Milosevic Asks for Release

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, January 31, 2002

Milosevic Asks for Release

Former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic on Wednesday asked the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague to release him.

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Former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic on Wednesday asked the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague to release him.

"It would be logical just to let me go, I will not flee," Milosevic told an appeal chamber. "I am fully prepared to come to any hearing because this is not a battle I want to miss," he added.

The court in The Hague is hearing an appeal by prosecutors on whether the former Yugoslav president should face a single trial with combined indictments. The prosecutors want his trial on charges relating to Kosovo to be joined to charges relating to the Croatian and Bosnian wars. They argue the three cases are part of the same plan to set up a purely Serb state.

Presiding Judge Claude Jorda asked Milosevic whether he would prefer two trials or just one, but the former president refused to answer the question. "By adding up three lies, you will not get to the truth. You will enlarge the lie," he said.

It was the first time Milosevic was allowed to make a lengthy statement before the tribunal. In the past, judges have turned off his microphone rather than permitting him to speak, saying the courtroom was not the place for political speeches.

On Wednesday, Milosevic did not answer the judges' question. Through a long speech, he said the charges against him were " abnormal and nonsensical." The former president, who has previously rejected the court's legitimacy, said the trial was "an attempt to turn the victim into the culprit." He also said it was NATO who committed crimes against Yugoslavia.

If the chamber rules in favor of a single trial, it will mean a delay to the Kosovo case, which was scheduled to start on February 12.

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