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Milosevic defense { February 18 2002 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A28340-2002Feb18.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A28340-2002Feb18.html
Milosevic Wraps Up Defense Statement
By Dusan Stojanovic
Associated Press Writer
Monday, February 18, 2002; 12:07 PM
THE HAGUE, Netherlands –– Slobodan Milosevic on Monday
accused the United States and other Western nations of deliberately
breaking up Yugoslavia, and denied knowledge of the massacre of
thousands of Bosnian Muslims at Srebrenica.
Ending a 10-hour defense statement that stretched over three days,
the former Yugoslav president accused NATO countries of seeking to
dominate eastern Europe through the disintegration of multiethnic
countries, like the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia. He singled out
the United States and Germany for criticism.
After his statement, the court heard testimony from the first
prosecution witness – moving the proceedings into the second phase
of a trial that could last two years.
Mahmut Bakali, once the leader of the Communist Party in Kosovo
who met Milosevic in 1998, accused the deposed Yugoslav leader of
imposing "apartheid" against Kosovo Albanians in the 1990s. He said
Milosevic knew about crimes committed by Serb-led security troops
but did nothing to stop them.
Bakali, now a member of Kosovo's parliament, said a Serbian security
officer told him in 1997 that Milosevic already had a "scorched earth"
plan for Kosovo, which allegedly included the leveling of some 700
ethnic Albanian settlements.
Milosevic's lengthy opening statement was less a defense than a tirade
in which he accused the West of most of the war crimes he is charged
with.
"War on the territory of Yugoslavia was incited by big Western
powers," Milosevic said. "The goal of Western envoys was not to
bring peace, but their interest was destroying the country and ensuring
a new colonialism."
Milosevic, the first former head of state to be indicted for war crimes
while in power, barely related to specific charges against him, and
when he addressed them he brushed them aside with a few curt
sentences.
He denied knowing about the July 1995 massacre in the
U.N.-protected zone of Srebrenica in Bosnia, where more than 7,000
Muslim men and boys were rounded up and shot under the orders of
Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and Gen. Ratko Mladic, now
the tribunal's two most wanted fugitives. All three men have been
indicted for genocide at Srebrenica.
Milosevic said he learned of the killings from U.N. special envoy Carl
Bildt.
"I called Karadzic and he swore he knew nothing about it," Milosevic
said. "Now, whether he did or didn't know I don't want to get into.
But what I'm saying, what I' m telling you now is a fact."
He also denied knowledge of the horrors in Bosnian prison camps –
where thousands of non-Serbs perished during the 1992-1995
Bosnian war – saying he was told prisoners were being kept only
briefly to be swapped in prisoner exchanges.
Pointing his finger at prosecutors, Milosevic concluded by saying "this
tribunal is an instrument of lies."
"The truth is on my side and that's why I feel superior here. That's why
I feel a moral victor," he declared.
Milosevic displayed his trademark defiance, claiming he was a victim
of "personal hatred" by some Western leaders "who tried to
overthrow me for 10 years, and finally succeeded in a dirty manner."
"I'm in prison but I'm a free man," he said. "My name is Slobodan with
capital 'S' which means freedom in my language."
After a recital of what he called NATO war crimes during its 78-day
bombing of Yugoslavia, he claimed the West wanted to assert its
domination over the Balkan country, and could only do so by playing
on the tensions among its national and ethnic groups.
Milosevic said his crucial role in bringing the Bosnian war to an end in
1995 was ignored, and instead he was being unjustly accused in "false
and inverted indictments."
Milosevic, 60, has been charged with 66 counts of war crimes in
Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo, including the most serious crime,
genocide, in Bosnia. He could be sentenced to life imprisonment if
convicted on any charge.
Milosevic has said he wants to call world leaders, including former
President Clinton, to testify, and one such leader said Monday that he
would be more than willing to take the stand.
"I will be very pleased to testify – although it will be of no benefit to
him," Croatian President Stipe Mesic told The Associated Press.
In all three indictments, the prosecution must prove Milosevic either
ordered atrocities against civilians or knew about war crimes
committed by his subordinates and failed to prevent them or punish the
perpetrators.
Observers say the principle of "command responsibility" will be easiest
to prove in Kosovo, where Milosevic had direct control as president
of the Yugoslav province.
Milosevic has said all his actions in Kosovo were aimed at curbing
"terrorism" by ethnic Albanian rebels and claimed a link between
suspected terrorist Osama Bin Laden and the arming of Kosovo
Albanians.
The prosecution said it will call 90 witnesses for the Kosovo trial,
which is expected to last four months before the court takes up the
indictments for Croatia and Bosnia.
© 2002 The Associated Press
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