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Milosevic Denounces New Charges
Defiant after four months in custody, former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic denounced new charges at the UN war crimes tribunal on Monday and scorned three lawyers assigned to help him.
Milosevic refused to enter pleas to a new indictment accusing him of atrocities and murder in Croatia in 1991, and to expanded charges of more deaths, deportations and sexual assaults on the part of his forces in Kosovo in 1999.
Innocent pleas were entered on his behalf to all charges.
It was Milosevic's third tribunal appearance since Yugoslavia extradited him June 28, and the third time he has clashed with the presiding judge, Richard May of Britain.
Milosevic was charged with 32 counts of murder, persecution and plunder in Croatia, allegations going back to the 1991 start of the Balkan wars when the former Yugoslavia broke apart.
Prosecutors said they will file a third indictment against Milosevic next week, including genocide for the mass murder of Muslims in Bosnia.
At times turning red with anger and wagging his finger, Milosevic again rejected the court's jurisdiction, calling the Croatia indictment illegitimate, as he had done with the indictment for Kosovo.
"Mr. Milosevic, the time has come for you to enter pleas to this indictment," May said after a three-hour reading of charges. "I will put the counts to you. Kindly confine your answers to guilty or not guilty to each count. If you don't, we will simply enter pleas on your behalf."
Replying in Serbian, Milosevic called the indictment "the second act of crime committed against my people. It is absurd to accuse Serbia and the Serbs for the armed protection of Croatia, which provoked civil war, conflict and suffering."
Switching off Milosevic's microphone, May said it wasn't the time for speeches and then recorded the innocent plea. The hearing was then adjourned until Tuesday.
Flushed and perspiring, Milosevic folded his arms across his chest. He sat uneasily on the edge of his chair, appearing eager to comment but unable to do so. At one point he removed his brown suit jacket and leaned back while listening to descriptions of violent crimes allegedly committed by his troops.
After the judges left the courtroom, Chief Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte walked over to Milosevic to talk to him, but he ignored her.
Earlier, when asked to plead to the new Kosovo charges, Milosevic protested the "flood" of allegations. He reiterated his claims that the war in Kosovo was a defense against "terrorism" by NATO forces, which bombed Serbia for 78 days to force the withdrawal of his troops.
In two previous court appearances, Milosevic spoke mostly in English. This time he switched to Serbian. Parts of the hearing were broadcast live in Yugoslavia, which encompasses Serbia and much smaller Montenegro.
Among the charges he faces in the expanded indictment are the murders of at least 900 Kosovar Albanians and the deportation of 800,000 others. One-third of the Albanian population was deported, and an even larger number was displaced, it said.
Milosevic refused to cooperate with three lawyers - British, Dutch and Yugoslav - appointed as "friends of the court" to defend his interests, saying he had "nothing in common with them."
Milosevic has refused to read court documents or to appoint an attorney. He maintains that the case is illegal and that his arrest violated Yugoslavia's sovereignty. He plans to present his own defense when his trial begins, probably in the second half of next year.
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