Milutinovic denies committing crimes against humanity

FORMER Serbian President Milan Milutinovic yesterday pleaded not guilty to crimes against humanity during the 1999 Kosovo conflict as he made his first court appearance since surrendering to the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague.

The former ally of ex-Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic denied four counts of crimes against humanity including murder, deportation and persecutions, and one of war crimes.

Milutinovic, 60, was indicted in 1999 along with Milosevic and three other former senior officials for atrocities against Albanians in Kosovo.

He flew to The Hague a week ago.

Prosecutors allege Milutinovic had at least formal control over Serb forces who killed hundreds of ethnic Albanians and expelled hundreds of thousands from their homes.

But Milutinovic has argued that as president of Serbia he had little real power.