EUROPE
Belgrade Court Accuses NATO Leaders September 19, 2000
BELGRADE--A court here in the Yugoslav capital accused President Clinton and leaders of NATO nations of war crimes yesterday in a trial intended to resurrect memories of the alliance's bombing campaign before presidential elections Sunday.
Judge Veroljub Raketic faced a row of 14 empty chairs with plates bearing the names of the accused in a courtroom packed with 300 reporters and spectators. Diplomats from African countries, North Korea and Iran also attended.
But it was a trial without defendants--and without witnesses.
Belgrade district attorney Andrija Milutinovic opened the session by reading the names of 240 Yugoslav army soldiers, 147 Serbian policemen and 503 civilians killed in NATO airstrikes.
"We have more than enough evidence for the case," he said.
Yugoslavia suffered heavily in the bombing, launched last year to halt President Slobodan Milosevic's crackdown on ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.
(Associated Press)
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