Croatia, the 1992-95 war in Bosnia and the Serb crackdown on Kosovo in 1998-99.

He has also been charged with genocide and complicity in genocide for the war in Bosnia, which left 200,000 people dead.

Milosevic blamed Western powers in general and Germany in particular for recognising what he called “the illegal secession” of the former Yugoslav republics.

He also rattled off lists of alleged atrocities committed against Serbs in Croatia and Bosnia and attacked Croatian fascists, Islamic fundamentalists and Albanian terrorists for their role.

Milosevic also blamed NATO for the conflict in Kosovo, where more than 10,000 people died and about 800,000 ethnic Albanians were expelled.

Observers said the former president was not directly addressing the charges.

“These might be valid arguments but he is not on trial for the wars as such but for violating the internationally-enshrined humanitarian laws and laws for the rules and customs of war,” legal expert Heikelina Verrijn Stuart said.

The case has been interrupted 14 times so far because of his health problems since the mammoth trial started in February 2002.

After Milosevic completes his opening statement, the judges are expected to order him to take on additional legal assistance, although he has refused to accept a court-appointed lawyer.