THE HAGUE/ZAGREB, March 5 (Hina) - Amici curiae, or friends of the court, involved in the trial of former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic before the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague have called for the two gravest charges --
those of genocide and complicity in genocide against Bosnian Muslims -- to be dropped for lack of evidence.
THE HAGUE/ZAGREB, March 5 (Hina) - Amici curiae, or friends of the
court, involved in the trial of former Yugoslav president Slobodan
Milosevic before the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague have called
for the two gravest charges -- those of genocide and complicity in
genocide against Bosnian Muslims -- to be dropped for lack of
evidence.#L#
The amici curiae, who were appointed to ensure a fair trial because
Milosevic had chosen to present his defence on his own, have filed a
95-page brief providing very precise answers to all the counts of the
indictment, tribunal spokesman Jim Landale told Hina by telephone on
Friday.
There is no evidence to corroborate that the accused had the necessary
"special intent" to commit the crime of genocide or to destroy a
certain ethnic group in whole or in part, the amici curiae Steven Kay
and Branislav Tapuskovic said in their brief.
Since Milosevic refused to file a motion for acquittal because he
recognises neither the tribunal nor the indictment, the trial chamber
in the case has authorised Kay and Tapuskovic to do that for him.
The brief also says that the prosecutors have failed to prove the
charge of complicity in genocide, because they have failed to prove
that the accused deliberately aided and abetted others in committing
an act of genocide.
The prosecutors have 14 days to respond to the brief, which also
called for acquittal on some of the 66 charges of crimes against
humanity, war crimes and genocide.
(Hina) vm sb