MILOSEVIC'S PARTY ABOUT HIS CONDUCT BEFORE ICTY

BELGRADE, July 4 (Hina) - The former sister-parties of the Milosevic-Markovic couple, the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) and the Yugoslav Left (JUL), believe that the conduct of their former leader Slobodan Milosevic before the international war crimes tribunal in The Hague (ICTY) was "dignified". A statement issued on Tuesday evening by SPS practically repeats the sentences Milosevic uttered before the tribunal in English and Serbian. "The Hague is holding this trial not for the sake of justice but to relieve NATO of its responsibility for crimes against peace committed during the bombardment of the FRY (Federal Republic of Yugoslavia)," reads the statement. The party maintains that "NATO wants to dodge responsibility and declare Serbs responsible for everything that happened on the territory of former Yugoslavia." The JUL president, director Ljubisa Ristic, believes the husband of his party leader Mira Markovic is a "political prisoner." Ristic says that Milosevic is facing a political process "and has therefore acted accordingly." A former satellite party of Milosevic's SPS, the Party of Serb Unity (SSJ), founded by Zeljko Raznatovic Arkan, also believes Milosevic's conduct was "dignified". The party's president Borislav Pelevic said Milosevic "has already been sentenced to life imprisonment." Pelevic believes Milosevic will make "another crucial mistake" if he decides to behave toward attorneys "the way he did in the past ten years - he first stubbornly refuses and then accepts." (hina) rml