Milosevic prepares to launch attack on Blair and Clinton in his opening speech at trial

telegraph.co.uk ^ | 04/07/2004 | Philip Sherwell and Neil Barnett

[Destro]

Milosevic prepares to launch attack on Blair and Clinton in his opening speech at trial

By Philip Sherwell and Neil Barnett in Belgrade

(Filed: 04/07/2004)

Slobodan Milosevic has finalised the anti-Western tirade with which he will launch his defence tomorrow in the next stage of the world's biggest war crimes trial for half a century.

The former Yugoslav president will pepper his opening speech with swipes against Bill Clinton, Tony Blair and Nato as he tries to turn the case upside down and portray them as the "real war criminals" for the 78-day bombing campaign that drove his forces from Kosovo in 1999.

He will also announce his plans to summon as witnesses a number of international figures, including the British Prime Minister, the former American president and the heads of MI6 and the CIA. The three-man panel of judges will decide at a later stage whether to issue them with subpoenas to appear.

The hearing at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in the Hague will resume after a four-month interval as Milosevic replies to the prosecution case on 66 charges ranging from violations of the customs of war up to genocide during the wars in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo.

He has chosen to represent himself and his approach will owe much more to political offence than legal defence, The Sunday Telegraph has learnt from his legal advisers. "Our plan is to attack," said Uros Suvakovic, the vice-president of Sloboda, the network of supporters that funds and co-ordinates his defence.

The sight of Milosevic railing against the West, portraying himself as the victim of an international conspiracy and refusing to recognise the court trying him is certain to be mirrored in Baghdad when Saddam Hussein's war crimes trial begins. In lessons that have not been missed by the new rulers in Iraq, the Milosevic trial has already illustrated the difficulties of bringing former heads of state to justice and proving their responsibility for murderous crimes committed by their followers.

An Iraqi delegation led by Salem Chalabi, the head of the special tribunal prosecuting Saddam and his henchmen, visited the Hague last month. The Iraqis have opted for a fast-track national tribunal in an effort to overcome some of the delays and hitches that have dogged the Milosevic case.

Milosevic's trial began in February 2002 and the prosecution's efforts to present a wide-ranging case against him have contributed to its slow progress. "Courts cannot be historical museums or provide full historical documentation of all events," said Richard Dicker, of Human Rights Watch. "They cannot look at everything and need to focus on specific cases."

The trial has also been delayed for several months because of the 61-year-old's poor health - he has a weak heart and high blood pressure and claims to be suffering from stress. He has been given 150 days to present his case, but the court will sit for a maximum three days a week because of his health.

Legal observers following the trial believe that the prosecution has struggled to prove the most serious charge of genocide, which would require it to establish a link between Milosevic and atrocities such as the Srebrenica massacre of more than 7,000 Bosnian Muslims.

Milosevic has been preparing his case from the private office he was recently given at the detention centre on a tree-lined street close to the beach front in Scheveningen, a few miles from the tribunal headquarters.

His 160 sq ft cell has plenty of creature comforts, including a cable television with access to Serbian channels, a coffee machine and a private bathroom. The new office has a dual-lock mechanism: Milosevic has one key and the other is held by his guards. It is equipped with telephones and computers and has space for him to talk privately with legal advisers or potential witnesses.

Zdenko Tomanovic, one of his Serbian lawyers, told the Telegraph that the prosecutors gave Milosevic 630,000 pages of written documents, 1,000 video cassette tapes, 100 CDs and 100 DVDs. "Just to read all that, any ordinary man needs at least two years," he said.

[Destro]

"Our plan is to attack"

Slobo drove Judge May to an early grave. He has done the same for - placed in an early grave - to the notion of a UN court.

Proof? Saddam is being tried by his own people not from UN appointed judges from Jamaica and Pakistan, etc.

Monday viewing folks!!

[Destro]

Slobodan means freedom....

[Incorrigible]

Zdenko Tomanovic, one of his Serbian lawyers, told the Telegraph that the prosecutors gave Milosevic 630,000 pages of written documents, 1,000 video cassette tapes, 100 CDs and 100 DVDs. "Just to read all that, any ordinary man needs at least two years," he said.

Certainly has his work cut out for him.

At least he's gotten a comfortable place to work.

[Freee-dame]

the 78-day bombing campaign that drove his forces from Kosovo in 1999.

When someone says that we went into Iraq without a UN mandate, I ask them what form of protest did they use when Clinton bombed civilian targets in Kosovo? That bombing campaign drove the "Kosovo Albanians" into their mass exodus, not the other way around, something conveniently overlooked by the alphabet channels.

[MarMema]

Me too. Buncha stinking hypocrite liberals.

[Loyal Buckeye]

Have they ever found all those mass graves that Maddy Albright chirped about just prior to that war?

