THE HAGUE, Dec 11 (Hina) - A Hague war crimes tribunal trial chamber has decided to combine indictments against former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic for crimes committed in Croatia and Bosnia and hold a joint trial in these
two cases, but a separate one for Kosovo. The latter begins on Feb. 12. A decision to that effect was revealed by the president of the trial chamber in charge of the Milosevic proceedings, British Judge Richard May, following brief consultations of the three-member panel on the prosecutor's office demand to have the three cases, for Croatia, Bosnia, and Kosovo, combined into one trial. The date of the trial for Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina has not been set yet. Milosevic told the tribunal the only goal of the request for a combined trial was to push into the background the Kosovo trial, which he said would reveal the direct collusion between former U.S. President Bil
THE HAGUE, Dec 11 (Hina) - A Hague war crimes tribunal trial chamber
has decided to combine indictments against former Yugoslav
President Slobodan Milosevic for crimes committed in Croatia and
Bosnia and hold a joint trial in these two cases, but a separate one
for Kosovo. The latter begins on Feb. 12.
A decision to that effect was revealed by the president of the trial
chamber in charge of the Milosevic proceedings, British Judge
Richard May, following brief consultations of the three-member
panel on the prosecutor's office demand to have the three cases, for
Croatia, Bosnia, and Kosovo, combined into one trial.
The date of the trial for Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina has not
been set yet.
Milosevic told the tribunal the only goal of the request for a
combined trial was to push into the background the Kosovo trial,
which he said would reveal the direct collusion between former U.S.
President Bill Clinton's administration and the "Albanian
terrorists", including Osama bin Laden.
The idea on combing the trials emerged following the Sept. 11
terrorist attacks on the United States, Milosevic said, stating the
Kosovo trial "would raise the question of the Clinton
administration's collaboration with terrorists in Kosovo,
including bin Laden."
"The indictments against Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina have
been launched in express time so as to drown the indictment for
Kosovo, which points to terrorism," said the former Yugoslav head
of state. He added Yugoslavia "engaged in peace and not war" in both
Croatia and Bosnia, wishing to help the Serb people avoid the fate
from World War Two.
According to Milosevic, the Muslims in Bosnia were pushed into war
so that Western powers could provide an alibi for killing Muslims
world-wide.
He reiterated his theory that the U.S. was responsible for the NATO
air raids on Yugoslavia in 1999, and stated the objective of the
latest manoeuvre by the prosecutor's office was "to protect the
real culprits for the crimes against Yugoslavia."
Milosevic maintains that by indicting him, the West has turned
Yugoslavia, the victim of the bombings, into the aggressor.
In dismissing the prosecution's claim that the Greater Serbia plan
included the annexation of parts of Bosnia and Croatia, Milosevic
referred to a 28 April 1992 Yugoslav assembly decision declaring
there were no territorial aspirations towards any republic of the
former Yugoslav federation.
More evidence of Belgrade's pacifism include the strong
commitment, including Milosevic's own, to signing the Vance-Owen
plan, the ex-president said.
(hina) ha sb