BOSNIAN MEDIA FOCUS ON TRIAL AGAINST MILOSEVIC

SARAJEVO, Feb 12 (Hina) - The beginning of the trial against Slobodan Milosevic before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was the main topic of the most influential media in Bosnia-Herzegovina on Tuesday. Televisions of the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina (FTV) and Republika Srpska (RTRS) broadcast the beginning of the trial in The Hague live, as did the state-owned radio (BH Radio 1). The first comments from Sarajevo and Banja Luka were contradictory. In a poll conducted by BH Radio 1 on the occasion of the beginning of "the trial of the century", some Sarajevo citizens said there should be no trial but that the former Yugoslav president should just be hanged. Some citizens of Banja Luka said the trial was "rigged" and a "farce". The Bosnian Serb republic's radio broadcast reactions from Belgrade, mostly by representatives of Milosevic's Socialist Party and the Yugoslav left wing who contested the legality of the ICTY and concluded this was an international conspiracy not only against Milosevic but the entire Serb nation. The Sarajevo print media, announcing the beginning of the trial against Milosevic, published over the last few days a series of shocking stories by victims who experienced unimaginable suffering in places such as Srebrenica. The Oslobodjenje daily described Milosevic on the front page as "the creator of aggression, genocide and all evil". (hina) np sb