[Cicero]

Slobo was not a pleasant guy, and his early attempts to turn Yugoslavia into Greater Serbia were not smart. But he committed no more war crimes in the ensuing struggles than any of the other factions.

Clinton and Blair, on the other hand, really were guilty of war crimes. They attacked a sovereign nation, without UN approval, deliberately bombed civilian targets, including trains, refugee caravans, hospitals, and apartment buildings. They bombed dams, reservoirs, bridges, and power supplies. They closed down the Danube River. They not only killed many innocent civilians, but they deprived them of fuel and power so they would freeze in the dark in the middle of winter.

The bombed the Belgrade TV station without proper warning, deliberately killing the civilian workers there. They handed Kosovo over to drug-running Albanian thugs, who burned churches and drove out Serbs, Gypsies, and even Albanian Christians, standing by while there was a clear example of ethnic cleansing under their supervision.

Not much doubt who the real war criminals were.

[A. Pole]

Zdenko Tomanovic, one of his Serbian lawyers, told the Telegraph that the prosecutors gave Milosevic 630,000 pages of written documents, 1,000 video cassette tapes, 100 CDs and 100 DVDs. "Just to read all that, any ordinary man needs at least two years," he said.

This is the proof that prosecution does not have case. If it did it would focus on the best selected evidence. Instead they try to flood the accused with the tones of worthless garbage, hoping that something will stick in the mind of confused public so preordained conviction will seem justified.

"When the facts are against you, argue the law. When the law is against you, argue the facts. When both the facts and the law are against you, yell like hell!" The prosecution at the International Kangaroo Circus in Hague is yelling and yelling.

And here comes the next judge:

[A. Pole]

Slobo was not a pleasant guy, and his early attempts to turn Yugoslavia into Greater Serbia were not smart. But he committed no more war crimes in the ensuing struggles than any of the other factions.

Actually he committed less or none because he was under constant scrutiny while his enemies were given practical immunity and encouragment. And he did not want Greater Serbia - he wanted to keep Yugoslavia together and to prevent Muslim takeover of Kosovo.

[ehoxha]

Clinton lied when he said that Milosevic was attacking Albanian civilians

Post war Forensic investigation along with KFOR police work has pretty well established that the KLA was responsible for a systemic terror campaign against their fellow Albanians.

Virtually the entire KLA leadership sits in KFOR jails, found guilty of murdering Albanians

As the NATO stated We bombed the wrong side

[Ronly Bonly Jones]

...freedom from morality, freedom from righteousness, and if there was any justice, soon freedom from this mortal coil.

Hang the barstid and feed his body to the crows.

[Ronly Bonly Jones]

He didn't care about anything but staying in power. He was no more a Serbian nationalist than he was a Muslim. He was a political autofellatist (look it up) and he took Serbia straight down the road to a destruction second only to Iraq's, and through the same methodology (invading two neighboring countries and annoying the United States).

[Ann Archy]

If Slobo could REALLy call Clinton to testify, that would END the love affair of the Left with the UN and World Court!! Hey Sloby...GO FOR IT!!

[johniegrad]

I'd love to see it happen. It wouldn't be covered here by the mainstream press though.

[A. Pole]

He didn't care about anything but staying in power.

Yeah, it is easy to make such claim about political leaders. But neither you nor me cannot read his mind. It is much easier to read the newspapers and this is what they claimed.

[Ronly Bonly Jones]

He didn't care about anything but staying in power.
Yeah, it is easy to make such claim about political leaders. But neither you nor me cannot read his mind. It is much easier to read the newspapers and this is what they claimed.>>

By their fruits--or, in Slobo's case, by his fruitcakes--will ye know them.

And the fruit of his tree was thousands of rotting bodies of innocents, three nations torn to shreds (Croatia, Bosnia, Kosova), and moral imbeciles trying to defend him on Free Republic.

[Jane_N]

"Hang the barstid and feed his body to the crows."

And you call yourself a Christian? Lol!

[Destro]

You just described Bill and Hillary Clinton.

[ma bell]

The three-man panel of judges will decide at a later stage whether to issue them with subpoenas to appear.

They are preventing him from giving a thorough defense. This is all mularkey nonsense. Prosecution should just give it up, pull the plug. They know Clinton will be duked and jived by Slobo and what he says will be used against him. Clinton is on a tongue-talking roll, he can't stop his "I feel good, you feel good"... so, that rules out wm jefferson.

[Ronly Bonly Jones]

And you call yourself a Christian? >>>

Of course I do. Feeding a mass murdering maniac to the crows is far better than restoring him to the presidency of Serbia, where he can commit genocide again. Which would, I'm sure, fill your post-Christian heart with joy.

(And if you think I'm "unChristian," Just wait until you see what Jesus does to him when he meets Him.)